Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Meetup/Seattle1 (section)

==Report==

Thought I'd write up a little report of the fantastic day and throw in my photos.If you'd like, please identify yourself in photo captions,(I learned your names, I think, but I'll let you decide if you want to place your name with your image).--[[User:Decumanus|Decumanus]] 07:43, 2004 Nov 7 (UTC)

[[File:DSCN6836 seattlemeetup e.jpg|250px|right|thumb|First introductions at the Coffee Cart: from left, Jordan, [[User:DanKeshet|DanKeshet]], [[User:Llywrch|Llywrch]], [[User:Eclecticology|Eclecticology]], [[User:Michael Snow|Michael Snow]], [[User:Jwrosenzweig|Jwrosenzweig]], and [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]].]]

We met as scheduled at 3:00 p.m, gathering around a table behind the coffee cart on the 5th Avenue level of the [[Seattle Public Library]]. The table was soon crowded, and after introductions, at [[User:Jmabel]]'s suggestion, we adjourned to a bigger space on the 10th floor of the library, leaving behind a note on the coffee cart with the [[Space Needle]]-Wikipedia graphic that [[User:Michael Snow|Michael Snow]] had designed for the event. Upstairs, under the slanted roof designed by [[Rem Koolhaas]], we took over all the chairs and gathered them into a circle, including the strange cross-like ones. Pretty much everyone had a seat. [[User:Llywrch|llywrch]] brilliantly had brought along nametags for the group.

[[File:DSCN6846 seattlemeetup e.jpg|250px|left|thumb|On the Tenth floor: Llywrch, [[User:KeesCook|Kees Cook]], [[User:BryceHarrington|BryceHarrington]], and Eclecticology]]

[[User:Jmabel]] took the plunge and initiated the discussion for the afternoon, bringing up his concern about how to get librarians to understand Wikipedia so they might consider it worthy of being an authoritative source. (Within days after the meeting, this led to a pretty good start on a document at [[Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia]].) We talked about licensing issues, possible software changes that might allow POV-type overlays, and swapped lots of war stories about POV warriors, trolls, and other things only a fellow Wikipedia would really understand. [[User:BryceHarrington|BryceHarrington]] regaled us with tales of the wild and wooly early days of [[GNUPedia]] and [[Nupedia]], and how he made the leap to Wikipedia. We came to a quasi-agreement, mostly through a nodding of heads, that a system of committees that might judge the worthiness of questionable content (rather than just violation of Wikipedia rules per se), might save everyone lots of pain and heartache. [[User:Jwrosenzweig]] earned our sympathy with his stories about being on the [[Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee|arbitration committee]], a thankless task for which none of us seemed to envy him.

[[File:DSCN6843 seattlemeetup e.jpg|250px|right|thumb|On the Tenth floor: Jmabel, Jwrosenzweig, [[User:RobLa|RobLa]], and Michael Snow]]

The three hours in the library went quickly. Towards the end, with the library staff announcing the impending closure of the building, [[User:Michael Snow|Michael Snow]] handed out a Wikipedia quiz (see below). Among other things, you could earn points by knowing that the [[Irish language]] Wikipedia had fewer entries than the Welsh one, that [[User:Anthere|Anthere]] calls herself "SweetFluffyThing", and that there is no entry (yet) for the catchphrase [[Boxers or briefs?]] but there is one for [[It depends what the definition of is is...]].

[[File:seattle.wikimeet3.jpg|left|250px|thumb|On the Tenth floor: Dan Keshet, Jordan, [[User:LionKimbro|LionKimbro]] (with our token female member asleep on his lap), [[User:Decumanus|Decumanus]].]]

At six o'clock most of us adjourned to have dinner in Seattle's International District, at a Chinese restaurant Hing Loon, where we sat around a large circular table. At [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]]'s suggestion, we ordered green onion pancakes for an appetizer and selected from among the many specials on white paper on the wall. We ate [[sea bass]], [[salmon]], various vegetables, and [[sea cucumber]] with [[mushrooms]], polished off with [[fortune cookie]]s and sesame seed balls (&#40635;&#31984; ma-tuan), the last of which were very tasty but probably don't merit a Wikipedia article. It came about sixteen bucks per person with the tip. Dinner lasted to about 8 p.m. We all trickled back home, glad for the great day. The [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] contigent set off on the three-hour drive back to [[Oregon]]. Everyone was glad they'd come.

Oh, and we talked about doing something like this again early in 2005.