The Signpost

WikiProject report

Back with the military historians


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Military history
These are previous editions of the WikiProject Report related to today's topic. For more old Reports, visit the archive.

It's time for this year's edition of the Report looking at possibly our largest WikiProject: Military history. Since our last interview in June 2013, the project has had no break in its huge quest to document everything in their scope, that is, militaries and conflicts of the past. As usual, its participants were eager to answer the questions posed by The Signpost and update us on how they are doing. So without further ado, here are TomStar81, Adam Cuerden, Peacemaker67, Hawkeye7 and Nick-D.

Can you tell us about any events that have happened this year at WikiProject Military history? Have there been any contests, reached milestones or promoted significant featured content in 2014?

Oh, and also, did you know there's photographs of the Battle of Nashville in the American Civil War? Actual photographs of the battle? Not yet finished, but... it's my current project, and it's amazing (and a ridiculously large amount of work).
Self-propelled gun ISU-152 in the Kubinka Tank Museum
I would also like to mention a topic close to my heart, one that is heavily centred in WP:MILHIST but also has a central role in WP:Yugoslavia, and that is Operation Bora. Bora is a focused initiative to improve articles pertaining to the World War II history of Yugoslavia to featured status. It calls for collaboration on a span of battles, biographies, and factions. In the last year, Bora has produced one FL, four MILHIST A-class articles, 18 GA's, and 35 MILHIST B-class articles. That is not to be sneezed at, particularly given the language issues in accessing sources. While it might not be receiving mass support at MILHIST, it has generated support across several WikiProjects, including WikiProject Serbia and WikiProject Croatia.

Last time the Signpost spoke to this project in June 2013, we were asking about Operation Normandy, an initiative of the project dedicated to the 1944 campaigns. How has this subproject progressed this year, and with the 70th anniversary occurring this June?

Can you explain the role of the "coordinators" of the project? How are they appointed? Do all of them perform their responsibilities, or is the work spread unevenly? If a coordinator is unable to due to time constraints or other reasons, are they able to easily to resign the position? Would you recommend that a similar system of leaders is introduced to other projects – do they bring advantages?

As to the rest of the rest of your questions, we do have issues with an uneven work flow on account of the fact that we volunteer to do whatever needs done, so we do have some coordinators that are overly active and others that are generally non-participants in the work load. If a coordinator feels that he or she is unable to do what is asked of them they may resign without prejudice, and we have had coordinators in the past that have resigned during a given term (which we call a tranche). Lastly, I've seen a number of projects that have adopted our coordinator system, which suggests to me that the system has its merits for a larger project or an intricate project, regardless of the community's approval or disapproval (lol) of the use of such a system.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Is there any significance to the Military history WikiProject's coordinator's insignias? Which members receive which devices? When were the insignias first handed out?

 
This image of SMS Von der Tann represents the featured topic Battlecruisers of the World, promoted last October

The current number of members is approximately 1200, making it one of the largest WikiProjects around. Have you been successful in attracting many new members this year, and how much do new participants tend to contribute to articles relating to this subject after they have joined; do some appear to forget their membership straight away?

How long have you been a member of WikiProject Military history? Do you prefer working on articles related to particular subjects, people, or time periods?

This picture of students going to man the barricades could be an illustration to the scene of students going to man the barricades in Victor Hugo's 1862 classic Les Misérables, however, it's from 1870, during the Siege of Paris.

In your opinion, what is the single best achievement of this project?

Anything else you'd like to add?

That's all with this project until, hopefully, next year. In the next issue we'll be talking to some islanders and asking how they get their work done. Before then, feel free to browse the archive for older reports.


















Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-11-26/WikiProject_report