This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 | Archive 4 | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | → | Archive 10 |
As one of the active participants of both the December and October drives, I felt that the recent December drive was definitely an improvement, if not a success. First off, the layout was much more efficient and easy to use; "edit" links appeared next to each username, dispelling fears of edit conflicts and making finding and updating one's stats much simpler. Furthermore, the statistics were much better handled this time around, with only two days without numbers. While the total number of pages in the wikify backlog has exceeded 20,000 again and some 950 pages still exist in the 2008 backlog, I'm proud to have participated and I await the next drive with great interest and hope. Any thoughts? Shortcomings? Successes? Suggestions? Congrats to the coordinators (Ancient Apparition, Mono, Nolelover, and Sumsum2010)! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:23, 7 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm feeling like a sick man (maybe I am one ; )). But that isn't what I came here to say. Planning for the Feb drive should be done here. BTW, I already have a comment. 5k articles should be removed in favor of Articles from 2008 and 2009 (or something along those lines). The 5k was a arbitary choice chosen to get the drive off the ground in the shortest amount of time possible. WikiCopter ( t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 03:36, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
April Whyte, my orchestra conductor.
Since we already have coords over a couple of small departments already, I propose just one set of coords to manage everything in the project, as in the GOCE. It would be simpler (eh, what was the name of the coords over the help department again?) and easier. WikiCopter ( t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 04:39, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
"If the executive coordinator was unable to perform his or her duties, the assistant coordinator would become executive coordinator." So if the assistant coordinator was unable to perform his or her duties ... ? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 22:36, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
A recent edit to the project page has an edit summary that states "there seems no simple way to find articles to wikify". How about Category:All articles that need to be wikified? GoingBatty ( talk) 18:37, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
If project coordinator voting ends on February 1 (which it does), we obviously cannot wait until then to set up the February drive. So I've taken the liberty of creating the basic intro page:
The other pages seem slightly more complicated, so someone more qualified can do them. Anyway, let's officially discuss (feel free to add more questions):
Guoguo12 --Talk-- 15:28, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
Editors who have volunteered above:
Do we need a lead coordinator for this drive? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:56, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
We need to agree on a goal so we can get invites and other PR stuff out of the way. Different users have made different suggestions. Nolelover has suggested clearing 2008 and having 18k total. WikiCopter has suggested removing the "5k articles" incentive and putting in "articles from 2008" instead. However, this will complicate the logging system, because we'll have to be able to denote 2008 articles within the user logs somehow... I wish we had a specialized external application which users could download and use to wikify pages; the program would automatically run word counts and update the logs and update the scoreboard and... Maybe a few years down the road... :)
Below, coordinators (or whoever) should comment and indicate whether they support or oppose the two proposals above. If you oppose Nolelover's plan (clear 2008, total 18k), please describe what you would put as the goal. Thanks. Current backlog is about 20.2k (total) and 850 (2008). Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:41, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
My proposal: remove rollover points. It's too complicated for some users to understand, and I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to make the drive pages as concise as possible, especially Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Instructions. Besides, I just tried to sign up for the drive and I took a while to figure our whether or not the total displayed includes the December rollover or not. (It doesn't.) Also, rollover seems less friendly to new users, and although this is a weak argument, "we need all the firepower we can get", right? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:16, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
The official invitation is available at
Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Invite/Feb11. To invite people, please use {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Invite/Feb11}}
. Also, someone needs to get
MessageDeliveryBot to deliver the invitations to WPWF members and/or past participants. I also like to scan
recent changes to see if anyone uses the edit summary "wikify" or "adding links" and invite them.
So, to make it official, since some of you have already started registering, let's start getting the word out and getting this show on the road! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:09, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
I think we ought to have some sort of edit review system like the one the GOCE drive has. Any thoughts? Interestingly, the GOCE drives haven't changed too much over time. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 12:32, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
With the start of the drive just around the corner and over two dozen participants signed up (the last drive had 27 active participants), I just wanted to thank the people who have helped set this drive up and have supported the WikiProject by donating their time and efforts. Wikipedia will never be completed, but we can aim to make it the best English encyclopedia in human history. Here we go! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 05:13, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
Looking forward to it!
Nihola (
talk)
18:40, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this, but there is a typo in the Coordinator elections message, and a rather embarrassing one at that. In the header, someone appears to have misspelled the word 'Wikify', so all the messages read 'WikiProject Wikiky's Coordinator Election'. Intelligent sium 23:59, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm wondering:
Why are there over 5000 articles for January 2011 that need wikification? Is the number of new articles for January very high also? Are the editors who tag articles on duty more some months than others? Is the quality of new articles going down over time? Has something changed about how new editors access information about creating a page? Are more people for whom english is a second language creating pages?
I wonder if, as a project, we might be able to do a bit of research and come to understand the underlying causes of such huge numbers. Then we could spend some energy addressing the core issues, which may bring the numbers down in the long run.
For instance, if the underlying reason for so many pages needing wikification is that new article creators are having a hard time knowing how to create a page that's formatted well, maybe the intructions for formatting new articles could be made easier, clearer, or easier to locate, or an effort to find the new users and help them out more would help.
I love wikifying, and the drives are a great way to get people involved, but how could we ever hope to keep up if 5000/month is standard. We'd need a lot more people and a look at the reasons people can't add their own internal links and so forth. I'd be happy to help on this, if the concern seems legitimate. Nihola ( talk) 17:16, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
5000+ articles in a single month is unprecedented AFAIK. The largest backlogs usually only reach 2000–3000, and only rarely. There's no particular month that's "more active" for wikification. I doubt there's a single cause, although let's see what the article creation stats say. From what I've seen, large backlogs are usually the result of mass-creation of small articles sourced mainly from a single external site, or mass tagging/tag recategorisation. I've had a (very) quick look through January 2011 and nothing really jumps out as odd. I noticed a large number of articles created by User:Boleyn sourced from the Dictionary of National Biography, but I doubt this would account for more than 2000 articles. Hopefully this a one-off event. Large backlogs have a lot of low-hanging fruit, so we might want to make special mention of this one in the February 2011 drive. Cheers. – Liveste ( talk • edits) 21:43, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
Could someone explain how to access the word count on an edited article? Sorry, but I just have been unable to figure it out/find it. thanks. Nihola ( talk) 16:19, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
Got it. Thankyou! Nihola ( talk) 17:30, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
I know I should have discussed this prior to putting the image onto the drive page, but I changed the format. Choose for yourself which one you like. WikiCopter ( ♠ • ♣ • ♥ • ♦ • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 04:26, 6 February 2011 (UTC)
According to the latest update at DBR, WikiProject Wikify is #27 on the list of WikiProjects by changes. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 13:15, 19 February 2011 (UTC)
Graphs courtesy of Guoguo12, with previous help from WikiCopter and Sumsum2010. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:23, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
Before I plunge head first into the Marc newsetter I have a few questions I would like a second opinion on:
and a statement:
I'm sure I missed something but these questions are the biggest ones. Sumsum2010· T· C· Review me! 04:11, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
I propose we hold a 'semi-drive' as soon as possible aimed at clearing the 2008 backlog. I'm thinking of a page containing links to each of the 187 pages on the backlog. Once you complete an article, you cross it off the list and sign. Prizes (perhaps specially designed for this special event) can be awarded for most articles wikified. Seems simple enough, right? Just slap a catchy name on it ('Operation Zero') and it's not hard to set up with CatScan. What do you guys think? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:56, 4 March 2011 (UTC)
Ok the barnstars are taken care of. Now we can start getting the "March Mini" underway. (Does that sound ok, or should the page be created with another name?) Sumsum2010· T· C· Review me! 00:20, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
Drive page draft up at Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2011/March Mini. List format needs correcting. I used CatScan. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:40, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
"WikiProject Report" would like to focus on WikiProject Wikify for an upcoming edition of The Signpost. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, you can find the interview questions here. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. If you have any questions, you can leave a note on my talk page. Have a great day. – SMasters ( talk) 08:13, 15 March 2011 (UTC) |
Last drive, we started planning on February 16, so we should have sufficient time for planning our next drive:
Anyway, it's once again time to discuss (feel free to add more questions):
Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:16, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
"Simplify, simplify."
— Henry Thoreau, Walden
I've been thinking about a removal of the leaderboard/word count system for some time (since the last drive, in fact). In my opinion, the leaderboard system alienates users who join mid-drive, as well as users who are less competitive or have less time. The barnstar awards system based on word count alienates new users who may be confused with the word count system. (We've had a few questions asked, but I'm worried about those who don't ask.) I propose we use a system of achivements based completely on the number of articles a user wikifies:
[Example only, with numbers based on X articles per day of March (31 days in March)]
Since this proposal would eliminate the word count system, the leaderboard will have only one category: "# of articles wikified". I propose further, because the reward for a leaderboard apperance is small, that we extend the leaderboard to 10 spots. The benefit of this system is obvious; it's simple, just like the very successful March Mini, which as of now, has reduced the 186-article backlog down to 37 articles in less than two weeks. The March Mini is not based on word counts, but on article numbers. It also has only three leaderboard spots, which is a flaw to be fixed in the 10-spot system.
The other interesting thing is that the barnstar numbers are based on wikifying X articles a day. One a day for every day of March, and you'll have enough for the first barnstar. Not too hard, right? If every user who wikified zero articles last drive did one a day to reach this one barnstar, that alone would amount to over 300 articles.
Anyway, I'll stop rambling on and on now to await your comments. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:38, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
Drive pages have all been set up and await proofreading. I've created everything to meet the new scoring standards, and I've removed all traces of the word count system from the instructions page. I've been trying to make the log page look tidier, and I found my solution in the noinclude tag. Registration should be possible now. Advertising checklist:
Anything else to discuss? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:21, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
I have moved the statistics section to the top of the log page. Place at the bottom of the page, that section will become almost impossible to see by the time everyone has signed up, and I would assume we would want that to be one of the more visible areas. Thoughts? Nolelover It's almost football season! 02:32, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
(I am moving this comment so it can be more easily seen. Nolelover It's almost football season! 15:12, 17 March 2011 (UTC))
I just did my first wikification ( Winter guard) and would greatly appreciate a review with any advice or suggestions for improvement that you can give me. Thanks! Danielklotz ( talk) 14:05, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
YEAH! After an hour of testing around with magic words, expressions, and all sorts of code I still don't understand, I finally got the statistics box to automatically update. So, assuming there aren't any problems, this should provide accurate, up-to-the-second stats, meaning manual updates will be unnecessary. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:24, 2 April 2011 (UTC)
I'm used to viewing the project pages on a wide screen (1680x1050, I believe). However, right now at a relative's house, the screen is a bit narrower and, I must admit, the project pages look pretty messy. To be specific, the project Main Page looks cramped and the text is broken a lot by line breaks. The Drive Page is also cramped, with the drive links squeezed together without any margins. So the question is: is this layout, which is both hard to read on some screens and hard to edit, really any good? However, I will admit that my own user page doesn't look very good either on this narrower screen, so perhaps nothing should be done about this. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:20, 17 April 2011 (UTC)
If I recall correctly, this project performed a "membership confirmation" a while back. Is anyone who was involved in orchestrating that around? Swarm X 00:55, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
Hi all. I was thinking that for May we might just try to keep up with the articles that are tagged in May. No competition or whatever, just as a group we try to counter the tide. It is a mite depressing to be at the end of this drive and see that there are 1000+ articles tagged this month alone. -- Fang Aili talk 06:21, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
Sounds good.. maybe June, then. (*peaks at the Guild of Copy Editors*). All-time high score? Well gosh. I am in a unique place in life right now were I can spend a lot of time on the 'pedia. I'm very happy to make a contribution. -- Fang Aili talk 21:27, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
From the GoCE May 2011 drive page:
"2009 Articles: In an effort to encourage the final elimination of all 2009 articles, we will be tracking them on the leaderboard for this drive. Top users in that category will receive leaderboard awards, just as they do for the other three categories. Mark all 2009 awards with an asterisk in your totals section."
Sound familiar? Seems like they plan on overcoming the edit marking problem with asterisks. Might be complicated for new users, though. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:29, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
When I've been wikifying articles, I've noticed a lot of tags that shouldn't be there. Can anyone think of anyway of combatting this? Bot maybe? Doh5678 Talk 18:24, 12 May 2011 (UTC)
Check Template_talk:Wikify#Edit_request_2. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 12:20, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
How's this? We might want to change the wording a little a focus more on certain areas (e.g., should replacing wiki-markup be the first thing you do?), but I think the basic code is there. Nolelover It's almost football season! 15:34, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
Here's a plan of what it has to be done:
WikiProject Wikify was in the news! Well, sort of. From the May 16 issue of The Signpost, which discusses reviving old, inactive WikiProjects:
"Competitions and drives like those held on alternating months by the Guild of Copy Editors and WikiProject Wikify can build relationships and mobilize the members of another project to achieve your project's goals."
Also, on right is a new graph comparing participation in drives by WikiProject Wikify and the Guild of Copy Editors. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:40, 20 May 2011 (UTC)
I do think the actual target used (Goal: 18,000 articles) was far too ambitious, based on the numbers in previous drives. A 'goal' is a nice idea, but setting it too high can be a bit demoralizing (when, eg, after 20-odd days we'd only achieved 30% of the target).
I was thinking that for May we might just try to keep up with the articles that are tagged in May. No competition or whatever, just as a group we try to counter the tide. It is a mite depressing to be at the end of this drive and see that there are 1000+ articles tagged this month alone.
Actually at the time I was under the impression that WikiProject Wikify did drives every month (being a n00b to this project), so my thought was that the drive would keep up with the tagged articles of that month. So if we start in June 2011, we would keep up with June 2011, and maybe make a dent in previous months if we manage to keep the June 2011 backlog to zero. Anyway, that was just my idea. I think it would be cool if we tried it. There's a good chance I won't be able to participate much next month, though. -- Fang Aili talk 06:09, 21 May 2011 (UTC)
Well, here we go again.
We're going to have to change the instructions page and log page format. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 16:03, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
I spruced up the main drives page. The page can't hold any more uber-large links in all caps and the code is a mess. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:58, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Drive pages should be complete. Do check for errors, including links with incorrect targets. As usual:
Mark completed with {{ done}}. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:11, 23 May 2011 (UTC)
Am I correct when I read "Only articles in [June 2011] can be counted"? This seems a bit strange, firstly, because I imagine that the first few days of the drive are going to be rather slow. Secondly, if our goal is to prevent the backlog from growing and we only have drives every other month, then I feel like we are limiting ourselves to only stopping half of the growth of the backlog. Is there another talk page with a broader discussion about the scope of this drive? I would like to understand any other reasonings. -- Tea with toast (talk) 01:56, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
"Hi all. I was thinking that for May we might just try to keep up with the articles that are tagged in May. No competition or whatever, just as a group we try to counter the tide. It is a mite depressing to be at the end of this drive and see that there are 1000+ articles tagged this month alone."
Are we seriously counting only JulyJune 2011 articles? Why? It would be much better both for the spirit of the participators and the backlog if we focussed on JulyJune and May 2011 and the oldest backlog, but still allowed counting of any articles. I also oppose this idea for the same reasons with Tea with toast.
Point #2: If we don't have a leaderboard, either add a leaderboard or remove the leaderboard awards. W i k i C o p t e r 04:46, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
In other words, the goal is now to get the backlog down to 19,500 articles. I believe I've changed all notices on all drive pages to reflect this decision. The original goal may be carried out at a later time, but perhaps as an odd-month minidrive instead. Tea with Toast, WikiCopter, thank you for your comments. Sumsum2010, I don't think a new message run will be necessary. I've added a notice to the bottom of the original invite, in red lettering, detailing the change. Hopefully, this change has not occurred too late. Guoguo12 (Talk) 19:29, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
I recently read through the discussion where the awards system was changed and did agree with one problem. The new program creates an incentive to edit many small articles and skip all of the big ones. Since there are still a few days left before the drive starts, could we create a system where in addition to the awards system in place, there is another one for word count? i.e. One user Wikifies 31 200 word articles, he/she gets a barnstar for number of articles. Another editor edits 4 2,000 word articles, he/she gets a barnstar for word count. Ryan Vesey ( talk) 04:43, 28 May 2011 (UTC)
Say, how long do coordinators serve? I haven't seen anything limiting their service terms. W i k i C o p t e r 05:31, 30 May 2011 (UTC)
This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 | Archive 4 | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | → | Archive 10 |
This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 | Archive 4 | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | → | Archive 10 |
As one of the active participants of both the December and October drives, I felt that the recent December drive was definitely an improvement, if not a success. First off, the layout was much more efficient and easy to use; "edit" links appeared next to each username, dispelling fears of edit conflicts and making finding and updating one's stats much simpler. Furthermore, the statistics were much better handled this time around, with only two days without numbers. While the total number of pages in the wikify backlog has exceeded 20,000 again and some 950 pages still exist in the 2008 backlog, I'm proud to have participated and I await the next drive with great interest and hope. Any thoughts? Shortcomings? Successes? Suggestions? Congrats to the coordinators (Ancient Apparition, Mono, Nolelover, and Sumsum2010)! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:23, 7 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm feeling like a sick man (maybe I am one ; )). But that isn't what I came here to say. Planning for the Feb drive should be done here. BTW, I already have a comment. 5k articles should be removed in favor of Articles from 2008 and 2009 (or something along those lines). The 5k was a arbitary choice chosen to get the drive off the ground in the shortest amount of time possible. WikiCopter ( t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 03:36, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
April Whyte, my orchestra conductor.
Since we already have coords over a couple of small departments already, I propose just one set of coords to manage everything in the project, as in the GOCE. It would be simpler (eh, what was the name of the coords over the help department again?) and easier. WikiCopter ( t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 04:39, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
"If the executive coordinator was unable to perform his or her duties, the assistant coordinator would become executive coordinator." So if the assistant coordinator was unable to perform his or her duties ... ? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 22:36, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
A recent edit to the project page has an edit summary that states "there seems no simple way to find articles to wikify". How about Category:All articles that need to be wikified? GoingBatty ( talk) 18:37, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
If project coordinator voting ends on February 1 (which it does), we obviously cannot wait until then to set up the February drive. So I've taken the liberty of creating the basic intro page:
The other pages seem slightly more complicated, so someone more qualified can do them. Anyway, let's officially discuss (feel free to add more questions):
Guoguo12 --Talk-- 15:28, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
Editors who have volunteered above:
Do we need a lead coordinator for this drive? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:56, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
We need to agree on a goal so we can get invites and other PR stuff out of the way. Different users have made different suggestions. Nolelover has suggested clearing 2008 and having 18k total. WikiCopter has suggested removing the "5k articles" incentive and putting in "articles from 2008" instead. However, this will complicate the logging system, because we'll have to be able to denote 2008 articles within the user logs somehow... I wish we had a specialized external application which users could download and use to wikify pages; the program would automatically run word counts and update the logs and update the scoreboard and... Maybe a few years down the road... :)
Below, coordinators (or whoever) should comment and indicate whether they support or oppose the two proposals above. If you oppose Nolelover's plan (clear 2008, total 18k), please describe what you would put as the goal. Thanks. Current backlog is about 20.2k (total) and 850 (2008). Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:41, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
My proposal: remove rollover points. It's too complicated for some users to understand, and I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to make the drive pages as concise as possible, especially Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Instructions. Besides, I just tried to sign up for the drive and I took a while to figure our whether or not the total displayed includes the December rollover or not. (It doesn't.) Also, rollover seems less friendly to new users, and although this is a weak argument, "we need all the firepower we can get", right? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:16, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
The official invitation is available at
Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Invite/Feb11. To invite people, please use {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Invite/Feb11}}
. Also, someone needs to get
MessageDeliveryBot to deliver the invitations to WPWF members and/or past participants. I also like to scan
recent changes to see if anyone uses the edit summary "wikify" or "adding links" and invite them.
So, to make it official, since some of you have already started registering, let's start getting the word out and getting this show on the road! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:09, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
I think we ought to have some sort of edit review system like the one the GOCE drive has. Any thoughts? Interestingly, the GOCE drives haven't changed too much over time. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 12:32, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
With the start of the drive just around the corner and over two dozen participants signed up (the last drive had 27 active participants), I just wanted to thank the people who have helped set this drive up and have supported the WikiProject by donating their time and efforts. Wikipedia will never be completed, but we can aim to make it the best English encyclopedia in human history. Here we go! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 05:13, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
Looking forward to it!
Nihola (
talk)
18:40, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this, but there is a typo in the Coordinator elections message, and a rather embarrassing one at that. In the header, someone appears to have misspelled the word 'Wikify', so all the messages read 'WikiProject Wikiky's Coordinator Election'. Intelligent sium 23:59, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm wondering:
Why are there over 5000 articles for January 2011 that need wikification? Is the number of new articles for January very high also? Are the editors who tag articles on duty more some months than others? Is the quality of new articles going down over time? Has something changed about how new editors access information about creating a page? Are more people for whom english is a second language creating pages?
I wonder if, as a project, we might be able to do a bit of research and come to understand the underlying causes of such huge numbers. Then we could spend some energy addressing the core issues, which may bring the numbers down in the long run.
For instance, if the underlying reason for so many pages needing wikification is that new article creators are having a hard time knowing how to create a page that's formatted well, maybe the intructions for formatting new articles could be made easier, clearer, or easier to locate, or an effort to find the new users and help them out more would help.
I love wikifying, and the drives are a great way to get people involved, but how could we ever hope to keep up if 5000/month is standard. We'd need a lot more people and a look at the reasons people can't add their own internal links and so forth. I'd be happy to help on this, if the concern seems legitimate. Nihola ( talk) 17:16, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
5000+ articles in a single month is unprecedented AFAIK. The largest backlogs usually only reach 2000–3000, and only rarely. There's no particular month that's "more active" for wikification. I doubt there's a single cause, although let's see what the article creation stats say. From what I've seen, large backlogs are usually the result of mass-creation of small articles sourced mainly from a single external site, or mass tagging/tag recategorisation. I've had a (very) quick look through January 2011 and nothing really jumps out as odd. I noticed a large number of articles created by User:Boleyn sourced from the Dictionary of National Biography, but I doubt this would account for more than 2000 articles. Hopefully this a one-off event. Large backlogs have a lot of low-hanging fruit, so we might want to make special mention of this one in the February 2011 drive. Cheers. – Liveste ( talk • edits) 21:43, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
Could someone explain how to access the word count on an edited article? Sorry, but I just have been unable to figure it out/find it. thanks. Nihola ( talk) 16:19, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
Got it. Thankyou! Nihola ( talk) 17:30, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
I know I should have discussed this prior to putting the image onto the drive page, but I changed the format. Choose for yourself which one you like. WikiCopter ( ♠ • ♣ • ♥ • ♦ • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 04:26, 6 February 2011 (UTC)
According to the latest update at DBR, WikiProject Wikify is #27 on the list of WikiProjects by changes. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 13:15, 19 February 2011 (UTC)
Graphs courtesy of Guoguo12, with previous help from WikiCopter and Sumsum2010. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:23, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
Before I plunge head first into the Marc newsetter I have a few questions I would like a second opinion on:
and a statement:
I'm sure I missed something but these questions are the biggest ones. Sumsum2010· T· C· Review me! 04:11, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
I propose we hold a 'semi-drive' as soon as possible aimed at clearing the 2008 backlog. I'm thinking of a page containing links to each of the 187 pages on the backlog. Once you complete an article, you cross it off the list and sign. Prizes (perhaps specially designed for this special event) can be awarded for most articles wikified. Seems simple enough, right? Just slap a catchy name on it ('Operation Zero') and it's not hard to set up with CatScan. What do you guys think? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:56, 4 March 2011 (UTC)
Ok the barnstars are taken care of. Now we can start getting the "March Mini" underway. (Does that sound ok, or should the page be created with another name?) Sumsum2010· T· C· Review me! 00:20, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
Drive page draft up at Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2011/March Mini. List format needs correcting. I used CatScan. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:40, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
"WikiProject Report" would like to focus on WikiProject Wikify for an upcoming edition of The Signpost. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, you can find the interview questions here. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. If you have any questions, you can leave a note on my talk page. Have a great day. – SMasters ( talk) 08:13, 15 March 2011 (UTC) |
Last drive, we started planning on February 16, so we should have sufficient time for planning our next drive:
Anyway, it's once again time to discuss (feel free to add more questions):
Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:16, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
"Simplify, simplify."
— Henry Thoreau, Walden
I've been thinking about a removal of the leaderboard/word count system for some time (since the last drive, in fact). In my opinion, the leaderboard system alienates users who join mid-drive, as well as users who are less competitive or have less time. The barnstar awards system based on word count alienates new users who may be confused with the word count system. (We've had a few questions asked, but I'm worried about those who don't ask.) I propose we use a system of achivements based completely on the number of articles a user wikifies:
[Example only, with numbers based on X articles per day of March (31 days in March)]
Since this proposal would eliminate the word count system, the leaderboard will have only one category: "# of articles wikified". I propose further, because the reward for a leaderboard apperance is small, that we extend the leaderboard to 10 spots. The benefit of this system is obvious; it's simple, just like the very successful March Mini, which as of now, has reduced the 186-article backlog down to 37 articles in less than two weeks. The March Mini is not based on word counts, but on article numbers. It also has only three leaderboard spots, which is a flaw to be fixed in the 10-spot system.
The other interesting thing is that the barnstar numbers are based on wikifying X articles a day. One a day for every day of March, and you'll have enough for the first barnstar. Not too hard, right? If every user who wikified zero articles last drive did one a day to reach this one barnstar, that alone would amount to over 300 articles.
Anyway, I'll stop rambling on and on now to await your comments. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:38, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
Drive pages have all been set up and await proofreading. I've created everything to meet the new scoring standards, and I've removed all traces of the word count system from the instructions page. I've been trying to make the log page look tidier, and I found my solution in the noinclude tag. Registration should be possible now. Advertising checklist:
Anything else to discuss? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:21, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
I have moved the statistics section to the top of the log page. Place at the bottom of the page, that section will become almost impossible to see by the time everyone has signed up, and I would assume we would want that to be one of the more visible areas. Thoughts? Nolelover It's almost football season! 02:32, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
(I am moving this comment so it can be more easily seen. Nolelover It's almost football season! 15:12, 17 March 2011 (UTC))
I just did my first wikification ( Winter guard) and would greatly appreciate a review with any advice or suggestions for improvement that you can give me. Thanks! Danielklotz ( talk) 14:05, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
YEAH! After an hour of testing around with magic words, expressions, and all sorts of code I still don't understand, I finally got the statistics box to automatically update. So, assuming there aren't any problems, this should provide accurate, up-to-the-second stats, meaning manual updates will be unnecessary. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:24, 2 April 2011 (UTC)
I'm used to viewing the project pages on a wide screen (1680x1050, I believe). However, right now at a relative's house, the screen is a bit narrower and, I must admit, the project pages look pretty messy. To be specific, the project Main Page looks cramped and the text is broken a lot by line breaks. The Drive Page is also cramped, with the drive links squeezed together without any margins. So the question is: is this layout, which is both hard to read on some screens and hard to edit, really any good? However, I will admit that my own user page doesn't look very good either on this narrower screen, so perhaps nothing should be done about this. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:20, 17 April 2011 (UTC)
If I recall correctly, this project performed a "membership confirmation" a while back. Is anyone who was involved in orchestrating that around? Swarm X 00:55, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
Hi all. I was thinking that for May we might just try to keep up with the articles that are tagged in May. No competition or whatever, just as a group we try to counter the tide. It is a mite depressing to be at the end of this drive and see that there are 1000+ articles tagged this month alone. -- Fang Aili talk 06:21, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
Sounds good.. maybe June, then. (*peaks at the Guild of Copy Editors*). All-time high score? Well gosh. I am in a unique place in life right now were I can spend a lot of time on the 'pedia. I'm very happy to make a contribution. -- Fang Aili talk 21:27, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
From the GoCE May 2011 drive page:
"2009 Articles: In an effort to encourage the final elimination of all 2009 articles, we will be tracking them on the leaderboard for this drive. Top users in that category will receive leaderboard awards, just as they do for the other three categories. Mark all 2009 awards with an asterisk in your totals section."
Sound familiar? Seems like they plan on overcoming the edit marking problem with asterisks. Might be complicated for new users, though. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:29, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
When I've been wikifying articles, I've noticed a lot of tags that shouldn't be there. Can anyone think of anyway of combatting this? Bot maybe? Doh5678 Talk 18:24, 12 May 2011 (UTC)
Check Template_talk:Wikify#Edit_request_2. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 12:20, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
How's this? We might want to change the wording a little a focus more on certain areas (e.g., should replacing wiki-markup be the first thing you do?), but I think the basic code is there. Nolelover It's almost football season! 15:34, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
Here's a plan of what it has to be done:
WikiProject Wikify was in the news! Well, sort of. From the May 16 issue of The Signpost, which discusses reviving old, inactive WikiProjects:
"Competitions and drives like those held on alternating months by the Guild of Copy Editors and WikiProject Wikify can build relationships and mobilize the members of another project to achieve your project's goals."
Also, on right is a new graph comparing participation in drives by WikiProject Wikify and the Guild of Copy Editors. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:40, 20 May 2011 (UTC)
I do think the actual target used (Goal: 18,000 articles) was far too ambitious, based on the numbers in previous drives. A 'goal' is a nice idea, but setting it too high can be a bit demoralizing (when, eg, after 20-odd days we'd only achieved 30% of the target).
I was thinking that for May we might just try to keep up with the articles that are tagged in May. No competition or whatever, just as a group we try to counter the tide. It is a mite depressing to be at the end of this drive and see that there are 1000+ articles tagged this month alone.
Actually at the time I was under the impression that WikiProject Wikify did drives every month (being a n00b to this project), so my thought was that the drive would keep up with the tagged articles of that month. So if we start in June 2011, we would keep up with June 2011, and maybe make a dent in previous months if we manage to keep the June 2011 backlog to zero. Anyway, that was just my idea. I think it would be cool if we tried it. There's a good chance I won't be able to participate much next month, though. -- Fang Aili talk 06:09, 21 May 2011 (UTC)
Well, here we go again.
We're going to have to change the instructions page and log page format. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 16:03, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
I spruced up the main drives page. The page can't hold any more uber-large links in all caps and the code is a mess. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:58, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Drive pages should be complete. Do check for errors, including links with incorrect targets. As usual:
Mark completed with {{ done}}. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:11, 23 May 2011 (UTC)
Am I correct when I read "Only articles in [June 2011] can be counted"? This seems a bit strange, firstly, because I imagine that the first few days of the drive are going to be rather slow. Secondly, if our goal is to prevent the backlog from growing and we only have drives every other month, then I feel like we are limiting ourselves to only stopping half of the growth of the backlog. Is there another talk page with a broader discussion about the scope of this drive? I would like to understand any other reasonings. -- Tea with toast (talk) 01:56, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
"Hi all. I was thinking that for May we might just try to keep up with the articles that are tagged in May. No competition or whatever, just as a group we try to counter the tide. It is a mite depressing to be at the end of this drive and see that there are 1000+ articles tagged this month alone."
Are we seriously counting only JulyJune 2011 articles? Why? It would be much better both for the spirit of the participators and the backlog if we focussed on JulyJune and May 2011 and the oldest backlog, but still allowed counting of any articles. I also oppose this idea for the same reasons with Tea with toast.
Point #2: If we don't have a leaderboard, either add a leaderboard or remove the leaderboard awards. W i k i C o p t e r 04:46, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
In other words, the goal is now to get the backlog down to 19,500 articles. I believe I've changed all notices on all drive pages to reflect this decision. The original goal may be carried out at a later time, but perhaps as an odd-month minidrive instead. Tea with Toast, WikiCopter, thank you for your comments. Sumsum2010, I don't think a new message run will be necessary. I've added a notice to the bottom of the original invite, in red lettering, detailing the change. Hopefully, this change has not occurred too late. Guoguo12 (Talk) 19:29, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
I recently read through the discussion where the awards system was changed and did agree with one problem. The new program creates an incentive to edit many small articles and skip all of the big ones. Since there are still a few days left before the drive starts, could we create a system where in addition to the awards system in place, there is another one for word count? i.e. One user Wikifies 31 200 word articles, he/she gets a barnstar for number of articles. Another editor edits 4 2,000 word articles, he/she gets a barnstar for word count. Ryan Vesey ( talk) 04:43, 28 May 2011 (UTC)
Say, how long do coordinators serve? I haven't seen anything limiting their service terms. W i k i C o p t e r 05:31, 30 May 2011 (UTC)
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