Archive:Monthly Write-a-Thon/May 6, 2009

What's a Write-a-Thon?
It's a bunch of people getting together on a wiki at a particular time to do a bunch of writing. It's like an online party! Heck no, it is an online party! It's also an excuse for infrequent wikiers to show up and party hardy; to exchange ideas with people we might not "meet" otherwise.

But hey, why not show up in between the write-ins, too!

When?
Write-a-Thons happen the first Wednesday of every month. The next Write-a-Thon is Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Starts on May 5th, 1200 UTC, when it starts being Wednesday in New Zealand, and ends on May 7th, 1200 UTC, when it finishes being Wednesday in Hawaii. Save The Date! Put it on your calendar! Set yourself a reminder!

Any new article you create, and any edit you make to somebody else's Write-a-Thon article during that time period will count, though to be a bona fide partier, you have to write your new articles when it's that day in your part of the world.

Our first Write-a-Thon took place Wednesday, August 1, 2007 and was considered a roaring good time--we had about 30 partiers creating something like 50 articles, and editing lots.

Read all about it!! Let's try this again
By popular request, we'll be trialling Write-a-Thon II, a Sunday session of the Write-a-Thon to accommodate those who work all week and have trouble making it in to the party room on Wednesdays.

Soooo--if you worked Wednesday, if you had a bad day Wednesday and didn't get to come to the party or didn't get to do as much as you would have liked, or if you would just like another opportunity to join in the fun, come on along. Starts on May 9thh, 1200 UTC, when it starts being Sunday in New Zealand, and ends on May11th, 1200 UTC, when it finishes being Sunday in Hawaii.

What are the rules?
Rules? This is a party! There are no rules!

Well, OK, maybe there are a couple rules:
 * We'll have a Write-a-Thon the first Wednesday of every month.
 * To participate, you only have to do two things: (1) start a new article (even just a stub will qualify, if not too short - and please remember to include the subpages template!), and (2) make a substantive edit (not just a copyedit) to somebody else's new article. Then you can list your name here as a partier.  Until then, sign in as a porch-sitter, party-crasher, or total party poop.

It's a Wide World or: It's a Small World After All!
''Something that involved the world. Something that affected the world. Something that focussed the world's attention on one place. Or just some place in this great, big world.''


 * I am trying to think of something that doesn't fit under this topic. Aha...square circle. --Larry Sanger 15:52, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

The Partiers

 * Aleta got off to a slow start thanks to being overwhelmed from the annual Tallong Apple Festival. Whadya mean you never heard of it??!  Wrote about Waterford because it's nice and is thinking about what events shook the world that she knows anything about.  More later. Aleta Curry 03:51, 6 May 2009 (UTC)  Came back and spent some time in Daniel's botanical garden contemplating community activism and Kampala, though she doesn't claim to have written intelligently or in any great depth on either--it's been that kind of a day. Aleta Curry 03:28, 7 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Paul wanted to write about an earth-shattering event: the Battle of Arnhem, but Howard beat him to it, see Operation Market-Garden. So Paul wrote a longish stub about the city of Arnhem instead.


 * Larry joined Roger's social world (well, that's possible only if the term is defined a certain way) after attending Ohio State University, which may or may not be part of the world, but I suppose it is tenuously a part of my social world...?


 * Joe started a stub about the origin of the world in the time before the dawn, then returned after the rising of the sun to join the social world.


 * Howard has been backfilling a bit on radical Muslim theology, including Salafism, as he builds out both sides of the picture of violent Jihad and western response.
 * OK, with some new articles and some cleanup, that's 10,700 total.


 * Daniel was actually in the botanical garden while reading the first part of orchid in the hope of nominating it for approval soon, and then he started the related articles for square circle. Daniel Mietchen 19:40, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Meanwhile I visited the botanical garden, very pleasant place... --Larry Sanger 21:02, 6 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Anthony.Sebastian started a few days ago, starting article on the Institute of Medicine. One their projects: global health, this globe.


 * Derek said Hello Columbus with a brief visit to Ohio State University before starting in on World music.


 * Roger got off to a fast start on Social world and only managed to see Larry (who has been an important part of my social world ever since I joined CZ) speak up before a sudden power disruption across town (due to heavy rains in another part of my social world this week) cut my internet connection for the rest of the day. It wasn't until this (Thursday) morning that I was able to get back and start responding to Larry's and Joe's comments.


 * Then, after months of minimal or no participation in the W-a-T, and a full day of bright sunshine on Sunday Roger went for a two-fer: Got in a few more licks on social world, and did some more worldy/thematic things: Created a new entry on political systems (a politics core article, no less! Then, I added a fair bit of additional material on nongovernmental organizations, another really worldwide topic. Earlier, about the time it was Sunday down Aleta's way, I did a monster disambiguation page including a lot of definitions for Power. (Power is one really broad concept! Thoughts on how to further organize this melange of items found there more clearly would be most welcome.)


 * On Sunday, Petréa Mitchell saw that no one had written on this month's overall topic, and immediately corrected this shocking omission.


 * Shamira finally made it to one of these shindigs.

The Partiers- Part Deux
David E. Volk, arm deep in laundry and cooking on his day off, hah!, started Gaussian elimination, and eventually found something to edit, Fludarabine. David E. Volk 19:30, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Rather late and missed the boat!

 * Dang it—I missed it by forty minutes! Joshua Choi 00:44, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Te absolvo, my son--get writing! It's still Wednesday in New York, San Francisco and Hawaii!!.  Not to mention that there's always Sunday! Aleta Curry 02:51, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

The shy ones, absent-minded profs, and other modest creatures

 * For some reason, Roger didn't sign in. Guess he's in his own little world.  Aleta Curry 22:44, 6 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I've been on sabbatical since January (and until August), so I am indeed in my own little world, but that isn't the reason I didn't sign in. (See above.) I'm hoping you and every one will chime in on Sunday with a social world entry naming your own favorite fictional and literary social worlds. I've already mentioned Dickens and a personal favorite Alan Furst but haven't yet had a chance to add my favorite post war (WWII|World War II) entry on The Little World of Don Camillo about an Italian parish priest and his struggles with the Communist mayor of his village. I'm just back from an Italian trip that included a wonderful stay in a villa outside San Giovanni Valdarno, from whence the Sunday morning bell carillon is still ringing in my memory. I will also mention and hope someone who is more qualified than this elderly, heterosexual multiculturalist will pick up on Armistead Maupin's reconstruction of the pre-HIV-AIDS world of gay San Francisco.
 * Roger Lohmann 13:48, 7 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Last week, I was busy doing other things. Today, I was in London for a technology event. So, sadly, no contributions this month. --Tom Morris 22:17, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

The total party poops

 * Albeit Aleta was punctual as ever, Supten could not find any time for joining the Party this month! He hopes to have better luck next month!
 * Aw, but you're such a sweet fellow--not to mention a faithful partier, that we'll have to let you slide! Catch you next month, I hope! Aleta Curry 21:58, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

2007

 * Inaugural - beer!
 * September - champagne
 * October - we were refurbishing the bar and only had coffee!
 * November - made up for last month with more vodka than was good for us and plenty of rum.
 * December - eggnog and wine

2008

 * January - Whisky and the Cocktail of the Month, a pharisee
 * February - schnapps and the Cocktail of the Month, the caipirinha (considered the national drink of Brazil)
 * March - port wine (which should probably live at port (wine), no? (Someone put that on their list, please....Oh, *someone* did--thanks, Ro) and the Cocktail of the Month, a Dead Aunt
 * April - Akpeteshie hot and fresh from Ghana. And cool shandies and spritzers if that took your fancy.  Lotsa staggering around the bar after this party!
 * May - Was it champagne? No, we were dry, I think.
 * June - Were we abstaining yet again?
 * July - Sherry
 * August - pineapple juice Well, that's all right, I guess!
 * September - Given the music theme, i assume it was pop?
 * October - Cranberry juice. Some nut who shall remain nameless but whose initials are HP suggested Drano, (i.e. what cleans better than Drano?) but....
 * November - Spring water (Now Bruce just has to write it! Aleta Curry 04:00, 3 December 2008 (UTC))
 * December - Piña colada - get some light rum, mix it with pineapple and coconut cream. Instantly warp back to the eighties.

2009

 * January - Bloody Mary - because, as Nietzsche said, we should only love that which is written with blood. Controversial enough?
 * February - Absinthe - updates last month, but doesn't it make one forget? (No. Urban legend, except that 50-percent-plus alcohol does do its mite)
 * March - Energy Drink - pump that caffeine into your system so you can burn through all those pesky definition subpages!

New Suggestions and Discussion

 * How about another Spring cleaning in March 2009? Daniel Mietchen 08:20, 6 October 2008 (CDT)
 * Not a bad idea at all, unless I get swamped with new, untried requests in the mean time. Aleta Curry 18:47, 6 October 2008 (CDT)
 * Possibly the theme could be subpages. Some of them need a lot of housekeeping. Or getting some decent images for the articles we do have. Chris Day 19:17, 6 October 2008 (CDT)


 * What about red links in Random pages? --Daniel Mietchen 10:15, 4 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I suggest "Numbers". Richard Pinch 07:21, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


 * "Hometown Heroes" - write about someone famous from your part of the world (either where you're from, or where you are now).
 * "Poles Apart" - find the spot directly on the other side of Earth from you, and write about someone or something in the vicinity. (Contributors on other planets, follow a similar procedure for whatever planet you're on. Contributors not on planetary bodies permitted to write about whatever they feel like.)
 * Fill in an item from this interesting list of natural objects. Or this interesting list of people.
 * All articles must start with the same letter of the alphabet, allowing for diacritics and transliteration (so Å, Á, and あ would all count if A were the letter, for instance).
 * Photo stubs - no minimum word length, no theme requirement, but must contain an image.
 * Choose a random number from 1 to 500, then go to Special:WantedPages and start an article on the topic currently at that rank.
 * How about an alternate weekend date, say the Sunday after the official Write-a-Thon, for those of us who spend our Wednesdays working at places that frown on extensive personal use of company computers? --Petréa Mitchell 19:15, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
 * There's a current forum thread on this-the proposal was to move the WaT to the weekend. Your suggestion might pose a good compromise. Aleta Curry 21:33, 1 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I would be a lot more able to participate on weekends. My weekday workdays are 11+ hours.Pat Palmer 02:51, 29 January 2009 (UTC)


 * What will people most enjoy writing that could lead many different contributors to a short, but complete and interesting article that links to larger articles? Maybe "Events" could be a theme - pen-portraits of memorable sporting moments (see try, or notable historical events - including tsunamis, eruption of Krakatoa, comet collision with Jupiter, the birth of Dolly the sheep, freeing of Nelson Mandela, the sinking of the Titanic, assassination of Martin Luther King, the Mutiny on the Bounty, the discovery of the Americas? Can I suggest asking that every new article should have at least one external link and links to other articles here?Gareth Leng 12:31, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I like this idea. Further, definitions and other subpages are preferable, even for stubs. Chris Day 17:01, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Dare I suggest that even stubs can and should be non-orphans? Basic criteria: Howard C. Berkowitz 18:00, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Reachable from the front page or a core article/workgroup page
 * Link to at least three other articles, even if they are redlinks in a Related Articles subpages
 * Have at least three other articles link to them


 * I propose "childish things" as a topic. --Larry Sanger 15:51, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Er...you talkin' 'bout me again??? You can always tell who's got a toddler at home, huh, Larry?  Aleta Curry 02:57, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Future Theme Schedule

 * February - Thoughts and Books
 * March - Spring Clean II!
 * April - Events
 * May - It's a Wide World/It's a Small World After All