Unpopular Opinions & Wild Ideas (Lightning Talk Meetup)
Building on the success of the Wikimania 2025 version, this lightning talk meetup invites Wikimedians to share “unpopular opinions” or “wild ideas” about the movement’s future. Whether it’s appointing admins by lottery, removing old policies, or challenging longstanding governance beliefs, the goal is to stir the pot without spilling it.
This session encourages respectful disruption to spark deeper conversations. We are looking for:
* Ideas too bold for an RfC: Concepts needing a stage, not a survey.
* Global Perspectives: Exploring how a “radical” idea on one Wikipedia language edition might be common sense on a smaller project, and vice versa.
* Critiques with solutions: Radical fixes for persistent problems.
* Satire with a point: Using humor to address institutional hurdles.
Format & Participation: Each speaker gets 5 minutes. To ensure a truly global dialogue, we will prioritize a diverse mix of voices—balancing contributors from the Global North and Global South, and editors from projects of varying sizes. We want to hear from "fresh voices" as much as we do from longtime contributors.
Designed as an evening social gathering, this is a space to laugh, cringe, cheer, or quietly nod. You might not agree with every idea, but you’ll leave thinking differently.
The Rules: Be bold, be constructive, don’t be mean, and strictly abide by the Friendly Space Policy.
