It is an opportunity for editors to learn from each other
It can entice people to become new Wikipedians
It can help new Wikipedians to contribute
It is an opportunity to improve the quality of Wikipedia by accessing offline materials and experts
It's fun!
Edit-a-thons improve the quality and expand the scope of the encyclopedia, create a link between the authors and can be a wonderful way into Wikipedia for those interested. They are very different from other Wikipedia events. In short, an edit-a-thon is an entertaining workshop where all participants pull together to achieve a common goal.
More questions about Edith-a-thon? Great ideas for more Edit(h)-a-thons? You want to organize one yourself? Please write an email to IvaBerlin@wikipedia.de or use the discussion page!