Talk:Wikimedia LGBT+/Archive 8

Proposed board

I have removed the old "proposed board" from the Participants list diff. Though the User Group has meetings, the idea of a formal Board with necessary roles and committee structure never appeared to take off. In practice the User Group defaults to minimal bureaucracy, but if anyone wishes to pursue more formal structuring to help enable better communications or coordination, they are welcome to raise similar ideas on our communication channels or here. --Fæ (talk) 11:25, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

I agree with this, and now we are in compliance with AffCom, at least we are current and our origination story is clarified and listed here. I also agree that being contacts to make sure our user group gets communications and remains current is more vital than having a structured board or leadership group as we are a bit more informal and flexible. We should likely want to make sure that User:Hexatekin and User:Another Believer want to remain as our other two AffCom contacts. Can you both let us know? --- FULBERT (talk) 12:00, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

I have sent a private email to Hexatekin as she has not commented here yet, though she is active. We should be cautious to give people weeks rather than days to reply to stuff going on. Everyone has times where they are busy at work, study, or committed to other real life events and may not be able to participate for a while.

With regard to process, we should have a defined procedure for taking nominations, set voting rules, and any steps expected for changing our representatives. As has been mentioned, though the rep has no required other roles, it would be healthy to be seen to encourage positive diversity and avoid having all representatives being the same gender or identified sexuality. Though the UG does not have members, we can run a consensus based procedure by notifying all our channels about nominations and possibly leaving on-wiki notices for all the signed participants on the portal.

So long as people have had their say about process and we have time for anyone to put ideas for alternatives, we could run a process to confirm new reps and give an opportunity for past reps to step back.

The requirements are to be available, active and legally identified to the WMF, but the role itself is not burdensome. There is an expectation that if things go wrong in some way, the reps will be available and comfortable to answer potentially difficult questions and be in a position to take timely action, including handling governance issues. Fortunately as the UG has no direct control over money, governance problems are unlikely. Naturally this would change if a Board or regular Committee were to be established, as processes for governance and authority and responsibility would then form and be delegated.

The current three reps have been in place for almost 4 years, which is a good term for these roles, similar to the terms we see for charity trustees. We might want to consider whether after 4 years we should have a documented light-weight procedure for reconfirming and voting in new reps. We would not want to have reps "retire" by default through not self-nominating, and fail to have new candidates lined up, so I would encourage the idea that we see 2 reps as an absolute minimum, and preferably continue to have 3 or more named reps so that we can rely on at least one always being currently active, aware of WM-LGBT+ projects and available to respond to any urgent Affcom/WMF questions within a business day. --Fæ (talk) 12:28, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for removing the "board" list -- I never really understood why we kept for so long, apart from aspirations of growing into an organization. I am indifferent about remaining a user group representative. I'm happy to have been one for several years, and I'm also fine with someone else taking my place. I'm more interested in the group's activities and representation at Wikimedia events than who appears on the user group agreement. -Another Believer (talk) 14:45, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Wikimedia Movement‎ 2018-20‎ Working Groups

I hope everybody here saw that the Strategy‎ | Wikimedia movement‎ | 2018-20‎ | Working Groups call for participants is now available. I engaged in a number of these discussions at the Wikimedia Conference two months ago, and strongly encourage anybody who is interested to volunteer for one of the working groups. It is very important that we have our voices included in this work. I am not involved whatsoever with the processing or selection of the volunteer applications, though encourage others to apply for this valuable work. FULBERT (talk) 01:43, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

Wiki Women in Red - a proposed User Group

Having worked for 2 years editing articles for Women In Red, a group of organizers have concluded that sourcing is one of the biggest hurdles in creating articles on women and non-binary genders. Though it is true that a lot of sourcing simply doesn’t exist, it is also true that there are sources, but we have no access to them. As these groups did not typically become subjects for academic study until the 1970s, many of the sources are not on line or are behind paywalls. Failure to include women and non-binary people in the encyclopedia presents a one-dimensional view of society and history. To address those issues, we are forming a new User Group aimed at referencing and support for like-minded groups and would appreciate your input or input from your supporters in our organizational process. See link: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Women_in_Red SusunW (talk) 23:20, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

@SusunW: I have raised an area of concern on the talk page of the proposal, I would not want to reopen the same discussion here. However there is some disagreement with the apparent positive view of the proposal, for example "The various LGBT/LGBTQ stuff can have its own user group, and as contributors they are just as welcome to work on all of this stuff as the men are.", refer to diff. It comes over as a positively anti-LGBT+ attitude, which is very unfortunate for the proposed new User Group, sorry. --Fæ (talk) 11:49, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Fæ I am dismayed and strongly objected to that statement and the exclusionary view that it represents. (Would that you Europeans were on the same time schedule as Mexico. I am always so far behind). SusunW (talk) 15:25, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

This series of discussions had a happy outcome. The proposed new group is now named Gender Diversity Visibility Community User Group, making it explicitly clear at the top level that the group includes gender queer, non-binary and trans/transitioning users and topics in its intended scope. As the new user group gets underway, I am looking forward to seeing some collegiate working with WM-LGBT+ so that both can support a wider population of contributors and readers. --Fæ (talk) 08:40, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

IRC #wikimedia-lgbt

Over the last few days Freenode, which is who runs the IRC servers we use for Wikimedia channels, has been responding with a serious spam problem by blocking messages from unidentified users. Until now, users could get on our channels to ask questions with an anonymous guest account or temporary name. In practice this may also mean that users will be unable to connect using the conventional name server even if they have an IRC account, and instead have to swap to the more direct SASL process.

I think this means that until Freenode can lift its restrictions, it is better to point out other channels for newbies that want to chat with LGBT+ user group participants or discuss LGBT+ related issues, such as the email list, Telegram, Twitter or Facebook. In particular Telegram remains popular, and is probably the best place for Wikimedia contributors to get a reply to questions. --Fæ (talk) 08:34, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

Community Wishlist Survey 2019/Anti-harassment/Add gender options to user preferences - how do you prefer to be described

I'd like you to support Community Wishlist Survey 2019/Anti-harassment/Add gender options to user preferences - how do you prefer to be described. I just learned that »opposes« do not count. Nevertheless, they demonstrate so much ignorance that i would like you to support the wish and spread it around your peers. Cheers Sargoth (talk) 16:53, 23 November 2018 (UTC)

Learning Quarterly: November 2018

L&E Newsletter / Volume 5 / Issue 17 / November 2018
Learning Quarterly

Frontpage:
#CEInsights18
#GenderEquity

Stay tuned
blogs, events
& more!

A program in the spotlight:
Editatona: Writing women back in history

Leave your mark on Meta!
AffCom corner and Wikimania Poster session

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:10, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

Write for the rights Tunis

File:Commons Workshop with Mawjoudin 01.jpg

Commons Workshop with Mawjoudin organization

Hi everyone. So next march, the second edition of the Queer Film Festival is going to be held in Tunis, and as a way to engage in such project, I am organizing a 3 days editathon where participants will focus on writing articles related to the theme in the MENA Region. I am looking for participants who will be interested in joining us to the editathon. Thanks to the partnership I managed to make with the organizing committee, the participants will get access to the festival and participate in its activities. Also, we started this week a serie of workshops to train the community here in Tunis on editing in Wikipedia and uploading on Commons so that they help us write a bigger number of articles. You can find all details of the programme before the editathon and for the editathon (still working on the last). We had the first workshop today actually.

We have a grant to pay for the local expenses of the participants such as the accomodation, food and local transportation. I might also find a way to pay for the flight tickets if the participant can't find a solution for this. Anyone interested in joining, can contact me on my meta page or my email: abida.houssem@yahoo.fr Looking forward to seeing you in Tunis :D--Houssem Abida (talk) 20:42, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Grants:Project/ContentMine/Divetech

Group members are invited to review Grants:Project/ContentMine/Divetech and share comments or concerns on the talk page. Thanks! -Another Believer (talk) 16:20, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

Update: This proposal is now under review, so please take a look if you are interested. -Another Believer (talk) 23:05, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

2018 Affiliations Committee call for candidates

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee.

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 can include up to fifteen members, roughly half of whom are selected every twelve months for staggered two-year terms. Those joining the committee during the current process will serve a two-year term ending in December 2020.

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 look for a healthy mix of different skill sets in our members, including the following key skills and experience:

- 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 affiliation, and similar topics.
- Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly two-hour voice/video meeting.
- International orientation.
- Fluency in English.
- Ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.
- Strong understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
- Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organizing are a plus.
- Skills in other languages are a major plus.
- Experience with or in an active affiliate is a major plus.
- Strong track record of effective collaboration (such as evidenced skills at facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and so forth) are 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 excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members selected will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2018 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/December 2018, 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, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made by mid-January 2019, with new members expected to join later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please post your application on the nomination page and send an email announcing your application to affcom@lists.wikimedia.org by 31 December 2018. Your application must include the following information:

- Your full name and Wikimedia username
- A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee.
- Answers to the following three questions:

1. How do you think affiliates work best together to partner on effective projects and initiatives?
   
2. What do you see as the role of affiliates in the Wikimedia movement in the next three years?
   
3. What do you feel you will bring to the committee that makes you a uniquely qualified candidate?
   

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact 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,
Kirill Lokshin
Chair, Affiliations Committee

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, 06:25, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Wikiloveslove on Wikipedia with a gender gap focus

Hi I wanted to let you know that this year we are adding a wikipedian and gender gap contest to the Wiki Loves Love contest on Commons. I hope our project will participate, the idea is to add content related to ceremonies, festival and testimonies of love on Wikipedia. We have set up a list of articles to work on which also tackle themes of gay weddings (also the laws relating to it), and alternatives like free union, polyamor, bride buring, children marriages, bride abduction. You can have a look here (we have placed the project on Meta to allow multilanguage participation). You can participate as a project or as individual contributors. The main project page is here : Wiki Loves Love on wikipedia 2019. I hope that you will participate! Nattes à chat (talk) 17:48, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

New Affiliations Committee appointments

AffCom is excited to share with you the news that the Wikimedia Foundation Board has unanimously approved the changes to the Bylaws during the last Board meeting on January 30, 2019.

This change allows the participation of User Groups in the Affiliate-selected Board seats (ASBS) 2019 process.

To read the Board's announcement, please click here

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:45, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

This seems an exciting opportunity for our User Group to engage in these wider and broader conversations and vote in our overall representation. --- FULBERT (talk) 14:31, 24 February 2019 (UTC)

Help us make Wikipedia talk pages more accessible to more participants

Hello!

Our team at the Wikimedia Foundation is working on a project to improve the ease-of-use and productivity of wiki talk pages. As an affiliate, I can imagine you’ve run into challenges explaining talk pages to first-time participants, or it is an consultation that would interest your members.

We want all contributors to be able to talk to each other on the wikis – to ask questions, to resolve differences, to organize projects and to make decisions. Communication is essential for the depth and quality of our content, and the health of our communities.

We're currently leading a global consultation on how to improve talk pages, and we're looking for groups that can discuss and report on their experiences using (or helping other people to use) wiki talk pages. We'd like to invite you to participate, with the user groups that you belong to. You can learn more about the consultation at Mediawiki.org and if you're interested in hosting a group discussion (on-wiki or off-wiki), you can sign up at the participant sign-up group.

If you’d like to participate or if you have any questions, please contact us and let us know. The more people participate from many horizons, the better the outcome will be.

Thank you! Trizek (WMF) 15:29, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

Call for complementary facilitators and more to get the ASBS 2019 process started!

Hi everyone, hope all is fine with you!

The next weeks will be intense, as affiliates figure out their participation in the process that will soon select 2 people for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. Since new Bylaws established that the user groups are for the first time going to be involved in such process, a lot more support than before is certainly going to be necessary, among other things, for big and healthy conversations on the topic. Hence, please encourage members of your group to become a complementary facilitator, or sign up yourself! You can add yourself to the list on Meta or reply to me to flag availability. One person from the facilitators group should soon be selected to liaise with the Foundation Board’s Chair, María Sefidari, on behalf of all affiliates, and it may be wise to also find a deputy for them.

Finally, if you can think of any huge obstacles that would prevent your group from participating to the process (for instance, a language barrier, or lack of good decision-making mechanisms, etc.), please reach out to me directly: it is really important that we hear about them as early as possible. Thank you! Elitre (WMF) 15:23, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

I am not sure what this requires or how this may work, yet I am happy to volunteer to serve as our LGBT+ User Group complementary facilitator to help us coordinate our vote. --- FULBERT (talk) 20:54, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

Note at English Wikipedia

I've left a note at English Wikipedia re: the above Strategy Liaison discussion, and to propose adding mention of this user group on the main page for WikiProject LGBT studies at English Wikipedia. I'm hoping editors will see value in making WikiProject members (and passersby) aware of the user group, especially for people who might want have an interest in official representation within the Wikimedia movement. I encourage page watchers here to contribute to the ongoing discussion. -Another Believer (talk) 00:11, 26 March 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia for Peace at Europride 2019

Hi everyone! We're again organising a multi-day edit-a-thon with motivated Wikimedians and newcomers from all around Europe and the globe in order to attend Europride and to add new LGBT+ content to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. We have 15 places and would love to have some members of this user group present in the event, so feel free to apply for the project! :) More info here or get in touch with me.

A second thing: I mention in the event that the user group is co-organising the event, because I am part of this group and so are some of the other organisers/participants. Is that an okay procedure? At what point does the user group organise an event and at what point is it just individuals getting together? --Shikeishu (talk) 09:09, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

User reporting system consultation

Hello,

The Wikimedia Foundation's Community health initiative plans to design and build a new user reporting system to make it easier for people experiencing harassment and other forms of abuse to provide accurate information to the appropriate channel for action to be taken.

The success of this project depends on collecting ideas and feedback from people in a variety of different roles in the Wikimedia movement. To this end, there will be a multi-phased consultation where you can participate in ways that you find most comfortable.

Please visit the User reporting system consultation page to learn more about the process, to ask questions, or to offer feedback. You also can sign up to be be a liaison for you group, to translate pages or messages, or to host a discussion group (on or off wiki.)

Please share this message with other people who you think would be interested in this project.

Cheers, SPoore (WMF) Strategist, Community health initiative 14:49, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

Article on harassment

Sharing: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/wikipedia-harassment-wikimedia-foundation.html -Another Believer (talk) 16:54, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Update about the Affiliate-selected Board seats process 2019

Hello everyone!

• The Resolution has been approved by the Board of Trustees;
• Nominations phase is now open, from April 15 00:00 UTC to April 30 23:59 UTC. See the Call for Candidates and Nominations pages;
  • Community members may ask questions of the candidates;
• Your main representative has just received an email to confirm that they are indeed the primary contact and will perform official actions on behalf of your group (such as endorsing candidates and then voting). Some groups also need to verify their eligibility status in due time, as explained in the email;
• New content is available to spread awareness around the process - the infographic on this page has clickable links and can be translated, and a primer is available, that we hope will be particularly helpful to those new to such a process;
• Finally, you are welcome to help with translations! Pick one page from the ASBS category and, in the next couple of weeks, please consider translating profiles of the candidates in particular.

Thanks for your attention! The Facilitators for ASBS 2019, 07:33, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

LGBT+ Strategy Liaisons - We need a volunteer

There was a call for all organized Wikimedia Groups to select a Strategy Liaison to represent the groups in the Movement Strategy Process. This is separate from our representative to the 2019 Wikimedia Summit. While the date for representatives has passed, I think it is important that we in the LGBT+ User Group has representation in this process. I reached out to the organizers and asked if we can have a little more time to ensure we get our representative in place.

This role will:

• Act as the bridge between Organized Groups and the overall Movement Strategy Process;
• Proactively update their organization about the ongoing work and how it can participate in it effectively;
• Coordinate and facilitate discussions within the organization and highlight the most important organizational feedback points to the Working Groups.

More information about expectations may be found here.

They agreed, so here is the question -- who is interested, willing, and able to represent us in the Movement Strategy Process? We often lament that we are not organized enough yet still want our voices heard, so this is a really important and valuable opportunity to get involved. I am already involved in the Capacity Building Working Group (and as such am happy to help onboard and support anybody here who volunteers to be our representative), so think this can be a perfect role for somebody to embrace. Who is interested? --- FULBERT (talk) 13:07, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

One last ping on this, as I believe that our not having a representative for this role will set us back a bit as we seek to move our concerns forward into the Movement Strategy itself. I would gladly volunteer for this, but am already on one of the Strategy Teams. Pinging our three User Group reps Hexatekin, Another Believer, and Fæ, along with a few others Shikeishu, Houssem Abida, Sparrow (麻雀), Blue Rasberry , and RachelWex. Granted, this would take some time, though I am happy to help. Fully aware volunteers can never be forced to participate, but I want to make sure it is clear we may miss out on some things without having a presence AND this would be a fantastic opportunity to get more involved in a different way beyond editing! --- FULBERT (talk) 00:09, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

@FULBERT: I do not have time to commit to this fully. However, if no one else volunteers, then I can offer to be present at online meetings, improvise feedback by myself without taking the extra time to solicit consensus, and also I do take notes at meeting which I can share. I would much prefer to support anyone else doing this. All that said - this is a great opportunity and if no one else is available for this, then I can minimally participate and report back. I think we are already past the deadline for this so thanks FULBERT for signaling the last chance.

Does anyone else want to give this a go? I totally understand that all of you already have your own projects. I do have the advantage that all this administration is familiar to me, so I do not have to take time to get up to speed on the strategy discussions and what they want. Blue Rasberry (talk) 00:15, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

I am fine with all this Blue Rasberry , though know you are already pulled in many directions so it would truly be a labor of service. For anybody else interested (pinged here or not) in serving our LGBT+ community, this is more an opportunity to contribute and be involved than work, per se, though it is so very important. Would be a shame IMHO in the year of the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall for us not to have a rep. --- FULBERT (talk) 00:24, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

Hey everyone! I would totally support User:Bluerasberry in this, but if you are already full with other responsibilites, I could offer to do it as well. I just participated at the Wikimedia Summit for our user group and became very motivated to stay involved in the strategy process. I was planning to do a summary of the most important points of the scoping documents for our group anyways and cake take the responsibility to start a discussion here, to communicate that to the appropriate working groups and to participate in online meetings, if needed. If there's someone else who would like to take over this role, I'd be totally fine with that as well and would of course support that person! :) --Shikeishu (talk) 09:44, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

@Shikeishu: I would appreciate if you can take the representative role. Thanks also for representing the group at the Summit. If you want to debrief by voice or video chat then I can try to recruit for a group video chat, if you think that would be useful.

When you have your summary written then post it here so that I and others can help circulate it. Here are previous reports:

• Wikimedia LGBT+/Wikimedia Conference 2018
• Wikimedia LGBT+/Wikimedia Conference 2017

If you like this style, do this. If you want to share shorter prose more like a story or journalism, then that works too. Thanks. Let me know if I can help with anything and THANK YOU. Blue Rasberry (talk)

Thanks, Shikeishu. -Another Believer (talk) 14:47, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Glad you will be taking on this role to represent our LGBT+ User group with the Strategy process Shikeishu. Given some of the gaps I have seen with some of the working groups, I believe we need a dedicated person for this purpose. Please sign up with the link above and let us know once you have been added. --- FULBERT (talk) 18:20, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your trust in this, dear fellow user group members. I just signed up and will get back to you later this week with my report from the Summit + a call for your opinions on the strategy process. --Shikeishu (talk) 15:52, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Hi, I am sorry for not noticing this discussion earlier. I think Shikeishu will do a great job with representing us. Good luck my friend.--Kawayashu (talk) 16:02, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

Update on the Affiliate-selected Board seats 2019 process

Hi all,

The Election Facilitators met on Friday, April 5. We finalized the resolution, which is now frozen. The Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation will be asked to approve the resolution.

We have made two small changes to be more inclusive. We extended the date for compliance with AffCom reporting and being in good standing to May 7 to allow time for as many Affiliates as possible to be current with these requirements. The Election Facilitators adjusted the language in case a quorum is not met during the election.

On the talk page of the resolution one issue was raised. The issue looks like to be about a possible candidate. Affiliates will have ample time to discuss the merits of candidates during nomination time, screening time, and they can cast their votes on candidates. The Election Facilitators didn't see the necessity for this change, and left the resolution on this point unchanged.

The Election Facilitators will be Abhinav Srivastava, Lane Rasberry, Jeffrey Keefer, Ad Huikeshoven, Neal McBurnett and Alessandro Marchetti. We will welcome more volunteers to assist us in this process, to reach out to the diversity in language and gender in our communities, and do so in an advisory role.

The nomination period opens on April 15. We are going to prepare nomination pages on Meta. You can expect a call for nominations. There is a draft call, including a candidates' profile section with non-binding guidelines about experience and characteristics for nominees. You are welcome to add your insights, or discuss on the talk page.

Erica Litrenta (WMF staff) supports us in this process. She will reach out to all affiliates through mail and other channels to make sure we are up to date with (user)name and contact details of your primary contact.

On behalf of the Election Facilitators, Ad Huikeshoven 10:52, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

As one of the Election Facilitators in the ASBS process this year, I will recuse myself from discussing nominees or anything specific with our user group's voting in this election.

However, as a member of this user group, I do want to ensure that we have these discussions.

To this point, I request that those who are our user group representatives to AffComm begin the discussion about how this will happen and how our user group membership will discuss this. Our User Group representatives should have already received emails about this process and notice about an informal Telegram group where User Group representatives are gathering to discuss how this may be done, as this will be a new experience for all of us. Thank you. --- FULBERT (talk) 13:18, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

I am pinging the three reps who are listed as being our contacts with AffCom about this -- Hexatekin, Another Believer, and Fæ -- as the nomination process begins tomorrow, which one of the 3 of you is the one who will be actually voting on our behalf, and what thoughts do you have for engaging with our LGBT+ User Group on this? --- FULBERT (talk) 23:36, 14 April 2019 (UTC)

@FULBERT: I've received an email about this, but I admit, I've fallen a bit behind about the process and expectations. I'll try to get caught up, but in the meantime I definitely welcome others to share their thoughts. -Another Believer (talk) 04:16, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

@FULBERT: As we are an adhocracy, it may be a good idea to ensure some WM-LGBT+ channels are discussing the vote so that at least 'several' people can chip in with suggestions; I know you have started that, good stuff. Anyone can ask the candidates questions on Meta, and we should strongly recommend doing that in our normal channels (at least email, this page and telegram). If the schedule conflicts with AB's holidays or similar, I would be happy to do the vote thing, influenced by feedback, though regardless of who votes, I'll probably be asking the candidates a tricky LGBT+ related question which might vary depending on who runs. ;-)

P.s. bit of a tangent, but the candidate guidelines say that someone convicted of 'serious crimes' can not run, I have no idea how serious or not-serious crimes are defined, maybe yourself or Ad can link to a WMF Legal explanation. --Fæ (talk) 11:18, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

@Fæ: We discussed this. "Serious crimes" is a matter for the wiki community or the board to decide informally and not typically a legal issue. One bar which we agreed on is a history of embezzling from nonprofits but other than that there is no guidance. Feel free to define the concept or raise the issue if you like. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:58, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

It probably waives more of a flag for someone not used to American English, and in plain English seems a bit misleading. The equivalent would probably be more realistically expressed as the way charities phrase their good governance expectations for ethical behaviour. These expectations may be wildly different depending on what matters the board has to consider, for some boards any criminal records might exclude a candidate, for others it might actually be considered part of their appropriate diversity. The brief for the governance sub-committee (or whatever they call themselves) might be a useful thing to link to in the election materials. Keep in mind the resignation of one recent WMF board member, where the issue was not a criminal record, but ethical compliance with corporate governance which only came to light due to related court records and press coverage; a pithy way of mentioning that type of ethical background would be more useful than 'serious crimes' and less likely to sound like a popular TV series. --Fæ (talk) 14:21, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

@Fæ: Yes, you get it, all of this is correct. Feel free to write this or whatever you like directly into the election rules. If you stay out of the board resolutions and go into documentation about the culture or expectations of this then you or anyone else can establish the expectations as you like. I could repeat this on the election talk page if you found it useful. Overall, I and others wish the wiki community would treat this as a more conventional wiki-style event where everyone participates, rather than a closed-door event because none of the facilitators wants to dictate the terms and details. I can commit to publishing a debrief after the election but cannot surface in advance the many hypotheticals that arise in the fast paced casual conversation we have had. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:32, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

I agree with all the comments Bluerasberry shared, and think that both asking questions along with either nominating or voting for candidates, with the engagement of the User Group, will be useful. Also, I am unclear -- which of you three Hexatekin, Another Believer, and Fæ are actually the first listed representative who will be casting the vote on behalf of our LGBT+ User Group? --- FULBERT (talk) 00:44, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

I received an email a few days ago confirming I would be casting the vote. But, as I mentioned above, I've not been following the 2019 board seats process. If I'm being totally honest, I'm not too concerned about the results either, so if someone else wants to take this on, that's one less thing on my plate. Otherwise, I'm totally willing to cast a vote on the group's behalf, but I'm not sure exactly how this is done or what statement I would be posting on our collective behalf. -Another Believer (talk) 00:47, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

There is a new and somewhat active Telegram group that was started to connect the various User Group Affiliate leads Another Believer. That may be a good community to join, as there are many there who are grappling with the same How and What questions you are raising. Let me know if you need an invite to it. --- FULBERT (talk) 02:09, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

@FULBERT: Thanks, but I have no idea what Telegram and I really don't have the capacity to follow yet another wiki-related channel. Between all the wikis, mailing lists, emails, social media, etc, I can't take on more platforms. If someone else needs to lead this process, I'm not opposed. -Another Believer (talk) 16:21, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

┌─────────────────────────────────┘
Confirmation by User:Elitre (WMF) still needed, but I've emailed to transfer voting power to Rachel. Thanks for offering to help here. -Another Believer (talk) 17:34, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Thanks all. --Elitre (WMF) (talk) 06:29, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

Wikimedia LGBT+ Endorsement of 2019 Affiliate Selected Board Candidates

Hello everyone--a candidate for the 2019 WMF Affiliate Board requested Wikimedia LGBT+'s support--here is his page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Nominations/Gerald_Shields

BTW--only two candidates are currently running--here is the other one: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Nominations/Reda_Kerbouche

Not sure if you all want to discuss here on this page, or somewhere else? Let me know. RachelWex (talk) 17:02, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

Update, more candidate pages have been posted at Affiliate-selected Board seats/2019/Nominations. -Another Believer (talk) 21:29, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

LGBT+ User Group Meeting (April, 2019)

A number of us discussed, while at the Wikimedia Summit a couple weeks ago, how valuable it is to talk in real-time as members of a User Group. As this tends to happen only at the WM Summit and Wikimania, this seems to be an opportunity that has overall been available only for those who are able to travel to those events. As some of the other User Groups I am a member of have started to meet monthly or every two months via webinar (for video to see we are real people, or only for the audio portion of it as desired), let's be bold and try this and see how it works.

I will provide Zoom for a webinar (so no costs), and if you are interested in trying this, follow the Doodle Poll link here and let's see if we can find a time in the next week or so. All in our User Group and Allies are welcome.

Pinging Another Believer, Fæ, Bluerasberry, Shikeishu, and Kawayashu as an FYI as you have all posted on this page recently.

Agenda ideas are also welcome! ---FULBERT (talk) 01:13, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

Working Agenda items:

• Introductions
• LGBTQ+ Wikipedia Summit Report
• Increasing LGBTQ+ Wikipedia Engagement
• Intersectionality
• What do you find valuable in the group?
• What would you like to see?
• What are the next steps we can do?

RachelWex (talk) 01:28, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

Great first pass on them RachelWex. I added some formatting and added a couple as well. --- FULBERT (talk) 01:33, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

The date and time of the April 2019 Meetup will be Monday, April 22, at 11:00am EST per the majority of the Doodle poll. As I noted there, we will use the first opportunity the majority can attend after the weekend, which some celebrate as a holiday. This will also allow for a little more time to finish drafting and vetting an agenda (already in process, above). A new page was created for this, and I invite us to continue having this discussion there.

Sorry I was unable to attend. Re: Affiliate-selected Board seats process, I've emailed Rachel and a WMF community relations specialist to transfer voting ability. I'm hoping this has been resolved, and thanks to Rachel for offering to help. -Another Believer (talk) 17:28, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

I also want to thank RachelWex for volunteering for this role, yet I do not believe it has been settled yet as the Affiliate-selected Board seats/2019/Eligible entities page with the official listings still has a no representative listed. Can you Another Believer please work with User:Elitre_(WMF) for clarification, given the deadline for nominations is this week and voting will begin shortly thereafter? Thank you. --- FULBERT (talk) 20:48, 28 April 2019 (UTC)

I'm not sure how the Meta pages are being updated, but the rep change has been confirmed via email. -Another Believer (talk) 20:52, 28 April 2019 (UTC)

Will ping User:Elitre_(WMF) to ensure this gets updated. Thanks Another Believer. --- FULBERT (talk) 20:58, 28 April 2019 (UTC)

Page will get updated later today... --Elitre (WMF) (talk) 07:16, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Affiliate-selected Board seats 2019 process: your representative

Hello. The name of the only person who will vote on behalf of this group to select the next two Board members is now at m:Affiliate-selected Board seats/2019/Eligible entities. Please contact me directly as soon as possible if you need any kind of corrections there. There's only a few hours left to endorse candidates, and only the official voter can do that. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that you can make a difference with the necessary translations.

Appreciate your attention and your support so far! Thank you! Elitre (WMF) and Facilitators of ASBS 2019, 12:15, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

All good here. -Another Believer (talk) 17:58, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Does anyone have any opinion on who to endorse? I have some but I want to hear from Wikimedia LGBT+ first. Here is the list of candidates: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Nominations. I am a little miffed that the candidates have from May 1 - May 7 to answer questions but we only have until the end of today to endorse people? How do we make an educated decision? Anyway--please share thoughts--thanks! RachelWex (talk) 21:55, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

It's still possible to endorse certain candidates on their talk page if you so desire :-) Philip Kopetzky (talk) 14:33, 1 May 2019 (UTC)

11 out of 12 candidates received at least 2 nominations, including our "favorites"...so right now I just want to focus on discussion about voting. Monday May 13, 12 pm CST FULBERT (talk) will facilitate a Wikimedia LGBT+ Zoom meeting where candidates and voting will be on the agenda...more information about the Zoom meeting here: Monday, May 13, at 1:00pm EDT / 7:00pm CEST, via Zoom

Also, this is the list of candidates once again: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Nominations Keep watching this page for candidate responses to questions--candidates have from May 1 - May 7 to respond: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Questions RachelWex (talk) 16:41, 1 May 2019 (UTC)

LGBT+ User Group Meeting (May, 2019)

Here is a Doodle poll to schedule a day and time for our May, 2019 live, online LGBT+ User Group meeting: https://doodle.com/poll/3bt3yti2e96iy9cw

This poll will close on Friday, April 26, at 9:00am EST.

Information from our last meeting may be found here. I hope you may be able to join us. All are welcome. --- FULBERT (talk) 16:57, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

I am happy to share the the May LGBT+ User Group meeting (real time, online) will be Monday, May 13, at 1:00pm EDT / 7:00pm CEST, via Zoom. Please share this with everybody who may be interested and sign up if you believe you can make it. All are welcome!

I updated the agenda for the live, online meeting next week on 13 May. Please add to the agenda and share any input for this. All are welcome! --- FULBERT (talk) 16:51, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

We revised the time for the meeting to be one hour later at 2:00pm EDT / 8:00pm CEST. Hope this means even more can join it now on May 13. Here is a link to the agenda and Zoom information. All are welcome. --- FULBERT (talk) 12:49, 12 May 2019 (UTC)

Affiliate-selected Board seats 2019 process: Voting Process

Hello Everyone,

RachelWex (talk) must place a vote on behalf of Wikimedia LGBT+ for a representative to serve on the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliate Board. Deadline to vote is May 31st.

This is the list of candidates: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Nominations

These are their responses to questions provided by the Wikimedia community: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Questions

Please email RachelWex (talk) privately at rswexelbaum@stcloudstate.edu with feedback, favorites, or rankings of the candidates. The Wikimedia LGBT+ thematic user group will discuss the feedback on the week of May 27, prior to voting.

If you can share this message with the LGBT+ groups in the different language Wikipedias, that would be excellent, as this is a global thematic user group and we seek input and feedback from ALL of our members.

Sincerely, RachelWex (talk)

Please note, the LGBT+ User Group will meet and vote in the ASBS election the week of May 27. The poll for selecting this day and time is here - https://doodle.com/poll/zbmiuax3ihe4yxsv --- FULBERT (talk) 19:27, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

LGBT+ User Group Meeting - June 13, 2019

Here is a Doodle poll to schedule a day and time for our June, 2019 live, online LGBT+ User Group meeting: https://doodle.com/poll/p8c3cbfdq4vry4yt This poll will close on Friday, May 17, at 12:00pm EDT. Information from our May 2019 meeting may be found here. All are welcome. --- FULBERT (talk) 19:31, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

The June Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group meeting will be on Thursday, June 13, at 10:00am EDT / 4:00pm CEST. Please add yourself to or follow the planning page. All are welcome. --- FULBERT (talk) 13:00, 21 May 2019 (UTC)

Wikimedia Summit 2019

We're ahead of schedule here, but we should start discussing Wikimedia Summit 2019. You'll notice the name of the Wikimedia Conference has changed, as has the scope. According to a recent mailing list message posted by Daniela Gentner & Cornelius Kibelka of WMDE:

"The next conference will focus on the Movement Strategy process and movement governance for the organized part of the movement in general. The program will be designed according to the status and needs of the ongoing Movement Strategy process and its working groups. We are hoping to see a diverse group of participants next year, and look forward to creating three days of working, discussing, and thinking together... Thus, to make it clearer that learning and capacity-building will not be part of the program and cut laces to the previous conference, we will change the name to “Wikimedia Summit” (#wmsummit). The change of the purpose of the event is accompanied by a change in the composition of the audience. The event will be a more focused one, and therefore we aim to scale down the audience to around 200 participants. As it is this still the Wikimedia affiliates conference, every eligible affiliate can send one (1) delegate."

By the way, the next conference will take place in Berlin, during March 29–31, 2019. Registration for the Wikimedia Summit will open on November 2 and end on December 17, 2018. You can read eligibility information here: Wikimedia Summit 2019/Eligibility Criteria. Perhaps we should start, as we do each year, by giving people a space to express interest in attending on behalf of this user group. If you are interested, you can make your case below.

Thanks! -Another Believer (talk) 20:22, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

So, following an announcement about the Summit, I took another look at Wikimedia Summit 2019/Eligibility Criteria and saw this group is currently not eligible to attend due to late reporting. I updated the Reports page, posted a note on the Reports talk page, and also posted a note at Talk:Wikimedia Summit 2019/Eligibility Criteria. If any LGBT+ User Group members care to weigh in here, on any of these discussions, or add to any of the reports, please do so ASAP. Thank you. Another Believer (talk) 19:48, 2 November 2018 (UTC)

@FULBERT: Bringing this to your attention, just in case. -Another Believer (talk) 19:53, 2 November 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for this Another Believer. I am surprised our reporting was not done as we have a couple representatives who I thought handle that reporting. This is also the first time I heard our late reporting affects our ability to send somebody to the event in 2019. Didn't AffCom reach out to our reps who we have listed here? That was something that I raised with them when I met with them last year, and thought the reporting and communication was resolved. Interested in what others think about this, though I would eagerly volunteer to attend as our representative again if we can have one and if that would be agreeable to the members of our community. FULBERT (talk) 20:02, 2 November 2018 (UTC)

@FULBERT: Sure, hopefully I've done enough to put us in good standing, but I'm trying to see who can confirm or let us know if we need to put together something more formal. -Another Believer (talk) 20:06, 2 November 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for this Another Believer; let us know when and how they reply. Hopefully it will be in a timely way so we can resolve this question. --- FULBERT (talk) 12:52, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

@FULBERT: No reply thus far. Perhaps you could also ping on the reports talk page, or even send an email? I've been told User:DNdubane (WMF) is the correct person to contact. If we can't get this resolved, we will have no representation at the conference, and registration is already open. -Another Believer (talk) 18:19, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

This does seem odd. Let me look into this and send a couple emails Another Believer and commit to getting clarification by the end of this week. ---FULBERT (talk) 19:03, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

Update: I believe we're now in good standing. -Another Believer (talk) 01:23, 15 November 2018 (UTC)

I sent a couple emails at the beginning of this week about this and the organizers committed to looking into this. Will follow-up with the replies off Wiki to confirm and circle back Another Believer. --- (No idea why I was not logged in, but this was from me) FULBERT (talk) 13:34, 15 November 2018 (UTC)

I sent another follow-up to the Wikimedia Summit organizers and they just replied that we are now current and can register to send a representative for the 2019 Summit. Thanks for your efforts with our annual report Another Believer. --- FULBERT (talk) 12:21, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

Wonderful, glad we're in order. -Another Believer (talk) 14:47, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

Hi. I would love to volunteer and represent the group in the summit. Actually, this will be a great opportunity for me to meet more of the UG. Also, this will give me the space to present the output of the editathon about LGBT in Arab countries I am organizing next march simultaneously to the Queer Film Festival in Tunis, Tunisia. I use the opportunity to invite you to endorse my grant proposal for this event.--Houssem Abida (talk) 19:56, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

@Houssem Abida: thanks for expressing interest. To be clear (re: "this will be a great opportunity for me to meet more of the UG"), we're selecting one delegate to represent this group, so while you may meet a few supporters of this group's efforts, this is not a meeting for WMLGBT+. As a side note, please keep us informed about your editathon and other efforts! -Another Believer (talk) 21:35, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

@Another Believer: totally agree with you. I meant that meeting the community is an extra reason that motivates me to go to the Summit.--Houssem Abida (talk) 21:05, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

• Last year's nomination process is at Talk:Wikimedia_LGBT+/Archive_7#Wikimedia_Conference_2018. Blue Rasberry (talk) 20:14, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

Call for nominations

(feel free to post this text anywhere appropriate)

This message is a call for candidates who would represent Wikimedia LGBT+ at the Wikimedia Summit in Berlin in 29–31 March 2019. See details on the summit at

• https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Summit_2019

Anyone who could serve this role please sign your name to

• https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_LGBT%2B#Call_for_nominations

The Wikimedia Summit, formerly called the Wikimedia Conference, is an international gathering of Wikimedia community group representatives who convene to develop the community recommendations for Wikimedia Movement strategy. In addition to discussing global strategy there is some opportunity at this event for representatives to negotiate collaborations with other Wikimedia affiliates.

Anyone who is interested in standing as a candidate should state their interest on Meta-Wiki in the Wikimedia LGBT+ talk page section seeking statements of interest. The deadline for nominations is 31 November 2018. By 7 December 2018 Wikimedia LGBT+ members will have made a selection of the representative. That person should register immediately thereafter.

The ideal candidate has the following characteristics:

1. Past engagement with LGBT+ themed content in Wikimedia projects
2. Past experience with any sort of Wikimedia community organization, which is the focus of the Wikimedia Summit
3. Past participation in Wikimedia LGBT+
4. Makes a commitment to take and publish notes of their experience at the summit within 30 days of the summit's end

Blue Rasberry (talk) 20:12, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

Please note, we are at the end of our nomination period for , so a final call for anybody who wishes to be considered for being our user group representative. Additionally, it has been reported that the time needed for a visa is a factor in this, so if anybody who is running needs one to travel to the Summit in Germany, that may be a consideration given recent guidelines from the organizers. --- FULBERT (talk) 19:29, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

I was honored to be one of our user group representatives last year, and want to share that I will be attending the Wiki Summit as well, related to my work on the Capacity Building working group. As a result, I will look forward to meeting an hopefully working with our user group representative there to help our representation. --- FULBERT (talk) 19:29, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Candidates

Nomination closed! Blue Rasberry (talk) 03:28, 2 December 2018 (UTC)

Extended content
I'd be interested in going. I'm not the most active in the discussions within Wikimedia LGBT+, but I've been attending the user group meetup at Wikimania in the past few years. Together with some others, I organize LGBT community projects as part of Wikipedia for Peace, e.g. this year around Europride in Stockholm (Wikipedia for Peace Stockholm Europride) and next year around Europride in Vienna. I live ca. 1km from the conference venue in Berlin. --Shikeishu (talk) 19:41, 22 November 2018 (UTC) Hi. My name is Houssem and I am from Tunisia and an active member of the Wikimedia Tunisia User Group. I've been part of the LGBT User group's projects for a year now. I participated in, Wiki Loves Pride 2018, Wikipedia for Peace in Stockholm and now in the ConcoursContinuum2018 of Les sans pagEs. I am also working on write for the rights, the first LGBTQI+ editathon in the MENA region next march. I would love to volunteer and represent the group to showcase what we are doing and look for collaborations with other communities.--Houssem Abida (talk) 19:05, 28 November 2018 (UTC) I want to nominate one of our Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group members, Another Believer, to be our user group representative at the Summit for this coming year. I know that we do not need to nominate others and can self-nominate, though believe having an additional member to consider will be helpful for our community. With the work that has been done helping to sustain and grow our work, I believe Another Believer should be considered for this work especially as this Wiki Summit will be a different type of event as in past years. --- FULBERT (talk) 19:22, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Candidate selection

@Another Believer: Do you accept FULBERT's nomination? @Houssem Abida and Shikeishu: All three of you: we have to make a decision about who goes. To start the conversation, I propose that you all have a discussion by email to talk among yourselves and try to make a decision. Here is an email I just sent to each of you. Please discuss this by email then report back to this board!

We now need to select one of you as a representative. I am emailing you to propose that you three have a brief conversation by email to decide among yourselves who should be the representative to this event this year. Please do not spend more than 30 minutes or 2-3 short emails on your discussion among yourselves, and report back to me or Meta-wiki if your discussion gets complicate or longer than that. Try to finish your conversation by Friday 7 December. If you need assistance with a decision or finish sooner then say so.

To start the conversation, I propose that you all have a discussion by email to talk among yourselves and try to make a decision.

Here are some things to consider:

• To what extent can you commit to write a report like the ones from 2018, 2017 etc?
• Beyond the long main LGBT+ report, to what extent can you take notes from any additional group, like another field, a region, or anything outside of LGBT+, but also bring an LGBT+ perspective to that other community?
• To what extent can you commit to message some LGBT+ community projects anywhere in Wikimedia and ask them what concerns or issues they want raised in this conference?
• To what extent can you commit to post on this Wikimedia LGBT+ board, the mailing list, with the twitter account, etc in 2019 and beyond?

• One addition element you may want to consider for this @Another Believer, Houssem Abida, and Shikeishu: - the Summit will include presentations and discussions about the global Movement Strategy as well, so we may also want to consider, "To what extent can you commit to raising issues related to LGBT+ diversity, equity, and inclusion across the working groups who will present to highlight the ongoing needs for visibility and global struggle related to our community?" --- FULBERT (talk) 15:42, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

There is no expectation of a great labor commitment for the representative at this conference. However, we all come into contact with LGBT+ projects and other editors, and we do have a great resource in this group for collecting and reporting LGBT+ themed successes and projects, and also it helps to maintain this board as a support forum for anyone who has a concern to express.

Please attempt to talk among yourselves first and try to find the right person to attend. It might happen that by exchanging a few sentences by email you can decide. Please no one write any long email at this point, and please only talk among yourselves. If you are unable to come to consensus, then any individual can post to meta, and I will arrange a third-party review and decision.

Thanks. Blue Rasberry (talk) 03:28, 2 December 2018 (UTC)

And thanks to Blue for suggesting this easy way of doing the selection. Hopefully those that go will have lots of interesting discussions, plenty of fun and nudge up the user group visibility. It may also be a chance to talk to other user groups and gain some ideas of whether WM-LGBT+ is due for a rethink about the benefits of other ways of organizing ourselves... beyond the current deliberate adhocracy. --Fæ (talk) 22:38, 5 December 2018 (UTC)

I accept and appreciate FULBERT's nomination. However, I've removed myself from consideration in the email discussion because (as much as I'd love to go again) I've attended twice and would like to see others represent the group as well. I believe a decision has been made, but I will let the selected nominee confirm here when they are ready. I thank both User:Houssem Abida and User:Shikeishu for expressing interest and wanting to share about their LGBT-related work within the Wikimedia movement. I'm confident either would be able to represent us well. More to come!, and please, continue to share your hopes for the person who will be representing us at the event. Thanks! -Another Believer (talk) 22:51, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for letting us know about this progress Another Believer. We will look forward to hearing from Houssem Abida and Shikeishu today on the outcome. --- FULBERT (talk) 16:08, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

Hi everyone! The three of us had a discussion via mail and decided that I would go to the conference. I'm looking forward to representing our group, especially to bring in a LGBT+ perspective on the movement strategy and I'll of course make sure to update the rest of the group about the outcomes. Please contact me or bring up in the group discussion here any points you'd want me to look into for the conference. I've never attended a Wikimedia Conference/Summit before, so this will be exciting! Looking forward! :) --Shikeishu (talk) 22:29, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

@Shikeishu: Thanks. Can you please register at Wikimedia Summit 2019/Registration Information then post here when you have done your registration? Thanks. Blue Rasberry (talk) 23:17, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Shikeishu for agreeing to represent the LGBT+ User Group at the 2019 Summit. Thanks Houssem Abida and Another Believer for your engagement in this process. --- FULBERT (talk) 14:52, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

As the Summit is coming up in only a couple weeks Shikeishu, I want to bring to your attention the concerning issue of last week's Wikipedia Signpost Humour article which raised many issues related to the LGBT+ Community, use of pronouns, and charged comments on many sides. While it is not clear to what extent this issue and its implications may be addressed or resolved, it is something to be aware of and it may be useful to plan an LGBT+ Meetup at the event, as that can be a powerful opportunity to connect, share, and network. Additionally, I will also be at the Summit with the Capacity Building Working Group, and as such am happy to chat with you before the event if you want an overview of what to expect. Past conferences there have been intense, and with the new format and its main focus this year, a bit of background may be interesting. --- FULBERT (talk) 16:31, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing towards the article and the discussion around it! I definitely agree that we should have a Meetup and I'll set that up. Great to hear you'll be at the Summit as well and I'd be happy to meet up! I'll get an introduction to the Summit from the organisers, but I'd be grateful to get input from you as well. --Shikeishu (talk) 16:29, 7 March 2019 (UTC)

Looking forward to seeing your summary of your experience and representing our User Group at the WM Summit Shikeishu. Very glad to be able to see you there and attend the meetup you led! --- FULBERT (talk) 18:22, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Meetup

Hey everyone! The page for the meetup of our user group at the Wikimedia Summit is now online: Wikimedia Summit 2019/Thematic, regional, language-specific meetups/LGBT+ Meetup. Please feel free to join the meeting, if you're at the summit, and add agenda points to the meetup. Also if you're not in Berlin, but have points for the agenda or for the complete summit that I could bring in, please feel free to reach out to me! :) --Shikeishu (talk) 10:35, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

I am reviewing the notes from the Meetup at the Wikimedia Conference last year as we prepare for a MeetUp at the Wikimedia Summit in 2 weeks (anybody else here planning to attend beyond Shikeishu and me?) and saw in our notes that it would be great if we can have stickers or buttons. Has anybody ever had Wikimedia LGBT+ stickers made or anything of the like? We do not really have anything to give out, and while I am not a big fan of swag, it seems others may be, so we thought it may be something to consider. Thoughts? --- FULBERT (talk) 15:32, 17 March 2019 (UTC)

Report

Hey! Finally I finished the report from the Summit. Feel free to read it here: Wikimedia LGBT+/Wikimedia Summit 2019. Come back to me, if you have any questions. :) --Shikeishu (talk) 17:48, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Wonderful, thank you. -Another Believer (talk) 18:39, 22 May 2019 (UTC)