Kerry and all, I've been thinking about much of what you wrote. Being in this list has made me think about how to recruit and retain more female editors. I attended Emily's training about how to conduct workshops and edit-athons in Washington, D.C. last fall, which was a very valuable experience. Many things germinated during the training, including Rosiestep's creation of the Women Writers Project (I'm proud to say that I was present, in the same room, when she created it) and the planning stages of the GA Cup, which was hugely successful. There was an off-hand remark made during the training that I think all the edit-athons and workshops that have occurred since has borne out--that the most successful edit-athons in terms of recruiting new editors have been reoccurring. I wonder if the answer is the creation of editing clubs, something that has been discussed here before. The reason I'm thinking this way is that I'm preparing an educational session I'm leading at the end of April, at the District 9 Toastmasters spring conference in Yakima, Washington. (I'm a very active Toastmaster, like I'm a very active Wikipedian.) It won't be a workshop about how to edit WP, but a more general session about how to more effectively use WP to write speeches, although I am providing participants with a resource list about editing. So I've been thinking about how being a Toastmaster has made me a better WP editor, and how being an editor has made me a better Toastmaster. I'm starting to believe that a more effective way to recruit editors is to create clubs like Toastmasters, which meet regularly (once or twice a month) and have a core of 7 or 8 people. TM states that 20 members make a healthy club, and they should know; they've been in existence for 90 years. I agree that editors are born, not made. (Which is ironic, because TM's tag line is, "Where leaders are made.") Editing clubs, though, are ways to find those folks, and to mentor them through the complex WP policies. If they exist on college campuses, they can be folded into the university's existing club structure. They can, like TM clubs, be held in church basements or in hotel conference rooms or in hospital meeting rooms. I get what you say about experienced editors have little patience with the bungling newbies. However, if it weren't for a few more experienced editors who mentored me through my bungling stage, I probably wouldn't be here today. Adrienne Wadewitz, btw, was one of them. I think that we, as experienced editors, have a responsibility to mentor newbies--to pay it forward like others helped us when we were newbies. Shoot, I still need it. For example, I'd say that I'm a very experienced editor, and I'm stupid when it comes to creating tables. I'm getting assistance with that as we speak, in my most recent FLC ( https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Featured_list_candidat… ). Anyway, that's what I've been thinking. Christine User: Figureskatingfan On Wed, Mar 25, 2015 at 1:01 AM, Kerry Raymond <kerry.raymond(a)gmail.com> wrote: -- Christine ____________________ Christine W. Meyer christinewmeyer(a)gmail.com 208/310-1549 _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap