Talk:Archive:Monthly Write-a-Thon/May 7, 2008

How short is too short for a stub? Can I write a latin phrase used in medicine and give 2 or 3 sentences about it, then give the british and english pronunciation? Then link articles relating to this? Tom Kelly 09:33, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

I can't find it to save my life now, but I believe when I signed up I read something about keeping stubs to a minimum of about 150 words. --Todd Coles 09:52, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

Well, strictly speaking, anything under 50 words is deletable. That doesn't mean anything over 50 words is OK, though. As a rule of thumb, I would say 150-250 is a good minimum, depending on the topic, but it could perhaps be even less. See this for very relevant discussion. (That might be what you saw, Todd.) Generally, we want a stub to contain a good definition at the very least, as well as some other solid information, and the whole thing should more or less stand alone. You might also see The perfect stub article, which I wrote back in the early days of Wikipedia. Note that we don't identify stubs as stubs on articles, on CZ. That's a practice I've come to think is ultimately harmful. --Larry Sanger 09:57, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

I guess a good follow-up question to this would be - Is it preferable that we make shorter "stub" type articles for the Write-a-thon in order to open more avenues for collaboration? Or should we stick to larger, more complete articles? --Todd Coles 15:09, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

Write-a-thon Template

I figured that if we're going to do this on a monthly basis, we ought to have a template that we can use to quickly place the notice in the main page.

Write-a-Thon! Tomorrow -- from Wednesday, August 1st 0000 GMT to Wednesday, August 1st 2359 GMT we invite all Citizens to come to the wiki, start a new article, and edit somebody else's new article. It's a Write-a-Thon! It'll be a wiki-whoopie, a cyber-social, a collaborative kegger!

It needs some TLC though, if someone could help, that would be great. Thanks! --Paul Derry 14:25, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

Love it! Suggestion--could you put in the full time range--I see Larry's done it on the Write-a-Thon page, but that was the first thing that jumped out at me on the Main page--like, okay, it runs from when to when all over the world? (Very bored and waiting for everyone to wake up--finish work and school--by which time I'll have gone to bed!) Aleta Curry 23:54, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

I added an end time parameter to the template, but I think it needs a little re-alignment of some sort... --Paul Derry 00:47, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Very cool, thanks! --Larry Sanger 08:21, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Always love a good party

The ABBA article should be MUCH longer, but wanted to contribute and it was a nice change from my usual topics. In the words (well almost) of the band, in their first single: 'ABBA Needs Love'. Much to improve so hope to see it grow from here. --Ian Johnson 17:27, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

Good start, Ian. Aleta Curry 23:56, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

moved discussion

• Ahem!--Notice there are TWO rules here, boys? I'm going to move myself up to the top of the list if you don't edit something! Aleta Curry 20:45, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

er...I see you have to make a substantive edit to another new article. Duh! Well, that does make it harder...never mind....Aleta Curry 23:58, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

Personally I reckon that the edit requirement makes for a limiter on the end result increase in new articles, and the new article aspect should be far more important as a day like today is a really good motivator to 'get to' starting the articles one has been 'putting off' for a while... --Ian Johnson 06:17, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Well, I created an article, and have done several edits today, but they're all minor edits. I'm not an Editor here, so I'm not going to dive into any kind of substantial edits on others' work. And since I'm not interested in being a Porch Sitter, I'm going to just sit this one out. Good luck on it though! --Jason S. Colflesh 12:20, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Well, I take your point, Ian, but that's just it--the edit requirement forces us not to be lazy. It doesn't stop anyone from adding, you just can't be on the bona fide partiers part of the list; I see plenty of fence sitters and porch people and all. As much fun as it would be to just add stubs, I think the edit requirement is in keeping with our overall "quality, not quantity" philosophy. Ms-write-a-thon-withdrawal Aleta Curry 17:41, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

I probably agree now too. I wrote the first one last night before I crashed, but when I checked back in this morning there looked to be a paucity of things I thought I could edit, so felt frustrated by that. It really gained a momentum of itself though, especially after the US woke up (isn't there a flame discussion waiting in there ;-) with lots of editables - although in the end I went with your Grevillea as it touched my Aussie heart. Then it all got real loose and funky as soon as Anton Sweeney suggested the beer. Good party. --Ian Johnson 17:50, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Well, I'm about to log off for the night (its officially not Write-A-Thon Day anymore here for the last 17 minutes), but I couldn't go without leaving an apt quotation...

Xander Harris: "Now, Buffy, what have we learned about beer?"

Buffy Summers: "Beer... foamy!"

Buffy: the Vampire Slayer 4.5: Beer Bad

Cheers, and good night! Anton Sweeney 18:19, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Oh, #%^$%^*&%!!!!

I misread the rules! I have to stop now!! Aw, c'mon--it's still August 1st in Maui!!! I was all set to add champagne and maybe sherry...someone has to raise the tone, what with all the beer swilling going on around here! I am apparently in denial about being a write-a-thon addict. Yes...no...I can quit any time I want.... Aleta Curry 17:34, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Why Wednesday?

Hate to throw any water on this here party, not trying to at all, but is there a rationale for choosing Wednesday? Probably is, of course, but it'd be nice to know it.  —Stephen Ewen (Talk) 17:41, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Don't ask me; technically I didn't even get an invitation to this 'ere party; luckily I've got friends, because a lady never crashes the gate...; Aleta Curry 17:43, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Presumably, it's just the first day of the month. Greg Woodhouse 17:49, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Come to think about it, since it's supposed to be a party, shouldn't it have been yesterday? That way, it would have been a New Month's Eve party. Greg Woodhouse 17:53, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Well, I was thinking about what else we might do along the lines of an Article of the Week, and thunk up the Write-a-Thon, and I figured, nobody needs permission to hold an article-writing party, and we should have it as soon as possible (so that there would be enough notice), so the first available day happened to fall on a Wednesday.  :-)

Also, I figgered, Thursday-Sunday are usually slow times (so the party wouldn't be as jumping), and Monday and Tuesday don't usually need any help. --Larry Sanger 23:18, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

Great party!

I declare the Write-a-Thon a success!

Question is, do we want to tweak the parameters any? Let's do an "after-action review."  ;-) Longer than a day long? More (or less) frequent than once per month? Any other tweakable parameters? Or is it just perfect? --Larry Sanger 23:20, 1 August 2007 (CDT)

At approximately 50 new articles - definitely a success! Personally, I think a monthly "first Wednesday" (or whenever) Write-a-Thon is the way to go. More frequent, and people may get bored with the idea. Less frequent - well, what'd be the point :-P I'd also suggest a gentle admonishment for the Write-a-Thon page, urging authors not to hold off on a planned article till the next Write-a-Thon - publish when you can, don't save something for a special day.

"Rules"-wise and bureaucracy... keep things simple. The 'create an article and edit an article' worked well - as did the categories of partiers (poor Stephen and John!). Possibly add a 'Party Requests' box - an article you'd like to see created? Anton Sweeney 03:15, 2 August 2007 (CDT)

Right, I agree with that. But: Party Favors.  ;-) --Larry Sanger 03:17, 2 August 2007 (CDT)

Perhaps there shoulbe some languge encouraging people to continue working on their creations, but perhaps not. I wouldn't want to do anything that mnight dampen the sense of spontaneity. Greg Woodhouse 07:45, 2 August 2007 (CDT)

The spontaneity and informality of the day were indeed positive factors - refreshing the Write-a-Thon page every once in a while to see who was up to what was fun. I made the beer and Texas Hold 'Em suggestions as a joke - a few hours later, we had collaborative articles in place :-) Anton Sweeney 08:17, 2 August 2007 (CDT)