Archive:Monthly Write-a-Thon

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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, January 6th, 2009. Starts on January 5th, 1200 UTC, when it starts being Wednesday in New Zealand, and ends on January 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 January 9th, 1200 UTC, when it starts being Sunday in New Zealand, and ends on January 11th, 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.

This month's Party Theme

Stubs
Create a stub, any stub--what could be easier?


The Partiers

Keen-as-mustard and jumped the gun

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

Party crashers--article contributors who didn't create a new article

Rather late and missed the boat!

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

The total party poops

Special Requests

Charter and constitution

Please take a look at Charter and Constitution and help to get them into shape for the drafting period.

That was not what I had in mind — rather, I thought that we should start/ improve the charter and constitution articles to provide background for the above. --Daniel Mietchen 10:29, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Related pages

We had a special request for people to start stubs from the Related Pages of existing articles. A good idea which will help us to complete clusters.

Definitions

Please take a look at Category:Need def and help to bring the number of items on that list down.

You can also go for this by Workgroups:

Natural Sciences

Category:Astronomy need def · Category:Biology need def · Category:Chemistry need def · Category:Earth Sciences need def · Category:Mathematics need def · Category:Physics need def

Social Sciences

Category:Anthropology need def · Category:Archaeology need def · Category:Economics need def · Category:Education need def · Category:Geography need def · Category:Law need def · Category:Linguistics need def · Category:Politics need def · Category:Psychology need def · Category:Sociology need def

Humanities

Category:Classics need def · Category:History need def · Category:Literature need def · Category:Philosophy need def · Category:Religion need def

Arts

Category:Architecture need def · Category:Music need def · Category:Theater need def · Category:Visual Arts need def

Applied Arts and Sciences

Category:Agriculture need def · Category:Business need def · Category:Computers need def · Category:Engineering need def · Category:Food Science need def · Category:Healing Arts need def · Category:Health Sciences need def · Category:Journalism need def · Category:Library and Information Science need def · Category:Media need def · Category:Military need def · Category:Robotics need def

Recreation

Category:Games need def · Category:Hobbies need def · Category:Sports need def

Other

Category:Eduzendium need def · Category:Topic Informant need def · Category:Technical Team need def

Questions

  • Okay, apropos of nothing: it's still Wednesday in Honolulu and Anchorage. How can that be? Aleta Curry 08:53, 7 January 2010 (UTC) I should add that the reason I don't get it is because it's almost Friday in Suva. Where's Phineas Fogg when you need him? It really *is* a mad, mad world. Aleta Curry 08:57, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

It's a wrap!

Alas, it's no longer Sunday anywhere! Time to wrap it up for another month. Thanks, everyone! Aleta Curry 21:08, 11 January 2010 (UTC)


empty form

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
  • 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!

2010

  • January - Hot toddy - for our friends in the Northern Hemisphere.
Is there such a thing as a cold toddy? Just wondering... --Howard C. Berkowitz 21:06, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
Another thing that makes you go: 'hmmm...?' Aleta Curry 23:20, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

Bonus point winners

  • I'm awarding 15,312 bonus points to Howard for his superlative efforts in keeping the Write a Thons going. Aleta Curry 05:02, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
  • 2,112 points to the archivist, 'cause I was getting desperate. (Still not sure whether that's Chris or Peter, though.) Aleta Curry 05:02, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

Write-a-Thon Theme Suggestions

New Suggestions and Discussion

  • "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)
  • Myths and mythology. Every culture and every field of study has them! --Joe Quick 15:36, 2 October 2009 (UTC)
  • School. Institutions at any level, government and non-government organizations, desk supplies, anything at or about school. --Joe Quick 20:42, 9 October 2009 (UTC)
See Drew for schools of fish. I've been working on madrassa. Howard C. Berkowitz 22:06, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Please take a look at Category:Developed Articles and help to improve items on that list.

You can also go for this by Workgroups:

Natural Sciences

Category:Astronomy Developed Articles · Category:Biology Developed Articles · Category:Chemistry Developed Articles · Category:Earth Sciences Developed Articles · Category:Mathematics Developed Articles · Category:Physics Developed Articles

Social Sciences

Category:Anthropology Developed Articles · Category:Archaeology Developed Articles · Category:Economics Developed Articles · Category:Education Developed Articles · Category:Geography Developed Articles · Category:Law Developed Articles · Category:Linguistics Developed Articles · Category:Politics Developed Articles · Category:Psychology Developed Articles · Category:Sociology Developed Articles

Humanities

Category:Classics Developed Articles · Category:History Developed Articles · Category:Literature Developed Articles · Category:Philosophy Developed Articles · Category:Religion Developed Articles

Arts

Category:Architecture Developed Articles · Category:Music Developed Articles · Category:Theater Developed Articles · Category:Visual Arts Developed Articles

Applied Arts and Sciences

Category:Agriculture Developed Articles · Category:Business Developed Articles · Category:Computers Developed Articles · Category:Engineering Developed Articles · Category:Food Science Developed Articles · Category:Healing Arts Developed Articles · Category:Health Sciences Developed Articles · Category:Journalism Developed Articles · Category:Library and Information Science Developed Articles · Category:Media Developed Articles · Category:Military Developed Articles · Category:Robotics Developed Articles

Recreation

Category:Games Developed Articles · Category:Hobbies Developed Articles · Category:Sports Developed Articles

Other

Category:Eduzendium Developed Articles · Category:Topic Informant Developed Articles · Category:Technical Team Developed Articles

Future Theme Schedule

  • February - The Play's the Thing - both the ones you act in, and the ones in sports.

See also


Citizendium Initiatives
Eduzendium | Featured Article | Recruitment | Subpages | Core Articles | Uncategorized pages |
Requested Articles | Feedback Requests | Wanted Articles

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