Water cooler/2010

Gift Aid

Typo: "Don't forget that if you pay Income Tax at the higher rate you are likely to be able to claim ..." should read "likely". 92.5.50.132 10:20, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

So if you want to do a direct debit and claim gift aid what then? There is no box on the form for this.

If you honestly want people to enter personal details into this form, you need to encrypt the website. 78.105.210.252 22:59, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Apart from the typo, I'd like to say also as far as I understand it (and I have asked Her Majesty several times, the BBC Moneybox programme on a phone-in, and various charities) if you are a higher rate taxpayer you can declare the donation on the tax return (and should) but the charity does not get the difference of the basic rate and higher rate tax from Her Majesty – you do. (And then can give that to the charity if you wish, which presumably you could also claim as gift aided, in reductio ad infinitum ad nauseao). I hope this may be heplful to anyone in a similar position, sorry I cannot be more definitive. 82.29.185.61 17:03, 27 November 2011 (UTC) (More often en:User:SimonTrew)

Powerpoint Presentations

I'm new here, although not new to Wikimedia; did some anonymous editing from mid-2004 to end of 2005, haven't really had a proper account, did have some on http://en.wikipedia.org but never had email attached to any of them, so can't use them ever again, but I have just come back to Wikimedia now. Anyway, I'm someone who's into IT and can create a PPT file, which could be uploaded here if anyone wants them, in LocalSettings.php, we'd have to enable .ppt files.

Anyone interested in the idea? --Kexford 16:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

It would be great if you could assist with creating presentations - as per the message I just left on your talk page, both the Schools Project and Workplace Learning Lunches need presentations writing.

Do we want to use powerpoint files for this, given that they're tied to software that isn't freely available? Would it be better to stick to PDF files here on the wiki? Mike Peel 15:26, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree, PDFs would be better. In addition to being a freer format they don't have the same negative connotations that Powerpoint presentations have. I was thinking about presentations a few days ago (in relation to that Italy thing that fell through) - should we put together a template so we can have a consistent look and feel to any presentations we give? That, and it would save time when make them if we didn't have to reinvent the wheel. --Tango 23:03, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

• Regarding PDFs, using Serif PagePlus's latest versions is a fairly low-budget, but high-quality way to do this. --Kexford 09:49, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

Low budget? Why should we need any budget at all? There are plenty of free options. --Tango 15:01, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

for example? Saga City 17:10, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

PDFCreator is a prime example. Quatermass 20:11, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Usability

Hi all. Two thoughts on usability: 1) should we switch to using the Vector skin (the beta) here as default? 2) should we use LiquidThreads? Mike Peel 16:25, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

• Beta skin? Absolutely! enWN was first to go totally over to it, the biggest issues are getting used to the moved search box and page move/protect hidden in a drop-down.
• LiquidThreads? Not yet; "conventional" page history links don't work with this.

However, I don't know if anyone has done a Vector skin for WordPress. That might be a prerequisite before changing - just so there's a consistent look-n-feel between blog and site. (I'd also like to "steal" such a blog skin for wikinewsie.org). --Brian McNeil 13:14, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Considering I wrote the current (custom) monobook skin for WordPress, I don't think that putting together a vector version will be a problem... Although if you want to use it on other sites, I'll have to tidy it up first (it currently pulls stylesheets etc. from a fixed URL)... Mike Peel 14:03, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Havign just used LiquidThreads on the Strategy Wiki I thoughts it was a great improvement and would like to suggest it's adopted here. However, I saw Brian's comments above about it not working with conventional page history links - what does that mean? AndrewRT 17:44, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Paying for images

Sorry to bother everyone, just a quick question. On a point of principle, will the chapter consider requests for content partnerships which involve a monetary sweetener? I couldn't find any guidance on this from WMF HQ, but there must be some somewhere. Obviously, it would be done on a case-by-case basis, as a last resort and so forth, but are you - er - allowed to? Thanks, Jarry1250 11:53, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Direct money transfers, i.e. paying for the content: no. Cultural partnerships are all about two-way beneficial relationships; I don't see money helping particularly there. Plus, there's the obligation to make sure that all of the charity's money is spent on charitable activities. However, doing joint activities where WMUK pays some of the costs would seem reasonable to me - e.g. events, carrying out digitization, etc. Mike Peel 12:31, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I think there's also the problem of licensing: I don't think WMUK (or even the WMF) has the power to "buy" content off someone on behalf of Creative Commons or Free Software Foundation to make the content available as free stuff! --Deryck Chan 12:21, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikimania 2010

Hey folks, just wondering if anyone would be interested in taking a group trip to Poland in the summer for Wikimania? Colds7ream 08:33, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

I would be interested. I think we should try and organise a semi-official UK delegation. --Tango 16:28, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Ditto. Mike Peel 16:43, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Excellent! :-) Unless anyone else wants to do it, I'll volunteer to have a go at organising the thing (I took my entire AstroSoc over to Florida last summer to see STS-128). Could we discuss it at the next board meeting? Colds7ream 11:45, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Sounds good. I've been thinking we should contact a few airlines and see if anyone wants to give us cheap/free flights. Let's discuss it at the meeting after next - the next one really needs to be about the budget, we've put it off too long already. --Tango 17:25, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Any more developments? Colds7ream 16:46, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Not yet. Perhaps it would be worth having a specific (short) IRC meeting to start planning this at some point, rather than waiting for a board meeting? Mike Peel 16:54, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that's probably a good idea. I propose Monday evening, 8pm. --Tango 14:22, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

I won't be able to make that. Counter offer: some time over the weekend? Mike Peel 14:24, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

I'm very flexible. It would be best if you suggest a specific time. --Tango 14:59, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Had to cancel my reservation, such a pity. aleichem 17:14, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

American English

Is the usage of the word "license" as a noun on the wiki and blog posts intentional? I shudder every time I read it on a British site. But I could appreciate it if it were deliberate (internationalisation?). Jarry1250 19:23, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

It's probably a mistake. When you spend too much time online you end up accidentally picking up American spellings, however much you try to resist it. Can you give examples of where it is used? In some cases, it might be used because it is the WMF, an American organisation, granting the licence, so we use their name for it. In descriptions, rather than names, it should use the British spelling. --Tango 21:08, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Members userbox

I've created a small userbox at Wikipedia:en:User:Fæ/Userboxes/WMUK rather than using the current page-wide banner. It would be neat if there were a way of confirming membership and at the same time protect privacy through some sort of Chinese wall process. Fæ 09:59, 9 September 2010 (UTC)