Talk:Wikimedia LGBT+/Archive 6

Wikipedia 15 has a mark!

Wikipedia15 animated mark

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Wikipedia 15 now has a mark! Be sure to check out the “Material” section of the Wikipedia 15 meta page to see the design, and learn about how to use it. This year's mark is meant to be fun, interactive, and infinitely customisable. We can’t wait to see how you and your Wikimedia community use it!

–For the WMF Communications team, Sam Lien and Joe Sutherland 03:01, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Your input requested on the proposed #FreeBassel banner campaign

This is a message regarding the proposed 2015 Free Bassel banner. Translations are available.

Hi everyone,

This is to inform all Wikimedia contributors that a straw poll seeking your involvement has just been started on Meta-Wiki.

As some of your might be aware, a small group of Wikimedia volunteers have proposed a banner campaign informing Wikipedia readers about the urgent situation of our fellow Wikipedian, open source software developer and Creative Commons activist, Bassel Khartabil. An exemplary banner and an explanatory page have now been prepared, and translated into about half a dozen languages by volunteer translators.

We are seeking your involvement to decide if the global Wikimedia community approves starting a banner campaign asking Wikipedia readers to call on the Syrian government to release Bassel from prison. We understand that a campaign like this would be unprecedented in Wikipedia's history, which is why we're seeking the widest possible consensus among the community.

Given Bassel's urgent situation and the resulting tight schedule, we ask everyone to get involved with the poll and the discussion to the widest possible extent, and to promote it among your communities as soon as possible.

(Apologies for writing in English; please kindly translate this message into your own language.)

Thank you for your participation!

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery 21:46, 25 November 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help

2015 Affiliations Committee call for candidates

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and advise the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of twelve members, six of whom are selected every twelve months for staggered two-year terms.

Key skills

Being a part of the Affiliations Committee requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We try to get a healthy mix of different skill sets in our members. The key skills and experience that we look for in candidates are:

• Excitement by the challenge of helping to empower groups of volunteers worldwide.
• Willingness to process applications through a set, perhaps bureaucratic process.
• Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliations, and similar questions.
• Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly ~2 hour voice/video meeting.
• International orientation.
• Very good communication skills in English.
• Ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.
• Strong understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the WMF.
• Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organising are a plus.
• Effective communication skills in other languages are a major plus.
• Experience with or in an active affiliate is a major plus.
• Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.

We are looking for people who are not afraid of the workload and are motivated by helping other volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2015 member selection process will include a public review and comment period. All applications received by the committee will be posted on Meta (at Affiliations Committee/Candidates/2015), and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

At the end of the public comment period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee who are not seeking re-election, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, WMF staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made by mid-January 2016, with new members expected to join later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please send an application to affcom@lists.wikimedia.org by 31 December 2015. You will get a confirmation that your application was received.

Your application should include the following:

• Your full name
• Your contact information (including e-mail address and username)
• A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee.

Your statement will be published for community review and feedback, so please do not include any information that you are not comfortable sharing.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

Best regards,
Carlos Colina
Chair, Affiliations Committee

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, 16:53, 9 December 2015 (UTC) • Please help translate to your language • Get help • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

Get involved in Wikipedia 15!

This is a message from the Wikimedia Foundation. Translations are available.

As many of you know, January 15 is Wikipedia’s 15th Birthday!

People around the world are getting involved in the celebration and have started adding their events on Meta Page. While we are celebrating Wikipedia's birthday, we hope that all projects and affiliates will be able to utilize this celebration to raise awareness of our community's efforts.

Haven’t started planning? Don’t worry, there’s lots of ways to get involved. Here are some ideas:

• Join/host an event. We already have more than 80, and hope to have many more.
• Talk to local press. In the past 15 years, Wikipedia has accomplished extraordinary things. We’ve made a handy summary of milestones and encourage you to add your own. More resources, including a press release template and resources on working with the media, are also available.
• Design a Wikipedia 15 logo. In place of a single icon for Wikipedia 15, we’re making dozens. Add your own with something fun and representative of your community. Just use the visual guide so they share a common sensibility.
• Share a message on social media. Tell the world what Wikipedia means to you, and add #wikipedia15 to the post. We might re-tweet or share your message!

Everything is linked on the Wikipedia 15 Meta page. You’ll find a set of ten data visualization works that you can show at your events, and a list of all the Wikipedia 15 logos that community members have already designed.

If you have any questions, please contact Zachary McCune or Joe Sutherland.

Thanks and Happy nearly Wikipedia 15!
-The Wikimedia Foundation Communications team

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery, 20:53, 18 December 2015 (UTC) • Please help translate to your language • Help

Report: 2015

Project members, in order to have representation at Wikimedia Conference 2016, we need to submit a report outlining our activities. Our user group was approved in September 2014. The status of our group has expired, so we will need to resubmit approval after submitting a report, which should be pretty easy. I don't see a standard report template, so I invite anyone to contribute to our 2015 report at Wikimedia LGBT/2015.

Feel free to edit this page or add comments to the talk page. WMLGBT's activities span several Wikimedia projects and languages, so the more input from others, the better. Thanks for your consideration. -Another Believer (talk) 19:05, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

I've taken a stab at a first draft. Does anyone have content to add? Could be related to social media, Wikimania (User:CT Cooper?), Wikimedia Conference, non-English Wikipedia activities, etc. Fae, is there anything you wish to add re: Commons? User:Hexatekin? -Another Believer (talk) 20:12, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

I've expanded the Wikimania section and tried to it justice – feel free to expand it further. I think we've got a good yearly report coming together here. CT Cooper · talk 21:19, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Thank you so much for contributing, CT. -Another Believer (talk) 22:15, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Wikimedia Conference 2016

Wikimedia Conference logo

Nicole Ebber sent an email to the Affiliates and Announcements mailing lists this morning about the 2016 Wikimedia Conference, which will be held in Berlin in April. It says, in part, "WMCON is all about participation. To make the conference a success it will be essential for the invited affiliates to deliberately select their delegates. Participants should come to Berlin to learn and to share, but also to bring the information and learnings back home. We are seeking delegates who will be actively engaged before, during and after the conference and can represent their affiliates. Ideal delegates are those who are involved in the decision making processes in the organization, evaluation specialists, or program leaders."

Regarding eligibility criteria and registration, it says, "To be eligible to attend WMCON16, affiliates must have shown signs of recent activity and be up-to-date on their reporting by January 1. Moreover, affiliates need to have been officially recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation before December 1, 2015. An eligibility criteria overview will be published next week. Chapters and Thematic Organizations can send two delegates, or up to four, if they have paid staff; User Groups can send one delegate ... Registration opens December 1 and closes on January 15. Please note that this is a sharp deadline. In the months between the registration and WMCON, the PEC will work with the registered participants on elaborating the program of the Wikimedia Conference. Because we want to build the program to fit participant needs and experiences, we would like to learn a little more about your interests in advance. We have published an overview of questions that we will use in the registration form. Please make yourself familiar with these questions already, as they can also help you to select the delegates ... We will open the registration on December 1 and send out further information on logistical matters such as travel and accommodation booking."

WMLGBT should begin a discussion about who we would like to send as a delegate. I assume we will be eligible, though I am not sure if there is some reporting that will need to be completed in order to have representation. If you are interested in representing WMLGBT, please indicate your interest below. -Another Believer (talk) 16:39, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

• I'm unable to go this year as it will be right before my three week trip to Australia and it's very difficult for me to block book time off work which exceeds three weeks. In any case, I was there (informally) last year and I'm probably not the best candidate anyway. We will have to make a decision soon though, as the deadlines are much earlier than last year. CT Cooper · talk 16:28, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
• I am interested in supporting the representative who does go and would like to have a video chat with that person to discuss the conference agenda and to make requests for what I would like the LGBT+ representative to do on behalf of stakeholders in my region. I would not like to go but I would very much like representation at the event. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:56, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
• For the record, I am interested in attending, but I also want to give others the opportunity to represent our group. I enjoyed discussing the Wiki Loves Pride campaign with chapter leaders last year, and sharing updates about the status of WMLGBT+. I did notice, however, that at this time WMLGBT+ is not eligible to attend, per Wikimedia Conference 2016/Eligibility Criteria. We need to complete reporting ASAP in order to have representation. I am not sure exactly what report to complete, or who to send it to. Unfortunately, I am on holiday the next few days, but I am happy to tackle this upon my return. I still urge others to indicate their interest in attending on our behalf. -Another Believer (talk) 18:02, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Take a bit of time to review the other reports. You should only need to assemble evidence of what has been happening, most of which should be published over the year here on meta, and add a bit of executive summary. It might be an idea to attempt a hangout/video conference this month with interested user group participants. It's a good idea to have a couple of virtual meetings a year logged on-line, not just to provide evidence of what we get up to, but also to encourage each other's ideas and ways of getting them to fly (without limiting this to Wikimania participants or similar physical meetings). --Fæ (talk) 13:53, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Great news! Jaime (WMF) has confirmed receipt of our report. WMLGBT+ has been renewed as a user group and is eligible for representation at the Wikimedia Conference. -Another Believer (talk) 18:42, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Update: The registration deadline is in just over a week. No one else has expressed interest in representing our group, so speak now or forever hold your peace. Otherwise I plan to register for the conference within the next few days to avoid any complications with the registration process. -Another Believer (talk) 20:39, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

• I support AB going. I encourage anyone else interested to speak up for consideration. Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:41, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Harassment workshop

In case anyone is interested: Harassment workshop. -Another Believer (talk) 21:54, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

2016 Just For The Record IEG & PEG Grants notification — intersectional & gender diversity on Wikipedia!

more gender diversity on Wikipedia!

Just For The Record has prepared a combined IEG grant and PEG grant application to work on the promotion of more gender diversity on Wikipedia with an intersectional perspective. These grant applications build upon the exciting results of our 2015-2016 Brussels-based series of events addressing the gender gap on Wikipedia. Just For The Record has created a network in which expertise on these questions is created and shared. With our new applications, we want to expand this knowledge and network beyond the context of the edit-a-thon!

If awarded, the PEG grant will fund: location and refreshments for the 2016-2017 Just For The Record edit-a-thons. If awarded, the IEG grant will fund: research and analysis into the representation of gender on Wikipedia, combined with the construction of a research/ambassador network, leading to an intersectional non-sexist guide on how knowledge and history can be written in a more diverse way. We seek community comment, discussions and endorsement signatures (section at the bottom of the pages) to help complete the grant process: here and here! Many thanks, Lfurter (talk) 09:38, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Lfurter Thanks for sharing. Can you point to anything in this proposal that describes any LGBT-related projects or makes any commitment to raise LGBT+ issues? It is not clear to me whether this project includes an LGBT element. Thanks. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:58, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your question, Bluerasberry. Indeed, it is an intersectional project that promotes more diversity on Wikipedia, mainly gender-wise (with a wide conception of “gender”), but also including the issues representation of LGBT+ people, as we are mentioning in the first part that we promote other perspectives and representations than that of the generic “31 years old, white, straight, single male with a degree in higher education”, which also says something about the sexuality and gender-identity based representations. I tried to make it a bit more clear under “More Diversity” sub-section, I hope it is understandable. So yes indeed it is not our main focus, but we think it is very important to include it in our project, also because some of the people participating to our events are involved in the LGBT+ community. Lfurter (talk) 13:11, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

Working Session on architecting the information of Georgia House Bill 757

WebGoogle+GmailCalendarmore ▼ Unread Search

6:04 pm Participati., me 3 [Time sensitive] WMF merch for your TPS request - Information Architecture Summit Inbox Hi thanks for offering to send the merchandise. I just submitted my order. I will add an update to my Apr 15 me Editathon at IA Summit? Greetings from the North, Who might I talk to about hosting a mini editathon during the Information May 21, 2015 Pharos [Wikimedia NYC] June 10: WikiWednesday Salon and Wikimedia NYC Annual Meeting Hi Wiki Yorkers, You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our next evening " nwhysel@gmail.com Editathon at IA Summit?

Nwhysel to wikimedia-us-ga-atl 12 days agoDetails Greetings from the North,

Who might I talk to about hosting a mini editathon during the Information Architecture Summit, May 5-8 in Atlanta? (iasummit.org). I am a member of the NYC Wikimedia group and have been accepted to host an editathon and introduction to Wikipedia editing activity as part of the conference game night, which is usually held on Saturday night. I would love to invite Wikipedia Atlanta members to participate as facilitators. I did an introduction to Wikipedia at this event last year in Minneapolis and was happy to get assistance from three local Wikipedians.

I am seeking assistance from and introduction to Atlanta-based Wiki Loves Pride editors. The Information Architecture Institute is hosting a working session on architecting the information of Georgia House Bill 757 the evening of May 7 at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. This is a side activity concurrent with ASIS&T's Information Archiitevture Summit. The IA Institue typically colocates its Annual member meeting at the IA Summit and had considered boycotting the event to protest the bill. However on reflection they felt it would be more productive to host an open discussion of inclusiveness and diversity. An editathon might be a good complement. I had seen plans for a Wiki Loves Pride event in Atlanta in June so it could be a nice lead up to that activity: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Loves_Pride_2016/Atlanta

Please let me know if anyone is interested and I can forward additional details. Looking forward to my Atlanta visit!

Noreen Nwhysel (talk) 22:43, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Transgender discussion at Bay Area WikiSalon

Of potential interest to this project: At last month's inaugural Bay Area WikiSalon, I participated in a panel discussing transgender issues. Videos of the panel are available on Commons and YouTube (I provided closed captions for the latter). Funcrunch (talk) 13:59, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Pride

Now would be a great time to sign up and volunteer to document a pride event in your city as part of this year's Wiki Loves Pride campaign. This can be as simple as walking through a festival, parade, or satellite event and taking pictures to help illustrate local LGBT culture and history. I plan to take pictures in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, and hope others will join me. If you are feeling ambitious and want to organize a local edit-a-thon or other type of in-person meetup, by all means, feel free! All ideas and activities are welcome, and remote participation is also encouraged. There will be a running list of new LGBT-related articles created during the month of June, so please be sure to note articles you create or improve during the month, or create galleries of your photography work. Thanks for your consideration, and happy pride! -Another Believer (talk) 02:38, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

I went ahead and created simple pages for Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, sharing my plans to document local LGBT culture and history by taking pictures at upcoming pride parades and events. I also invited other editors to create and improve LGBT-related content, shared a category tree with existing Wikipedia articles, and stated my goals for the month of June. If you want to create a similar page for your city or region, feel free to copy and paste of these pages and edit/replace content as needed. -Another Believer (talk) 00:49, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Update: Yesterday, I distributed more than 500 talk page messages to current and former participants of WikiProject LGBT studies at English Wikipedia, inviting them to participate in the ongoing Wiki Loves Pride campaign. Below is a copy of the invite:

---

You are invited to participate in the third annual Wiki Loves Pride campaign, which runs through the month of June. The purpose of the campaign is to create and improve content related to LGBT culture and history. How can you help?

1. Create or improve LGBT-related Wikipedia pages and showcase the results of your work here
2. Document local LGBT culture and history by taking pictures at pride events and uploading your images to Wikimedia Commons
3. Contribute to an LGBT-related task force at another Wikimedia project (Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, Wikivoyage, etc.)

Looking for topics? The Tasks page, which you are welcome to update, offers some ideas and wanted articles.

This campaign is supported by the Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group, an officially recognized affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation. The group's mission is to develop LGBT-related content across all Wikimedia projects, in all languages. Visit the affiliate's page at Meta-Wiki for more information, or follow Wikimedia LGBT+ on Facebook. Remember, Wiki Loves Pride is about creating and improving LGBT-related content at Wikimedia projects, and content should have a neutral point of view. One does not need to identify as LGBT or any other gender or sexual minority to participate. This campaign is about adding accurate, reliable information to Wikipedia, plain and simple, and all are welcome! If you have any questions, please leave a message on the campaign's talk page.

Thanks, and happy editing! -Another Believer (talk) 14:49, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

---

Feel free to use this text (in its entirety or as a template) to invite others to join the campaign, if you know someone who may be interested or want to distribute invitations at projects other than English Wikipedia. I hope user group supporters will take a little time this month to contribute to the campaign. If every supporter started just one new article, it would make a huge difference and the results page will look much fuller. Thanks for your consideration. -Another Believer (talk) 14:49, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Technical question

Does anyone know the cause of the "Template loop detected: Template:TNT:WM:LGBT" text on the main page? -Another Believer (talk) 02:39, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

I do not know, but the problem is in the header template at Wikimedia LGBT/Header. I expect that it is with these lines -

|style="font-size:90%;text-align: {{#switch:{{dir|{{{uselang|{{CURRENTCONTENTLANGUAGE}}}}}}}|rtl=right|ltr|#default=left}}"|
{{ {{TNTN|shortcut}}|[[WM:LGBT]]|dir={{dir|{{{uselang|{{CURRENTCONTENTLANGUAGE}}}}}}} }}
<div style="padding:0 .5em;color:#216498;font-size:170%;"><translate><!--T:5-->

I do not understand setup for translation, which is what this is. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:11, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

I wish the markup were not so complicated here. Updating these Meta pages is too intimidating, especially with the translations... @Varnent: Might you be able to identify the culprit? -Another Believer (talk) 14:43, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

WMF blog post: "Help expand Wikipedia’s coverage of LGBT communities during Wiki Loves Pride"

• http://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/06/17/wiki-loves-pride/ -Another Believer (talk) 17:03, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

Prizes for LGBT+ themed Featured Pictures

Draft at: Grants:Project/Rapid/LGBT/Wiki_Loves_Pride_Featured_Picture_drive_2016

The grant request is now drafted above and the prizes will be on a first-past-the-post open through until the start of 2017. We need a couple of WM-LGBT+ volunteers with some experience with Featured Pictures (on Commons or Wikipedia) to help with the process and flesh out details. Please add your name to the meta page, or comment on the associated talk page. If you haven't been active with WM-LGBT+ in the past, this would be a good time to join in with the user group.

I doubt it will be much volunteer time, as we only have to agree that a nominated photograph has a clear LGBT+ related theme, not make any assessment about whether it should be a Featured Picture.

The request is draft, so any feedback or improvements to the text are welcome. --Fæ (talk) 13:20, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

~100 LGBT articles campaign

There has been a long-discussed proposal in Wiki LGBT+ to have a set of about 100 LGBT articles presented as suggested articles to be included in all languages of Wikipedia.

I drafted the concept of making ~100 article lists at Wiki99. I moved the current draft of the LGBT list of this to Wiki99 LGBT+. If anyone has comments on either the campaign idea or the specific LGBT list, then please comment at either of those spaces.

I am glad that Wikimedia LGBT has spent so much time discussing this as a campaign idea. I think it really is a clever concept that originated in this project from many different contributors internationally. Blue Rasberry (talk) 18:38, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Wikimedia Diversity Conference 2017

Just putting the Wikimedia Diversity Conference on our radar...: Grants:Conference/Diversity Conference 2017. -Another Believer (talk) 18:16, 16 December 2016 (UTC)

Wikimania 2017 + Canada Pride Montréal 2017 ?

Wikimania 2017 will be held in Montreal during August 9–13. According to Fierté Montréal, Canada Pride Montréal 2017 will take place from August 10 to 20. Might there be an opportunity to take advantage of here? -Another Believer (talk) 05:00, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

De-Recognition of Affiliates with Long-standing Non-Compliance

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

Recognition as a Wikimedia affiliate - a chapter, thematic organization, or user group - is a privilege that allows an independent group to officially use the Wikimedia name to further the Wikimedia mission. While most Wikimedia affiliates adhere to the basic compliance standards set forth in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation, a protocol has been developed to address the exceptional cases when a Wikimedia affiliate does not meet basic compliance standards and their continued recognition as a Wikimedia affiliate presents a risk to the Wikimedia movement.

In the past year, the Affiliations Committee - with support from Wikimedia Foundation staff - has made a concerted effort to address a handful of chapters with long-standing issues of non-compliance. As a result, in the coming days and months, a small number of chapters that have been unable to return to compliance through their efforts in the past year will not have their chapter agreements renewed. As a consequence, these organizations will no longer have the additional rights to use the Wikimedia trademarks, including the Wikimedia name, that had been granted under those agreements.

If you have questions about what this means for community members in the affected affiliates’ region or language areas, we have put together a basic FAQ. The FAQ talk page is available for additional questions and comments, and the Affiliations Committee is happy to answer questions directly.

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, 15:55, 13 February 2017 (UTC) • Please help translate to your language • Get help • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

We invite you to join the movement strategy conversation (now through April 15)

This message, "We invite you to join the movement strategy conversation (now through April 15)", was sent through multiple channels by Gregory Varnum on 15 and 16 of March 2017 to village pumps, affiliate talk pages, movement mailing lists, and MassMessage groups. A similar message was sent by Nicole Ebber to organized groups and their mailing lists on 15 of March 2017. This version of the message is available for translation and documentation purposes

Dear Wikimedians/Wikipedians:

Today we are starting a broad discussion to define Wikimedia's future role in the world and develop a collaborative strategy to fulfill that role. You are warmly invited to join the conversation.

There are many ways to participate, by joining an existing conversation or starting your own:

Track A (organized groups): Discussions with your affiliate, committee or other organized group (these are groups that support the Wikimedia movement).

Track B (individual contributors): On Meta or your local language or project wiki.

This is the first of three conversations, and it will run between now and April 15. The purpose of cycle 1 is to discuss the future of the movement and generate major themes around potential directions. What do we want to build or achieve together over the next 15 years?

We welcome you, as we create this conversation together, and look forward to broad and diverse participation from all parts of our movement.

• Find out more about the movement strategy process
• Learn more about volunteering to be a Discussion Coordinator

Sincerely,

Nicole Ebber (Track A Lead), Jaime Anstee (Track B Lead), & the engagement support teams

05:00, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

WMF blog: "Wikimedia Foundation updates non-discrimination policy to support inclusive and diverse workplace"

Page watchers may be interested in this WMF blog post:

• https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/03/14/non-discrimination-policy-updates/

-Another Believer (talk) 05:31, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

Using "LGBT+"

Proposal

The LGBT portal and related pages should use the title LGBT+ matching the name of our user group. Currently LGBT+ is a redirect, which is handy, but as our commitment is to be open to contributions on Queer, Questioning, Asexual and other topics, including the '+' in our page titles feels more right. This was raised as a question by a couple of people at WMCON, especially as my badge missed off the '+', and is probably more often significant for those in non-English countries where other abbreviations and terms are used, but LGBT+ is understood. --Fæ (talk) 09:31, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

•  Support as proposer. Raising as a formal-looking proposal as this affects quite a few pages and interlinks. --Fæ (talk) 09:31, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
•  Support. Good to be inclusive of other sexual orientations and gender identities, and I support this acronym for that purpose. Funcrunch (talk) 14:48, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
•  Support The more, the merrier, and we avoid the letter salad we sould have otherwise ;) --Ecelan (talk) 18:49, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
• Sounds good. Should the page be moved to Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group to reflect our current status? -Another Believer (talk) 22:26, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

  I suggest sticking to Wikimedia LGBT+, as we welcome people posting here or asking questions who do not identify as part of the user group - we have no membership as a deliberate choice, and some folks are keen to stay independent from any organization. We should however also include changing LGBT to LGBT+ in the categories. --Fæ (talk) 10:57, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

  I am fine with or without "User Group". I just wanted to throw the idea out there since many other Wikimedia user groups include this as part of their designated page's title. -Another Believer (talk) 18:50, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

•  Support I would like to get rid of the "portal" designation also. When that was set up, there was less understanding of the concept of user group, chapter, or thematic organization pages. Probably this group is close to being able to register as a "thematic organization", if it wished, and in that case the name would be "Wikimedia LGBT+". There has been repeated past conversation about which LGBT acronym would be used and "LGBT+" has been consistently supported since proposed in 2014 as described at Talk:Wikimedia_LGBT/Archive_3#General_questions_by_Affiliations_Committee_to_the_interested_affiliate. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:44, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

• I don't like the portal setup either, though I do appreciate that the page has been translated into many languages since the portal framework was established. I just find it difficult to edit and the redirect to "/Portal" seems unnecessary. -Another Believer (talk) 18:49, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

I think we have sufficient consensus to get on with it. Can someone who understands our portal layout and translations give it a go? The last time I tried moving this stuff on meta, I found it confusing to repair all the breakages I made. --Fæ (talk) 14:23, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

I think this is the reason the page is stayed put for so long. I really wish the pages were easier to move and edit. Perhaps @Verdy p: is able to help? -Another Believer (talk) 14:45, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

@Another Believer: I've done the changes in all pages, categories and templates, I hope there's no broken links left. But when renaming translatable pages no redirect is left and some redirects may still be needed for links from other wikis/sites. verdy_p (talk) 20:46, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

@Verdy p: Thank you for your help! Wow, I find this portal/translation framework very cumbersome. I hope others will join in me in making sure pages don't have broken links, etc. Thanks again! -Another Believer (talk) 00:43, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

How to avoid this ? There are many pages. It would have been simpler to do if there were not already some existing redirect shortcuts added, it was necessary to resolve naming conflicts. Initially the naming scheme was simpler using the same base prefix so this could not be done by just renaming the base page. Additionally I checked all the existing links from pages that needed to be edited. Renaming categories as well and recategorizing pages is not done simply by renaming pages, so these pages have to be edited as well.

Such event (renaming a whole group) should not occur so often, so this is exceptional. There's no other way to do that given the limits of the wiki which is not really a dynamic CMS. Additionally there are access restrictions that limit the speed at which this can be done. So this requires multiple smaller edits to fix successive links. It requires some patience and method but it's doable and I did it, it took me a bit more than one hour (including resolving all double redirects left in several pages).

Finally it was also necessary to resubmit the base English pages for translation. It tried to minimize the impact by not forcing every edit to be translated again. But there are still some fuzzy translation resources (shown in red background in translated pages): most of them are trivial to revalidate if it's just to add a missing "+" after "LGBT".

There may be some details about some places where you'll want "LGBT" replaced by "LGBT+" in English (but not that on some languages this "+" causes problems, notably with RTL ones (Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Hebrew). Translators need to find a solution, or may just ignore this "+" addition in English or languages written in LTR scripts (Latin/Cyrillic/Greek).

You'll note that I fixed a few templates which were incorrectly written to support translations. But these pages were already using a small set of navigation templates which are grouped together in the parent category. They reduce a lot the number of edits to do in pages or translations, so it was not so much "cumbersome" as you think. There may be some ways to reduce further the maintenance needed for such operation.

Note also that to do all this, it was necessary to have the "translate admin" privilege to resynchronize all existing translations. If you think that, when editing translated pages, there are still missing items that should be edited in the English page and resubmitted to translate, contact me or another translate admin. I did that because you "pinged" me on this page and I was notified of your request when visiting any Wikimedia sites. verdy_p (talk) 06:38, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Much appreciated! I have never used a CMS that I liked, but how weird that we created something ... less good. --Fæ (talk) 11:31, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

MediaWiki could be better, but many of the extensions that would be needed and that are present in CMS are not allowed on this wiki. There are tons of CMS-like extensions for MediaWiki, used on specific wiki sites, generally closed, because they require API access and active scripting and more freedom to inject code in pages. We have to live here with these restrictions and not all extensions are accepted on Wikimedia sites. Instead, most of the time, we need human maintenance (and we tolerate a few bots to do some repetitive maintenance tasks). CMS systems work with a strong commitments of extension developers and content editors working in a close team with predictable delivery delays, and a supervizing director. It is not possible here. This wiki only has a few normal editors that will not invest time in debugging Mediawiki extensions or implementing new access restrictions, and we don't have enough admins to follow this small subproject with too specific tools. All we can do is trying to assist editors and translators to minimize the work they need to do most of the time. For the rest, we have this talk page, some experienced or patient editors like me that will do the maintenance needed... when they are notified and have time to dedicate to do it and reply to some additional requests or more complex tuning (when most basic wiki editors do not understand ho this works and don't want to invest any time to understand it).

MediaWiki developers may be sollicitated but there are not a lot of them and have lot of more important work to do that will support many more pages or projects in multiple wikis. And they have a hard job in optimizing the server load and develop tools helping to avoid damages by spammers and too many unfair users, or hackers trying to harvest the powerload of Wikimedia servers to do very bad thing to the internet or to steal private data or harass people, so site security is a premium goal before adding any extension (that must be extensively tested and approved more globally than just for a few pages like here). Additionally there are additional goals such as maintaining the technical skills needed to edit wikis relatively low, and not frightening people from editing wikis without unexpectedly breaking too many pages, and still allow all edits to be eaisly reverted without much damages. So out wikis evolve gradually and slowly and most of the work is done and must be done by humans while keeping some felxibility for possible gradual changes everywhere.

But here such extensions is clearly not needed. We've just got a "major" change of a single name used in various pages/templates/categories that needed some edits, but this was not so long that dedicated bots had to be used. Anyway we have no hurry, we can be patient, and humans can do this work as it will not be repeated often. Note that I fixed a few other pages that were experiencing some naming bugs for using some templates. This is fixed now. May be there's still some hidden link that does not go where it should, this can be fixed by editing pages normally. verdy_p (talk) 14:35, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikimedia Conference 2017

Wikimedia Conference, the annual meeting of all Wikimedia organizations (Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, user groups, and the Wikimedia Foundation), will take place in Berlin from March 31 to April 2, 2017. Registration opened on Friday, November 18, 2016 and closes on Sunday, January 8, 2017, which is just around the corner. WMLGBT+ is eligible to send one delegate.

I've had the pleasure of attending the past two years, and I've tried my best to represent this affiliate by sharing about our goals and activities, especially Wiki Loves Pride. I enjoy meeting affiliate leaders from around the globe, and I have some ideas for a survey I'd like willing attendees to take in order for us to have a better understanding of LGBT-related activities within the Wikimedia movement, but at the same time I want to give other WMLGBT+ supporters opportunities to represent our group and learn from peers.

If you are curious, please see the conference details linked throughout this message and note your interest here as soon as possible. With deadlines approaching, we'll need to make decisions sooner than later. I hope project participants will help disseminate this invitation and opportunity via other channels. Thanks! -Another Believer (talk) 04:43, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

• It would be nice to have a few possible candidates and we only have a few weeks to decide. I'll throw my hat in, mostly because I have not gone to any meetings since Wikimania 2014 and the LGBT+ photograph prize competition will hopefully have concluded just before despite its slow start, so that will be an experience to share. Plus I'm sure that a few of the affiliates will be interested in my GLAM related Commons projects, which manage to work without any funding, and that could be part of a wider discussion about better bots and perhaps how best to engage with long term independent volunteers. --Fæ (talk) 10:40, 30 November 2016 (UTC)
• I am not a candidate for attending this, but would like to help with candidate recruitment and the discussion process. I just sent an email to the wiki LGBT mailing list and will pass word around for people to participate. I wish to propose some minimal criteria for an ideal candidate:
  • Has developed LGBT+ content on a Wikimedia project in the past, however modestly
  • Has plans to organize a wiki LGBT+ outreach project or event in the next year, however modest
  • Has some experience with any part of the Wikimedia governance system, including participation as casual as joining an online or in-person program presented by any registered Wikimedia affiliate organization. I want this because the Wikimedia Conference is an event which features the discussion of managing outreach programs.

Thanks for the interest that anyone has. After we have a slate of candidates the discussion and selection process for choosing a representative will happen here. I propose that nominations for candidates be accepted until Wednesday 14 December, and that we anticipate candidate selection by Wednesday 28 December. From there the representative would register as soon as possible, and I would like to see the registration publicly posted by Wednesday 4 January in advance of the 8 January deadline. If anyone would propose an alternate schedule then speak up. Thanks. Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:28, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

An update - I am hoping to get a word from de:Wikipedia:Jungwikipedianer, which is an organization advocating for young Wikipedians in Germany and beyond. This group has been especially LGBT+ friendly. I asked about getting someone from that group to post here. It would be nice to have their input as they have made LGBT+ inclusivity a priority.

I do not know of a clever way to be more transparent, but I have asked around in other groups about other people participating in this process. I wish to avoid naming names of either individuals or groups, but I want to share that I am reaching out. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:22, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

I would like to participate in the Wikimedia Conference as a LGBT+ represente. My user name in the Wikimedia projects is User:Freddy2001 and I started contributing in 2012. My main projects are Wikimedia Commons and the German Wikipedia, where I am member of the Arbitration Committee. I am member of the German "Jungwikipedianer", a community of about 40 young editors who are living all across german speaking countries. For this community, I have organisated some events and meetups; I could also imagine, that I can do this for a LGBT+ meetup too. I attended lots of Wikimedia events, like for instance some WikiCons in Germany, the Wikimedia Conferentie Nederland, where I hold talks about issues of young editors in the community or how to engage new editors to this project. On the Wikimania in Esino Lario, I attended my first Wikimedia LGBT+ meetup. Currently, I try to revive the trans portal in the German Wikipedia and started already with some translations of trans related articles. -- Freddy2001 ^talk 20:56, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

• Nominations closed. Next to choose from the three candidates - I will write you all soon. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:07, 16 December 2016 (UTC)

Representatives

Update: After some discussion, User:Fæ and User:Freddy2001 will be representing our user group at the upcoming conference. I understand both have registered and will keep us updated about their work on behalf of WMLGBT+. -Another Believer (talk) 04:12, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Just a quick note that we should probably have these conversations on the mailing list as well. I recognize a note was sent initially, but I think things tend to get lost in inboxes if at least one reminder is not also sent as well. I do not think many folks are actively monitoring this page, and I heard from a few folks they were surprised this happened without them knowing about it. Their first heads up was the news being relayed on WikiCon page. I encourage us to utilize all our communications methods, as this has happened before. Given the loose structure of the group, and the lack of any formal structure/communications, I think it is wise to cast a wide net when "deciding things on behalf of the group" as was done here and has been done recently with grants. Not a complaint or major concern, just a friendly reminder. For what it's worth, as much as I adore Fæ, I think given the scope of this year's conference, we could have done a much better job finding some diverse voices to send. ;) Hopefully a bit more communications effort on that in the future will help increase those chances. --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 17:42, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

@Varnent: Could you expand on your 'some diverse voices' point, and explain which past grants you are referring to that made decisions on behalf of the WM-LGBT+ user group without casting a wide net? Without context it is almost impossible to know what must improve and why. Freddy2001 and myself bring our experience from very different parts of the LGBT+ community and this was part of our decision making of who to put forward, so the criticism seems odd. Thanks --Fæ (talk) 19:10, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

@Fæ: I never mentioned Freddy2001 and have no concerns there. :) However, let's be serious here. As a white gay man, I am many things, but diverse within a LGBT group is not one of them. ;) This user group has consistently sent gay men to this event. I think those selections have made a lot of sense, but if we are changing who goes, I think sending someone who has previously attended, and does not change the makeup of our representation, is a miss. Again, I adore you as a friend, but I think as a representative of this group, for the movement strategy track, I personally believe a more diverse choice would have been better. :) Regarding past grants, the only grant I am aware of is the photo project on Commons, which I think was a great effort, but I know caught some people by surprise. As I said on the mailing list, I encourage people to engage and share their thoughts as well, but I also recognize many user groups struggle with communicating widely to its audience. I think that these were surprises to people are suggestions that we need to all do better, perhaps creating a system of notifications via MassMessage to talk pages, or regular meetings of some type - not sure what the best solution is. If there were organized and recognized leadership, I think it would be different, but absent that, we are depend on making decisions via group consensus, and when that is the process, people being surprised by outcomes or "decisions" is not necessarily a good outcome for us long-term - regardless of how good those outcomes or decisions might be. Also, I want to be absolutely clear, this is my personal opinion and not in ANY way a reflection of anything related to others - including WMF - just in case that does not go without being said. ;) --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 19:46, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, that's a bit clearer. A couple of clarifications you may find useful to report back to whomever is raising these points:

• We are not sending any white gay men. One of our two representatives identifies as a gay man.
• Freddy2001 has never been to a WMCON before. The last time I went to a WMCON was, I think, in 2012, that's a 5 year gap and I was not representing WM-LGBT+ as it we did not exist back then, so the fact is that neither of us has represented WM-LGBT+ at WMCON.
• The grant you are referring to is the global $600 LGBT+ FP prize competition, it's not too late to make comments. The proposal was flagged up on the LGBT+ mailing list back in June 2016 and was commented on. The competition has not been launched. In fact the money has yet to be made available, and the intent is to notify 36 different projects in advance of the agreeing the notice to promote the competition. I would have preferred it if the grant could have officially been under the WM-LGBT+ umbrella, but the only option currently available with the WMF's systems is an individual grant, meaning that I take sole responsibility for the money.

Thanks --Fæ (talk) 20:00, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

As I said, it is unfortunate that more people were not nominated to attend. I think that indicates we should step up our efforts to facilitate more discussion in the future. Also, as I have said before, I have no concerns regarding Freddy2001 - who as I understand it is filling the general representation slot. My concern is that you have attended WMCon before, in other capacities sure, but perhaps a better person would have been someone who has not been before. I recognize no one like that came forward, but that does not change my opinion that it would have been a better fit for the movement strategy slot. :) --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 20:14, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

Sure, there is definitely no harm in starting these discussions earlier. I thought I was getting the ball rolling in time by posting a reminder back in November, but we can start this conversation even earlier next time. Note: I'm not sure if plans are set in stone for the upcoming Wikimedia Diversity Conference, but I started a discussion for that event, which won't take place until the Fall, below. Thanks, -Another Believer (talk) 20:18, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

(Edit conflict.) @Varnent: Thanks for your thoughts and the reminder. WMLGBT+ members were informed about the upcoming conference here and on the mailing list, and only three people (including myself) expressed interest in attending. Each of us expressed why we hoped to attend, both online and offline, and had to decide who would represent our group (first, with only one invitation, then again once an additional invitation was extended to WMLGBT+). I thank User:Bluerasberry for the reminders and just a bit of facilitation in order to keep the conversation going, so we could get attendees registered in time. Since I have attended the conference twice, I wanted to give others the opportunity to represent our group, and I think folks had enough time to express their interest in attending or voice concern about those who volunteered. I acknowledge the importance of diverse representation, but also recognize some limitations when only three people (two of whom are gay men) raise their hands. I share this just to be transparent about how decisions were made. -Another Believer (talk) 20:10, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

Varnent, it's strange to read that after 5 years of not going to WMCON, and never representing WM-LGBT+ before, I'm perceived by someone(s) as going too often. Sorry, that does not add up as a logical reason for me to withdraw. If there are real reasons why I should personally never represent WM-LGBT+ in the future or should never be invited to WMCON, even if they are purely political, you'll need to lay them out more clearly than this. Thanks --Fæ (talk) 20:25, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

@Fæ: Where did I say you go too often? I always enjoy these engagements with you where you twist words, but I've grown wary of them over the years my friend. You need new tactics. I said it would be better if someone that has not yet been had this opportunity. Do you disagree? As to your list of past sins, they are not for me to catalog, but I am confident you know yourself what they are. What you choose to do with that information is not up for me to decide. ;) If you believe you are the best candidate for this role, I respect that, does not mean I have to personally agree with it. --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 20:36, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm just going by your words. I'd rather not get drawn into your comments about my sins, or you being a friend, so let's just leave this as we disagree, as there are precious few measurable facts being presented to support your view that I should not be going to WMCON. No doubt we could talk about this at WMCON, but I'd much rather spend my time there productively. Thanks --Fæ (talk) 21:03, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

You dispute the facts that we have primarily sent gay men from Europe/US in the past, that you are a gay man from Europe/US, that it is a shame only three nominees came forward, that we could do better work on communications, and that you have attended the conference before? Each of those seems pretty easy to measure, and I apologize that you felt there were not enough of them to support my view. Out of personal curiosity - which of those facts which I presented are you disputing and so I know for the future, what is your preferred minimum fact count? ;) --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 21:08, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

I'll let others reply if they wish. I have already addressed the original points and see no benefit in writing further in the light of the personal comments you have made. --Fæ (talk) 21:13, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

@Varnent: I think you've made your points. If there are others who share similar concerns, now would be the time to say so. Another Believer (talk) 21:53, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

@Fæ and Freddy2001: Looking forward to your reports from the conference! Enjoy. -Another Believer (talk) 16:15, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Freddy2001 and me have taken notes we went along, which is great to prompt our memories. It may take another day or two to write them up, make allowances for school work! I learned a lot and simply having LGBT+ user group representatives visibly at the conference meant that it was more easily used as an illustration in diversity related discussion. I had plenty of enquiries about how the group worked, whether we had physical meetings and folks sharing their experiences of LGBT+ related events and issues. One early impact has resulted from my detailed discussions on the state of trans articles and policies in the German Wikipedia (I was really surprised, but there'll be more on that later!) as a question we raised on Women in Red has resulted in a healthy discussion and a new live list of wanted trans articles, including trans men and genderqueer, which takes advantage of Wikidata, see en:Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Women_in_Red#Trans women. --Fæ (talk) 09:03, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

@Fæ and Freddy2001: When either of you draft reports, can you add content and/or links to our ongoing annual report for the user group? There is a draft page here: Wikimedia LGBT+/2016. Updating this page throughout the year means we don't have to scramble to remember our collective activities at the end of the year. Thanks! -Another Believer (talk) 16:54, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Okay, I'll plan on putting my report in a sub-page and it can be a link in that report, and probably a transclusion here for simplicity. --Fæ (talk) 16:56, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, Fæ. My bad, this belongs at Wikimedia LGBT+/2017, which I just created. I've moved your comment there. Thanks again! -Another Believer (talk) 22:39, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Outcomes

One outcome of the Wikimedia Conference is a proposal to default to gender-neutral language. Thanks @Fæ:

• Commons:Commons:Village_pump#Defaulting to gender neutral language in policies and help pages

Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:49, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Draft policy at c:Commons:Use of gender neutral language

Update now an official policy! --Fæ (talk) 07:23, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Another now is:

• en:Wikipedia:Requests for comment/RfC to adopt a default gender neutral style for policy, guidelines and help pages
• https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wikimedia-gender-neutral-pronouns

--Fæ (talk) 18:23, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

The longer running discussions about lists of missing articles for genderqueer, trans and intersex people, a conversation started at WMCON2017, has now resulted in some useful reports:

• English Wikipedia missing articles en:Wikipedia:WikiProject_LGBT_studies/Missing_biographies_of_nonbinary,_trans_and_intersex_people
• German Wikipedia missing articles (working draft) de:Benutzer:Fæ/missing
• LGBQ English Wikipedia missing articles en:Wikipedia:WikiProject_LGBT_studies/Missing_biographies_of_LGBQ_people

--Fæ (talk) 06:04, 12 April 2017 (UTC)