h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Commonwealth Games - A1364717
Author: Cyzaki - U223973

I'm not sure about the lists, but I want to include the information and don't know how to do it.

Is there anything else that needs including?

Hello Cynazi, (Hope I've spelt that correctly <fingerscrossed&gt

I do like this entry and I know that you've worked hard on it. I like the text but the lists make it a little difficult to read and interfer with the flow of the piece. I wonder if it is really essential to include the information on which contries are included. Is their a website which contains this information that you could link to? Perhaps you could just outline where the commonewealth oringates from?

As for the list of the games played would it be worth simply outlining the sort of games, for instance "track and field events, ranging from 100 meters sprint to the marathon" and perhaps you could expalin some of the more popular and unusal events.

Well done, I'm sorry to nit pick

There is a list of nations on the Commonwealth Games website, but I kinda wanted to include it here... I'll see what other people think and then decide what to do, cos I agree the lists look a little odd...

I'll have a look at the events and see what I can do.

Don't be sorry, I put this in PR cos I wanted people to nit-pick!

Hi Cyzaki

I like this piece...

I agree with Z about the lists: they do make it hard to read. But I like the links to various sports that you've put in. I'm not sure what the alternative to the lists is. If you lump events together, somebody is bound to be miffed that you've not included their favorite.

Do the same events happen in the Olympics? I've got a feeling they're slightly different. It might be worth saying something about the differences/similarities between the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. And if you go down that line, there's the Asian Games and various others across the world (although I don't know if they're just athletics).

I'd also be interested to know why the Games still exist. In these anti-imperialist days, when more and more countries are trying to get in touch with their pre-colonial traditions, how come the Games manage to pull people together in such a positive way?

How long in advance are the Games venues decided? Do the host nations benefit financially - is it a good thing to host the Games and is there hot competition, like there is for the Olympics.

Picky enough?


F/b

The venue for the 2010 Games will be decided on November 13th... problem is that's pretty soon so I either wait until it's been decided, or don't mention it at all. http://www.hamilton2010.ca/index.shtml is the site of the Canadian bid, there's one from India too but they don't have a website that I can find. You can probably tell from the Canadian site that it's taken very seriously!

The Olympics is a lot bigger and has more events - I'll have a think about mentioning the differences, if people think it's necessary.

I think the Games are still going strong as the Commonwealth countries are proud to have the link to the Queen, and with each other. Countries like the USA, who would rather forget that link, aren't in the Commonwealth. Should I say that in the entry?

I'm still thinking about what to do with the lists - all ideas welcomed!

Any more ideas? I still don't know how to progress with this entry...

Cyzaki
I like the entry and will contribue some constructive stuff when I have a few minutes, but just to be picky to start with, I think it's incorrect to say that all the athletes speak English.

For example athletes from Quebec may be French speaking Canadians, and athletes from many African countries may not necessarily be English speakers.

Okay, I'll change that bit.

One more picky point
Under Manchester 2002 you state "Manchester coped well with the biggest multi-sport event to take place in Great Britain since the 1940s" but the Commonwelath games have been in Britain three times since the 1940s - Cardiff in 1958 and Edinburgh in 1970 and 1986.

I like the lists of countries, but I wonder can they be put into columns side by side rather than one long column?

Also do you think there would be enough to have each games a s a seperate entry as was done with the Football World Cup ... or am I going in way too deep now ?

The commonwealth games in 1958, 1970 and 1986 weren't as big as the olympics we hosted in the 1940s, but the 2002 CG was bigger. Or so my research says

I can have a play with how to do a table... but each column would have a different number of rows

A different entry *could* be done on each games, but I'm not going to do it!

I had a thought...

How about if I try to find out what years each country took part and what years each event was included, and put all the info in a table? It'll take a lot of research and I don't know if I'll be able to find all the info, but I can try...

What do you think?

Well?

I'm still stuck for ideas of how to develop this - all help appreciated!

Leave it with me over the weeken Cyzaki - I have a research doc full of Commonwelath Games stuff which I received before the Manchester pageant.



MTRF

Being a big fan of the Commonwealth Games, I found all the facts in your entry fascinating. A real eye opener!

Great entry Cyzaki !

Prideth

If you're interested in the CWG, maybe you'd be interested in A1148195, another article I wrote.

Will take a peek at it. Cyzaki.

Prideth

I've added a paragraph about the CGF.

I'm still not sure what to do about the lists... Help Please!

As far as the lists go, here would be my suggestions:

I'm not sure you really need to list every country that participates, especially since you're linking to a site that has a handy map of all participating countries. You might be able to just say:

Eleven countries from Africa, including X, Y, and Z. (The "including X Y Z" bit is really only useful if you want to make sure the links to the countries stay in.)

As far as the list of sports, I would think you could have bullets by "group", and then a textual list within the group. For example:

* Team Sports - Cricket, Hockey, Rowing, Rugby 7's, Waterpolo
* Martial Sports - Archery, Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Shooting, Wrestling
* Raquet Sports - Badminton, Netball, Squash, Table Tennis
* Endurance and Strength - Athletics, Cycling, Swimming, Triathlon, Weightlifting
* Agility - Diving, Gymnastics
* Rolling Things and Pretending Its a Sport - Lawn Bowls, Tenpin Bowling

Clearly, that last category is not for real, but I couldn't think of where else to put them. And there are a couple of sports on that list that I, as a yank, had never heard of, so I guessed as to where to put htem. But, I do think something akin to this would help eliminate the excessively long, skinny list bits of the entry.

Just my
Mikey

Informative entry! I didn't realize they started in Canada.

A nitpick... if you're going to include the list of countries, with links where they exist, you should include Canada's link. I know it appears elsewhere in the entry, but it should probably be linked from the list, too.

I'm looking forward to seeing this in the EG.