Disscusion+section

Cheerleading: [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_Cheerleading]

1. Account for the postings (number of revisions, time range from first to last, notation of periods of activity). a. This page has been edited about 3 thousand times b. Latest revision was October 22, 2010 @ 9:21 for a minor grammar correction. First post was October 10, 2001 @ 3:05 and was the initial article posting. c. Majority of the revisions made to the cheerleading Wikipedia site have been minor revisions, but it looks as though most postings have led to discussions. I assume this is because there is so much controversy with what cheerleading should be titled as. There are also so many different types of cheer teams and organizations that it becomes difficult to keep rules and regulations straight.

2. Describe progress or development in the article from the original post to the most recent update. a. The original post is extremely short. It only includes 3 short paragraphs attempting to describe what cheerleading is. It includes information on how and when cheerleading started (the purposed and centuries). The last section provides people with two view points. It explains that cheerleading has a mixed reputation, because the way it is portrayed in movies and TV, but in reality the documentation on cheerleading has never really got far enough to show a cheerleading routine, it only depicts the stereotypes of cheerleaders. b. Wikipedia’s cheerleading page now includes 10 different sections (a few have sub-sections within). It proclaims that this page is only describing and discussing US cheerleading. This page now contains a small introduction to what cheerleading is and when it was started. It then goes into the history of cheerleading and the national cheerleading association, as well as, the different types and teams of cheerleading today. The end of the page provides information about the different cheerleading organizations, competitions and companies. The page provides a list of cheerleaders, cheerleading in pop culture, and the dangers of cheerleading.

3. Critique the quality of the article in its current state (writing quality and factual information). a. The information in the article is pretty factual, but there are a lot of biased views presented. They share court cases and the decision of cheerleading as a sport or not. b. The quality is okay- there are grammar and spelling issues. It provides an overall view of cheerleading, the organizations, and the different types of cheerleading one can be involved in. c. I would like to see links to all the different cheerleading rules and regulations, because I think that would make this page even more accessible for those wanting to learn and or “judge” cheerleading’s position (sport or not a sport). d. It includes a warning at the top of the pages stating “The examples and perspective in this article or section might have an extensive [|**bias**] or disproportional coverage towards one or more specific regions. Please [|improve this article] or discuss the issue on the [|talk page].”

e. It has decent references that go to the actual cheerleading organization pages. 4. Describe the discussion around the article. a. Wow! The discussion page is rough! There are approximately 30 different sections being debated on through the discussion board. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">b. There is obviously a large section on cheerleading being pronounced a sport. This is probably the most heated talk on the page. It is still an issue today. People do view cheerleading as a sport and it is recognized at schools and colleges as a sport, but overall it is not considered a sport and people are angry that Wikipedia has recognized cheer as a sport. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">c. There are arguments against the use of some pictures and the movie Bring it on. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">d. Discussion about cheerleading and its sexual focus is also a heated section. They are debating on the true use of cheerleaders. Someone states the fact that cheerleaders in movies like The Replacements dance very provocatively and that the NFL cheerleaders publish a swimsuit calendar each year. Someone added to this saying that we all know TV is not reality and that when it comes to All Star cheerleading, cheerleaders cannot just do as they please. They have to follow rules and judges do deduct points for sexual content. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">e. Again, the largest discussion bases from the heated debate on whether cheerleading is a sport or not. It gets brought up more than one time throughout the discussion portion.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">5. Provide background information on the most active contributors. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">a. The 5 most recent posts to this page have been from user “Ifc-international,” unfortunately, this user is not identified on Wikipedia. This user added a minor grammar correction, information about the NCC Indonesian Cheerleading competition, a new link for the Reference to Japan, Pan-American Championship entry and light Thailand ATCI modifications, and added Asian Thailand Cheerleading Invitational information. This person has posted randomly throughout. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">b. Kirsten5400 is another common updater to this page; embarrassingly enough this is a young girl. She probably does provide the page with a lot of good, factual information because she is an all star cheerleader herself, but the legitimacy of the article becomes more of a question do to this one active contributor.