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Q3 2014[edit]

While we wait for the newsletter to ship out, might as well start up a new thread for the new quarter. GamerPro64 16:50, 3 July 2014 (UTC)

For interviews I contacted X201 ‎and CyberSkull last quarter but got no response. I didn't word my request well because I told them to contact me if they wanted to be interviewed when what I really meant was to contact me with a "yes" or "no" either way, but oh well. I guess it makes the most sense to interpret a lack of response as a "no" in this case (the same goes for the lack of response we got from MuZemike and SharkD earlier). Anyway with that aside, I just contacted 11 previously suggested long-shot editors who are semi-active or inactive. Specifically these include Guyinblack25, Jacoplane, Marasmusine, and MrKIA11 (all suggested in Q2 2012), and Andrevan, Jappalang, Krator, Nifboy, Pagrashtak, Randomran, and Thunderbrand (all suggested in Q3 2013). It would be cool if one or two or three of them get back to me about an interview eventually, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Like I said, these are long-shots and some of them haven't edited since 2009... So while we wait for those 11 editors to respond, I'd like to get some input on others who would be worth interviewing. The only name that we'd suggested earlier that hasn't yet been addressed is Darkwarriorblake so I think he'd be a good candidate to contact. I'd also suggest Sergecross73 since I believe he's the only one of our admins we haven't yet interviewed and he's been quite an asset project-wide. Any other suggestions? -Thibbs (talk) 14:33, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

No, but just dropping a note to say I will be doing that old games feature I mentioned last quarter. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 17:22, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Excellent. I just wrote up an offline draft for an article on the practice of going systematically through a magazine (especially an old magazine) and mining it for refs to fill out reception sections. I've seen this kind of activity from a few editors in the past and recently User:Ylee has been doing excellent work using the same technique so I wanted to spotlight it as a helpful method for the project. That'll be good backup hopefully and we can run it at some point in the future. -Thibbs (talk) 12:47, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

• So just to update everyone, I've completed the backup feature which I figure we will leave in storage until Q4, and I've gotten in contact with Guyinblack25 and Marasmusine who have both agreed to interviews. I've got both of their interviews posted, so no we just have to wait for them to fill in their responses. Both are semi-retired or frequently inactive so it is bound to take some time.
  Considering it's been almost a month since I contacted the previous long list of "oldtimers," I think it may be worth suggesting some more current editors for interviews, so I'd like to suggest we ask Sergecross73 for an interview. Any thoughts? I was also thinking of dropping a note on GVnayR's page to ask him for an interview too. He's one of our most prolific article creators and he's currently listed as "retired," but I've seen him pop in and out of retirement at least a half dozen times due to frustration so I hope he'll come back at some point. I'd like to see if we can interview him concurrently with a piece on prolific article creation.
  Oh and one last thing: @Torchiest:, I don't know if you'd be interested in including this in your feature or not, but JimmyBlackwing just recently wrote an essay on sourcing that might be worth linking. It can be found at WP:VGSOURCE. -Thibbs (talk) 13:59, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

  Nice work! I agree about Sergecross73, should be a good interview. And I will definitely link that essay. I've written a few paragraphs for the piece about a month ago, but I'm not sure where to take things now. May take another look at it this weekend. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 19:31, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

Just had a thought about a potential editor to interview in the future. A few of our Featured Pictures in our project have been taken by Evan-Amos. In an attempt, at least that's what I call it, to make FPs more common for the project we could put Evan under the spotlight and ask him some questions on making these standout images. GamerPro64 04:38, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

I like the idea too. I haven't contacted Sergecross yet, but I do have the two other interviewees (Guyinblack25 and Marasmusine) lined up. Do you think we should ask Evan-Amos for a Q1 2015 interview? Or should we try for Sergecross as Q1 and Evan-Amos as Q2? And I don't mind doing the interviews since they're pretty easy, but would anyone else be interested in interviewing either Sergecross or Evan-Amos? I'll do it if nobody else has time. -Thibbs (talk) 11:27, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

We can ask both and see who says yes first. Also, I can help interview one or the other when the time comes. GamerPro64 15:17, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Done. I contacted both and told them that one or the other of us would interview them, GamerPro64. Thanks. -Thibbs (talk) 15:03, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

OK Sergecross responded first so he gets the Q1 2015 interview. I'd be glad to write up the questions if you want to talk to Evan-Amos, GP64. Or we could do it the other way too. Any preference? -Thibbs (talk) 00:05, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

I can take the reins for Evan-Amos' questions. GamerPro64 00:16, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

So Evan-Amos accepted our request for an interview. I think we're set for a while. GamerPro64 02:35, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

JimmyBlackwing's essay is a lot better and more comprehensive than what I have so far. I'm thinking about asking him if we can just include in in the next newsletter. What do you think? —Torchiest ^talk_edits 16:48, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm all for using Jimmy's essay for the newsletter. It might help get it seen by more people. Personally, I like the essay and definitely works with showing ways to source our projects arcticles. GamerPro64 18:51, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Yeah I think it would be fine to use Jimmy's essay wholesale. It might encourage others to contribute essays here as well and that would be excellent. So are you going to ask him then, Torchiest? -Thibbs (talk) 14:39, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

Torchiest just notified me about this. Feel free to use the essay—I'm flattered that you guys thought it was good enough for the newsletter. I have a few other resources that I might add to it before the newsletter goes live, though. What's the timeframe? JimmyBlackwing (talk) 04:24, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

Great! Thanks for your help, Jimmy. The next issue is due out by October 1, 2014. -Thibbs (talk) 11:37, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

It looks like you guys are set for a feature this quarter (and possible Q4 as well), but I wanted to offer to write a feature for the future, if you wanted. I was thinking I could write one on "how to write a featured list of video games/video game media", since I've written 10 so far (out of 13 VG Fls and 41 FLs total). We had an FL feature back in January 2011, and an article on crufty lists in October 2013 so I thought I could differentiate it by focusing on how you can structure the list, what templates are best for what situations, and what details/citations you need to actually fill it out and make it comprehensive, rather than spending time on scope/appropriateness. Anyway, if you guys are interested let me know, or if you're not/you think it's too soon after the other articles let me know as well. --PresN 23:21, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

@PresN:, Yeah that would be really great! Thanks for the offer! -Thibbs (talk) 14:41, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

• I just remembered to add announcements for the 10th anniversary for the French and Swedish WP:VGs. I totally forgot that I had intended to include a note congratulating Japanese WP:VG's 10th anniversary, but I mentioned it in this one to make up for that. Next quarter (Q4) will be the 10th anniversary of the Spanish and German WP:VGs so we should try to remember to give them our congratulations in the newsletter. -Thibbs (talk) 14:32, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

We're almost halfway through September now. How's the interview and the feature coming along? GamerPro64 16:44, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

The feature is done, right? Aren't we using JimmyBlackwing's essay? I have a backup finished whenever we need it. As for the interview, two of the oldtimers (Guyinblack25 and Marasmusine) got back to me that they'd be happy to give an interview, but then they disappeared again and I heard no word from them. I emailed them both about a week ago and Marasmusine said he'd finish it up at some point, but I've still heard nothing from Guyinblack25. I'm not sure if he got the email. I guess I'll drop a note on his talk page soon because I'd already told him that he'd be the interviewee for this upcoming quarter. Then there's Sergecross and Evan Amos. I need to interview Serge soon. I've been busy with other things but I'll try to get on this as soon as possible. -Thibbs (talk) 21:15, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

Yay! Guyinblack25 is working on the interview now so that's taken care of. I'll get to Sergecross soon, though. -Thibbs (talk) 12:36, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

Just posted the Sergecross interview. Now we await his response for Q1-2015. You're up next, GP64, for the Evan Amos interview for Q2-2015. -Thibbs (talk) 16:58, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

• I was just about to start the New Article counts for July and August but the issue I brought up last quarter about Draftspace articles is beginning to bother me. When an article is moved from Draftspace to Mainspace I don't believe it is added to New article announcements. So if I ignore them then they never end up getting counted so our stats are artificially lower... I still don't really feel comfortable calling them new articles since they aren't even in mainspace but should I include a tally of how many draftspace articles were created? What would be the best way to proceed here? -Thibbs (talk) 12:34, 20 September 2014 (UTC)
  • Maybe making a tally for Draftspace might be a good idea. Showing what is in the drafts. We do have a fair amount of them, though some may be redirects as well. GamerPro64 15:12, 20 September 2014 (UTC)
    • OK so here are some options:

Option A - the basic "New article" page as it was before the creation of draftspace

Option B - the basic page plus a raw tally of new draftspace items (please ignore the fact that the correct number of drafts should have been 16 here)

Option C - the basic page plus a draftspace tally and collapsed draftspace table

In Option C I collapsed the draftspace table, but it could be left expanded or we could try any other combination of things. What seems best? -Thibbs (talk) 17:59, 20 September 2014 (UTC)

Well anyway for now I'm going with yet another variation that can be seen here. Basically I have both articlespace and draftspace tallies at top followed by the article table and then a collapsed draft table. I also went back to last quarter (when draftspace first appeared) and added draft info to April, May, and June. Hopefully that can serve as our new model. -Thibbs (talk) 12:44, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

• So apart from the rest of September, we're actually looking great this quarter for finishing on time. The feature is done and the interview is done. I believe the details of July and August are complete and so we're just wrapping up September now. I'd like to import the feature at this point but I'm wondering how we should go about it. Should we simply copy and paste from JimmyBlackwing's article? Or should we take an excerpt from it and link the full essay? Or should we just write up a brief 1-2 paragraph "original content" intro to it and then link the full essay? I'm kind of leaning toward the copy&paste option but my skin naturally crawls at so much duplication. What do you guys think? -Thibbs (talk) 12:44, 25 September 2014 (UTC)
  • Maybe it would be best for a copy/paste of the essay. As well as adding a foreword for it, mentioning what the feature is about and such. GamerPro64 15:17, 25 September 2014 (UTC)
    • OK I just imported the essay and interview. Regarding the foreword to the essay, I have sort of spoken for the staff here as a body so please read over my foreword to ensure that I'm not misrepresenting anyone or anything. -Thibbs (talk) 12:39, 26 September 2014 (UTC)
      • I made a few absolute-last-minute additions to WP:VGSOURCE to prepare for publication. I'd add them to the current newsletter draft, but I'm afraid I'd screw something up in the process. If no one competent sees this in time, I'll try my best to include the new version without ruining the newsletter. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 05:36, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
        • Looks good, JimmyBlackwing. -Thibbs (talk) 11:45, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
• OK I think that's basically it then for this issue. Thanks everyone. Tomorrow it's due to go out so I'll get the new article count updated for September as soon as I can get to it after the clock ticks over to Oct. 1 (in order to catch all of the new articles from today the 30th). @Torchiest: could you use your magic tools to send it out tomorrow (Oct. 1)? -Thibbs (talk) 11:45, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
  • Oh yes, and we should remember to add the comments section suggested by PresN below. In fact I think I'll add a quick note about that to the newsletter. -Thibbs (talk) 11:47, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
    • Yes, I'll get it put together tonight. Thanks everyone for doing hard work. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 13:35, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
      • Okay, it should be just about ready. I'll double check everything later on and then send it. I also need to add the talk page footer to all the pages. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 12:22, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
        • Queued for delivery, should be out soon. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 00:30, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Q4 2014[edit]

Things seem to be going pretty smoothly so far. I just wanted to give status for the other elements of the newsletter not currently in the draft. I have the feature completed. It's been done for ages actually, and since it contains interview questions I'd like to avoid delaying it further. The suggestion PresN made above about "How to write a featured list" sounds excellent and unless anything dramatic comes up it's slated for Q1 2015.

As for the interview, I'm still hopeful that we can get the Marasmusine interview I'd been angling for for ages. He's agreed to do it, but he's not finished yet. In the meantime the interview slated for Q1 2015 is Sergecross. He's been working on the interview bit by bit for a while now and he's probably 75% finished so if Marasmusine is tied up in work or something then we might be able to ask Sergecross to make a push to finish his up quickly. I've just contacted Marasmusine to remind him.

And ideas for the future: Czar and Sam Walton both just became admins. We should note this in the newsletter this quarter but we might also consider them for interviews since we've hit all the other admins so far. If so we should do Sam Walton first since he passed his RfA a week earlier. I also think that a good retrospective-style article could be done of the GamerGate incident. That's one of the more dramatic events that has hit WP:VG in quite a while and I think people would be interested to see a report on it. Right now there's an ArbCom case addressing it so in one sense I'd like to wait until the whole thing is over and people can be a bit objective about it. But I also worry that some of the actors will be banned or will be topic banned and I'm not sure if they will be free to talk about their role in the event after the 28th (the date of the ArbCom case closing). Add to that the fact that as the case nears its conclusion the decisions will sometimes be obvious and this will clearly effect how the participants view the whole thing. Getting the views of all sides would be important here. So it might be a good idea to start with some of the more heavily involved editors sooner rather than later if the newsletter wishes to have any personal views represented. Does anybody have any thoughts on this idea? -Thibbs (talk) 13:48, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

• Seems we're doing well this quarter. I need to prepare my questions for Evan-Amos for Q2. Interviewing some of the members that became admins are a good idea. And I would like to help out with the GamerGate interviews. And hopefully we can attempt to make it as neutral as possible. To get both sides of the event. I don't see why not. GamerPro64 16:10, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

• I guess I need to get around to editing my feature sometime this quarter then. --PresN 18:39, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

I had a bit of a power outage for the past few days due to inclement weather, but I'm back now (hopefully no further interruptions). I skimmed through the GamerGate archives and I'd like to kind of digest them a bit before I generate a final set of questions for those who have participated. I'll write to your talk page about it when I get a moment, GP64. Things are, as always, hectic. I just wanted to give an update on Marasmusine's interview getting posted and Sergecross is also still working on his for next quarter. Again, the feature for this quarter s done but I'll post it closer to the deadline to avoid bulking things up. Oh yeah and thanks for tackling next quarter's feature, PresN. Much appreciated to be sure! -Thibbs (talk) 03:15, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

Gotcha. GamerGate does seem like something to sit down and think about. GamerPro64 03:44, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

• I just shifted in the feature and I'll get the NAAs sorted soon. I thought I'd get it finished now as I have family matters to attend to for the holidays. BOZ, Ylee: I'm pinging you two in case you want to make any more changes to the feature before it's run. If you want to make any tweaks, please go ahead on the actual draft version instead of the one in my sandbox. The due date for release is January 7, so you can make any alterations up until then. Thanks for your help again! -Thibbs (talk) 02:45, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

I don't really remember what I said; got a link? :) BOZ (talk) 02:48, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

@BOZ: Ah yes, sorry. Here's the link. -Thibbs (talk) 02:53, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

I'm satisfied! BOZ (talk) 03:50, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

I just finished the December NAAs and there were actually zero December DYKs... So I think we're all set. The release date we set is this coming Wednesday the 7th, so we still have time to make final tweaks, but from my perspective it's finished. -Thibbs (talk) 04:19, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

• @Torchiest: can you send out the newsletter tomorrow? -Thibbs (talk) 13:45, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

  Sure thing. Almost slipped my mind (again). —Torchiest ^talk_edits 15:56, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Q1 2015[edit]

New Year once again. Let's get the ball rolling for what to write about this quarter. GamerPro64 21:32, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

I believe PresN volunteered to do the feature for this quarter, and I think we'd agreed that since Sergecross responded before Evan Amos he gets the interview for Q1. Am I right in thinking that you're interviewing Evan Amos for Q2, though, GP64? -Thibbs (talk) 23:39, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Yes you are right. I'll prepare some questions to ask for Evan Amos before the quarter ends. GamerPro64 00:09, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

• I'll stick this in here even though it's not about Q1: WPVG oldtimer, MrKIA11 has agreed to an interview! I've told him that Q3 is open and I'll draw up the questions in the next few weeks. -Thibbs (talk) 14:17, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

Feature is done, it's at User:PresN/newsletter. It's a bit long, but oh well. --PresN 19:34, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

• It looks great, PresN! The interview we have slated for Q1 is 3 answers short of complete as well, so we're way ahead of schedule. Most excellent progress! -Thibbs (talk) 01:53, 5 January 2015 (UTC)

So Thibbs. Since the GamerGate ArbCom is done with, are there still plans to write a retrospective about the whole thing? GamerPro64 03:17, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

Heh, every time I've started reading through the material (talk page of the main article and the related articles and then ArbCom itself) I've again realized what an mighty task it is to read it all and I feel overwhelmed. I would like to cover it, though... Now this quarter's feature is all set to go, but perhaps a Gamergate retrospective would work well for Q2. In particular it would give us a chance to examine the actual fallout (for the article) of the ArbCom decision. Newspapers like The Guardian and Wired have written on the topic subsequent to the ArbCom decision predicting dire consequences for the neutrality of the article. It would be rather interesting to see what happens now that so many of the major players are barred. I'm afraid we may have missed our opportunity to talk to the involved editors themselves, though we might be able to work around the t-bans via email. (I don't think that violates the rules, but we could ask an Arb for clarification if needed). Anyway if you have any ideas on the topic they'd be welcome. -Thibbs (talk) 03:54, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

• So the quarters almost done with. With all things considered I mentioned the GamerGate ArbCom case in the Announcements section. With just the additions of the Feature and the Editor interview, along with some other stuff like DYK I think we'll be done. GamerPro64 17:29, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
  • I meant to get a lot of work done on the newsletter this weekend, but it's been a really hectic one for me. I'll be able to get the DYKs and NAAs done before the deadline, though. Also I'm glad you mentioned both the GG ArbCom outcome as well as the phase out of A-class. I was going to suggest both of those myself. I reckon we should tackle the GamerGate retrospective either next quarter or the one after that. It would be interesting to look back at it 1 year after the fact. I have had a few ideas buzzing around and I may contact you about them at your talk, GP64, as you indicated before that you might be interested in working on something like this. Anyway just wanted to drop a note to say I'm not forgetting about the Newsletter. -Thibbs (talk) 18:23, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
    • I'm around, so just ping me when it's ready to put together and send. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 19:05, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
• OK I think it's ready now. The only last question I have is what we should do about the A-class articles in the "Project at a Glance" section which currently shows up as a redlink. Am I right in thinking that those 42 article have all been changed into GA-class now? If so we should merge the figures as well. -Thibbs (talk) 22:08, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
  • Just did the numbers and updated everything. Besides its formatting I think its all a go. GamerPro64 23:13, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
    • OK then. @Torchiest: We're good to go. You may fire when you are ready. -Thibbs (talk) 00:21, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
      • Done deal. Thanks everyone. It's a well oiled machine these days. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 15:46, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

Q2 2015[edit]

Not sure, but I believe we have at least one more feature basically finished already. And I think there were still a few interview prospects as well. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 15:46, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

I know Evan-Amos is up for the next interview and GP64 has been working on it with Evan-Amos. In fact it may already be done. Is it, GP64? I think the plans for the next two interviewees are Czar and Samwalton9 if they agree to it. The feature I'm not sure about. I've been talking about a GamerGate retrospective for a while though it's kind of hard to say for sure if it's become stable even yet so I'd be most inclined to try to have it ready for Q3. I'll give my thoughts on this in a collapsed box below so as not to glaze everyone's eyes over. So anyway I'm not sure how that leaves us regarding a feature for Q2. Do we have any takers? According to my records there are no more 10 year anniversaries for other language WPVGs until Q4 so I'll have to try to remember. -Thibbs (talk) 14:19, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

In terms of the retrospective idea, I can dig helping out with its creation. The article is pretty much the most controversial video game-article on this site. Just going through its history would be sufficient. Heck, it could probably have to be made in multiple parts if its a dossy. Have no clue what we would do for the feature this quarter. Also the interview for this quarter seems to be in order. GamerPro64 03:23, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

• Does anyone else think there should be any more questions to ask for our interviewee this quarter? Or any overall thoughts on it? GamerPro64 15:37, 22 May 2015 (UTC)

Oops, Sorry I missed this question. The interview looks fine to me. We need a feature and I don't have anything in the works. I'm not very free at present, but 'll try to come up with something before the deadline unless anyone else wants to go for it. -Thibbs (talk) 10:26, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

Help plan a new software feature for easy subscription to newsletters[edit]

We are developing a MediaWiki extension that will enable users to subscribe to community newsletters much more easily. We are very excited to hear your feedback on the features we have planned. Feel free to share your thoughts here. - Tinaj1234 (talk) 12:38, 9 June 2015 (UTC)