Memory Alpha talk:Press Release/25,000th article

Howdy, everybody. Okay, so last night I was talking with Sannse on IRC and I mentioned that we were nearing 20,000 articles. She then suggested that I bring up the possibility of announcing this achievement in a press release, stating that Wikia would probably pay to have it distributed. A press release would certainly help in spreading the word about MA, but I wanted to hear what everyone else thought about the subject. Now, before you answer, for those of you unfamiliar with the process (like myself), the press release must be written by the community and then submitted to Wikia (Sannse said she could take it, I think). When finished, the press release should look something like this. The thing is, I'm not sure if we want to do this after reaching 20,000 articles or wait until we've reached 25,000. If we do the latter, that'll give us a lot more time to write a press release... but it is also a long ways off. So, anyways, I've brought it up here for discussion. So.. have at it! --From Andoria with Love 07:28, 1 July 2006 (UTC)


 * In my opinion, lets wait until 25,000. This is an opportunity that we do not want to waste by putting out a press release that isn't as good as we can get it, and we are not at all long from hitting 20,000. Bestthat we take the time, write something really good, and get it out at 25,000. That, and I like even numbered factors of 100,000 more than odd ones ;-) --OuroborosCobra 07:45, 1 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I second that, there still is polishing to what has been done. Quality versus Quantity. Majorthomme 06:17, 3 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree. Let us not do one for 20k (because we're nearly there and would need to rush things), but let's create a press release for 25k articles now - probably even on this page... -- Cid Highwind 07:52, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Cool, an invitation for more riff raff! --Alan del Beccio 17:09, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I've checked with Gil and "Wikia will probably pay" is now "will definitely pay". We can get it to a public relations company who push it towards all the right publications (especially to Star Trek specific publications, which will hopefully bring in people with the knowledge to help edit here). For examples of press releases, see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_press_releases and http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Press_releases. If you can get it written as soon as possible, that will be great. Then we will be ready for the moment you get to 25,000 articles. Thanks -- sannse (talk) 13:15, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Been awhile since we discussed this, but we need to start thinking about it again. We have broken 22,000, and are therefore on our way to the agreed upon 25,000. --OuroborosCobra talk 03:23, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Halfway there people. Let's not have the same problem we had with 20k, where we left it until there was no time left and nothing we could do... --OuroborosCobra talk 14:03, 12 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Holy crap, I forgot about this. We definitely need to work on this – what to say, which archivists will assist, etc. Cid, get started on it and we'll join in! Eventually... :-P --From Andoria with Love 14:10, 12 January 2007 (UTC)


 * :P yourself... Yeah, I'll add it to my long, long list of things to do. ;) -- Cid Highwind 14:39, 12 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Let's start on this, folks. We have 22,883 articles at the moment; it won't be too much longer before we have 25,000 (I would estimate around three to five months). So how about we start with something like this:
 * In, Star Trek, the venerable science fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, celebrated 40 years of boldly going "where no man has gone before." This year will mark the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular installments of that franchise – Star Trek: The Next Generation. It seems only fitting then that Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki, celebrates its own milestone: after nearly four years in existence, the definitive Star Trek'' wiki now has 25,000 articles!
 * The English version Memory Alpha – named after a planetoid housing the Federation's largest library, as referenced in the original series episode – was founded by Dan Carlson and Harry Doddema in 2003 and prides itself on being "the most definitive, accurate, and accessible encyclopedia and reference for everything related to Star Trek". It is currently home to five bureaucrats and twelve  and has spawned Memory Alpha projects in ten other languages...
 * Or something to that effect. What do ya'll think? --From Andoria with Love 10:35, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
 * LALALALALALALALAALALALA! Come on, folks, let's get with this! --From Andoria with Love 22:37, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

As a few off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts and for what it's worth, I think the above is an OK start. But any press release has to start with a brief, general overarching statement of what the news being reported actually is (in keeping with the "Inverted Pyramid" style of writing news releases.) In this case, then, I might suggest starting the release off with a headline like "Online User-Edited Star Trek Encyclopedia Memory Alpha Celebrates 25,000 Articles", then reiterating that information at the beginning of body of the press release rather than starting off by talking about the various Star Trek anniversaries that are only tangentially related to the news that's really intended to be conveyed.

Also, I don't know what the intended scope of this press release is, but if it's likely to go out to a large body of folks (Star Trek fans or not) who may not know about wikis and how they work then a brief paragraph talking about that aspect of things (which is kinda why I suggest the phrase "user-edited" in the headline) may be in order. --TommyRaiko 17:16, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
 * What TommyRaiko said. --OuroborosCobra talk 22:34, 12 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I also concur, but I think we need a shorter title. Perhaps something along the lines of Memory Alpha, The Star Trek Wiki Encyclopedia, Reaches 25,000 Articles. It's not that short, but it makes the point. - Enzo Aquarius 22:23, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

I just saw that the article count is now over 24,000 which reminded me of this old forum dicussion about what to do when it hits 25,000, so I figured I'd bump this up should there be need for new discussion! Milestone ahead, it seems! --TommyRaiko 01:18, 3 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree with TommyRaiko's observations/suggestions above, but I think Enzo's shorter title will be better, more to the point. Now... how are we gonna go about this? --From Andoria with Love 02:17, 4 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Easy, offer a free item and you're in! I think our best bet is to coordinate with Wikia in terms of releasing a press-release. - V. Adm. Enzo Aquarius 03:09, 4 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The last time we asked Wikia for help, they demanded a shrubbery. I don't wanna have to go through that again; a good shrubber is so hard to find now-a-days. --From Andoria with Love 09:10, 4 May 2007 (UTC)


 * See above for my suggestion for a press release. It uses the "inverted pyramid" style suggested above, doesn't talk about anything that isn't really the topic, is short and (hopefully) concise.


 * The capital letter "variables" are supposed to be changed before release, of course. In the first paragraph, we should mention the title of the 25,000th article and add half a sentence of description (e.g.: "... it now even has information about the USS WhatsItsName, a starship of the United Federation of Planets.), not more. In the last paragraph, Wikia can add 2 or 3 sentences about themselves.


 * The initial two questions are supposed to generate interest by showing off some of the "more obscure" details we know about. The exact questions are just suggestions - generally, the topic of the questions should be something that is recognizable to a general audience (Klingons. Spock. Data. "The Enterprise".) -- Cid Highwind 19:48, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

The press release posted above looks great. One thing I would add, though, just for humor, is the question "Do you know the difference between a warp matrix flux capacitor and a self-sealing stem bolt". :D (That's a line spoken by Chief O'Brien from, btw.)

As for exactly what page was the 25,000th article, well... the thing is, we're not entirely sure. You see, Enzo took it upon himself to create a joke page called "hot flabby Vulcan sex" as article #29,999. I then submitted the pre-written Robert Iscove as the 25,000th article, but we're not sure if it was submitted before or after the "flabby sex" article was deleted because, well... I kinda deleted the Iscove article when I saw that #29,999 was a faaaaaaaaaaaaaayke! Before Iscove was deleted, Enzo created a legitimate article at Dodge, after which I restored Iscove. So, basically, if Iscove was created before "flabby sex" was deleted, then it was the 25,000th article. If it was created after "flabby sex" was deleted, then Dodge is the 25,000th article. Unfortunately, we're not sure which one was the 25,000th article created. We do know, however, that it was either Dodge or Iscove, though.

Since we don't know which receives the honor, I propose we add a bit to the press release stating something along the lines of "it now even has information on Robert Iscove, the director of TNG: The Icarus Factor, and Dodge, an automobile manufacturer whose products were seen in several Trek episodes. Unfortunately, we don't know which of these two are actually the 25,000th article created since Memory Alpha's editors decided to have some "fun" with the creating articles. But it is one of those two pages." Or something like that.

Or... maybe not. I dunno. We failed you, Cid. Sorry. :/ --From Andoria with Love 05:37, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Let me just whack the two of you with a trout and tell you that both choices for the 25.000 article are stupid. Couldn't we have taken something fictional from the Star Trek universe? Some species or technobabble-stuff? I find both choices pretty lame for a Star Trek wikia but it doesn't matter now anymore anyway, does it? --Jörg 06:37, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, Iscove had Cid's approval. :P Seriously, had anybody said "let's make the 25,000th article an in-universe article," I would have just submitted the Iscove article sooner and let someone else handle the 25,000th. But I wanted the 25,000th article to be an interesting and detailed page, which is what I thought I had. I apologize if I was mistaken, and I accept my trout-whacking. :P But look on the bright side... at least "hot flabby Vulcan sex" wasn't the 25,000th page. ;) --From Andoria with Love 06:53, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I agree with Jorg. Dodge is an blatant rip-off of the Dodge Ram article. I could thought of a couple cool/obscure articles we could have created rather than this list of bunk. At least when I was rounding out the last few edits to get to 50,000, I tried to do it with some class, not "Freaky Vulcan sex-tricks" or whatever other immature thing you guys were trying to come up with. --Alan 07:24, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

It was "hot flabby Vulcan sex", actually... and that was Enzo's doing. In any case, I let ya'll know ahead of time what I had intended to post as the 25,000th page and no one had a problem with it from what I could tell. So, I went ahead with it. Sorry to disappoint and sorry about ruining the event. --From Andoria with Love 15:17, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * What do you think people thought when some minor little-known railroad station got the 1,000,000th article over at Wikipedia? I personally was disappointed, but I don't mind now. I personally don't mind Robert Iscove being the 25,000th article, I performed a bad joke and thus punish myself in saying that Dodge is not the 25,000th article (that, along with my personal 2 hour ban :P) - Adm. Enzo Aquarius...I'm listening 15:24, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure that Wikia is still interested in doing the press release. I asked sannse about it about a month ago, and she was going to check with Angela and company to see if they still wanted to do it. As far as I know, nothing ever came of it. When they first suggested the press release about a year ago, we were one of the biggest Wikia wikis (perhaps the biggest... I'm not sure where Uncyclopedia fell then). Since then, we've been passed in size by Wookieepedia, WoWwiki, and perhaps others. We need to get an interest reading from someone at Wikia. -- Renegade54 15:29, 13 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Should do it soon too while this is still 'plump, fresh and active'. - Adm. Enzo Aquarius...I'm listening 15:31, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Should do it soon too while this is still 'plump, fresh and active'. - Adm. Enzo Aquarius...I'm listening 15:31, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * From 24,990 to 25,010, by number when created:
 * 24,990 : Bonaventure type by Tim Thomason
 * 24,991 : Jouret system by Enzo Aquarius
 * 24,992 : Bre'el system by Enzo Aquarius
 * 24,993 : Lazon system by Enzo Aquarius
 * 24,994 : Tagra system by Enzo Aquarius
 * 24,995 : Delb system by Enzo Aquarius
 * 24,996 : Argelius system by Enzo Aquarius
 * 24,997 : Hanson by Tim Thomason
 * 24,998 : Weather coordinator by Enzo Aquarius
 * 24,999 : a now deleted joke page by Enzo Aquarius''
 * 25,000 : Robert Iscove by Shran
 * 25,000 : Dodge by Enzo Aquarius (repeated because of the deletion, by Robert Iscove was the first to hit 25,000)
 * 25,001 : GNP Crescendo Records by Sulfur
 * 25,002 : Car dealership by Enzo Aquarius
 * 25,003 : Generator by an anonymous IP (205.240.144.168)
 * 25,004 : Chris Blackwood by ThomasHL
 * 25,004 : Dan Koko by ThomasHL (Rihansuu was deleted by Gvsualan)
 * 25,005 : Laneth's starship by Gvsualan
 * 25,004 : Microfusion generator by Gvsualan (Thompson's Planet was deleted by Gvsualan and Archer's Theme was merged into a page by Gvsualan)
 * 25,005 : Assistant consul by an anonymous IP (82.4.171.159)
 * 25,006 : Allison Liddi by Shran
 * 25,007 : ...
 * 25,008 : ...
 * 25,009 : ...
 * 25,010 : ...


 * So technically Generator is our current 25,000th article, because of mergings and deletions. Shran's Robert Iscove was the first to reach number 25,000 and should count in that regard (we can't possibly keep up with future deletions and mergings and so on). But that list is nice in case anyone is interested.--Tim Thomason 16:23, 13 June 2007 (UTC)