Berlin celebrates old school #wikipedia15

I still remember the time when real life meetings for Wikipedians were new and adventurous and a bit scary. Did one really want to meet these strange other people from the Internet? How would they be? Could they even talk in real life or would they just sit behind a laptop screen staring on it for hours?

My first meeting in Hamburg – THE first Wikipedia meeting in Hamburg - would consist of three people (Hi Anneke, Hi Baldhur!) sitting in a pub, and just waiting and seeing what would happen. These meetings were kind of improvised, in a pub, quite private and personal in nature and no talk about projects, collaborations, “the movement” whatever. Just Wikipedia and Wikipedians having a nice evening.


Bild: By Sargoth, CC BY-SA 3.0

So what a fitting setting to celebrate this day in Berlin just the old school way. Half improvised, organized by our dearest local troll user:Schlesinger on a talk page, we met in a pub, it was not clear who would come and what would happen except some people having a good time.

And so It was. In the “Matzbach” in the heart of Berlin-Kreuzberg seven people promised to come, in the end we were almost twenty. Long time Wikipedians, long-time-no-see-Wikipedians, a Wikipedian active mostly in Polish and Afrikaans, some newbies and two and a half people from Wikimedia Deutschland. Veronica from Wikimedia Deutschland brought a tiny but wonderful home-baked cake, and we just talked and laughed, talked about history and future.  Actually, mostly we talked about future.


Bild: By Sargoth, CC BY-SA 3.0

About the Wikipedian above 30, who has just started a new a university degree in archaeology, the question whether the Berlin community should have its own independent space, industrial beer, craft beer and the differences, the district of Berlin-Wedding, the temporary David-Bowie-memorial in Berlin-Schöneberg, the vending machine for fishing bait in Wedding, new pub meet-ups in the future, who should come to the open editing events, how to work better with libraries, colorful Wikipedians who weren’t there, looking for a new flat, whether perfectionism is helpful or rather not when planning something for Wikipedians, explaining Wikipedia to the newbie, the difficulties of cake-cutting and whatsoever.

No frustration, almost no talk about meta and politics, just Wikipedians interested in the world, Wikipedia and eager to be active in and for Wikipedia and with big plans for the future. Old school. So good.