Groups/Proposals/MediaWiki Cooperation

MediaWiki Cooperation
We will advocate the needs of all users of MediaWiki. Our primary focus will be those who use MediaWiki outside the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF).

We are a group of MediaWiki enthusiasts who care about the development and evolution of MediaWiki as a tool for everyone.

Areas of collaboration
 * Communication and coordination among MediaWiki users. We will be a nexus of support for MediaWiki users outside the Wikimedia sites. Users outside the WMF have a lot of experience. Still, there is a need to provide answers to their support questions. These users improve MediaWiki with extensions and share common problems. MediaWiki Cooperation aims to give them a voice to share their experience and coordinate their efforts.
 * Coordination between different groups of MediaWiki developers and operators. Core changes can sometimes break widely used extensions, but they also have the potential to greatly improve widely used extensions. Extension developers find bugs, improve core code and simply rely on the core. Operators of wikis outside WMF have their own issues, but could greatly benefit from and contribute to the experience of people running the Wikimedia sites.
 * Foster the ecosystem around MediaWiki. We recognize there is a range of developers, consultants, and companies that work with MediaWiki and improve functionality for their customers. We want to build a friendly environment for them to share their work and give them visibility. In addition, we want to make it easier for people seeking professional services and support to be able to find help.
 * Facilitate implementation of MediaWiki features. There is a need for features that are not in the core focus of Wikimedia sites, but could greatly improve the user experience of other wikis. Through the MediaWiki Cooperation, we aim to be able to support the development of these features.
 * Improve documentation of extensions and MediaWiki visibility. The documentation of MediaWiki, especially its extensions, is a key success factor for its use outside of Wikimedia sites. We aim to improve the quality of documentation and make it easier for outside users to assess the benefit and quality of extensions.
 * Contribute to the development of MediaWiki. By watching the proposed changes to MediaWiki and assessing the impact to users outside of the Wikimedia sites, we want to ensure the full utilization of the software by on non-WMF wikis. We will also commit to contributing our improvements and work towards their inclusion in the main product.

We are requesting official recognition from the Affiliations Committee for a period of one year, after which we would become a permanent group.

For our working space, see MediaWiki Cooperation.

News

 * 2014-10-17: Fourth online meeting on Google Hangout and IRC . For meeting details, see here. Etherpad is here.
 * 2014-09-26: Third online meeting on Google Hangout and IRC . For meeting details, see here. Etherpad is here.
 * 2014-09-05: Second online meeting on Google Hangout and IRC . For meeting details, see here. Etherpad is here.
 * 2014-08-22: First online meeting on Google Hangout and IRC . For meeting details, see here. Etherpad is here.
 * 2014-08-10: Initial meeting of interested people at Wikimania. Etherpad is here. MediaWiki_User_Group_at_Wikimania_2014.jpg

Communication and Contact
The official channel of communication of this group is its Discussion page.

mediawiki-l is used as a fallback list for wider topics requiring community attention.

Spokespersons for the group are Markus Glaser and Mark Hershberger.

Related
More info on application to Affiliation Committee:
 * Internal checklist for preparing the application
 * Application information

See also:
 * Presentation at Wikimania 2014
 * RfC for a MediaWiki Foundation (similar initiative)

Contributors

 * MediaWiki groups need at least 3 people to be approved.

Promoters
 * I'm a long time MediaWiki contributor, mostly in the field of i18n and L10n. I've been involved in translatewiki.net as a community manager since 2006, and I've been contracting for the Wikimedia Foundation since 2009. siebrand (talk) 13:54, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm a part of the release team and a contributor to MW. At one time I was a WMF staffer, but now I'm a MW consultant. -- ☠ MarkAHershberger ☢ (talk) ☣ 13:55, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm part of the release team and a contributor to MW. Also I work a lot with corporations using MediaWiki. --Mglaser (talk) 13:59, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm a long time user of Semantic MediaWiki. --Krabina (talk) 14:24, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I support a 3rd-party wiki in a large healthcare organization and would love to be involved. --Ckoerner (talk) 13:31, 12 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I am an accountant assisting the release team. --Palexis (talk) 13:05, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
 * More promoters welcome! (((One is enough, but all the better if you have 2-3.)))

Members
 * Legoktm (talk) 13:53, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Mattsenate (talk) 13:54, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * --RichardHeigl (talk) 13:58, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Illuminatusds (talk) 14:02, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * --Krabina (talk) 14:23, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * --Nikerabbit (talk) 14:26, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
 * --Natkabrown (talk) 22:39, 11 August 2014 (UTC) - I make http://wikitranslate.org/wiki/Russian
 * --Manuel Schneider(bla) (+/-) 10:10, 12 August 2014 (UTC) Wikimedian mostly active in chapter tech, also hosting 60+ wikis on my corporate server farm, very interested (but a beginner) in SMW
 * --Ckoerner (talk) 13:31, 12 August 2014 (UTC)
 * --Cindy.cicalese (talk) 16:10, 19 August 2014 (UTC)
 * --Edlira 18:51, 20 August (UTC)
 * Multichill (talk) 20:53, 20 August 2014 (UTC)
 * —Emufarmers(T 18:55, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Baxi69 (talk) 10:19, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
 * --Wonder (talk) 00:10, 4 September 2014 (UTC), extension developer, and involved with a large multi-wiki site
 * --Friedel Völker (talk) 14:18, 4 September 2014 (UTC)
 * --Zellfaze (talk) 16:56, 4 September 2014 (UTC). I spend a lot of time on a wide variety of wikis and run several myself. I'm also an extension developer.
 * Addshore (talk) 17:33, 4 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Daniel Renfro 19:08, 15 September 2014 (UTC) &mdash; longtime (circa phase2) MW user/admin/developer. Run a clustered MW instance for Vistaprint that rivals some small Wikipedias.
 * -— Isarra ༆ 23:35, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
 * (((Add your name and sign by using "--~" . All the better if you Introduce yourself briefly.)))

Other endorsements
 * Engineering community manager at the Wikimedia Foundation.--Qgil-WMF (talk) 09:09, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
 * (((Other people not planning to be members of this group can also express public support))).