Forum:The Featured rewriter; my proposed idea

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We have always rewritten articles. Sometimes, they have been loads of crap that would have been deleted otherwise. Sometimes, our teams of Imperial Colonization and Upsilon Sigma Sigma have saved articles from the brink of doom.

But what if one rewrote an article that was perfectly fine as it was? Not only that, if somebody was told to rewrite a Featured Article, the kind that we consider to be the best in our universe!

That's what I would like to find out! In my proposed competition, the participants (who can be any registered user) will be given a selection of featured articles to choose from. Whichever article they choose, they shall rewrite FROM SCRATCH in their userspace. That means contestants are not allowed to borrow the concept, or directly use any of the content in the original featured article. Those who do so will be disqualified and their entries will be deleted.

The winner of the competition will have his rewrite mainspaced (under a different name, of course) and will have this template tagged on their user page. (I know it sucks, anybody is welcome to design a better one). The judging will be done on the same criteria used for Pee Reviews. Contestants will have about one or two weeks to start and finish their rewrites. Obviously, no articles that were started before the contest's starting date will be accepted.

So, what do you guys think, anybody up for the challenge? Anybody willing to volunteer as judge or showrunner? Let me know. --Scofield & The Machine 15:23, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

Pardon me if I don't understand, but what's the point of rewriting a featured article? "lol crappy featured in 2005 we didn't even have a site then" can only apply to a handful of articles at best. Wouldn't it be much more efficient to, maybe, rewrite articles with {{Rewrite}} instead of {{FA}} on them? -- T​K​F​​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​CK 15:29, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

This is just supposed to be a competition, in the vein of the Poo Lit Surprise, or the Happy Monkey Competition. The primary purpose in all these contests is to test the user's writing skills. I just wanted to bring the whole FA element into question to make users think- how can I top an already acclaimed and popular article? Hopefully, the challenge of reworking an already popular article from scratch will bring out the best in them. Also, all entries are to be in the userspace. Only the winner will have his article mainspaced, and that too under a different name, leaving all our featured articles effectively untouched. The fact that featured articles are usually of very high quality on this site is the whole point of this competition. --Scofield & The Machine 15:40, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

Huh, not exactly the most functional competition but I do very much like the spirit. Nice. -- T​K​F​​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​CK 15:43, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

What do you mean by "functional" competition? And would you like to volunteer in any way? --Scofield & The Machine 15:57, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

To be frank, it doesn't do much to actually improve the wiki itself, since it doesn't actually improve on existing articles and, going on what you said, only creates a single new article on an already existing topic. Still, I think the idea of pushing writers to try to top existing features is a pretty cool idea. -- T​K​F​​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​CK 16:41, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

I think it'd be even cooler if we used Uncyclopedia:Ideas instead, or in addition to this. – Sir Skullthumper, MD (criticize • writings • SU&W) 16:52 Jun 03, 2011

You mean I should include Uncyclopedia:Ideas in the competition? Sure, but then I wouldn't know what to name it. Hmm..... --Scofield & The Machine 19:10, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

Aha! I know! How about "Beat the best, or finish the rest" huh? By "beat the best", I mean trying to rewrite an existing FA, and by "finish the rest", I mean making a complete parody out of one of those ideas. There can be two different categories in the competition. --Scofield & The Machine 19:17, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

It sounds like it would be unnecessarily difficult task for accomplish something of marginal usefulness. In other words, it would be waste of effort. Also, the "no borrowing material" rule may completely cripple certain subjects. For example, the featured Justin Bieber article has the follow concepts (among others):

• Heterosexual Men dislike Justin Bieber because they accidentally masturbate to him
• Bieber makes under-age girls horny
• Bieber sounds like "beaver" which is a slang term for the vagina, like the word "pussy"
• Bieber looks like a girl
• Bieber's is half the size of the women he romances in the music video "Baby"
• Bieber image is artificially gangsta-ized
• There is nothing to do in Canada

What else is there to write about the subject? --Mn-z 21:19, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

I have an idea for a contest! Instead of rewriting already featured articles (ignoring the work that some really good writer(s) put into it), we have a contest to rewrite articles in ICU?-- Talk - Contributions 06:47, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

Also, I think having two articles on the same subject is a little bit redundant.-- Talk - Contributions 07:54, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

Look, this competition is less about adding stuff to the wiki and more about pushing the users to write the very best they can. The topics they'll be writing on have already been featured in the past, making this a very difficult, but at the same time a very rewarding contest for whoever wins it. I mean, how would you feel if you rewrote a featured article that stands tall in the mainspace as an excellent parody in its own right? It's all about pushing the users to the best of their capabilities, and what better way to do that than to challenge them to write better than best we currently have to offer? Also, I think I need to clarify myself on the "concept" bit. Of course contestants can take some inspiration and ideas from the original featured article, but it would only be too easy to just recycle most of the jokes with minor differences. I don't want that. I want people to use their own ideas as well, and create articles that can be considered great parodies in their own right. This is not meant to diminish the work of the people who already wrote our existing articles, it's simply meant to challenge people to try and beat the topmost standards in our wiki. If your rewrite is considered to be at par with the featured article you rewrote, it would do wonders to boost your confidence, and encourage you to write even more, I believe. Also, given that the rewrites are meant to comprise of original content, I don't think redundancy should be that big of an issue --Scofield & The Machine 09:48, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

OK, I've entered. Where do I collect my prize money? Aleister 10:06 4-6-'11

It's not exactly a competition if there's just one entry- however, I do like the fact that you have amped up on the randumb quotient present in the original piece. --Scofield & The Machine 14:52, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

I think it has way too much of the original article's concept to qualify. --Mn-z 15:00, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

I've taken Mn-z's pee review (reprinted directly above) and made the requested improvements. Aleister 23:14 4-6-'11

The contest Scofield is describing would be okay in a site in which 80% of the content is "good", but the site is suffering from a severe case of Sturgeon's Law. Your wanting to push writer's creativity skills is admirable, but currently, I think we should focus on improving existing articles. Wouldn't it be nice, vastly improving a crappy article, or pushing the limits of a crappy concept? In my opinion, only a good writer could make something funny out of the cruft lots of I.P's make.-- Talk - Contributions 16:13, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

:)

I actually like this idea. Just do the competition allready. Pick a date, make the forum up and see if anyone participates. It wont hurt anyone. And if an article turns out to be really good...they can slightly change the title and the two articles cooincide. Problem solved, no one suffers and people have fun if they want to compete. When are you holding it? --ShabiDOO 01:07, June 5, 2011 (UTC)

Umm, also, I-I'd like to enter now... EpicAwesomeness (talk) 08:29, June 5, 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, fellas, but I'm currently out on vacation right now. I'll be back be the 12th of this month, and we can think about getting this contest started then. Scofield & The Machine 07:40, June 7, 2011 (UTC)

Alrighty then!

Now that I have returned from my self-imposed exile, it's time for me to get the show on the road! People who wish to judge or participate in the pilot round of this contest can enter their names in the appropriate slots. Last day for entries will be June 17, after which I shall put out a list of FA articles you can choose from. --Scofield & The Machine 18:12, June 12, 2011 (UTC) Scofield, you might think about letting the contestants choose any title of a FA article. Part of the fun is going through the old ones yourself and picking a title you like. Just saying like you know? --ShabiDOO 14:39, June 14, 2011 (UTC)

You have a point, Shabidoo. Alright, then, participants can now mention the FA they wish to rewrite while entering. Keep in mind there are no namespace restrictions when you rewrite an FA. An UnScript could be rewritten as an encyclopedic entry, and a HowTo could become a Why?, or something like that, you know? People are free to rewrite their chosen FAs in whatever style they want. The only restriction is that no two people can rewrite the same article. --Scofield & The Machine 14:53, June 14, 2011 (UTC)

UPDATE: The last date for entries has been extended to 20th June, due to a slow response to my competition. --Scofield & The Machine 16:17, June 16, 2011 (UTC)

Judges

I'd prefer people who have been frequent at Pee Review, and have had a hand in developing some of our existing FAs. Obviously, the judges cannot participate.

1. This guy here, if you don't mind. -- T​K​F​​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​U​CK 11:38, June 14, 2011 (UTC)
2. Ok, ok... MadMax 06:46, June 22, 2011 (UTC)

Participants

Up to four people for this round. I'll consider expanding if the turnout is good enough.

1. BRING IT ON BIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHES! --ShabiDOO 17:53, June 16, 2011 (UTC)
2. Ugh, I guess so... -- 17:16, June 19, 2011 (UTC)

No responses in two days?

C'mon, people! Don't go all nobody cares on me now! --Scofield & The Machine 09:17, June 14, 2011 (UTC)

You didn't here? There's a new Happy Monkey contest!-- Talk - Contributions 14:19, June 14, 2011 (UTC)

I thought I'd won this already. Aleister 14:21 14-6-'11

This competition need not conflict with happy monkey. I support this competition totally. Im not even sure Ill do happy monkey for the Spring, only if I get 8 people or more interested. We will see. This competition here is a great idea. --ShabiDOO 14:37, June 14, 2011 (UTC)

Okay, this is clearly not working out. 1 day till the deadline, and this forum remains dead as ever. Should I ask one of the admins to make a place for this competition on the main page noticeboard? Or should I start advertising on everybody's talkpages? I think I'll do both. In the meantime, I've extended the deadline to 20th June. --Scofield & The Machine 16:13, June 16, 2011 (UTC)

Don´t give up man. Keep waiting until people sign up. Eventually you'll get four competitors. --ShabiDOO 16:20, June 16, 2011 (UTC)

NOT SUSPENDED

It seems as though my competition has failed to attract enough eyeballs in due time. The number of entries is way too low for any sort of decent competition. I therefore suspend this competition and declare Aleister's entry the token winner. Until further notice, you can ask Shabidoo to restore his Happy Monkey competition. --Scofield & The Machine 05:30, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

What are you doing? Keep this forum active till u get two more competitors. It wont take ling. Make a notice on peoples talk page. Theres no reason to have a deadline for a 4 person test-competition --ShabiDOO 06:08, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

I can pretty much see not a lot of people are aware of or interested in my competition. Look, I really appreciate your support (you even delayed Happy Monkey for this), but I'm afraid this forum is simply going to get auto-archived at this rate. This competition is quite clearly a failure. I'll think about when to start it again and how get more people interested. --Scofield & The Machine 10:19, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

Okay...well Ill just take over your competition again. Once there are four competitiors and atleast two judges we will give it a try okay? ShabiDOO 11:35, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

Be my guest. --Scofield & The Machine 18:38, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

) ShabiDOO 19:16, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

This is just an idea but why not go the other way and rewrite deleted articles from VFD? There's a lot of good titles and ideas for those willing to search the archives. MadMax 21:48, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

Would you participate if thats the theme? --ShabiDOO 22:33, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

I'm not really much of a comedy writer but I'd be happy to help out if you need a hand organizing your contest. If you're still having trouble finding people to take part in it, you might want to consider using this theme as a special edition for an established contest like the Happy Monkey Competition or Dr. Skullthumper's Hourly writing contest. MadMax 22:55, June 20, 2011 (UTC)

Okay. To be honest...i really like the idea of this contest as it is so Ill keep it this way until 4 people sign up...maybe in October. Why dont you put yourself down as judge? --ShabiDOO 23:08, June 20, 2011 (UTC)