Stub September
| Event | |
|---|---|
| Event: | Stub September |
| Participants: | Fanlore |
| Date(s): | 2012 - hopefully present? |
| Type: | |
| Fandom: | multifandom |
| URL: | Stub September 2016! |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article is about the history and development of the event Stub September. For details about how to take part in the challenge, refer to Help:Participating in Stub September
Stub September is an semi-annual to annual month-long challenge/festival devoted to adding information to existing Fanlore articles, especially those that are stubs. Fans are also encouraged to add to articles that need expansion and articles that need more example fanworks.
Stub September was first held in 2012.
The Pages that need expansion category was created in response to user feedback during the first Stub September.[1]
For other Fanlore challenges/festivals, see the International Fanworks Day Fanlore Challenge, April Showers of Fannish History, the Fanlore Bingo Challenge, and June Bloom.
2012
At the beginning of the first Stub September, there were nearly 1800 existing pages on Fanlore identified as stubs.[2] Particpiants were invited to use the list to find a page where they know something about the topic, and edit the page to add their information as well to post links to the articles they worked on and let others know about the project![3]
As a result of discussions about the definition of a stub, the Fanlore Committee created a new template, {{ExpandArticle}}, and in the process went through existing templates and deleted some that are no longer in use. An editing chat was held on September 22 2012 for editors to talk about Fanlore editing that was fun for everyone involved; they’ve resolved to hold them more often.[4]
2013
The challenge did not take place in 2013.
2014
The second Stub September introduced weekly themes to help fans decide which article(s) to work on. The themes were meant merely as suggestions, and fans were welcome to work on any article at any time. There were over 1600 existing pages on Fanlore that are already identified as stubs[5]. A logo featuring autumn leaves (pictured on the right) by Caitie was used for the first time.
The challenge was a great success. Many new editors discovered Fanlore. The committee held an editing chat on September 14th, and later posted a summary of issues discussed that day. Internally, the committee began examining a mass editing tool that should make behind-the-scenes work much easier in the future.[6]
At the beginning of September, there were more than 1600 existing pages on Fanlore identified as stubs.[1]
- Week 1 (1-6 September): Fandoms
- Week 2 (7-13 September): Characters
- Week 3 (14-20 September): Relationships (This encompasses pairings, threesomes and moresomes, and gen relationships.)
- Week 4 (21-27 September): Fan Communities (This includes websites, forums, mailing lists, and other fan spaces.)
2015
At the beginning of September, there were over 1900 existing pages on Fanlore identified as stubs.[7] Earlier that year was the introduction of June Bloom, which may have contributed to the increase in stubs. To help newcomers get started, the Wiki Committee organized an editing party on Saturday, September 12th 2015. There were also two other types of articles to focus on this month, pages that need expansion and examples wanted. Like 2014, weekly themes were posted at the Fanlore Dreamwidth account to help provide some inspiration.
- Week 1 (1-5 September): Fandoms(?)
- Week 2 (6-12 September): Characters
- Week 3 (13-19 September): Relationships
- Week 4 (20-26 September): Fan Communities
- Week 5 (27-30 September): Fandoms again!
2016
At the beginning of September, following the second celebration of June Bloom, there were more than 2,000 existing pages on Fanlore identified as stubs.[8]
During the the fourth Stub September, it was announced that the weekly themes would be replaced by periodic tips related to finding and expanding stubs, as well as some suggestions to help editors decide what to work on. However, there is no evidence that these were actually posted, as no subsequent posts were made on Dreamwidth in the month of September, and no tips were tweeted from Fanlore's Twitter account during the month either.[9]
2017-2018
Stub September was not run as a challenge on Fanlore in 2017 or 2018.
2019
The Fanlore Committee revived Stub September for 2019 as a two-week challenge, taking place from 16-29 September. At that time, there were 3,387 stubs on Fanlore. At the end of the challenge, there were 3,255 stubs.
On September 4, 2019, Fanlore teased the return of Stub September with a news post reading, "Coming Soon: Stub September is Back!"[10] The full details of the challenge were unveiled on September 16 via a new help page about how to take part in Stub September, with a redesigned banner created by memorizingthedigitsofpi, and five badges to be won for different editing challenges.
2020
Stub September 2020 was carnival-treat themed, such as cotton candy and ice cream cones.
2021
Stub September 2021 was space-themed, such as a constellation or a UFO.
2022
Stub September 2022 was cake themed
2023
Stub September 2023 was dinosaur themed
References
- ^ a b Stub September 2014!, fanlore.dreamwidth.org, 31 Aug. 2014.
- ^ Fanlore Challenge: Stub September, fanlore.dreamwidth.org, 3 Sept. 2012.
- ^ Join Stub September on Fanlore!
- ^ September 2012 Newsletter, Volume 63
- ^ Stub September 2014!
- ^ September 2014 Newsletter, Volume 84
- ^ Stub September is Here Again!, fanlore.dreamwidth.org, 1 Sept. 2015.
- ^ Stub September 2016!, fanlore.dreamwidth.org, 1 Sept. 2016.
- ^ Twitter search for tweets by @fanlore_news from 1st September 2016 to 30 September 2016, accessed March 29, 2020.
- ^ Fanlore:News, September 4, 2019