Wikipedia talk:SOPA initiative/Blackout screen designs

Support

"Discussion closed"?! Excuse me..."Discussion closed"??!! Please note: In less than 11 hours, the English Wikipedia will be making a complete fool of itself globally. If you are truly going ahead with one of those hideous blackout designs I will never want to visit this page ever again. Also, if you spell "Internet" without the capital "I" I am going to laugh my ass off! I will be rolling on the floor in a hysterical laughter that will echo in time, long after the blackout has faded! Sorb78 (talk) 19:36, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * This kind of behaviour from the WMF doesn't surprise me anymore. &mdash; PretzelsHii! 20:06, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Isn't one of the designs yours, Pretzels? Sorb: do you have a better design to suggest? – SJ +  22:23, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, and despite receiving clear consensus the WMF overruled and chose one they readily admitted was not production ready. It's just embarrassing for Wikipedia, that's all. &mdash; PretzelsHii! 22:42, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Here is my contribution: http://bayimg.com/dalLfAAdp - I really wish there were more to choose from. Sad to hear the vote was rigged too. The final design is here: http://test.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?banner=blackout - We could have done so much better... Sorb78 (talk) 23:24, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Links
What will be linked to to take action / for more information?
 * This EFF action page?
 * The American Censorship.org visual actiongraphic?

I work at ProPublica. We have a database that lists reps and their support or opposition to SOPA/PIPA. However, I'm understandably terrified of supporting as much traffic as this might bring. So if Wikipedians would like to link to us please use the following URL: http://cache.propublica.org/sopa/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kleinmatic (talk • contribs) 22:50, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

What will we do if the first linked-to site goes down thanks to all the traffic? Do we have an estimate of how much traffic will be sent their way, and have we shared that with the receiving site admins? (Presumably yes, just triple checking :-) since a friend who works at the EFF asked me the same question this morning.)

– SJ + 22:23, 17 January 2012 (UTC)


 * The page is not linking out to an existing process site; a tool that finds your congresspersons' contact details has been added to existing Wikipedia sites. &mdash; PretzelsHii! 22:42, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Continue to Wikipedia in the design
In the current design of the blackout page there's a "continue to Wikipedia" link. Shouldn't this be a complete blackout? Now Wikipedia is contradicting itself or am I missing something? There shouldn't be a link like this. --Rafaelluik (talk) 22:38, 17 January 2012 (UTC)


 * These designs were put together before the community had decided what action to take. &mdash; PretzelsHii! 22:42, 17 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I hope it means the page which is going live isn't going to have this link then. --Rafaelluik (talk) 03:18, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

'Approved by'
Please can the 'authorized' phrase please be avoided? That really strikes a bad note, since it implies authority by some group of individuals rather than decision-by-consensus. Just saying 'has blacked out' or 'has decided to back out" would be much, much better. (NB: this is in reply to the blackout notice as set out at Mike Peel) (talk) 23:50, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The test page is not necessarily using the latest version of the text; I believe that's at SOPA initiative/Proposed Messages where they're using "has decided to". &mdash; PretzelsHii! 00:02, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

links to Twitter, identi.ca, Google Plus, Facebook
I see that icons have been created for these, in preparation for the blackout page. Why was this page created behind closed doors? Isn't this the encyclopedia that anyone can edit? Why wasn't the community consulted before deciding to link to Google or Facebook services? I suppose the WMF is additionally going to restrict this blackout page demanding a "free" internet to a non-free license...--Brian Dell (talk) 00:34, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
 * A good point: relevant discussion. &mdash; PretzelsHii! 00:38, 18 January 2012 (UTC)