Archive:Monthly Write-a-Thon/January 10, 2020

WEEKLY (Sundays) in January 2021, starting January 10
Jan. 10 theme: Planets, cosmic entities, heavenly bodies

Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on Dec. 21, 2020.

The next Write-a-Thon will take place on Sunday, January 10, 2021--for the first time in nearly a decade! We've just undergone a major planetary conjunction, so let's focus especially on planets, stars, galaxies and cosmic entities--but not just those, let's also include any article including those names. So, not just Andromeda, but also The Andromeda Strain (the film). Not just Mars (planet) but also Mars (mythology). Let's not forget books, films, rappers, or restaurants using such names. Or even mysteries such as: 'Are there really UFOs'; Orson Welles' radio broadcast that scared the world; and so forth. Puns on the theme are allowed ("heavenly body", anyone?).

And if these topics are beyond your imagination, please just be a party pooper and drop by to write about anything else!

We know that not everybody has Sunday at the same time though, so to make it fair our Sunday lasts 48 hours! Therefore, the Write-a-Thon starts when it is Sunday at midnight (in Sydney) and ends when it becomes Monday in San Francisco.

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 hearty; to exchange ideas with people we might not "meet" otherwise.

When?

In January 2021--a very special month--Write-a-Thons happen the first Sunday of every week, give or take a few hours depending on where you are.

WHERE	START	END	TIME_ZONE	UTC_OFFSET
London (England)	Saturday at 1 pm	Monday at 7 am	GMT	UTC
New York (USA)	Saturday at 8 am	Monday at 2 am	EST	UTC-5 hours
San Francisco (USA)	Saturday at 5 am	Sunday at 11 pm	PST	UTC-8 hours
Sydney (Australia)	Sunday at 12 midnight	Monday at 6 pm	AEDT	UTC+11 hours
New Delhi (India)	Saturday at 6:30 pm	Monday at 12:30 pm	IST	UTC+5:30 hours

After January, we will revert to only once a month. But let us write, and party, four weeks in a row in January 2021.

So how do I join in?

Joining in is really easy:

• First of all, show up on the Sunday, give or take a day!
• Start a new article, or update or expand and existing article. Even just a stub will qualify, although the more substantive the article the better. Come back to this page and let everyone know you've started it, or changed it! The earlier in the day you do this step, the better.
• Make a substantive edit (not just a copy-edit) to somebody else's Write-a-Thon article! You might need to come back a little bit later in the day to do this, once people have had chance to make all those new articles or substantial updates. Then come back to this page and reply to the person who made the article.
• Optionally, but preferably, mention Write-a-thon in the Edit summary of any pages you create or edit for the party! It lets others who may have forgotten know it is here.
• Congratulations, you are an official Write-a-thon partier!

The Partiers: Join the fun! List your new articles here!

When you've created your new article (or improved an existing article) on Sunday (or thereabouts), come and list it here! Don't forget to sign your name so everyone knows you've joined in. Then, when you've edited someone else's article come and let them know!

Keen-as-mustard and jumped the gun

Here I go with the Write-a-Thon though it's still only Saturday and it seems I am not the very first (Martin seems to have been earlier). I am working on Vega, which needed disambiguation, because I wanted to get it done before a certain politician succeeds in overthrowing the U.S. government. Pat Palmer (talk) 17:01, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

Not Saturday in Sydeny when I started. --Martin Wyatt (talk) 19:46, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

And now, a walk down memory lane as I disambiguate the names of Earth's planets, I got stuck for a while remembering Venus, the 1960's song.Pat Palmer (talk) 18:52, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

Created and may edit more (still only Saturday...). John Stephenson (talk) 17:24, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

If anyone is looking for inspiration to write about Conjunction (astronomy) this weekend, take a look at the ridiculously geeky, opaque introduction to it in Wikipedia. Pat Palmer (talk) 18:56, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

Partying

Created Conjunction (grammar) and edited Mercury (mythology) (started by Martin), neither of which are about astronomy. John Stephenson (talk) 16:27, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

I got side-tracked documenting one of my favorite myths, Scylla, but it came about because of the Write-a-Thon since Circe made Scylla, and Circe was a daughter of the Titans. Pat Palmer (talk) 16:49, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

Created astronomical unit page. Mark Widmer (talk) 19:41, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

Oops, there's already an Astronomical Unit page (with uppercase "U"). Merged some info from lowercase-u version to uppercase-U version. Mark Widmer (talk)

I've been visiting the planets and their associated articles, doing housekeeping; and now I've gotten mired up in the galaxies. Does that mean I've made it to the Big Time? Pat Palmer (talk) 01:23, 11 January 2021 (UTC)

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

Why so cold and distant, Uranus and Neptune? Is it because you're classified as icy giants? Mark Widmer (talk) 01:01, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

It's elementary, Watson -- not planetary -- when you edit articles like Neptunium and Plutonium. Mark Widmer (talk) 01:04, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

I had grand plans to add a completely new section on organizations supporting planetary, stellar, galactic and cosmic research to an article I started a decade ago on the History of scientific organizations and institutions but events got in the way and the section isn't yet ready for prime time presentation. So I had to settle for a bit of "party crashing" in the form of some editorial modifications and reorganizing to the existing article. What else is a party crashing social and policy scientist to do with a topic like this? ;-) Roger A. Lohmann (talk) 22:16, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

Upcoming dates! Suggest a theme.

• Sunday January 17 - theme to be determined
• Sunday January 24 - theme to be determined
• Sunday January 31 - theme to be determined

Please enter your suggestions for upcoming Write-a-Thons below.

Write-a-Thon Theme Suggestions (add your ideas, please!)

• History of food/foods. Anthony.Sebastian 22:59, 7 July 2011 (UTC)
• 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.Petréa Mitchell 19:15, 1 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)

• For this revival, to open it to lots of partiers, suggest theme: 'Topic of Your Mind's Desire', or, 'Whatever', or something in that vein, with the proviso that article be consistent with CZ standards. Anthony.Sebastian 02:28, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Kinds of Phobias, or mammals, or insectss or arachnids or butterflys or flowers or medications or symmetry groups or legends in sports. But wait, there are many trees and automobiles and computer programs, and ice cream flavors. Sooo many choices, so little time. David E. Volk 23:48, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Previous shindings

empty form

• March 14, 2021 Power
• January 31, 2021 Stems and branches
• January 24, 2021 Round things
• January 17, 2021 Messaging and Missives
• January 10, 2021 Heavenly bodies!
• July 6, 2011 Standards!
• July 7, 2010 Celebrations!
• June 2, 2010 (no Write-a-Thon)
• May 5, 2010 Humour!
• April 7, 2010 Context or Spring Clean!
• March 3, 2010 Something you absolutely *love*!
• February 3, 2010 The Play's the Thing
• January 6, 2010 Stubs
• December 2, 2009 School
• November 4, 2009 Myths and Mythology
• October 7, 2009 Continents
• September 2, 2009 Design and Designers
• August 5, 2009 Heads of Government/Heads of State
• July 1, 2009 Sudden death
• June 3, 2009 unthemed?
• May 6, 2009 It's a Wide World or: It's a Small World After All!
• April 1, 2009 Events
• March 4, 2009 Spring Cleaning
• February 8, 2009 Thoughts and Books
• January 7, 2009 Controverises
• December 3, 2008 Retro, the 80's
• November 5, 2008 National parks
• October 1, 2008 Spring Cleaning
• September 3, 2008 My favourite bands
• August 6, 2008 Attractions
• July 2, 2008 Olympics
• June 4, 2008 Biographies
• May 7, 2008 Holidays, festivals and fetes
• April 2, 2008 Core articles
• March 5, 2008 Something you absolutely love.
• February 6, 2008
• January 9,2008
• December 5, 2007
• November 7, 2007
• October 3, 2007
• September 5, 2007
• August 1, 2007

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