Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studies/Community

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 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 [[Media:LGBTPressKit.pdf|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 to new members' talkpages:

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

Previous Issues

 * November 2008
 * July 2008
 * June 2008
 * May 2008
 * April 2008
 * March 2008
 * February 2008
 * January 2008
 * December 2007
 * November 2007
 * October 2007
 * September 2007
 * June 2007
 * May 2007
 * April 2007
 * March 2007
 * February 2007
 * January 2007
 * December 2006

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)

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 Licensing then it's okay here too. The quilt below is transcluded: add your patch here.