Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies/Community

Archived
This WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies project page is archived and is no longer actively maintained.
It was last substantively updated June 24, 2009.
Visit the main project page to find current content.

The Community Department of the LGBT WikiProject is a centralised place to develop ways of fostering a sense of community and belonging in all our members, and to recruit more people into our community. Editors who are happy and have support when they need it are more likely to work harder at improving articles than if they feel no-one cares.

To achieve this, we currently have:

A successful recuiting programme to headhunt helpful contributors to the Wikipedia.
A welcome template to inform new members of aspects of the WikiProject and where they can go for help.
A newsletter to keep members up to date with all the latest news from the WikiProject
A quilt in which every member has their own patch to place whatever they want.

Any other ideas are welcome! Please propose them on the main talkpage.

Recruitment

The WikiProject Council's Guide says "A WikiProject must recruit new members to make up for attrition; any project that fails to do this will eventually collapse." Another consideration is that recuiting members from diverse areas of the wiki brings in expertise and different perspectives that can be beneficial to the WikiProject.

There are several methods of recruiting. The simplest and easiest is to tag LGBT article talkpages with our assessment banner. Just add {{LGBT WikiProject|class=}} to the top of the talkpage. The banner then acts as an advertisement for the WikiProject. See our Assessment page for how to assess articles as well.

Another method of recruitment is by direct invitation. An active editor to LGBT articles will meet many editors who could be interested in joining the WikiProject. To invite them, simply leave a note on their talkpage with a link to the Project. A potential invitation could go something like this: "Hi, I saw your edits to gay, and I'd like to invite you to join WikiProject LGBT studies - we're a group of editors who are working together to improve LGBT-related articles. Would you be interested?"

A final way of recruiting is to "head-hunt" potential contributors. To do this, choose any LGBT article. Then look through the history for an editor who has made a good edit to the article (rv vandalism and category changes do not count) and go to their userpage. Look for indications that they are interested in editing LGBT articles generally, such as a userbox, a list of articles edited or a sentence saying "I like editing articles on gay photographers/lesbian plumbers/the history of homosexuality in Costa Rica". Their contributions can also reveal what their area of editing is. If a person seems like they are a good and helpful contributor to LGBT articles, leave an invitation on their talkpage as explained above.It is important to remember that we are looking for great contributors to LGBT articles, not that person that edited Homosexuality and Zoroastrianism that one time who has "I am Zoroastrian" on their userpage.

Publicity

The WikiProject has a poster to promote the project outside Wikipedia, which can be found here:

http://wplgbt.tripod.com/Wikipedianeedsyou.doc (you have to directly cut and paste the url to download it, because just
clicking runs into a referrer check!)

The poster is a great promotional tool which can be put it up in LGBT reference libraries, centres and cybercafes, or just normal places which are situated in gay communities. Of course, everyone is welcome to place it elsewhere.

There is also a Press kit for anyone interested in drumming up some publicity (or just showing off). (Need apparently two clicks from here to read it.)

As awareness of us grows, WikiProject LGBT studies has been featured in an increasing number of external sources:

GLBTRT Newsletter/Spring 2007 - Vol. 19 No. 1, Page 6 ~ GLBT Round Table of the American Library Association
"Happy Endings" ~ Queerty.com, 9 April 2007
"WikiProject LGBT Studies" ~ Mix Brasil (Portuguese language), 10 April 2007 (English translation by A.Z. and StuRat)
The LGBT Wikipedians behind the mammoth online encyclopediaThe Advocate LGBT newsmagazine (Issue # 987, June 19 2007, page 26)
"Something Wiki this way comes" - SX News 19 September 2007

Members are encouraged to promote the WikiProject wherever they can, and be sure to note any external coverage on the main Talk page.

Welcoming new members

Add {{subst:LGBT Welcome}} to new members' talkpages:

Hi, WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies, welcome to WikiProject LGBT Studies!

We are a growing community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to identifying, categorizing, and improving articles of interest to the LGBT community. Some points that may be helpful:

Our main aim is to help improve LGBT-related articles, so if someone asks for help with an article, please try your hardest to help them if you are able.
Most important discussions take place on the project's main discussion page; it is highly recommended that you watchlist it.
The project has several ongoing and developing activities, such as article quality assessment, peer review and a project-wide article collaboration, all of which you are welcome to take part in. We also have a unique program to improve our lower quality articles, Jumpaclass, so please consider signing up there.
If you have another language besides English, please consider adding yourself to our translation section, to help us improve our foreign LGBT topics.
If you're planning to stay, have a square in our quilt! You can put anything you want in it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the talk page, and we will be happy to help you.

And once again - Welcome!

The template may be periodically updated to reflect new developments in the WikiProject.

Current Issue

Archived
This WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies project page is archived and is no longer actively maintained.
Visit the main project page to find current content.

Previous Issues

Different format

If you would like the newsletter delivered to you as a link or not at all, please place your name below.

Wikihermit, link.
Not at all please, thanks. - Lee Stanley 23:18, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

External Interest

If you would like a copy of the newsletter, or a link, delivered to your talkpage, for whatever reason, please add your name below.

Example, full newsletter.

User:Scarykitty, full newsletter.
MBK004, link.

Quilt

Any member may take a patch. Some users have chosen to place favourite quotes, others pictures. Please note that fair use images cannot be used on the quilt, only freely-licensed or public-domain images can be used here. Simply, if the image would be permitted by Commons:Licensing then it's okay here too. The quilt below is transcluded: add your patch here.