View source for Archive:Monthly Write-a-Thon/June 3, 2009

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== 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, June 3, 2009'''.  Starts on June 2nd, 1200 UTC, when it starts being Wednesday in New Zealand, and ends on June 4th, 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 [[CZ:Monthly_Write-a-Thon/August_1%2C_2007|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 June 6th, 1200 UTC, when it starts being Sunday in New Zealand, and ends on June 8th, 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 [[CZ:Subpages|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.

==This month's Party Theme==
===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]]. --[[User:Larry Sanger|Larry Sanger]] 15:52, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

== The Partiers ==
Howard observes one must not miss the boat in [[Chatham, Massachusetts]], or it will be much more difficult to fish. Yes, it is possible to rake for [[quahog]]s in shallow water, but a skiff is a very good idea.  

He has been experimenting with restructuring some articles such as [[Taliban]] first, and then [[Iraq War]] and [[Afghanistan War (2001-2021)]], so there is a sensible and approvable core, from which subarticles can branch for continuing events.

His general challenge is for more engineering articles on [[tool]]s and [[fastener]]s. Go ahead. Folksingers, if you had a [[hammer]], write about it. There is [[drill (disambiguation)|drill]] besides [[Monty Python]] marching up and down the square. Even ignoring the idiomatic use of [[screw (fastener)|screw]], there are multitudinous additions, if you won't be a [[nut (disambiguation)|nut]] and [[bolt (disambiguation)|bolt]]. [[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|Howard C. Berkowitz]]


Daniel edited [[quahog]] and played around with ways to display its current state :
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; padding: 6px; background:#fafafa"
|-
{{ptcl|Quahog}}
|-
|}

== Keen-as-mustard and jumped the gun ==

== Rather late and missed the boat! ==

== Porch sitters--article creators who didn't edit a new article ==

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

== The total party poops ==

== Special Requests ==

== Questions ==

==It's a wrap!==

{{CZ:Monthly Write-a-Thon/Previous shindigs}}

== Official libations==
===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 (beverage)|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 [[shandy|shandies]] and [[spritzer]]s 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 music|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!'' [[User:Aleta Curry|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!

==Bonus point winners==

== Write-a-Thon Theme Suggestions==
===New Suggestions and Discussion===

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

*I suggest "Numbers".  [[User:Richard Pinch|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 [[French_republican_calendar#Months_and_days|this interesting list of natural objects]]. Or [[Positivist_calendar#Commemorations|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?  --[[User:Petréa Mitchell|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. [[User:Aleta Curry|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.[[User:Pat Palmer|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?[[User:Gareth Leng|Gareth Leng]] 12:31, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
::*I like this idea.  Further, definitions and other subpages are preferable, even for stubs. [[User:Chris Day|Chris Day]] 17:01, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
:::Dare I suggest that even stubs can and should be non-orphans? Basic criteria: [[User:Howard C. Berkowitz|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. --[[User:Larry Sanger|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?  [[User:Aleta Curry|Aleta Curry]] 02:57, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

===Future Theme Schedule===
*June - tbc
*July - tbc
*August - tbc

== See also ==
* Larry Sanger, [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/08/09/why-the-write-a-thon-worked/ Why the Write-a-Thon worked], Citizendium Blog, August 9, 2007
* [[CZ:Weekly Wiki|Weekly Wiki]]
* [[CZ:Article of the Week|Article of the Week]]
* [[CZ:New Article of the Week|New Article of the Week]]

{{initiatives}}