Requests for Comment/NordVPN

Following the recent Board of Directors' Meeting on March 12th, a proposal was discussed regarding a partnership with NordVPN. At that meeting, there were expressed concerns that entering a partnership as an affiliate and providing a link to users in a semi-prominent place would border on violating Miraheze's "ad-free" commitment.

Therefore, the Board have passed the decision onto the community to make, and to suggest how to implement the promotion of a partner without violating any of the commitments Miraheze makes. Thank you, Owen (talk) 19:12, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

The original proposal to the board can be found on etherpad.wikimedia.org

Enter Partnership
The Miraheze Community does not feel entering a partnership with NordVPN violates Miraheze's 'ad-free' commitment.

Support
I do agree with what the Pioneer has said though and it does feel ironic and maybe even hypocritical that a site that bans VPNs would be promoting and partnering with a VPN service. While that part is an issue which originally made me lean towards no I think that Miraheze needs to concentrate more on finances rather than principles at the moment. Finally, if Miraheze does not force wikis to sponsor this service to me that means that it is not violating its ad-free commitment by making it optional. DeeM28 (talk) 18:31, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
 * 1) as person who proposed the idea to the Board Zppix (Meta &#124; CVT Member &#124; talk to me) 21:13, 21 March 2020 (UTC)
 * 2) this was a hard decision to make and it is because I do not like the wording of the proposal. I have decided to support the proposal because in the first place what is proposed is not an "advertisement" but more of a sponsorship/partnership which is not exactly the same. My agreement to this proposal is also only if wikis are allowed to opt-in rather than opt-out. I mostly support this proposal because it does not look like Miraheze is doing very well with finaces and an extra place to get money would be needed.

Oppose

 * 1) A partnership with a VPN service is very odd, given that we have NOP and ban tons of VPN/proxy for abuse and spam. Additionally, some, if not many, wikis do not welcome use of VPN because it can cause socking, block evasion and vandalism, even though it's not globally prohibited for registered users.-- 11:36, 22 March 2020 (UTC)
 * 2) Per The Pionner.A promotion of a partner is an advertisement.Would be a violates of the "ad-free",and would promote spam.Many wikis would not welcome use of VPN,no only by socking,block evasion,vandalism and others,but too spam,something not acceptable for many peoples.Gustave London (talk) 15:25, 22 March 2020 (UTC)
 * 3) . Rereading the proposition, I do "feel entering [this] partnership with NordVPN violates Miraheze's 'ad-free' commitment."  I state no opinion on whether we should decline this deal with NordVPN, renounce our 'ad-free' commitment, or edit the commitment to cover this case or codify limits on the practice.  See also below at Neutral.   00:16 24-Mar-2020
 * 4) This is the same company that pays for good reviews and had their ad banned from the UK. Also, what the fuck happened to no ads? If you want some ads to pay for the servers that's fine but how about regular ads instead of shady deals and borderline scamming. What's next, Miraheze Casino? Naleksuh (talk) 05:11, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

Neutral

 * A "promotion of a partner" is an advertisement for the partner and violates the "ad-free commitment." Would you provide details on this partnership?  NordVPN operates a VPN service that it would like to pitch to Miraheze users?  Does "providing a link to users" mean NordVPN is provided a link to users? or are users provided a link to (provided an ad for) NordVPN?  Perhaps the very partnership violates Miraheze's commitment, independent of the manner of its promotion, if it monetizes us.   00:33 22-Mar-2020
 * I have updated the description. Does that help? ~ RhinosF1 - (chat)· acc· c -  08:12, 22 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, it does, thanks. It is an advertisement; a studiously unintrusive one (this time, in this implementation), but it is an attempt to monetize Miraheze membership despite nobly proclaiming that we don't.  Am not opposing as I don't expect anyone to work for free.  In contrast to the opponents above, I don't think it matters what we think of NordVPN's business.  (But take an ad from a politician I think is loathsome and I may decide you've taken sides!)   16:54 22-Mar-2020

Implementation
Propose ideas for implementation should the above proposal be passed.

Assuming we decide to proceed with NordVPN and renounce or restate our 'ad-free' commitment, some issues suggested in the above discussion are:
 * Ads appear on Meta only, or on member wikis as well?
 * Management of individual wikis has the right to refuse all ads? to refuse some but not all ads?
 * We seem to want any ad to be unintrusive (like a link in the page footer the user would click to read offers from Miraheze sponsors) (not like in-line display ads such as at Wikia). Would we state this as our new commitment?
 * Does the community vote on each new sponsor?
 * Are there classes of ads we'd reject out-of-hand? (Endorsements of politicians?  Political advocacy?  Ads from companies seeking only to burnish their reputation as opposed to selling a product?)
 * Would we take money from a Miraheze member to promote his wiki (beyond mention in the Gazetteer of wikis)?  00:38 24-Mar-2020