Volunteer Response Team/Volunteering

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The Volunteer Response Team (VRT) always welcomes new volunteers to help with answering tickets. Nonetheless, to ensure the quality of service and given the confidential nature of the work, there is a selective application procedure.

The VRTS administrators are a group of highly-trusted and experienced volunteers who assess your application to join the VRT. When assessing an application, they familiarize themselves with your work on the Wikimedia projects to ensure that you are suitable as an addition to the VRT. It therefore takes some time before you receive a response regarding your application.

How do I volunteer?

If you are interested in volunteering, please read VRT/Recruiting for information about what the job entails. Feel free to join #wikimedia-vrt^connect to ask any questions that you might have with regard to the Wikimedia Volunteer Response Team. Before applying, please ensure that you are:

• Willing to work on difficult, sensitive, and at times hostile messages
• Courteous, skilled at resolving disputes, friendly – even in the face of hostility – sensitive to the needs of outsiders, and have exemplary discretion
• Willing to sign the VRTS users confidentiality agreement, considering the access to nonpublic personal data policy
• 16 years of age or older

Please review the list of queues prior to submitting your application, and apply for all of those queues where you think you'd be able to help.

Notes

• The VRT is especially interested in users who are entrusted with any special tools on local projects (sysop, bureaucrat, checkuser, etc.), though this is not an absolute requirement.
• Please also add links to help desk posts, talk pages, or other discussions you think are relevant.
• Language skills — other than English — are also highly appreciated. Additional help in language queues is greatly needed and we'd like to know if you are able to help in any other language.
• If you already have access to VRTS, and you'd like to get access to additional queues, you typically don't need to apply here. Ask on Administrator requests on vrt-wiki instead.
• Permissions queues: users that already have strong knowledge of and experience with copyright issues, like administrators or license reviewers on Wikimedia Commons, are highly appreciated and invited to volunteer. Users without such skills should apply for info queues instead.

German-speaking volunteers

If you'd like to volunteer for the info-de queue, please apply locally by following the instructions at de:Wikipedia:Support-Team#Mitarbeit im Support-Team.

Dutch-speaking volunteers

If you'd like to volunteer for the info-nl queue, please apply below and send an email to contact-nllistswikimediaorg for the team to assess your application.

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Borhan

• User links: Borhan (talk • contribs • CentralAuth • global • count • blocks)
• Babel/Languages you can reply in: bn-N, en-3
• Your most active user talk page(s): bn-wiki
• Queues you would like access to: info-bn, wikidata
• Email sent? yes

I'd like to help out on the Volunteer Response Team because I would like to help requests from Bengali speaking people. In Bengali Wikipedia, I am an editor with reviewer and rollbacker rights. I have more than 6000 edits in Bengali Wikipedia. Thanks. Borhan (talk) 16:48, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Uncle Bash007

• User links: Uncle Bash007 (talk • contribs • CentralAuth • global • count • blocks)
• Babel/Languages you can reply in: en-5, ha-N
• Your most active user talk page(s):user:Uncle Bash007
• Queues you would like access to:info-en, info-ha
• Email sent? yes

I'd like to help out on the Volunteer Response Team because I want to help in handling complaints in both English and my growing native Wikipedia - Hausa. I am an administrator on Hausa Wikimedia with more than 24,000 edits and more than 2000 on English Wikipedia. I'm also a student of New Pages Patrol School. Uncle Bash007 (talk) 18:20, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

Wilfredor

• User links: Wilfredor (talk • contribs • CentralAuth • global • count • blocks)
• Babel/Languages you can reply in:es-N, fr-5, pt-5, en-4
• Your most active user talk page(s): commons:User:Wilfredor
• Queues you would like access to: info-es, info-fr, info-pt, permissions-commons, photosubmission
• Email sent? Y

As an active and committed member of the Wikimedia community for over a decade, I am applying to join the Volunteer Response Team (VRT) with deep respect and a positive attitude towards the mission of the Wikimedia movement. My experience as a photographer and contributor of over 40,000 images on Wikimedia Commons reflects my dedication to promoting free knowledge and my understanding of the importance of image and text licensing. Born in Venezuela, and having lived in a multicultural context, I am also Brazilian and Canadian. This background has taught me to remain calm and handle challenging situations with serenity. This skill is necessary to effectively interact with people who may be frustrated or angry, especially those unfamiliar with Wikimedia projects.

Throughout my journey, I have demonstrated a clean and respectable track record in all the Foundation's projects in which I have participated. I have no history of conflicts with newcomers; on the contrary, I have always sought to guide and support new users. I am familiar with Wikipedia processes and possess the necessary skills to respond to routine questions, as well as to handle more complex cases related to biographies of living people, copyright, and licensing. Being fluent in several languages (Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English) and belonging to various cultures allows me to address interlinguistic complaints and queries, and my knowledge of the structure and functioning of the Wikimedia Foundation enables me to direct inquiries to the appropriate people or queues. I am aware that experience in all areas is not required for every volunteer, I am willing to collaborate and learn in areas where my experience may be limited. Collaboration and teamwork are fundamental in the VRT, and I am excited about the opportunity to work alongside other volunteers in managing complex cases. My commitment is to contribute to the VRT mission with integrity, respect, and a collaborative approach, and I am excited about the opportunity to bring my experience to the team :). Wilfredor (talk) 21:35, 25 February 2024 (UTC)