Bulbapedia:Christmas Improvement Drive
The Bulbapedia Christmas Contest was designed to celebrate the holiday season and the end of another calendar year. Traditionally, Bulbagarden runs a series of contests at this time of the year; in 2010, for the first time, Bulbapedia plans to join in. The contest is designed to be fun for all, and will ultimately help us on our goal of creating a well-written complete Pokémon encyclopedia.
The Christmas Improvement Drive
2010 has been a big year for everyone. The long-awaited Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were released in English at the beginning of the year. Since then, we've also been greeted with PokéPark Wii, Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, and the first games of the fifth generation: Pokémon Black and White. This goes without mentioning the ongoing TCG releases, anime episodes, movies, new manga, and Pokémon-related merchandise. With all the excitement, some areas of the site are falling behind (and some of the newer areas need to catch up, too!). So before the year is out, let's have one final rally to add to our encyclopedia.
Did I mention there were prizes?
How to participate
It's simple. Pick a page - any page. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to improve the article to a point of near completion. If you want to enter more than once, feel free. However, you can only have one ongoing entry at a time. That also means you can only have one template reserving the page at a time. If you have completed your entry, you may place another template on a different page.
There are no sign-ups required. However, once you have finished and are ready to submit the page to the judges, list your name and the page title here. You will need to supply the judges with a "diff" so they can see what changes you've made.
When you're working on your page and don't want to be disrupted, put the {{subst:XmasInuse}} template at the top. That will let people know that you are improving it for this contest. The template will automatically expire, however, and you cannot reapply it. Please edit courteously. This means, USE THE PREVIEW BUTTON AT ALL TIMES, so as to not clog up the recent changes! Failure to do so will get you warned or blocked. All improvements should be made in the mainspace.
Any page!?
Well, there are a few exceptions. The species pages (such as "Bulbasaur (Pokémon)") are out of bounds, as are all pages about a specific card in the Pokémon Trading Card game. That's because these pages are heavily standardized, and there isn't much more information you could put there that we don't already have. If you're struggling to find a page to improve, check out the Articles needing improvement, Articles needing more information, Stubs, or Wanted Pages. However, the best page to edit is one that you're interested in.
How will the contest be judged?
This contest will be judged by members of the Editorial Board and/or other senior staff. The candidates will be marked on the following criteria:
- quality of information added
- verbal style and clarity
- visual style fitting with the rest of the wiki
- relevance and importance to Bulbapedia
Any changes made by other users after you've submitted your diff to the judges will not be looked at. If you make multiple edits, and other users edit in between you, then those edits are likely to be excluded, unless they are included into later revisions.
Yes, you did mention there were prizes!
If you've been skimming this page, this is probably the part that will stand out to you the most. Go back and read the whole thing.
Done that? Good.
Everyone that enters gets the moral prize of knowing that their hard work is contributing to making Better Internetz for everyone. A lot of people who use Bulbapedia are just browsing, after all. In addition to this, the user who submits what is perceived to be the "best diff" will earn themselves a pre-order for one of the latest main series games, either Pokémon Black Version or Pokémon White Version. Runners-up will receive a booster pack for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. And, of course, all finalists will have a foot in the door for the next round of Golden Bulbasaur Awards.
Sounds great. When do I enter?
Enrollments and submissions will be accepted from December 5 (UTC) to December 24 (UTC). You've got (more or less) three weeks. Note that if your diff isn't in by Christmas Eve, Delibird won't be able to take it away in time. Depending on the number (and quality!) of entrants, the winners will be announced at some time in the New Year.
Any questions?
Questions related to the contest can be left on this talk page. Bulbapedia's Community Development Officer, the dark lord trombonator (trom), and his team of minions magical Yuletime elves will do their best to straighten out any loose ends you find.
Happy editing, and good luck!
