Wikipedia:When 5x expansion is appropriate
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 | This page in a nutshell: Don't 5x expand an article if you think it would be too much to do. It may also exceed the recommended maximum article length of 9000 words (45,000 characters) |
On did you know (DYK), one of the 'newness' criteria is that articles that have been 5x expanded (in prose length) over the last 7 days are eligible. This pretty much means an article has to be expanded very significantly. However, editors may find that a 5x expansion is too much to do so this page will lists the alternatives of greatly expanding the page.
What 5x expansion means
[edit]5x expansion is pretty much self explanatory. It means that editors can choose to expand an article prose to 5x its previous length for DYK. This is often done when an article is a stub or those that are quite short since editors can also nominate for DYK in another way and because it can be too much work doing that over the others. Please note that this is in prose length, not the length that is seen in the history. For what counts as prose, see WP:DYKPROSE. For example, an article with a prose length of 1200 (below the minimum DYK threshold of 1500) would need to be expanded to at least 6000 characters. This should be calculated from the article revision before the expansion started. Removing text is permitted, but if the reason was for copyright reasons, then it won't count. Reason why it needs to be greatly expanded is because DYK is only for articles that are new and that a 5x expansion is considered a great improvement for an existing one.
When and how to 5x expand an article?
[edit]While there is no set guidance, it is often articles that were formerly stubs that can be expanded 5x. This can also apply to relatively short articles that are not a stub. Over a third of articles are currently a stub so why not try to improve/expand them for DYK?
To 5x expand an article, this can be done on the article itself. Alternatively, you may do so in your sandbox or start a page on your userspace so that you can see if you meet the 5x criteria without having to worry about the 7 day criteria since the timer starts when it is moved to mainspace. Avoid doing it in draftspace as reviewers will likely expect you to add that information to the relevant article instead. Checking prose length is generally done by using the script DYKcheck or other tool (such as wordcounter.net or a word processor) that checks how many characters it has. Note that while cut and paste moves are generally disallowed, if only one person was the major contributor, then that is allowed.
When 5x expansion is too much and what can be done instead?
[edit]Generally, articles should not be more than 9000 words. Assuming an average of five characters per word, that is 45,000 characters. So you should not 5x expand an article that is over 8000 characters long as not only because that can be too much work, but also because the article may have to be trimmed as the result may exceed the recommended maximum of 45,000 characters. It's also because DYK is mainly suited for newly created articles and not those that are 15 years old.
The most common alternative to 5x expansion of an existing article is to nominate that for good article or to create a new one. Nominating an article for GA is often the best way for an old article to be featured on DYK. However, like the 5x expansion, that can be a lot of work, especially if you didn't create the article or significantly contributed to it. Another alternative is to create a new one. The new article has to be at least 1500 characters, should meet the notability criteria (so that it's able to survive an AfD/PROD) and shouldn't contain any tags such as those saying [citation needed]. Please also note that after an article has been created or had a successful GA nomination, it must be nominated for DYK within 7 days.