User:Austin/Memorial
Additional condolences are on en:wp at en:User talk:Austin Hair
People would ask us when we met each other. They'd get a confusing answer Euhm, probably Boston, I have a photo, or maybe Frankfurt or maybe we didn't really meet until Taipei or sometime in Berlin? Ok, people would ask, when did you start dating? We were equally unsure. It might be in the spring in Berlin, or maybe in the summer in Buenos Aires or maybe the following fall online or winter in Dallas. Buenos Aires was one of those key dates. My luggage had been stolen and I was thrilled to see Austin finally get there. My knight in shining armor that Wikimania. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement about going back to school, not enough sleep and Austin was just along for the ride.
Henna (talk) 22:09, 18 December 2017 (UTC)
I don't know any better, than Austin being 'around'. From the very first Wikimania, he was part of the team of Dinosaurs running the conference - always working hard to facilitate others to shine. We served together for a while in the Chapters Committee (later renamed to Affiliations Committee), where he was the chair - although he long resisted to be called that. After he moved to Leiden in the Netherlands we were a little more frequently in touch, and conversations would often end up in highly hypothetical scenarios. In that respect, Austin was perhaps the personification of a typical Wikipedian. Or what we would like a Wikipedian to be: respectful, constructive and always eager to investigate a topic, and share knowledge about it with others. Effeietsanders (talk) 22:57, 18 December 2017 (UTC)
I have your towel. It's green, or maybe blue, we never could agree on this (or maybe we could but I forgot, I think it's green). And it travelled the world with you and then with me and now I am going to keep it for ever, because we won't meet again. Well, not in a world where I can give you your towel back anyway. Man! I don't even know where to start with the memories, so I guess I won't. You were there at the beginning. In the Gartenhaus, on the rooftops of Frankfurt's Youth Hostel. In Cambridge and then later in chapcom and... whatever. I have your towel, I can travel the universe. Thanks for being a friend, apologies for not being the best of friends, may the road ahead be full of fun. And what the heck!, until we meet again, whatever they say. All my love. Delphine / notafish }<';> 10:28, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
Austin, I will remember him from the last time we met each other. In a Dutch museum, and of course, for 'Wikimedia business'. His charming, broad smile... By the way, he was the one who convinced me to go to Wikimania for the first time. My condoleances. Ziko (talk)
Austin, thanks for always beeing straight, fair, and factual. Never loose your temper. Beeing inclusive. Beeing helpful. Beeing a role model. From the beginning. I do not have a towel - but i'll keep the memories. ThurnerRupert (talk) 15:06, 19 December 2017 (UTC)--
Austin was one of the very first volunteers I met, at my first Wikimania in Taipei. We hung out, and then went to check out the museums with a small group of folks. Since then, I've felt privileged to count him among my friends. I wish we had hung out more than annually. The movement will miss a strong, supportive, and overall excellent person. I'll miss my friend. --RobH (talk) 16:51, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
I remember that the first time I met Austin was when Yuyu took me to the control room of Wikimania 2010. Yuyu introduced Austin to me as the ever-present expert running the show, and joked that Austin should change his surname because he was working so hard that his hair was falling off. Austin took a back seat in recent years but his name remained listed as a listadmin of mail:wikimania-l until today. He inspired many Wikimania organisers and regular participants and I can say that after attending seven Wikimanias and organising one of them myself that his legacy shall live on. Deryck C. 18:04, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
Austin and I talked. For a few years, when we were running Wikimanias together -- 2006-2010 or so -- we talked all the time. We talked on IRC. We talked on Google chat. We talked through emails. We talked in airports. We talked in hotel lobbies. We talked in Wikimania workrooms, bars, sidewalks, cars, busses. We talked with lots of other people, but especially with James Forrester, because the three of us made a habit of traveling before and after Wikimania, and we ended up going sightseeing all over the world together because of it.
Why did we talk so much? Austin was easy to talk to. He was kind, he was funny, he was thoughtful, like so many of us he was full of useless facts, and he would listen. He was pragmatic, but willing to work through big dreams as the movement grew and changed.
We talked. We talked about how exciting it was when he and Finne started dating. We talked about our families and our jobs. We talked about Wikipedia policies. We talked about giving out Wikimania scholarships. We talked (and argued) about politics. We talked about the latest dumb mailing list argument.
The last few years we hadn't talked much at all. I am very sorry about that; I regret it more than I can say. We'd gone off in separate directions, separate lives, continents. He had a rough time with his health. I was busy. We didn't talk about things that mattered.
I often say, when I give speeches about Wikipedia, that Wikipedia changed my life, and that when I look at a Wikipedia article I see the people behind it. This is true. But what is more specifically true is that a long weekend at the Haus der Jugend in Frankfurt in 2005 changed my life, because that was the first Wikimania, and that was where where I met many people that have remained my dear friends to this day. 2005 in Frankfurt is also when I met Austin. As in so many venues later, he was quiet, behind the scenes, hacking away. He was there but not in the spotlight, the way that he was there backstage in 2006 and 2007 and 2010, or backstage in the chapters committee or moderating the mailing list or running IRC. Austin was an integral part of Wikimedia for me from the beginning, and he was an integral part of this extraordinary global community. Like Delphine, I don't know where to start with the memories. But I will always be glad that I got to talk to him, and I will miss him so much. -- phoebe | talk 06:00, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
Farewell Chubby, thank you for the feeling, circus story, and overnight chat. Sleep naked darling… <3 Serenity (talk)
The first time I met Austin was at the Haus der Jugend in Frankfurt and that was the first of many other meets. He was one of those key people, backstage, doing it all for things to run smoothly and ready to jump in when something had to be done. Other folks already mentionned the organization of Wikimanias, or the chapter committee or the mailing lists administration. I also remember him on the first fundraising committee in much needed times and associate my memories of him with many IRC chat. In meat space, I best remember him as a quiet, peaceful and always smiling person standing next to Henna. Rest in peace Austin. Anthere (talk)
Austin and Jdforrester were the first two people I met at the first Wikimania in Frankfurt in 2005. I had just stepped out of my cab, and — as I watched it drive away — I realized that I had left my wallet in the backseat. I was suddenly in a foreign country with no money, I didn't know anyone, and I didn't have a cell phone. I stepped inside the hostel, frustrated and a little scared, and tried to figure out what to do. Austin and James happened to be standing there, they asked me what was wrong, and before I had even finished explaining what had happened, they had reached into their pockets to give me money. They had no idea who I was, but they saw someone who needed help, and their instinct was to assume good faith and to help that person.
That strong first impression was only validated as I got to know Austin. He was generous, kind, sharp and thoughtful, a quiet leader. I'm devastated for him, for his family and many friends, and for this entire community. Austin, thank you, and take care. --Eekim (talk) 18:00, 24 December 2017 (UTC)
Like Anthere I met Austin at "Haus der Jugend" during the first Wikimania. No time to really talk to him because he was so busy organising stuff to try to get things together (alongside other old time favourites) Over the years he was always stepping up to do small but thankless jobs for the community and Wikimania. As I mentioned somewhere else I really enjoyed my exchanges with him not only because our sense of humour was similar (only "slightly sarcastic") but also because he had a different way of looking at things. Like many people I hadn't talked to him lately :( Wishing his family and Henna strength in the coming period, and I hope that this page helps a little bit. Jan-Bart (talk) 09:54, 3 January 2018 (UTC)