The Signpost

WikiProject report

Stargazing aboard WikiProject Spaceflight

WikiProject news
News in brief
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The International Space Station, a Featured article, as seen from the the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-132
This photo of Tracy Caldwell-Dyson in the Cupola during Expedition 24, is a Featured picture
Conceptual image depicting the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, one of 22 Good articles from WikiProject Spaceflight
Shuttle mission STS-31 lifts off, carrying the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit
The view of Mir from Space Shuttle Discovery as it left the station during STS-91

This week, we turn our attention to WikiProject Spaceflight. Started in September 2006 by Mlm42, it has 40 active members. The project is home to 12 Featured articles, 5 Featured lists, 22 Good articles, and a portal – with a total of 5,258 articles under its care.

The Signpost interviewed five project members, and started by asking what motivated them to join the project. It is clear that all members have a passion for topics related to space. Colds7ream and Mlm42 were both drawn to spaceflight articles because of STS-115 during 2006, then under WikiProject Space missions. Mlm42 was inspired by banners like {{WPMILHIST}}, and was keen to jump on the 1.0 Article Assessment bandwagon, hoping to create a project banner that could track spaceflight articles. There was a discussion in 2007 to reorganize all space-related WikiProjects under a "WikiProject Space", and in 2008, WikiProject Space missions and WikiProject Space travelers were merged into WikiProject Human spaceflight as part of an effort to increase editor activity. A couple of years later, Mlm42 decided to bring Expedition 1 up to GA-status, in time for its 10 year anniversary in August 2010. Following a further discussion, it came to light that WikiProject Astronomy was not using, and had no desire to use, the "WikiProject Space" banner that had been created in 2007. So, it was decided to dissolve WikiProject Space completely, and simultaneously merge everything under Spaceflight into one project. GW was actively editing in this area prior to joining the project, and became a member when its scope was expanded from exploration-related articles to everything to do with spaceflight. He is active in both content and organizational areas of the project, and has been involved with most of the reorganization of space projects over the last four years. ChiZeroOne realised that collaboration with other editors is a means to improvement, and has been helping in any way possible with the revival of WikiProject Spaceflight. N2e has been editing space-related articles since 2004, and is particularly interested in private space ventures, such as the recent new competition for the national-monopoly governmental space initiatives of the early decades of the space age.

WikiProject Spaceflight has 5,258 articles associated with it. How do you keep all these up and what are your biggest challenges?

Do you collaborate with other WikiProjects?

WikiProject Spaceflight has Task Forces as well as Working Groups. What are the differences between the two?

What are the most pressing needs for WikiProject Spaceflight, and how can a new contributor help?

Any final words?


Next week, we'll see the genesis of new articles authored by anonymous users. Until then, read all the articles created by Signpost regulars in the archive.


















Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-02-07/WikiProject_report