Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/Newsletter April 2010

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The Military history WikiProject Newsletter Issue L (April 2010)
From the coordinators

It's been a month since the end of the coordinator elections, and I am proud to inform the project that the IX coordinator tranche is doing well. Our new coordinators are rapidly learning the ropes, and the last of the task forces under consideration for merging have been consolidated into a new task force which should increase productivity and improve quality article output.

At the moment the coordinators are discussing preliminary plans for an improved version of The Bugle, and are working with editors from the American Civil War task force who are in the process of organizing a new special project relating to that conflict. It is our hope to see these changes implemented in the upcoming month. Lastly, as many of our members are also in school, we extend our best wishes to all who will be taking final exams both this month and next. For the IX coordinator tranche, TomStar81 (Talk) 22:36, 30 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Articles of note

New featured articles:

  1. Battle of Dürenstein
  2. Battle of Pulo Aura
  3. Battle of Taejon
  4. Battle of The Cedars
  5. Brougham Castle
  6. Cleomenean War
  7. Harry Chauvel
  8. Japanese battleship Yamato
  9. Lester Brain
  10. Myles Standish
  11. Roderic Dallas
  12. USS President (1800)
  13. War of the Bavarian Succession

New featured lists:

  1. Order of battle at the Battle of Camperdown

New featured topics:

  1. Yamato class battleships

New featured portals:

  1. Biological warfare

New A-Class articles:

  1. 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
  2. Battle of Chochiwon
  3. Battle of Chonan
  4. Battle of Naktong Bulge
  5. Battle of Pyongtaek
  6. Battle of Slater's Knoll
  7. Battle of The Cedars
  8. Battle of Valcour Island
  9. Brian Eaton
  10. Douglas MacArthur
  11. Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein
  12. HMAS Australia (1911)
  13. Kongō class battlecruiser‎
  14. List of battleships of Germany
  15. Massachusetts in the American Civil War
  16. Operation Sandblast
  17. Order of Saint Hubert (Bavarian)
  18. Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short
  19. Petlyakov Pe-3
  20. SMS Helgoland
  21. Sovetsky Soyuz class battleship
Project news
Contest department
Awards and honours
Editorial: Milhist's special projects

This month we're taking a look at the Military history WikiProject's special projects. At present we have three—Operation Great War Centennial, Operation Majestic Titan, and Operation Normandy—with, as Tom mentions in his introduction, a fourth coming on line as this newsletter goes out.

  • Operation Great War Centennial

    Officially the longest running of our special projects, this started in December 2008 with the ambitious goal of improving our core articles relating to the First World War by June 2014. As it states on the project's page, "the centenary of the start of World War I ... will doubtless be a mammoth commemoration of one of the most significant wars in history, attracting vast interest from schools, universities, veterans groups and the media. It offers us the chance to showcase what a brilliant resource Wikipedia is". With World War I receiving well over 20,000 page views per day on most days, the truth of these words is evident and the opportunity too good to miss. Operation Great War Centennial has compiled a list of over 300 articles covering topics such as battles, geographical areas, people, armaments, and technology; while some have achieved featured or good status, the majority are at B-Class or below, so there is plenty there for willing editors to get their teeth into.

  • Operation Majestic Titan

    The home of our much-respected and admired "Battleship Cabal", Operation Majestic Titan started in June 2009 with the aim of creating the "single largest featured topic on Wikipedia, centered around the battleships considered, planned, built, operated, canceled, or otherwise recorded." At time of writing the prolific Majestic Titan team has produced an impressive 33 featured articles, 19 A-Class, 60 good articles, three featured topics and six good topics. According to the project's working list, there are only 427 more articles to go...

  • Operation Normandy

    Although it first appeared in Milhist's pages in March 2010, this project had been formerly operating out of Cam's userspace as the "Normandy Team" since May 2008, making it a contender for our longest-running unofficial special project. Operation Normandy is aiming to create a Featured Topic on the Second World War Battle of Normandy by the 70th Anniversary of D-Day on 6 June 2014. With nine featured articles so far and 29 more to go, progress has been steady. More help, however, is always welcome.

  • Our fourth special project, American Civil War Sesquicentennial, is in the process of organising and at present lacks a name (see this discussion if you have any suggestions). The project will be looking to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the American Civil War by its sesquicentennial anniversary in 2011. The beginning of a drive is always an exciting time to get involved, so interested editors are strongly encouraged to drop by and sign up.

Special projects are a great way of organising a long-term collaboration with a specific end-point in mind, and tend to be more goal-oriented and focused than the general task forces or informal working groups. Joining a special project is also a fantastic way to work alongside like-minded editors with whom you'll undoubtedly develop close working relationships; by your third or fourth FA submission you'll hopefully be operating as part of a well-oiled team. Editor roles are many and varied: content writers, source material providers, image- and map-makers, copy editors, reviewers, MoS gurus, wikignomes, specialists and generalists... you're sure to find a job that suits you and benefits the team. If you have an idea for a special project or are already undertaking a collaboration that you think fits in with the ethos of those above, and you'd like to benefit from Milhist's support and infrastructure, consider dropping the coordinators a note. Personally I've found the synergy and teamwork of contributing to a special project (Operation Normandy in my case) to be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable aspects of my time here. I hope you will too. EyeSerenetalk 14:16, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

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