The Wikimedia OTRS team[1] is receiving an increasing number of emails, with almost 55,000 general information and permissions tickets responded to in 2012 alone.[2] We are greatly in need of more volunteers to catch up and help prevent continued backlog. OTRS volunteers have the benefit of choosing how much time they'd like to commit and share a wide variety of tools to help when responding to inquires. Your private information would not be exposed to the public; replies are issued from a shared Wikimedia email address.

We are looking especially for people who are strong in any or all of the following areas:

* Familiar with processes on any Wikimedia project and able to answer routine questions about them (some common responses include reference desk referrals; explanations of deletion processes or how to edit. The kind of thing you might run into at the Teahouse or Help desks);

* Familiar with acceptable licenses for images and text and willing to handle correspondence related to permissions (many routine, but some issues include unclear statements of permission or permissions issued by people who can't be clearly connected to the source);

* Familiar with policies regarding living people and organizations and able to assist article subjects with lightweight needs (updating logos, correcting small information) or serious concerns (allegations of gross inaccuracy; bias).

For more information about volunteering, please see the recruiting page[3] on Meta. Being a member of the OTRS team is a great chance to be part of the public face of Wikimedia. We can't always help people, but we do our best to leave them impressed with our professionalism and responsiveness. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, we encourage you to consider applying[4].

While the English queues are the busiest, the info queues for all languages could use help, and we are always looking for new volunteers. Please translate this message and pass the word along to those in your local communities who may wish to apply.

We look forward to seeing your applications on Meta-Wiki. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact myself or any other administrator of the system.[5]

For the OTRS admins, Casey Brown

[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OTRS [2]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OTRS/Reports/2012 [3]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OTRS/Recruiting [4]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OTRS/Volunteering [5]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OTRS#OTRS_administrators

-- Casey Brown (Cbrown1023) caseybrown.org