Archive:Monthly Write-a-Thon#January 17, 2020

WEEKLY (Sundays) in January 2021
Jan. 17 theme: Messaging and Missives

Message in a bottle.

The next Write-a-Thon will take place on Sunday, January 17, 2021\--for the second time in nearly a decade!

Hey, WhatsApp? Messaging and Missives is our theme, dedicated to all forms of communication, from letters to social media via bottles or tin can telephones. And of course, we're not just interested in smartphones or email, but languages, writing and other forms of communication too (whale song? Semaphore?).

If the theme topic is not for you, 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.

## Contents

* 1 What's a Write-a-Thon?
* 1.1 When?
* 1.2 So how do I join in?
* 2 The Partiers: Join the fun! List your new articles here!
* 2.1 Keen-as-mustard and jumped the gun
* 2.2 Partying
* 2.3 Porch sitters--article creators who didn't edit a new article
* 2.4 Party crashers--article contributors who didn't create a new article
* 2.5 Rather late and missed the boat!
* 2.6 The shy ones, absent-minded profs, and other modest creatures
* 2.7 The total party poops
* 2.8 Special requests
* 2.9 Questions
* 2.10 It's a wrap!
* 2.11 Bonus point winners
* 3 Upcoming dates! Suggest a theme.
* 4 Write-a-Thon Theme Suggestions (add your ideas, please!)
* 5 Previous shindings

## What's a Write-a-Thon?[edit]

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?[edit]

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

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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?[edit]

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![edit]

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[edit]

### Partying[edit]

Have started, and will be working on, Smoke signals\--because I adored the 1998 film of that name. Pat Palmer (talk) 17:25, 17 January 2021 (UTC)

I love that movie!Roger A. Lohmann (talk) 20:52, 17 January 2021 (UTC)

Have started and worked on Invisiblehate.org which is a web site devoted to messaging about opposition to, and efforts to remove, the 700 remaining Confederate statues and more than 1,600 other symbols of racial division. Note that the link in the first sentence doesn't work because in creating the title, I inadvertently named it invisibleHate.com. As soon as someone with the necessary technical expertise can correct my error, the link in the first sentence will turn blue and the one in the second will be red, which will be at my level of understanding such things. There is currently no Wikipedia article on this topic, although I suspect that will come soon. Although I've tried to make it neutral and nonpartisan reporting, this one could be controversial, and might even become a target of internet trolls, so it bears watching. Roger A. Lohmann (talk) 20:52, 17 January 2021 (UTC)

Roger, I have moved the article for you, and look forwards to reading it. Pat Palmer (talk) 01:33, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

Also staggered to realize that my home town (Paris, Tennessee) has one of the targeted Confederate monuments standing on the lawn of its court square, which I never even noticed before now. Sigh.Pat Palmer (talk) 03:18, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

Well done! Thanks.

I think I should get brownie points for continuing to plug along on Claude Shannon, a foundational figure in computer hardware, information theory, and Cryptography, without which all of today's digital communication would be impossible. His work on signaling was also critical for some areas of Biology. Pat Palmer (talk) 03:09, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

There has been (and continues to be) universal agreement to award you brownie points for plugging along with Claude, but the BP judges' panel are hung up on just how many points to award! Roger A. Lohmann (talk) 14:05, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

Some among the panel are currently checking the value of a brownie point these days. How much is a brownie point worth? Wikipedia doesn't seem to have an article on that along with 38 pages of discussion and argument. Roger A. Lohmann (talk) 14:08, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

:-} Pat Palmer (talk)

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

Just been out here messaging. John Stephenson (talk) 12:47, 17 January 2021 (UTC)

Great job setting up Message (disambiguation); I am mulling how or whether "Message" should or could be coordinated with signals, protocols, semaphores, smoke signals and the like which do not actually include the word "message". Pat Palmer (talk) 03:48, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

### Party crashers--article contributors who didn't create a new article[edit]

If you hope that someone gets your ... you hope that someone gets your ... you hope that someone gets your message in a bottle, apparently that someone would be Sting of The Police. Mark Widmer (talk) 02:21, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

Nyah nyah Pat Palmer (talk) 04:13, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

Added a note about AM and FM radio modulation. Mark Widmer (talk) 02:47, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

### Rather late and missed the boat![edit]

### The shy ones, absent-minded profs, and other modest creatures[edit]

Overslept; getting a later start very soon I hope.Pat Palmer (talk) 15:39, 17 January 2021 (UTC)

### The total party poops[edit]

### Special requests[edit]

### Questions[edit]

### It's a wrap![edit]

### Bonus point winners[edit]

## Upcoming dates! Suggest a theme.[edit]

* 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!)[edit]

* 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[edit]

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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