Help:Participating in Stub September
This page details how to take part in the Fanlore event Stub September. For more information regarding the history of the event, refer to: Stub September
Curious about participating in Stub September and looking for some help? Don't really understand what stubs even are? Here's a helpful guide to get you through our September challenge!
You can also join Fanlore's official Discord to ask any questions you have and chat to other editors taking part in the challenge!
The Broad Overview
Stub September is a two-week challenge running in 2024 from September 15 to September 29.
Everyone, from seasoned editors to people new to Fanlore, is welcome to participate. You can win shiny new badges for participating and helping expand our empty or short pages.
Before You Start
- If you don't have a Fanlore account already, create one. Only logged in users can edit Fanlore (it's an anti-spam measure)
- Be aware that you won't be able to create any new pages for four hours after your account is created (this is also an anti-spam measure) - but you can still edit and expand stubs! Check out our new editors' tutorial to learn how to get started with editing.
- Don't be afraid. You don't have to know everything there is to know about your fandom. You don't have to be an expert or spend hours upon hours crafting the perfect page.
- Remember: You can contribute as little or as much as you want. Every contribution is welcomed and cherished.
- Every fan perspective is valid. If you participated in the majority of fandom activities, if you were part of just a small circle of fandom friends, or if you held the sole Unpopular Opinion, we want to document it on Fanlore and we hope you will help us.
- If you're new to wiki editing and Fanlore, check out our New Visitor Portal and Editing Cheatsheet for some helpful tips and shortcuts.
The Basics
- What is a stub? A 'stub' is a short page with little to no information on it, where there is a lot of scope for adding more detail.
- Perhaps you were clicking through links on a page and came across a page with a yellow box at the top reading:
Stub: This article is a stub. Please help us out by adding more content.
- We want you to help edit our stubs and help them grow into articles!
- Fanlore tags stubs so that they can all be found in their own Stubs Category - so you don’t have to follow links down rabbit holes to find a page to edit!
- To mark a page as a stub, just add this code anywhere on the page: {{stub}}
- We currently have more than 9,000 stubs on Fanlore, so everyone can take their pick!
- Depending on the subject matter, Fanlore articles can be short or long. Since there is no definitive length requirement for a Fanlore page, there isn’t any specific length that defines a stub. To help you out, here are some examples of pages that do and don't qualify as stubs (click or select the images to view them full size):
Example of a page correctly flagged as a stub:
Example of a page which is not a stub, but still needs expanding:
Example of a page which is not a stub, and although it’s short it doesn’t necessarily need expanding:
Taking Part in Stub September
If you'd like to participate, just add this tracker to your User Page to let us know:
| 🎫 STUB SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE 🎫 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create a new Stub | Add to a Stub | Add section headers to a Stub | Add an internal link to a Stub | Add content to 5 stubs in total |
The code to add this to your User Page can be found at Stub September 2024 Tracker.
We also encourage you to add "Stub September" to your edit summaries to help us spot and verify qualifying edits.
What kind of edits should I make?
Any and all additions that help our stubs grow are welcome!
- Small edits matter!
- Add a few sentences or a paragraph describing the subject of the page
- Add a fanwork (a fanfic, fanvid, fanart, meta, or something else) relevant to the page.
- Build a list: relevant characters, pairings, significant episodes/chapters/books in a series, or fanworks that had an impact on fandom
- Add a link to an outside fan page, forum, LiveJournal community, Tumblr blog, mailing list, webring, or other resource relevant to the page
- Build an article:
- Add a few sections to an empty (or nearly empty) page to grow the page into an article
- Bring fandom perspectives to an article, cite important fanworks, and cite fan reactions or responses
- Incorporate relevant quotes from fanworks, meta, or significant fandom moments and discussions amongst fans
- If a page is longer than a stub but still needs work, you can add {{ExpandArticle}} to signal that it needs expansion, or {{ExamplesWanted}} wherever some more examples are needed.
Challenge badges
We've prepared some awesome badges for editors who take part in Stub September! You can earn badges for:
- Creating a new stub - this can be a completely new page, or created from a redlink (an internal link whose page doesn't exist yet)
- Adding to a stub (any amount counts!) - it can be the same stub you just created, or a different stub
- Adding section headers to a stub - even if you don't have enough information (or time) to fully flesh out a stub, adding section headers can help suggest what others might add! This can also be the same stub you’ve created, or a different stub
- Adding an internal link to a stub page
- Add content to 5 stubs - this can include stubs you've edited for the other tasks!
How do I get my badges?
To show that you're taking part, copy and paste the template code for the task tracker card onto your User page (this can be done in either 'Edit' or 'Edit source' mode).
Instructions for updating the card are on the template - edit it as you go along! During the Challenge, members of the Fanlore Committee will be keeping an eye on participating users' cards, and awarding badges accordingly. Please bear in mind that it may take a day or two for new badges to be awarded.
Your badges will be posted to your Talk page, so be sure to check there if you haven't received your badge yet. If you still haven't received your badge after a few days, feel free to email us with the information about your edit, plus your Fanlore username, and we'll make sure you get your badge! You can also tweet us, send us a Tumblr ask, or ask in our Discord.
How can I display my badges on Fanlore?
Once you've earned your Challenge badges, you can display them on your Fanlore user page for everyone to admire! Here's how.
- Your badge will have been posted to your talk page, which you can access by selecting "Talk" at the top of the screen on the desktop version of the site. On mobile, use the hamburger menu (which looks like three lines) in the top left corner, and select your username from the bottom of the menu. There will be a link you can select to take you to your talk page, labelled Talk to [your username].
- Edit your talk page. You should be able to grab the image code for your badge from there - it will look something like this:
[[File:Stub Sept Badge.png|200px]] - Copy that code, and paste it wherever you like on your user page!
If you'd like to display your badges somewhere other than Fanlore, you can easily do that, too — just right-click on the image (or long press on mobile) and either copy the link address or save it to your device, to be used anywhere you like.