Wikipedia:WikiProject Oregon/About us

WikiProject Oregon has existed since March 2006 (after a previous incarnation as the Oregon Wikigroup Project, which was started in March 2005), and has experienced a lot of growth in late 2007 and 2008. This page is for keeping track of the project's milestones, successes, and other navel-gazing sorts of things. You may also be interested in the Admin sub-page, which keeps track of the specific articles we monitor, or the Assessment sub-page, which keeps track of the importance and quality of those articles.

We also have an Introductions page, in which members are encouraged to write up a brief intro of who they are and what Oregon topics interest them.

Success stories
Where has Wikipedia excelled at providing information about Oregon? Share your stories here! (Note, many of these will include significant contributions from folks who haven't joined our project. No need to worry about such pesky details! These stories are meant to be useful in explaining to Oregonians why Wikipedia is cool, so "whether it's WPOR" or not isn't really important.) (See also http://www.aboutus.org/Wiki_success_stories )


 * Barlow Road: During a Collaboration of the Week, Wikipedia editors noted that several historic sources said that Sam Barlow's party went over Lolo Pass during their 1845 trip across the Cascades. This claim does not jibe with the geography of the region and other details of the trip. From a careful reading of Joel Palmer's journals, editors discovered where the misunderstanding originated, and wrote up a more accurate account of the journey.
 * Mary Ramsey Wood: This Oregon pioneer is reputed to have lived to 120 years of age, in many supposedly authoritative sources. Partially on this basis, she was named the "Queen Mother of Oregon" by the Oregon Legislature. Wikipedia editors searched the census records of 1880 and 1890, and determined that she was in fact no older than 97 when she died.
 * List of Oregon ballot measures: The Oregon Secretary of State maintains historic information about ballot measures, but it is not as useful as it could be; the complete list contains no hyperlinks to detailed information about the measures, or other relevant information. Wikipedia has a better version which includes every single Oregon ballot measure.
 * William Pope McArthur: One editor created an article on a historical figure, William Pope McArthur. Within a few hours a "domino effect" of collaboration among several editors from different states led to the creation and expansion of several articles.
 * Wikipedia editor Zab noted a discrepancy between the names Lake Creek and Lakecreek, and contacted the USGS. The USGS approved an official name change as a result of his proposal. (See Talk:Lake Creek, Oregon for more details.)
 * Johnson Creek existed as a neglected placeholder article for over a year, until one editor made it his mission to expand it. Enthusiasm for the article grew quickly as fifteen other editors  expanded the article in several dimensions.  In less than two months, the article's rating rose from Stub all the way to Featured Article.  The success of this article has inspired work on Fanno Creek.
 * Cannabis in Oregon: This article was inspired by an editor who was considering moving to Oregon.  He asked the project "Where is the article about a proposed tax on cannabis?"  A more wide-ranging article was created less than six hours later.  It was ready for GA-class nomination in 28 hours  and was published in Did you know?.  This article precipitated the creation of Alcoholic beverages in Oregon, Controlled substances in Oregon, and Religion in Oregon.

Signpost interviews
These were our two interviews in the Signpost, Wikipedia's newsletter.


 * Wikipedia Signpost/2009-07-27/WikiProject report
 * Wikipedia Signpost/2011-08-15/WikiProject report

Triple Crown Award

 * WikiProject Oregon Triple Crown

Project invitations


Put: on your user page, or just use, to display the banner advertisement for the WikiProject.


 * WikiProject Oregon invite makes:


 * And can be followed by WikiProject Oregon Welcome

Project awards


Barn stars and other awards for excellent Oregon-related writing or editing.


 *  message ~  Awards the WPOR pioneer. Has canned message. Enter additional message by replacing "message".


 *  message ~  Awards the COTM award. Has canned message. Enter additional message by replacing "message".


 *  message ~  Not specific to the project, but try to hand out every month or so to a new WPORE member.


 *  Put your message here. ~ 

Service awards

 * Did You Know awards: For every five DYKs featured on the DYK template that is part of the Main Page, you get a bronze DYK award. When you reach 10, then you trade the bronze in for the silver. Five more and trade up for gold (15 total). Get a platinum award with 50 DYKs. After that, keep the platinum and start collecting a second set, then third,... Collect them all! Self-awarded, just place with your userboxes.
 * Platinum Badge for 50 DYKs: WPOR DYK platinum
 * Gold Badge for 15 DYKs: WPOR DYK gold
 * Silver Badge for 10 DYKs: WPOR DYK silver
 * Bronze Badge for 5 DYKs: WPOR DYK bronze