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

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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

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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:

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

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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.

Newsletter

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Current Issue

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Previous Issues

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Different format

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

External Interest

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

Quilt

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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.

Dev920 Philippe Beaudette Fluffball70 Osteopathic Freak Medically Related LGBT Topics FisherQueen Abedecian
Talk to me
Being a hero isn't about winning, it's about
showing up for the fight.
- Angel
Nothing is forever, so sparkle today!
Ozymandias
Find what you love and love what you find.
     
ALLSTRecho Varnent Raystorm Kingturtle Beggarsbanquet Jeffpw

Why yes, I do like gay porn.. a lot!
"We all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
-JFK
    QUEER COMPOSER

 
Heterosexuality is not normal, only common.
Dorothy Parker

I thank God that I am not a well meaning Wikipedian
Altairisfar WJBscribe Alynna Kasmira Iceflow Lwollert DrGaellon
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss   "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." Elie Wiesel If children live with condemnation, they learn to condemn.
Live with tolerance, and they learn to tolerate.

Teach tolerance.
Living is easy with eyes closed

Misunderstanding all you see.
The Beatles,
"Strawberry Fields Forever"

Just a
New York City boy.
Pi User:MishMich Moni3 User:Bearian MishaPan
  "Man has lost the basic skill of the ape, the ability to scratch its back. Which gave it extraordinary independence, and the liberty to associate for reasons other than the need for mutual back-scratching." Jean Baudrillard Where passion overcomes fear, you'll usually find pulp, trash, really hot lesbians, and art
-Moni3 (the prolific, and trashy)
"Follow your bliss" - Joseph Conrad  
"If the times aren't ripe, we must ripen the times"
Dorothy Height
Ohmyerica Coelacan
"We're in love. We're ... lovers. We're lesbian, gay-type lovers." Willow Rosenberg This is the field where grass joined hands, where no monument stands, and the only heroic thing is the sky.
William Stafford
Number301
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
Skyler13 SatyrTN
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." -- MLK  
Don't I wish!
Aleta Jenova20 Ganymead
"If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good." - Hosea Ballou  
Some people are born great but it's the fabulous people who great people remember.
 
We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars. - Oscar Wilde
User:6afraidof7 -- Banjeboi
"Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane." - Philip K. Dick   If you're going to hell anyway you may as well be on fire. Or at least flaming.