Grants:Project/Chinmayisk/Community toolkit for Greater Diversity
This project is funded by a Project Grant
proposal | people | timeline & progress | finances | midpoint report | final report |
Project idea
[edit]What is the problem you're trying to solve?
[edit]What problem are you trying to solve by doing this project? This problem should be small enough that you expect it to be completely or mostly resolved by the end of this project.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
The gender gap among Wikipedia’s editors and its ramifications are well-documented [1]. Additionally, a few demographics are disproportionately represented while many others are absent. The lack of diversity creates an imbalance in the content that qualifies as knowledge and is valued by communities, how knowledge is presented, and the body of knowledge that pervades Wikipedia. A neutral point of view is one of the Five Pillars of Wikipedia and one of its three core content policies [2], but the absence of diversity among its editors makes neutrality, as defined in the five cornerstone principles, difficult to achieve.
While projects based on edit-a-thons aim to correct biases in terms of those who write and are written about, there is want of contextual reference material and systematic training for editors in terms of spotting and addressing diversity gaps on Wikimedia projects.
In the references that do exist, there is a serious void of material that is:
- tailored towards the inclusion of various underrepresented demographics, while incorporating their voices and active participation.
- tailored to the South Asian context, in terms of social structure and cultural mores of an economically developing country.
- written in one or more Indic languages.
Additionally, there is lack of adequate training for interpreting, applying and using such material as an individual and as a community.
For the purpose of this project, we define “underrepresented demographics” as women, gender minorities, lower castes, and non-heterosexuals in or from India.
What is your solution to this problem?
[edit]For the problem you identified in the previous section, briefly describe your how you would like to address this problem.
We recognize that there are many ways to solve a problem. We’d like to understand why you chose this particular solution, and why you think it is worth pursuing.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
We aim to create a community toolkit for editors to identify and address diversity gaps, and increase participation and content pertaining to underrepresented demographics on Wikipedia and its sister projects. We will organise one program for the dissemination of the community toolkit and for training editors to use the toolkit and contextualise it for their communities. The alumni of the training program would, in turn, hold their own training programs in their respective communities under this project.
While several efforts to bridge diversity gaps on Wikipedia are afoot, our goal is to create a community resource to enable editors to work towards greater inclusion and diversity, thus taking the discourse to the next level. As elucidated in the problem statement, the community toolkit will be oriented to the South Asian context, with the active participation of demographics underrepresented on Wikipedia. We hope to be able to expand its scope to a globally usable project after the end of the incubatory program in India.
The community toolkit will be released under a Creative Commons license for the benefit of the public.
Project goals
[edit]What are your goals for this project? Your goals should describe the top two or three benefits that will come out of your project. These should be benefits to the Wikimedia projects or Wikimedia communities. They should not be benefits to you individually.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
- Create learning modules and translate it for the benefit of the Wikipedian communities in India in order to sensitise them on topics including:
- identifying different axes of privilege (the Indian context of class, caste, and gender and how it plays out on Wikipedia)
- using wikitools to identify content gaps on Wikipedia and their connection with demographics underrepresented on Wikipedia
- organizing an event with a group of volunteers from various Indian language communities
- continuing to engage with the group after concluding the event
- Organize a two-day training program for editors from various Wikimedia communities, who are working towards addressing various diversity gaps on Wikipedia and its sister projects.
- Facilitate the creation of safe spaces by setting up a support group for all people engaged in initiatives to bridge diversity gaps on Wikimedia projects.
Project impact
[edit]How will you know if you have met your goals?
[edit]For each of your goals, we’d like you to answer the following questions:
- During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal? (These are your outputs.)
- Once your project is over, how will it continue to positively impact the Wikimedia community or projects? (These are your outcomes.)
For each of your answers, think about how you will capture this information. Will you capture it with a survey? With a story? Will you measure it with a number? Remember, if you plan to measure a number, you will need to set a numeric target in your proposal (i.e. 45 people, 10 articles, 100 scanned documents).
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal?
Outputs:
- We will develop at least five learning modules in English on various issues pertaining to various diversity gaps.
- Using the modules, we will conduct a training and sensitisation program for around 20 Wikipedia volunteers active on initiatives geared towards addressing diversity gaps. The tentative name of the event is 'Working with demographics underrepresented on Wikipedia to increase diversity of content and editors’.
- We will translate our learning modules into at least two Indian languages.
- After the event has been concluded, we will form a support group of volunteers and enlist the participants into it. The support group would be aimed at volunteers working on various diversity gaps in Indian language Wikimedia projects.
Once your project is over, how will it continue to positively impact the Wikimedia community or projects? Outcome:
Development of at least five learning modules on various issues pertaining to the diversity gaps. | At least one Indian language Wikimedia community uses our modules to promote diversity within itself. We will interview members of one such community after conducting the training program. |
Twenty Indian language editors involved in addressing various diversity gaps participate in a training and sensitisation program. | At least one of the participants will organically start working with a demographic underrepresented on Wikipedia or its sister projects to make its presence grow on the projects. |
At least one of the trainees uses the training imparted during the workshop to bridge the content gap. | |
Translation of the community toolkit into at least two Indian languages. | At least one Wikimedia community uses the toolkit to promote diversity within itself. We will interview members of one such community after the training program is over. |
A support for diversity and inclusion issues is formed comprising the participants from the training program. | The support group provides a safe space to volunteers working on addressing diversity gaps on Wikimedia projects. |
Do you have any goals around participation or content?
[edit]Are any of your goals related to increasing participation within the Wikimedia movement, or increasing/improving the content on Wikimedia projects? If so, we ask that you look through these three metrics, and include any that are relevant to your project. Please set a numeric target against the metrics, if applicable.
The community toolkit and training program are aimed at existing Wikimedia editors. So there will be no direct impact on the number of new editors recruited, but the project will support Wikimedians in improving diversity within their community. We aim to support three events held by the participants of our training program in their respective Indian languages. Here are the projected metrics for the three programs:
Metric | Definition | Tools and Documentation | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Total participants in the events we support | 60 | Sign-up Sheet at the event.
Outreach Dashboard |
2 | Total participants for the event we hold | 20 | Sign-up sheet at the event.
FOSS-based website that comprises the community toolkit and participants’ stories and experiences of working on diversity issues after attending the workshop. |
3 | Number of newly registered users | 40 | Outreach Dashboard |
4 | Number of content pages created or improved, across all Wikimedia projects | 40 | Outreach Dashboard |
Project plan
[edit]Activities
[edit]Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing? What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?
Community toolkit design :
- We will examine the needs of a new user based on the lessons derived from different communities, and document them.
- The community toolkit would comprise “learning modules” based on the study of these needs.
- We will examine existing modules, guides, and other documentation created by other Wikimedians as well as openness communities and gather the best practices from them.
- We will create at least one module for every underrepresented demographic defined in the problem statement, while staying conscious of the intersectionality among these demographics.
Process for selecting collaborators, experts and peer-reviewers for designing and creating the modules:
- We are in the process of reaching out to individuals and civil society organisations that belong to "underrepresented demographics" as defined in the problem statement. They have established a body of work pertaining to the empowerment of the underrepresented demographics and possess profound knowledge, insight and experience in their areas of work. We prefer to involve some of them directly as we do not wish to appropriate the voices of the populations we don’t belong to.
- We would prioritise collaborations with individuals and organisations that have demonstrated commitment to openness and are acquainted with Wikimedia projects, the nuances of their diversity gaps, the processes of collaborative editing and policy formation, and the policies and guidelines on these projects.
- In the event that we do not succeed in finding a collaborator who fits all three criteria (working with an "underrepresented demographic" in South Asia, committed to openness, and acquainted or highly experienced with the Wikimedia projects), we would choose one who fits at least one criterion and jointly create the modules with them.
Community toolkit creation:
- We have identified some lacunae in training and facilitation from our experience of working towards bridging the diversity gap.
- We will develop modules on these identified topics with the collaborators. The modules will be in the form of text articles, podcasts, and videos.
- We will copy edit the modules for style and carry out substantive editing to contextualise them to the specific diversity gaps in Wikimedia projects.
- The modules will be peer reviewed by domain experts.
Community review of the toolkit:
- We will issue a public call for community review of the modules once we publish them, and publicly document the responses
- We will explicitly seek feedback from the underrepresented demographics and publicly document the responses. This feedback will be sought via our networks, relevant mailing lists of civil society groups and of communities committed to openness.
- We will periodically review and revise the toolkit by approaching the relevant communities to determine if it is in sync with their sense and sensibility.
Documenting stories :
- We will create an open platform, such as a FOSS-based website, for practitioners of the community toolkit to share their stories and experiences with onboarding new editors from diverse backgrounds, and their successes and failures during this process.
Risk mitigation
- We commit to create and test the community toolkit we develop.
- We will seek feedback from different linguistic communities and stakeholders and incorporate it into revised versions of the toolkit.
- We will facilitate localisation efforts after creating the toolkit. This process will help us identify any missed nuances of culture or language and make appropriate rectifications, and standardise terms and concepts used in the community toolkit.
Future research
The proposal comprises the first phase of potential research and advocacy on the topic. After the creation of the community toolkit, we would like to embark on a study to understand the issues with respect to access and recruiting editors from diverse demographics, based on our lessons and insights from this project.
Budget
[edit]How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. (You can create a table later if needed.) Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!
(Conversion rate: USD 1 = INR 60)
Activity | Head | Description | Amount (INR) | Amount (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Community toolkit design | Remuneration | Project Lead | 150,000 | 2,500 |
Resource Person 1 | 140,000 | 2,333.33 | ||
Project Manager | 80,000 | 1,333.33 | ||
Remuneration to module writers | Module writing by experts | 240,000 | 4,000 | |
Training event | Remuneration | Project Lead | 60,000 | 1,000 |
Project Manager | 40,000 | 666.66 | ||
Travel and lodging | For participants and facilitators (24 people) | 480,000 | 8,000 | |
Consumables | Lunch and refreshments (24 people) | 20,000 | 333.33 | |
Venue and Internet | Rent for the venue, costs for venue WiFi | 30,000 | 500 | |
Support for community events | Costs for supporting 3 community-led events | 80,000 | 1,333.33 | |
Equipment | Rent for projector and other equipment | 50,000 | 833.33 | |
Documentation | Visualisation and graphics | Remuneration to contractor (graphics designer) for the modules, documentation and website | 50,000 | 833.33 |
Podcast | Writing, recording and editing podcasts based on the modules | 50,000 | 833.33 | |
Video | Creating, shooting and editing short videos to complement modules | 75,000 | 1,250 | |
Dissemination | Travel | Travel to conferences for disseminating the toolkit and associated learnings (3 international trips, 4 domestic trips. Airfare, accommodation, per diem and visa fees) | 3,60,000 | 6,000 |
Contingency funds | Event | Contingency funds for organising the training event | 20,000 | 333.33 |
Website | Creation and maintenance of the website | 150,000 | 2,500 | |
Subtotal | 2,215,000 | 36,916.66 | ||
Operational Overhead | -- | 10% of the subtotal budget | 221,500 | 3,691.66 |
In-kind support | -- | Venue, Internet for the event and project management for the full term of the project | 150,000 | 2,500 |
Total budget | 2,286,500 | 38,108.33 |
Responsibilities of the personnel:
- Project Lead: Module ideation (text, video and podcast), Drawing up the structure and design of the toolkit, Hiring module writers and other contractual personnel, Commissioning modules, Co-writing modules, Overseeing the feedback and review process, Maintaining the website (in the event that we don’t find volunteers for it), Designing the training event, Identifying potential reviewers and domain experts and seeking feedback/ reviews from them, Supervising setting up of the website, Identifying participants for the training event and contacting them.
- Resource Person 1: Module ideation (text, video and podcast), Drafting module research methodology, Drawing up the structure and design of the toolkit, Identifying contractors and holding meetings with them for the bidding process, Identifying module writers, Contracting with module writers and other contractual personnel, Co-writing at least one module, Copy editing modules in coordination with the Project Lead and module writers, Speaking at the training event, Identifying participants for the training event and contacting them, Identifying Wikimedians, reviewers and domain experts for the feedback and review process and contacting them.
- Project Manager: Planning the training events, Logistics for the events, Filing reports, Management of deadlines and deliverables, Periodic project review, Setting up meetings for project review.
Community engagement
[edit]How will you let others in your community know about your project? Why are you targeting a specific audience? How will you engage the community you’re aiming to serve at various points during your project? Community input and participation helps make projects successful.
- Once we have a draft version of the community toolkit, we will invite comments and feedback from various experienced community members.
- We will conduct a program to disseminate our lessons and insights from the exercise of creating the community toolkit as well as to impart training on how to use the toolkit. Around 20 members from different Indian Wikimedia communities will be invited to it.
- We will create a mailing list to share the progress and lessons. This list will also serve as a forum for continuing discourse on the topic.
- We will release the community toolkit under a Creative Commons license. We hope that many communities and the CIS-A2K team will adopt it while organising future trainings.
- We will encourage the participants of the training program to hold their own trainings in their respective communities by using the toolkit and the training imparted to them. To this end, we will financially support a limited number of community events.
- We will present and disseminate our work in events such as WikiConference India, Wikimania and CIS-A2K workshops.
- Beyond the timeline of this project, the mailing list will also serve as a support group for all Indic Wikimedians working on the topic.
Get involved
[edit]Participants
[edit]Please use this section to tell us more about who is working on this project. For each member of the team, please describe any project-related skills, experience, or other background you have that might help contribute to making this idea a success.
Chinmayi S K
Chinmayi S K is an English Wikipedian with experience of working with the Indian-language Wikipedia communities. She has previously conducted outreach activities in India aimed at bridging the gender gap in Wikimedia projects. She was part of the two-member Diversity and Inclusion team at WikiConference India 2016 that drafted the Code of Conduct, Friendly Space Policy and diversity and inclusion guidelines for organisers. The same team also served as the Incident Response team at the conference. Among the Wiki-related trainings she has conducted Wikidata and wikitools workshops, Wikipedia-editing workshops, and Ally Skills trainings.
Chinmayi works on gender and technology initiatives in India and runs an organisation called The Bachchao Project. She has more than ten years of experience of working with openness communities around the world. She has authored a manual along with Rohini Lakshané and Willow Brugh on creating inclusive technologies. She also has run open-licensed courses on the same topic. Her expertise lies in building alternative technologies for grassroots gender activism. Apart from this, she has created methodologies for workshops and facilitation documents for international organisations such as Geeks Without Bounds and Internews.
Rohini Lakshané
Rohini has been a Wikimedian since 2008, editing Wikipedia in three languages, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. She served as the chairperson of the Gender Gap Special Interest Group at Wikimedia India Chapter (March 2013-June 2014). During her time as the chairperson, she drafted a policy and work plan for the gender gap initiative in India. She also served as a Wikipedian-in-Residence (pilot project) for Wikimedia India Chapter and the Bombay Natural History Society in 2013. Rohini was part of the two-member Diversity and Inclusion team at WikiConference India 2016. The team, which also acted as the Incident Response team at the conference, drafted the Code of Conduct, Friendly Space Policy and guidelines for organisers on diversity and inclusion of participants and speakers. Since 2011, Rohini has conducted and supported numerous workshops, outreach activities, and edit-a-thons. She has been a speaker at various Wikimedia events, including Wikimania 2016, where she gave a talk on “Gender gap in the global south: Lessons from policy and outreach”. Rohini is also a member of the Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee. Along with Chinmayi S.K. and Willow Brugh, she has co-authored a manual on creating inclusive technologies.
By profession, Rohini is a technologist, public policy researcher and a former technology journalist and editor. She has worked on several research and advocacy projects on the intersection of technology, policy, and civil liberties. Her body of work encompasses diverse territories such as the application of technology and policy to solve issues of gender inequity, violence and discrimination; access to knowledge; openness; patent reform; and making tech spaces diverse and inclusive. From October 2013 to April 2014, she served as the editor of EroTICs (Exploratory Research on ICTs and Sexuality) India, a project on the cross-hairs of gender, sexuality and the Internet. In 2014 and 2015, Rohini served on the jury of The Best of Blogs, an international award honouring excellence in online activism, instituted by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
- Volunteer I'd like to contribute to this project in any way possible. I have skills in doing the literature review, writing project/grant proposals, writing, editing and reviewing reports, etc. Bhallapoorva (talk) 08:54, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
- Volunteer I would like to be a part of this project and could help out in Technical Side and learn along with it. Highly interested to work on it. Waiting to get back from you. Thanks. Balogic (talk) 05:57, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
Community notification
[edit]You are responsible for notifying relevant communities of your proposal, so that they can help you! Depending on your project, notification may be most appropriate on a Village Pump, talk page, mailing list, etc.-->
Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?
- Village pump notices:
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- Update: Notification deleted unilaterally and without notice by Marathi Wikipedia admin. See diff.
Endorsements
[edit]Do you think this project should be selected for a Project Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project below! (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the discussion page).
- Support I support this project wholeheartedly. Thanks a lot for creating such an innovative project. Best of luck! Do let me know how can help for it. I will try to help as per my capacity and time. Thank you. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 06:25, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
- Support
Good initiative for editor retention measures and as well as training. Looking forward to collaborate. Please ping for any kind of help related to en Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 06:54, 27 September 2017 (UTC) Neutral Have a few queries as per on talk page. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 15:40, 28 September 2017 (UTC)All queries clarified. My only suggestion is please have more volunteers. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 03:56, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
This comment has been hidden according to the Friendly space expectations |
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*Encouraging "diversity" just leads to yet more extreme POV pushing by people with vested interests - that's a situation which is well documented, eg: regarding the Dalit History Month collaboration. I'm sorry but my eyes started bleeding while reading the proposal, so I'm not actually coming out for or against it. - Sitush (talk) 10:13, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
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- Neutral While I agree with the issue of gender gap and the need to fix it, I am unsure if this is a very cost effective way to go about it, to put it bluntly. I cannot speak for any of the remunerations, but there's a number of places, such as website infrastructure, that could be perhaps easily avoided by hosting it on Wikimedia. (There are a number of ways apart from standard Wikitext, like the Outreachy dashboards have done for Learning and Evaluation or a number of other mediums, all hosted on Mediawiki). I would love to see more time, resources and funds being focused on the Global South in general (and South Asia in particular) but when the amount is roughly 66% of what a country-wide Wikimedia conference needs, I would rather it be focused more on organising events that fix the problem than on building things that will be indirectly talking about what the problem is. I strongly recommend a scaled down version to act as a proof of concept before going for a larger scale approach. Soni (talk) 14:11, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
- Oppose for now. Please refer to the discussion on the application's talk page. Cheers, Jim Carter (talk) 07:41, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
- I have organised many editathons to address gender gap in the recent past in India. I see a lot of value in the undertaking of a project of this nature. I am very happy to endorse this project. ShobhaSV (talk) 13:49, 29 September 2017 (UTC)
- Oppose for now per @Jim Carter: -- Bodhisattwa (talk) 16:33, 29 September 2017 (UTC)
- @Bodhisattwa: We have responded to User:Jim Carter's comments and questions on the Discussion Page. As this section is meant for endorsements and not for voting, could you please make suitable changes to your post above? -- Rohini (talk) 06:10, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support This toolkit is important and I support the work. I'm glad to see that two well-qualified Wikipedians are interested in developing these Learning Modules, and it's my hope that once they are completed/tested, that they would be translated into several Indic languages (vs. just 2). Some things to consider: (a) if possible, rethink the training/event coordination (to decrease the budget), and (b) when practical, use wiki resources vs. the creation of a new website. --Rosiestep (talk) 15:31, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support I support this proposal. Having been a part of a "train the trainers" program for addressing systemic bias en.wiki that was held in 2014, I can see how this project, though somewhat different from the training program I participated in, can have a very strong multiplier effect. It is important to be able to disseminate information on how to develop content for WP projects widely. As someone who is from a rural area, I was able to take the training I received and use it locally on several different occasions, resulting in a number of solid, quality articles being created. I see the potential for this proposal to have a multiplier effect far greater, particularly when you consider the translation aspect and the application to multiple cultures. Montanabw (talk) 16:52, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support I support this proposal. Complementing approaches and pathways are needed to build diversity - this could be one of them. I particularly like the focus on "incorporating the voices and active participation" of under-represented groups in creating knowledge. Both the Wikipedians who propose this are committed to the larger issue - increasing gender diversity on the projects - and have solid experience and expertise in this area. As such, they are also alive to the complications related to increasing diversity; they are not coming to this from any position of naivete - they know the risks too. Bishdatta (talk) 17:38, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support I support this proposal. People are very intimidated in jumping into editing Wikipedia, so these kinds of programs help alleviate that problem. We need more diverse voices on Wikipedia telling their own history, instead of having the global north write it. I agree with Rosiestep above about keeping it on Wiki. This is especially useful for places that benefit from Wikipedia Zero. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:42, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support I support this proposal. This community toolkit is definitely helpful to improve diversity in the Wikimedia community and can become a model that the larger open source world can adopt. This will create a huge impact if its translated into different languages. Dunebuggie (talk) 02:23, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support Per Rosiestep and Montanabw. Will certainly have a multiplier effect, especially if diversified into multiple languages given the sheer number of languages that lack a proper diverse pool of contributors. ----Rsrikanth05 (talk) 17:42, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support Very excited to see the toolkit that comes out of this, and to learn from this grant and the grantees as their project progresses. Grantees have strong experience, are well aware of the risks and are well-connected both inside and outside Wikimedia - they know what's needed to bridge across diverse communities in their South Asian context, and I trust they will produce something interesting and valuable. The opposition that's shown up here is a good reminder why such projects remain needed in the movement, and I applaud the proposers for taking on this difficult task. Siko (talk) 19:28, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support I think it's a very good project, we need this kind of projects in the community. It is a project with a great future vision, which can be replicated and will have a strong growth, because it takes into account the less represented communities by class, caste or gender.--Jaluj (talk) 03:44, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support This project highlight different strategies to foster editor participation and increase cross-cultural enrichment.Tiputini (talk) 20:50, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support I support this proposal. An important project that will be developed by two well-qualified Wikipedians, both of them are committed to the cause and have large experience. Geisasantos (talk) 22:47, 16 October 2017 (UTC)
- Support I am very happy to endorse this project. BHARATHESHA ALASANDEMAJALU (talk) 03:36, 17 October 2017 (UTC)
- Strong support Very needed - full confidence on the grantees. And very disappointed on the bullying that they have had to endure in Marathi Wikipedia which goes against basic Wikimedia values. Raystorm (talk) 19:18, 25 October 2017 (UTC)
- Weak support--@Rohini:--Hmm.....This looks nice on paper and definitely have a great potential for content-creation/development along with fostering WMF's goals--diversity, better representation et al.
But as Sitush said, how do you guarantee this does not become another re-run of Dalit History Month-- which manifested itself into a complete POV pushing project and became a huge timesink for the entire en-wiki volunteer community? You can find a comprehensive take on the issue at en:User talk:Sitush/Archive 26#WMF involvement and the linked AN/ANI threads etc. Regards:)Godric on Leave (talk) 08:26, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
- Strong support Required and decently done.SHISHIR DUA (talk) 05:39, 21 October 2020 (UTC)