Idea: Polyglots Monthly Updates (+ Newsletter)

Are you having a hard time keeping up with what’s happening around the Polyglots TeamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/.?

Have you missed a polyglots blog post and wished you had read it in time?

Because of the unique nature of our P2p2 "p2" is the name of the theme that blogs at make.wordpress.org use (and o2 is the accompanying plugin). When asked to post something "on the p2" by a member of the Polyglots team, that usually means you're asked to post on the team blog https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/. (https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/) – it’s used both as a request and project update platform – I feel that many of us would answer “Yes” to the questions above.

The other day, I was talking with some folks from the Community Team about something else, and the topic of a monthly newsletter came up in our discussion. The team sends out a monthly WordPress MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. Newsletter to event organizers and posts the same content to their P2 (examples).

This got me thinking: Can we also try sending out a monthly Polyglots Newsletter to translation contributors on an opt-in basis? The Community Team offered to let us use the system they are on (Mailchimp) if we’d like to start this.

Benefits

Subscribers can receive important news such as upcoming releases and tool/process changes without keeping a close eye on the P2, SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/., or RSS feedRSS Feed RSS is an acronym for Real Simple Syndication which is a type of web feed which allows users to access updates to online content in a standardized, computer-readable format. This is the feed..
We could engage more translators and inspire them to stay active.
The newsletter can build engagement around Polyglots Team projects (such as the upcoming Polyglots Training).

Concerns & things to consider:

We need someone to write the contents and administer the list
- Erica & I can make a commitment so that the newsletter is sent out regularly
Fewer people may be engaged in the P2 or Slack
- Yes, but the opposite effect is also be possible – more people will catch news in time and join the discussion
Will it be English only?
- Maybe, but it doesn’t have to be. It is possible to collect users’ language information at newsletter sign-up and send different contents based on the segmentation in the future if the project grows. If localesLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ are interested, someone from a localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ could translate the contents of the newsletter and post it in their RosettaRosetta The code name of the theme for the local WordPress sites (eg. bg.wordpress.org is a “Rosetta” site). All locale specific WordPress sites are referred to as “Rosetta sites.” The name was inspired from the ancient Rosetta Stone, which contained more or less the same text in three different languages. site too.

Feedback Requested

Is this worth a try? Would love to hear what you all think. Please leave general feedback, or you can answer these questions.

Do you think monthly updates and/or newsletter can help you or other polyglots stay informed about important things happening in WordPress?
Have you seen any other good practice (by an OSS or non-commercial organization) for keeping you informed and engaged? (e.g. https://www.painelwp.com.br/, Mozilla L10N report)
Would you be interested in contributing content for future newsletters?

Thanks @harishanker, @evarlese, @tobifjellner and @andreamiddleton for reviewing the post.

Pascal Casier 12:03 pm on August 6, 2021

@nao I think any initiative is worth exploring to engage more volunteers. A newsletter might attract people that otherwise would never reach this P2p2 "p2" is the name of the theme that blogs at make.wordpress.org use (and o2 is the accompanying plugin). When asked to post something "on the p2" by a member of the Polyglots team, that usually means you're asked to post on the team blog https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/.. As you seem to already have the technical way (mailchimp) and you can rely on the experience of the Community team, what I suppose you would need to analyze is if there is enough information on a monthly basis to fill a newsletter or should if it should be more every 2-3 months?

If you and Erica can run this and you get some help here and there from volunteers, it might be a good way to find new volunteers! Great initiative.
- Naoko Takano 12:09 pm on August 6, 2021
  
  Good to hear that you think there’s potential benefit for this idea.
  I’d expect we have enough content each month, looking at past 4 weekly meetings.
  https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/category/weekly-chats/
  But of course, we can skip or “go on a vacation” for a slow month 🙂
evarlese 1:03 pm on August 18, 2021

I wanted to share that we talked about this in the Polyglots weekly chat a bit today. A few folks shared that it’s really helpful to have a summary of past posts/events so that it’s easier to catch up and/or find relevant links. To start, even just having the curated list of links helps, rather than needing to write or include a summary, too.
Naoko Takano 8:09 am on August 26, 2021
Thanks everyone for your feedback (also in SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.)! Since we received several positive feedback and no special concerns that may become a blocker, let’s move ahead with this project.

I’ll check with the Community Team and find out what we’ll need for the next steps:
- Set up a subscription form
- Add the form to this P2p2 "p2" is the name of the theme that blogs at make.wordpress.org use (and o2 is the accompanying plugin). When asked to post something "on the p2" by a member of the Polyglots team, that usually means you're asked to post on the team blog https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/. (and any other places?)
Naoko Takano 8:47 am on September 10, 2021

Sample newsletter signup form (click to see the original)

Sample newsletter template (click to see the original)
Naoko Takano 11:03 am on September 10, 2021

Instead of the form above, we’ll probably need to use this simple form to keep it on the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.:
- evarlese 1:22 pm on September 10, 2021
  
  I’m so excited to see the sign-up in the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.! 😀
  
  What do you think of changing the title on the sign-up for the Make/Polyglots blog to something like Immediate Email Updates or Get Updates on this Blog to differentiate between the two?
  - Naoko Takano 2:15 am on September 13, 2021
    
    @evarlese great point! I used “Immediate Email Updates” to make it consistent with “Monthly Email Updates”. Looks much better now!