Merchandise giveaways

Many editors have long toiled, independently and without much recognition. Respect and gratitude from peers is one of the best rewards an editor can receive. In addition to sending WikiLove or Barnstars, you can now nominate an editor to receive an extra special gift in the mail to thank them for their spectacular contributions and help them show off their love of the projects to those around them.

So, do you know an amazing editor? Photographer? How about a patient mentor? Trusted admin?
Whatever your reasoning, if you believe someone deserves some extra recognition, click the button below to add a public nomination for consideration.

Requirements for participation (Voting, Nomination and Nominator)

All users must:

have a registered account
have made a minimum of 50 edits in the content space to a content Wikimedia project or
- made a number of significant commits to the MediaWiki software or Wikimedia platform.
have had an account active for a minimum of 30 days on the day of the nomination.
not be blocked on any Wikimedia project.
not under any local or global sanctions

Nominees:

Must also have made a demonstrable and positive impact on the online Wikimedia community and its projects.

Voting and Nominating:

Those editors with an active nomination must also refrain from voting on other nominations, or nominating other users, until theirs has concluded.

Note: WMF or Wikimedia Affiliate staff members or paid contractors should not be nominated through this process.

Directions

Press the button above to create a nomination subpage.
You will be asked for the username of the person you want to nominate and why you think they deserve it.
Save or submit the nomination subpage!
Transclude the nomination subpage at the bottom of the list of open nominations.
Consider letting the user you nominated know that you appreciate them. You can tell them anyway you want or try the You've been nominated! template by copying the code below to a new section on their talk page.

==Merchandise Giveaway Nomination==

{| style="border: 1px solid gray; background-color: #FFFFCC; "
| [[File:3WMFShopTees.png|100px|alt=A Wikimedia t-shirt!]]
| style="vertical-align:top;" | <div style="text-align: center; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; padding: 0; vertical-align: bottom; color: black">You deserve a thank you!</div>
----
<div style="color:black; text-align:center;"> I thought that you deserved something a bit extra for all of the amazing work you've done for the project. <br> I've [[:m:Merchandise_giveaways/Nominations/{{subst:PAGENAME}}|nominated]] you for a [[:m:Merchandise giveaways|gift from the Wikimedia Foundation]]!</div>
|}

-- ~~~~

So what happens next?

Consider supporting others who have been nominated to tell them that you agree, provided you are not being nominated yourself.
The nomination pages are monitored by a team of volunteer coordinators.
If the nominated users are willing, we'd love to get pictures of them with their brand new shirts!

I have more questions

FAQs are available below for more in-depth answers. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask on the talk page or contact Sandra Hust.

FAQ

Why are you doing this?

The biggest reason is because editors deserve it. The Wikimedia projects are enormously popular and useful because of the volunteer time poured into them by amazing contributors of all types whether they spend their time writing, collating, spell checking, patrolling recent changes, helping new editors or countless other jobs. These users frequently go unappreciated, and they're okay with that, but they deserve a bit more where we can! The Wikipedia Store was created with this as the primary motive: getting free or cheap merchandise into the hands of contributors to reward them for the amazing work they've done. It sells (as cheaply as possible) to the general public to spread the brand and has its small margin earmarked to help offset giving merchandise to the community.

What are the requirements for someone to be nominated?

Users must:
1. have made a minimum of 50 edits in the content space to a content Wikimedia project.
2. have had an account active for a minimum of 30 days on the day of the nomination.
3. not be blocked on any Wikimedia project.
4. have made a continually positive impact on the Wikimedia community.
It is not an outright rule but WMF or Wikimedia Affiliate staff members should not be nominated through this process.

Will everyone who is nominated get something?

Approving nominations will be decided by volunteer coordinators. Those who do not meet the minimum requirements will not be eligible and will have their nominations rejected. Any users who have been identified by the community as being disruptive or contributing in a bad faith manner may also be rejected by the nominators.

The Wikimedia Foundation may not be able to deliver to certain countries (Cuba, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Russia, Iran and North Korea).

Some countries may choose to charge an import tax (including India).

In the end the final decision on who gets something resides with the Wikimedia Foundation; however, we do not anticipate using that authority often. We plan to give as many packages out as we can and have no set date to end the program. For many reasons we may have to decide to pause the program (money, merchandise stock, staff resources etc.).

Can I nominate someone from the X language Wikipedia or Y Wikimedia project?

Yes! Editors from any Wikimedia project and any language are eligible to both nominate and receive nominations.

Why was I nominated?

Ask your nominator! Even when you were nominated anonymously, we ask for a short statement about why someone is awesome and deserves some extra recognition, which should also help you understand what you did right. The general reason is that someone felt that you should be recognized as doing great work on the project(s) and they think that you deserve something a bit extra.

Can I nominate myself?

Now that wouldn't be fair, would it? :)

Can an editor receive a free t-shirt through this program more than once?

In order to sustain the program as long as possible and to reach as many contributors as we can, we are not able to give a user merchandise through this program more than once. To find out if a person has received merchandise through this program already, please see who has shirts.

Is this a vote?

No, some people are in the public eye and some aren't, it is totally expected that some people will get tons of +1 supports while some will get none. That doesn't in any way mean that one person is 'more' important or better than the other and they both equally deserve a shirt.

Is the Merchandise Giveaways program still happening?

The short answer is YES!