Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Wikify/Archive 4

This is an archive of past discussions on Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify. 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

→

Success of December drive

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 agree with Guoguo12's comments, especially about the format. Having to edit the entire page to update your own stats got to be a pain. I assume February is the date for the next drive? And I think we should begin the preliminary discussions as soon as possible (co-ords, goals, that sort of thing). Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:39, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Right, I think we should definitely start planning the next drive, especially if it's in February. But how can we get more people to join? The December drive saw 27 active editors involved, which is less than the first GOCE drive (36 editors). I suggest posting the drive information at Wikipedia:REWARD like the GOCE does for their drives. I also support the use of MessageBot use and possibly WP ads. It would also be great if we could get the ongoing GOCE drive page to link to our drive. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:52, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

BTW, I have AWB. It would help with sending messages. WikiCopter (t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 03:37, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Planning

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)

~~What exactly do you mean by "5k articles should be removed in favor of Articles from 2008 and 2009"? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:42, 9 January 2011 (UTC)~~

Ah, never mind, I just realized what you meant. That's a great way to get people to focus on the 2008/09 backlogs more, though! I heartily approve. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:44, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

;)

"I just love those 'AHA!!' moments in life."

April Whyte, my orchestra conductor.

However, on a more practical tone, I want to solicit comments, through multiple channels. Hmm, let's see... WikiCopter (t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 04:20, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

What do you mean by "through multiple channels"? Sumsum2010·T·C 05:18, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Project news, the news on the main project page. WikiCopter (t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 15:27, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Oh! That makes sense. Sumsum2010·T·C 18:05, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

It's supposed to.

. BTW, you better get to work on the newsletter ;). WikiCopter (t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 00:38, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Probably should, I think I've played with my new toy (AWB) enough for today=) Sumsum2010·T·C 01:28, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Just got AWB? I didn't use it for the first 3 months I had perm. =) WikiCopter (t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 01:43, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Yep, just this morning. There are hundreds of typos that need to be fixed. Anyway, are there any new ideas or proposals for the new drive? Sumsum2010·T·C 04:47, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Project wide coords

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)

Sounds like a good idea. Would we have a !vote or simply volunteers? Sumsum2010·T·C 05:04, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Volunteers, then we (quote)!vote(enquote). ; ) (i'm pretty prone to winking now, it must be something i picked up at irc : )) WikiCopter (t • c • g • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 15:21, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

All set at this page. Mono (talk) 03:08, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Well done. :) Note: Neither of the candidates seemed to have indicated what position they are running for. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:25, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Question

"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)

I believe whomever received the third highest amount of support votes, or an Administrative Officer would be promoted. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 06:00, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Finding articles to wikify

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)

February drive

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:

Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2011/February

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):

What are the goals for this drive?
How can we reach a wider contributor audience?
Who will coordinate the drive? Since project-wide coord voting ends February 1, I think we should create some separate coord positions for this drive.
What is our official stance on AWB use and should we include it on the info page for the drive?
... more questions ...

Guoguo12 --Talk-- 15:28, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

I've created the rest of the pages, mostly by copying, pasting and adapting from the December drive.

How about clearing 2008 and getting down to 18,00 total?
That's a good question...
I'll help there again.
Now that someone has checked most of the backlog, I don't think it's necessary for anyone to be doing more AWB runs. That said, I think think we could mention that they are _______ (frowned upon?). Nolelover^{It's football season!} 19:24, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

(second question) Maybe another shout-out to GOCE? If no other project is signed up already, a interview on The Signpost would help. (third question) if no one objects I'd like to help here again, as well. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 20:04, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

I guess I'll help, too, as long as nobody objects. I think a Signpost sidebar announcement should do the trick. And a note at the Reward board. But I don't think we can make any advertisements until we have most of it ready to go. Also, we need to emphasize that barnstars will be handed handed out, especially since the current drive page doesn't even mention awards and the list of awards by word count has been relegated to the very bottom of Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wikify/Drives/Instructions, where nobody will ever notice it. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:48, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

I have moved the awards to a new awards page at: Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Awards. Sidebar announcement and Reward Board sounds good, maybe we can get it in by next week. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 00:17, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for adding the link to the Feb. drive page; I'm no good with layout. However, for the links, I think the most logical order (from left to right) would be "What to do", then "What you'll get", then "Log your edits", "Track where we're going", and "Discuss better methods" (in that order). Guoguo12 --Talk-- 02:51, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Done. That does seem like a better order, progressing in the order a new participant would need to read. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 03:21, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

<Edit conflict>Thanks! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:28, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Another answer to question two (advertising): edit summaries linking to the drive page. I actually did that for some of my December drive edits (e.g., [1]), but I suggest using a uniform one that contributors can copy off of the drive "how-to" page. Something like "Wikified; [[WP:WWF/D/2011/F|join the effort!]]". (And yes, the redirect link works.) Any thoughts? Oh, and also, the community portal has a "Notices" section (transcluded from here) where we can post the information. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:27, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Edit summary looks good, an alternative could be: "Wikification, [[WP:WWF/D/2011/F|You Can Help!]]". This is similar to WP:TYPO's edit summary. So that's three places to advertise, should help a lot! Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 03:51, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Four new ways, I believe: Signpost sidebar, community portal, edit summary, and reward board. But we can also use user talk page messages (MessageDeliveryBot) again to invite participants. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:41, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Note: I've updated Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Invite, but we still need to agree on goals (see below discussion). Guoguo12 --Talk-- 17:26, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

List of coordinators for the drive

Editors who have volunteered above:

Do we need a lead coordinator for this drive? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:56, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

The last one didn't seem to have one and it worked out ok. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 23:57, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree with that. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:02, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Actually, Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2010/December says that WikiCopter was lead. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:51, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

I forgot all about that !vote! Must have been that the way the collaboration worked out there was no superior. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 03:58, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

+1. Mono (talk) 02:24, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Goal

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)

Support Nolelover's plan, oppose WikiCopter's idea: Nolelover's numbers sound okay - ambitious, but okay. WikiCopter's idea is great, but I think it would be too difficult to implement. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:41, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
Support Nolelover's idea, oppose WikiCopter's idea: I think we could try for 17,000 tags. On the last drive once the goal was reached many contributors put the brakes on and stopped wikifying, so a very tough goal would keep people active the whole drive. WikiCopter has a great idea but right now I don't think either 5k or 2008 articles will work. We seem to have eliminated almost all 5k articles that are fixable. I used Catscan to find big articles, in December, and only found a few (luckily one was 28k!) Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 17:13, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
- Since it seems we can't do either 5k or 2008, maybe we should do "Number of days the user wikified X or more articles" or something like that. That way, there's an incentive to keep wikifying throughout the drive. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:20, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
  - Maybe "Number of days the user wikified 5 or more articles". 5 doesn't seem to be asking too much. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 21:47, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
    - Okay, I guess anything more would make it too difficult. I mean, five a day is almost 150 for the month (28 days in February)! But adding this would also mean adding datestamps to user log entries, like this: "# {{Completed}} [[Example]] (546) ~~~~~". Parsed: "# Completed Example (546) 22:19, 17 January 2011 (UTC)". This might be more difficult to implement than WikiCopter's plan. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 22:19, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
      - It think it would be a little easier, would only have to add the ~'s to the directions on the log page and perhaps a brief note on the welcome notice explaining the update. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 23:38, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
        Of course, but it would still clutter pages. All we need really is a date, since it's obviously in Feb. 2011. I was also thinking of having weekly leaderboards instead of one leaderboard for the whole event; that way, contributors can join mid-drive and still have a fair shot at being on the leaderboard. I have too many ideas... Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:32, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
        Just tell people to put: "# {{Completed}} [[Example]] (546) 9th". Parsed: "# Completed Example (546) 9th". But they are good ideas! Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 02:34, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
        Okay, sounds good. Thanks! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 13:55, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
Support my plan, and, now that I really think about it, oppose Wikicopter's idea. I don't really think that we'll even get close to 18,000 (remember that 1,000 of the December drives taggings were done with AWB). Furthermore, I like the idea of the third leaderboard category being "Number of days the user wikified 5 or more articles". WikiCopter's idea still seems the best in theory, but in practice, it doesn't seem worthwhile. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 22:33, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
I didn't really care if my plan was implemented _{AS IF!!!} because the idea was to get rid of the 5k thing in favor of something more practical and workable. P.S. Many of the articles are either mistagged or have been wikified but the tag is still on. Please help untag those articles (like I do). WikiCopter (♠ • ♣ • ♥ • ♦ • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 06:05, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Rollover proposal

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)

Maybe just add For Past Participants Only: before the rollover paragraph. This way new people will not need to worry about it. As for whether or not rollover is displayed in the total, I think it should read:

This drive's words = 546
Rollover words = 4
Total words = 550

So rollover is included in the total but can still be distinguished easily.Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 00:31, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Oppose - I don't think that the rollover element will scare anyone off, and those who would have rollover words are our returning members anyway - by now they should have some idea of how our drives work. About midway through the drive, I'll go through all the entries and make sure everything's right - I did that last time. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:34, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

I like Sumsum2010's idea of putting For Past Participants Only: in there. Like I said, the only people with rollover words are the ones who have participated in the past. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:38, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Actually, I'm a little confused right now myself. So for this drive's "Rollover words" slot, do we put the "Total words" from last time or "Total words" + "Rollover words"? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:40, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Technically, it would be the total words from the last drive, plus whatever rollover words you have on hand. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:43, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

For example, if I had 100 rollover words from October, and I wikified 12,100 words in December, my new rollover would be 200. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:48, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Okay, I think I got it now. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 02:57, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Now that I come to think of it, for me it doesn't really matter as much. I've never gotten a barnstar for words wikified before, only for leaderboard appearances. It's because I stick to wikifying short articles (thank goodness for CatScan). Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:01, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Just a comment - at the Guild of Copy Editors we have been doing rollover points for several drives now, and it really has not proved too hard for people to understand. -- Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 15:28, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Invitations and advertising

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)

Checklist

MessageBot delivery of invites: DoneSumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 02:22, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
Signpost sidebar: Approved by Mono
Community portal noticeboard post: DoneSumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 02:22, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
Reward board post: Done Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:26, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Reviewing

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)

Between you and me, I've already gone over a lot of the newer users' articles. I can make it my job to help them out if their wikification falls below a fairly easy standard - if they obviously have no idea what they're doing. Any objections? Nolelover^{It's football season!} 13:47, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Nope, none at all. The job is yours. (Add it to the drive page, if you wish.) Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:07, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Well, I'l try to be a little less obvious. If they really need the help then I'll contact them on their talk page and walk them through the wikification process. That sound good? I never really liked the GOCE's method. Too much like a test. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 14:14, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

As you like it, then. Thanks, Guoguo12 --Talk-- 15:03, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Here we go!

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)

Coordinator elections

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'. Intelligentsium 23:59, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Yup, we noticed that... Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:02, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

AWB, anyone? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:26, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Doing... Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:37, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Done Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:46, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Guoguo. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 00:49, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Yes, thank you for fixing all of those, Guoguo! I didn't even see this thread until they were all fixed. I made the typo(I tend to do this when I get myself overly hurried)Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 00:53, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

No problem. Although I did spend the whole day getting my January article edits percentage back near fifty... Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:49, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

5000+ wikify tags for January 2011, oh my.

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)

I tried to reduce the number of wikify tags by tightening WP:AWB's logic on that and by creating {{Cleanup-HTML}}. Let's see if we can think of anything else. -- Magioladitis (talk) 17:55, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm not so sure about more new articles for January (stats not available yet), but I think AWB and User:Yobot (each co-created or owned by Magioladitis) are problems. AWB use by a bot has been discussed many times before, and I've talked to Magioladitis about it. However, not much has been accomplished and Yobot invariably makes a least a few mistakes ([2], [3]). I know that AWB also removes some wikify tags, but bots simply aren't "human" enough to recognize exceptions to the AWB formula (less than three wikilinks and/or fewer links than .25% of article size, I believe). Unattended spell-checking is prohibited; I think wikify tag adding should also be. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:20, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Better criteria re discussed in Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Wikify#AWB changes. AWB uses the "< 3 wikilinks or the number of wikilinks is smaller than 0.25% of article's size". -- Magioladitis (talk) 20:32, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Latest snapshot solves some of the problems you described. You are now excluding categories from article size. -- Magioladitis (talk) 20:42, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

I haven't been finding any pages that don't require at least some 'wikification', so the bots don't seem to be too wrong. My question is why do so many pages need that in the first place, and can we address some of those issues right at the core, to avoid having to deal with them in a backlog later on? Nihola (talk) 20:56, 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)

number of words

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)

If the directions are too hard to figure out, just post the names of the articles you've wikified, and I'll give you credit. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 16:29, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Got it. Thankyou! Nihola (talk) 17:30, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Graph for Drive

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)

I like yours better; the numbers are clearer and the line is thicker. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:22, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

I like the new format as well. Nolelover^{It's football season!} 20:51, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks... I didn't know how it would be recieved. FYI, I made it using Microsoft Office Excel 2010/2009, versus Microsoft Works Spreadsheet of Sumsum2010's graph. WikiCopter (♠ • ♣ • ♥ • ♦ • simple • commons • lost • cvu • onau) 22:02, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

(I just noticed this thread) I would use Excel, but my computer can't save something in Office then reopen it without having a major problem. Good job, it looks a lot more professional now! Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 00:50, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Database reports

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)

Awesome! Let's get ourselves up to #1! :D (not that we will, but it's a good goal to try for) Wiki cop ter _{what i do} s + c cup|former 02:23, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Good goal indeed; according to the latest update, we're now at #24. However, I'm not actually sure this is in fact a good thing, since the rank is based on changes to WikiProject articles, so we might simply be gaining more articles. According to this index, based on watchers, were only #88 (GOCE is #133, though, MilHist at #3, US Oil hit $100 per barrel, stocks fell...). By the way, new signature again? :) Guoguo12 --Talk-- 02:53, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Yes again. The old one was WAAY too long :). I wanna more watchers!!! (at least we're ahead of the GOCE!!! yippee!!) Wiki cop ter _{what i do} s + c cup|former 01:08, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

February 2011 drive statistics

Changes in total backlog, February 2011.
Changes in 2008 backlog, February 2011.
2008 backlog reduction by source, October 2010 through February 2011.
Changes in participant levels, October 2010 through February 2011.

Graphs courtesy of Guoguo12, with previous help from WikiCopter and Sumsum2010. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:23, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Great charts! I'll make sure to put them in the Newsletter!Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 03:51, 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:

Are the cordinators for the new still just me and Mono, or is it now all 3 of the main cordinators?
Does anyone know if Mono is still active? (I haven't seen him around for a while and his userpage is redirected)
And if he isn't would someone else like to help me with, or atleast check, the Newsleter?

and a statement:

Sorry I hardly did any Wikifying this month! February is my bussiest month in the entire year (tons of birthdays; including my own, shortest month, and tons of homework/ projects)

I'm sure I missed something but these questions are the biggest ones. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 04:11, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

...and I hate to bail out on the project now, but school, and computer problems, have overwhelmed me. I'm on wikibreak as of now, and my drop in activity may be permanent. (It's a good thing I didn't win the coordinator elections :) Good luck, wikifiers! Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 13:42, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

I never really liked the idea of a newspaper, I mean WPWF doesn't really have anything newsworthy to say, usually. Someone does need to process the drive results, though. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:21, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Semi-drive proposal

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)

Sounds good! When do you propose we start it? Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 02:43, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

I think we can start now. Copyediting gets tiring, so some GOCE users might also do some wikifying. Maybe GOCE and WPWF can link to each other's drive page. However, we have to hand out barnstars for the February drive first. Can you do that? I've checked the first two columns of the leaderboard; they are correct. The third column (# of days user wikified 5+ articles) is impossible to check, and I take sole responsibility for introducing such a system, although 5 users did wikify 5+ for all 28 days, which was the intention (that's at least 700 articles). Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:29, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Note: Mono, lead coordinator, appears to be on indefinite wikibreak. (Nolelover is also semi-retired, I might woefully mention.) Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:39, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Sure, I can do it. It may take me several days, so don't panic if it dosen't look like anything is happening. Wow, two users I thought would be here until the end, gone in one week. Maybe you should step in as co-lead. Hopefully we can keep the project held together! Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 04:12, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

(Bumped Signpost request down.) What do you mean, exactly, when you say I "should step in as co-lead"? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 17:08, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

I mean that prehaps you should be promoted, so we would have clearer orginization. Unless, of coarse, someone hears from or heard from Mono. Just a thought, if it dosen't sound good, we can just leave it how it is. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 23:43, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Well, that depends on whether or not you want to replace Mono. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 23:50, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

I could do it. But since you were te first one offically inagurated, it would make since for youto get the first opportunity. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 02:34, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

Well, how could I say no? Thank you. I promise to try living up to people's expectations. I'll wait a few more days, though. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 17:10, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

Hmm... There was a request made at the Signpost WikiProject desk for an interview of this project. I'm hoping to start it in the next week or so. I hope there's people around for me to interview. – SMasters (talk) 07:15, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Aside from the obvious (coordinators for the project, etc.), you could interview some of the top participants from the last drive. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 17:08, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

In the last few days some RL issues have cleared up, so now I'm just on a semi-wikibreak until I catch up on some school. TBH, I should have retired back in the second week of February, back when everything started, but I felt I couldn't do that in the middle of a drive. Anyway, now that that's cleared up, I'll try to focus somewhat on get back to WWF. I think that Guoguo's idea is great, and should be implemented as soon as possible. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 16:13, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Okay, thanks for explaining. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 17:08, 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)

I could think of so many March madness puns :) That said, I'm no good with names, so Guoguo...? Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 00:26, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Heh, I never thought of March Madness puns. March Mini sounds good to me. Sumsum, thanks for getting those barnstars handed out. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:32, 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)

Good job! However, I'm going to swap out "Last Change" with "Wikifier's Name". Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 03:49, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Done! It still needs some more work and cleanup. I'll look at it more tommarrow, starting to get tired. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 04:28, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

I move that we remove the namespace column, as it serves no useful purpose. Also, I think we should hold this drive indefinitely (that is to say, until we blow up the '08 backlog). RfA Wiki cop ter _{what i do} s + c cup|former 05:09, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

I plan to do that tomarrow, around 23:00 UTC. I'm to tired to do it now. (BTW: Good luck with your RFA!)Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 05:12, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

We may in fact have to update the list again before we officially start, though. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 22:00, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Never mind, forget it. There will probably be articles completed by people who don't participate, so no need for update. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 22:03, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Ok, its all ready. I'll send out the notice either tonight or tomarrow. Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 03:49, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

I made a few adjustments, like removing the "Wikifier" column, since signing after should work better for users unfamiliar with table syntax. But other than that, good work, Sumsum! Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:50, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I couldn't have done it without your help! The drive is ready, everthing below is complete, now I'm off to Wikify the first one!Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me!

Thanks for getting the drive going. :) Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:31, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

Final checklist

Remove top three lines of code ("The following event has not yet begun. Please do not modify...") to open drive DoneSumsum2010·T·C·Review me! 03:45, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
Message WPWF members with Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2011/March Mini/Invitation. Assuming there aren't any errors or likely changes, go ahead and substitute it. DoneSumsum2010·T·C·Review me!
Add info to Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Frame DoneSumsum2010·T·C·Review me!
Add info to Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/News/Main Page DoneSumsum2010·T·C·Review me!
Add info to reward board Done Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me!
Add info to Template:Announcements/Community bulletin board Done Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me!

The Signpost interview

"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)

Hi WikiProject Wikify, Following a request for an interview, I have written to several members here to invite them to participate, and I have placed an invitation here as well. Two members have responded so far, and I thank them in advance for this; however, the current content (in terms of word count) is a lot less than what I'm used to working with for my articles. This article will be read by thousands of users, and it would be good to present this project well, as I believe you deserve to be. But I can't work without enough material. I would really appreciate if more members here will participate in the interview. Your contribution can make the difference between a mediocre story and a great one. I will have to close the interview by this weekend to allow me to work on the copy, so I look forward to a few more folks here giving this your input. Thanks! – SMasters (talk) 09:40, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

P.S. Are you guys planning a drive for April? If you are, this is the perfect place to plug it! It will be published the last week of March. – SMasters (talk) 09:44, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

I do the interview (what about Guoguo?), but as for a drive in April...? I'm not sure if the mini was going to take its place. Three drives in three consecutive months is rather tough. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 13:04, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

As far as I know, no drive will take place in April. May will be our next drive. As for the interview, I'll respond if I have time tomorrow. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:53, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

I think there should be one in April. After all, it is the second month after February. The Mini Drive only is looking at 180 articles, a full on drive takes care of 800+ articles. Sumsum2010·T·C

WikiCopter Supports a drive in April. FAC Wiki cop ter _{what i do} s + c cup|former 23:51, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Comment: If you have one in May, you will clash with GOCE's drive, which takes place every other month. I thought the whole idea of the mini was an "in-between" for your drives. – SMasters (talk) 02:13, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Okay, overruled. April drive it is. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 02:54, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

April drive planning

Last drive, we started planning on February 16, so we should have sufficient time for planning our next drive:

Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2011/April

Anyway, it's once again time to discuss (feel free to add more questions):

What are the goals for this drive?
How can we reach an even wider contributor audience? Current methods include messages, reward board notice, community portal notice, Signpost sidebar note...
Should we change the leaderboard/scoring systems?
... more questions ...

Guoguo12 --Talk-- 03:16, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

An arbitrary number? 18,000 and the first 3-6 months of 2009.
I will make sure to mention the drive in my signpost interview, and if Guoguo does it as well...Anyway, this would reach far more editors then almost any other way.
I personally think we could survive with only two categories: words and articles. Unless you guys think that 5 article-days was a success? Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 15:26, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

I think 5-article-days idea was a success. Five users wikified 5+ for the whole month, which means at least 28*5*5=700 articles. Of course, the problem was that it became hard to check.

The 5 article idea seems to have worked. I think the same stuff as th February Drive, except this time tere will be enough time to make a bigger dent in the backlog. Sumsum2010·T·C 23:05, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

18,000 isn't ambitious enough. Go for at most 17,000. Last drive went 905 down, we can hope for a lot more if we get more publicity in the Signpost. I'll go talk to SMasters right now about mentioning it in his report. Also, make the goals to eliminate all of 2009, so that all of 2009 and the rest of 2008 is all hacked away at. 5 articles/day idea worked great, except that the people who get off the board are probably off forever... if we do numbers of 2008/2009 articles it will give everybody a chance. (It also helps the backlog!)

Wikicopter makes a great point about the Signpost. Lets err on the side of ambition. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 13:02, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Dangerously radical scoring change proposal

"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)]

User wikifies 31 to 61 articles - {{The Working Man's Barnstar}}
User wikifies 62 to 92 articles - {{The Wikilink Barnstar}}
User wikifies over 93 articles - {{The Special Barnstar}}
Leaderboard appearance - Some small token of appreciation, combinable with above barnstars (I'll create this, if necessary [Update: How about this?])

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)

This sounds very good. With this implemented people(like me) won't slow their wikifiying due to not being on the leaderboard. Also much easier for new people to understand, and won't make them have to search for monstrous articles to wikify. Sumsum2010·T·C 15:53, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

It's certainly easier just to count articles. It will probably discourage the editing of sprawling ones, which means for each date the project will be left with a bunch of longer articles needing attention. Maybe once a year, or when needed, a mini-drive like the successful one at the moment could focus on those left over long articles and adjust at that time for the word count or something like it? I think you're on to something good here; the more editors involved the better. Perhaps there could be a small unique appreciation of some kind even if the number of articles edited is smaller, like 10 or something, to encourage editors, and help them feel recognized even if the contribution isn't massive. 10 articles a month for an editor who manages to get onto wikipedia once a week, is substantial. It may keep larger numbers of editors feeling inspired and involved in the project. Nihola (talk) 17:50, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

I like it. That's all I can really say, but I definitely like the simplicity of it. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 21:36, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Nice... just work out the numbers of articles needed. FAC Wiki cop ter _{what i do} s + c cup|former 00:53, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

March 23 Update

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:

Message WPWF members with ~~Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2011/March Mini/Invitation~~. See below. Do NOT substitute the invitation.
Add info to Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Frame
Add info to Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/News/Main Page
Add info to reward board
Add info to Template:Announcements/Community bulletin board

Anything else to discuss? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:21, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Did you mean to link to the March invitation? Thanks for making the pages! Sumsum2010·T·C 22:57, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, sorry, I forgot... Invite is at Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Invite/Apr11. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 01:29, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Its fine. Thanks for the link. Sumsum2010·T·C 02:48, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Log page

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)

Well, the reason I moved it down was because it makes the top look messy (in my opinion). That's also why I moved the monthly listings ({{wikification progress}}) to the instructions page. Let me play with the layout for a while (using "Show preview", of course). Guoguo12 --Talk-- 02:55, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Winter guard review

(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)

It looks great! You did a good job sectioning things off, and the links are appropriately placed as well. There are still problems with the article, but wikification is not one of them. Keep it up. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 15:15, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Update problem resolved

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)

Good job! Haven't got a chance to do any wikifying yet, but the drive is off to a GREAT start! Sumsum2010·T·C 23:38, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

I don't care. At all. (to copy Ale jrb :D). Well, I might care. A little. Instant updating! Horray! :) FAC Wiki cop ter _{what i do} s + c cup|former 03:25, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Project page layouts

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)

Hmm. I've never noticed a problem. That said, I also use a wider screen... Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 02:53, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm using a 14 or 15 inch laptop and it does seem piled onto itself. The Logo is floating over the text and the lines are a bit off. I'm using an oldish computer running Vista. On Windows 7 the logo is still broke but the lines are better. Unfortunately my new Windows 7 computer is on the way back to the manufacturer, because Windows deleted itself, and will be out of commission for a few weeks (the good news: the old computer has AWB!). Sumsum2010·T·C 05:02, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Now I'm at a different computer using Windows 7/Chrome. In this edit from before, I added a line to split the top link from the rest of the page contents. As it turned out, the blue lines separating the different sections weren't showing up in blue on the computer from which I made the previous post, which had IE on Windows XP. I've removed the line now, but it shows how different things can be from different computers/browsers. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 02:22, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

The main problem seems to be image related. I'll take a look at it and see if I can get it working...Sumsum2010·T·C 01:33, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Membership confirmation

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)

This was the discussion leading up to that. Mono has left, and AnApp isn't very active within the project, but other that that...are you suggesting another though? Nolelover^{It's almost football season!}

Ah, thank you, that's helpful. I'm just going to be doing one for another project, so I was just trying to find this one to base on it. Also, I was wondering how many members didn't confirm their status? Swarm ^X 15:19, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Well, from over 400 we went to less then 100, and that includes members who have only recently joined. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 15:27, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Many of the people on the old list are not on Wikipedia anymore, and many have been gone for a very long time.Sumsum2010·T·C 23:04, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

May goals

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)

Competition fuels the economy ... er, I mean it fuels editing. Without special rewards for those that wikify 100 articles (or 350, in your case [Thank you!]), I doubt people will be motivated to join. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:00, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Ok, well I can say that I'm kinda burned out on the whole competition aspect, but if other people want to do that, it's cool. --Fang Aili ^talk 19:20, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Burned out? Can you explain further? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:40, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Eh, well, at the risk of sounding too competitive or un-wiki-spirited, I've put a lot of effort into being at the top of the leaderboard (a completely self-imposed goal). I'm happy with the work I've done, but my wiki contributions usually aren't this focused. When the drive is over I will go back my more usual, casual activity. --Fang Aili ^talk 20:40, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Well, I've actually been thinking about a drive to keep one month's backlog at zero. I'm not too sure about May, though, since we usually stagger our drives with the GoCE's. For what it's worth, you currently hold the all-time WikiProject Wikify high score for wikification in drives, and I hope you leave this drive not dissatisfied with your heavy work, but proud in that you have helped make Wikipedia a better place. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:14, 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)

Maybe we cold have a "May Mini" Drive that focuses on January 2009. Mini drives are good on very focused areas, such as a certain month.Sumsum2010·T·C 23:02, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I'd be down for that. --Fang Aili ^talk 01:34, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Alrighty, I'll start setting it up. Sumsum2010·T·C 00:33, 1 May 2011 (UTC)

GoCE Drive

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)

Not needed tags

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)

Unfortunately, many of the tags (at least a few months ago) were incorrectly added by a bot: User:Yobot, which uses the standard AWB formula for determining articles for tagging (below three wikilinks or if the number of wikilinks is smaller than 0.25% of article's size, I think). See talk archive for past discussions. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:11, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Well, we've had a lot of problems with using a bot (or AWB) to remove {{wikify}} tags. The current AWB algorithm automatically removes the tags if there are something like three links in the article. Obviously, there's more too it then that, but it's hard to explain that to a bot. :) Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 19:19, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

There was a discussion above to create better standards which determine when the tag is needed. What's the progress? ((I am Yobot's owner!) For instance, {{Cleanup-Html}} serves the purpose of giving more accurate instructions to the editors. -- Magioladitis (talk) 19:30, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Check Template_talk:Wikify#Edit_request_2. -- Magioladitis (talk) 12:20, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Wait, I thought that this template was going to be the new {{wikify}} - why is it at Cleanup-HTML? Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 14:34, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

No idea. Probably mistake? The info in the show-box should be in the new wikify tag. -- Magioladitis (talk) 14:48, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Right...so shouldn't we ask if we can get that moved to the wikify template, and then presumably revert Cleanup-HTML to its old version? Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 14:59, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

This is the reason of the edit request above but there seems to be some problem with the code. Let's ask someone who know how to fix templates. -- Magioladitis (talk) 15:06, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

The code is different for {{wikify}} and {{Cleanup-HTML}}, but all you have to do replace the top text and any instances of the words "Cleanup-HTML" with their wikification counterparts. Sandbox here. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 15:20, 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)

Live now! I hope this will trigger more feedback. Btw, AWB's is more accurate now. I'll work more on that. -- Magioladitis (talk) 17:03, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

We still need to add parameters which will make wikifisation (!) more explicit. -- Magioladitis (talk) 17:05, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Hey, nice work guys. My suggestions are on the talk page. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:15, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Okay, they're not really suggestions. (More like grammatical complaints.) If there's one suggestion I could make, it's that the template needs to be tested on Mozilla Firefox, since apparently that was the problem before. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 19:21, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! I added a note at the talk page regarding #2 and the relative importance of the links. I just opened up Firefox, but it probably needs to be checked on another screen size. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 19:31, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

I just added another note about the possibility of moving the date added code above the hidden section. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 19:51, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Here's a plan of what it has to be done:

Suggestions for the tag and updates. Edi request should be added only when we are done with this.
Revive the discussion of the criteria of wikification. Preliminary discussion can be found in Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Wikify/Archive_3#AWB_changes. Populate the discussion as much as possible.
Come to AWB's talk page with a new proposal for when to add or remove wikify tags. -- Magioladitis (talk) 19:56, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Ok, so this version is the template with Guoguo's comments edited in. The current version places the date the article was tagged at the end of the second sentence. (Compare the locations of the "May 2011" in a random, May-tagged article, and the sandbox version). Which one do we want? Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 15:43, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

I like the change. Go ahead and submit an edit request. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:40, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

In the news, plus drive participation stats

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)

3 mentions in 5 issues! Are there graphs form April around here somewhere? I've been thinking about them for the newsletter. Sumsum2010·T·C 22:28, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Ah, well, because of the "self-updating" tracking system implemented, there are no day-to-day stats. All I have currently is the graph here, a graph of membership since the beginning of 2011, and a pie chart displaying how the 2008 backlog was reduced from October 2010 to when the backlog was cleared. Interested? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 23:40, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, if you've got some links for them, I'll put them in. Got any ideas for the June goal? I was thinking about ~~19000~~ 18000. Sumsum2010·T·C 23:42, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

To quote User:Chzz:

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).

Anyway, the images are below. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 23:56, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Ok, perhaps 19000 would be better, if we pass it we could go to 18500 and so on. Thanks for the images! Sumsum2010·T·C 00:05, 21 May 2011 (UTC) (I had to put this above the images because the background went weird.) Sumsum2010·T·C 00:06, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

User:Fang Aili, ~~one of the top wikifiers~~ the top wikifier, suggested something above that we could consider:

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.

Thoughts? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 00:34, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

That may be the best way to go. Perhaps either 2009 or May 2011. Sumsum2010·T·C 03:31, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

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)

Right, that's what I meant to convey, but I forgot the post was for May. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 14:48, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Maybe we should try something a little different, so people don't get burned out on doing the same thing. Sumsum2010·T·C 17:18, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

2008 backlog pie chart.
March Mini graph.
Membership graph.

June 2011 drive

Well, here we go again.

Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/2011/June

We're going to have to change the instructions page and log page format. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 16:03, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

So we are going with the June Backlog then? Sumsum2010·T·C 16:18, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

Well, that's the plan right now. Why, would you rather we do normal drive? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 16:26, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

I like the new idea, I just wanted to make sure before I made a draft of a new invite. Sumsum2010·T·C 19:48, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

Invite? How's this? Guoguo12 --Talk-- 21:16, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

That looks good, thanks for making it, I was having trouble thinking of how to say it. Sumsum2010·T·C 01:21, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Actually, I just copy/pasted the April invite, then changed the links. Thanks, though. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 02:23, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

New drives page

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)

Looks good! Sumsum2010·T·C 01:21, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Spreading the word

Drive pages should be complete. Do check for errors, including links with incorrect targets. As usual:

Message WPWF members with Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Invite/Jun11 (please do NOT substitute the invitation) DoneSumsum2010·T·C 23:56, 26 May 2011 (UTC)
Add info to Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Frame Done Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:18, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
Add info to Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/News/Main Page Done Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:18, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
Add info to reward board
Add info to Template:Announcements/Community bulletin board Done Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:18, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

Mark completed with {{done}}. Guoguo12 --Talk-- 20:11, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Only June articles?

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)

Up in the "May Goals" section is where this was decided. I think we're only doing this for June, in August we'll be back to normal; I think. We could always hold a "July Mini" to attack 2009. Sumsum2010·T·C 02:25, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) So, I take it that the drive doesn't seem like a good idea to you. The idea was proposed for a drive in May by Fang Aili (not trying to shift the blame here—doing this drive in June was my idea):

"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."

Do you think the drive would be more successful if the format was not like it is now? Our last drive accounted for over 1600 articles, about the amount the backlog grows by in one month. The drive starts in five days, so there is some time for changes. Hopefully we can resolve this in the next 36 hours. Guoguo12 (Talk) 02:31, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

I think it might be a bit depressing if we have a drive for June-only articles and still end up with hundred of articles at the end of the month. We might eliminate s few hundred articles, but overall, it would be discouraging to see so many left over. I think it would be better to work on something with a fixed number to start. --Tea with toast _(talk) 02:46, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

In that case, what would you rather the goal be? Guoguo12 (Talk) 02:58, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

If it is decided to make the drive have a different style (which I think it is probably too late to do), someone else with AWB will have to deliver the notice. Unless it can be sent out on the 31st, because I will be on an island with no internet access. I will post the user list on my Sandbox, so it can be copied directly to a .txt file for AWB to use. Sumsum2010·T·C 03:46, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Are we seriously counting only ~~July~~June 2011 articles? Why? It would be much better both for the spirit of the participators and the backlog if we focussed on ~~July~~June 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.

Begging your pardon, I meant June. W i k i C o p t e r 04:42, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

WikiCopter predicts approximately (edit conflict x 1,000,000,000) on the first article to enter the June category. W i k i C o p t e r 04:48, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

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)

Suggested changes have been implemented

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)

4 hours and 15 minutes to go. Have fun waiting. ;-) 98.247.158.164 (talk) 19:46, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

May has 31 days. ;) Guoguo12 (Talk) 21:05, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

New Awards System

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)

You are talking about the "old" awards system, the one that the GoCE uses. The new way certainly creates an incentive to complete many small articles. However, we changed to the new system because the word count system is too likely confusing for newer editors. The new way is simpler. Every WikiCompetition, be it WikiCup or drive, requires a certain amount of selflessness from the participants. The broad goal here is to benefit the encyclopedia, and users should understand this. Guoguo12 (Talk) 14:51, 28 May 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) For one thing, in my experience there are very few really large articles that need wikifying. As a general rule, they are newer, smaller articles, and I don't think we really need to worry about certain articles being left out with a 20,000+ backlog anyway. Maybe when its gets in the hundreds. ;) Our previous scoring method was actually exactly what you've said, and we switched it up to give people who join towards the end a reason to still wikify. All that to say that I don't think we're going to change in the near future, but thanks for the question anyway. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 14:57, 28 May 2011 (UTC)

I would like to do word count, except the javascript doesn't work in IE. Fix that and I would go with word count and number of articles. W i k i C o p t e r 02:44, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

The measurement of success should align to what our goals are. The reason we have this particular drive is to reduce the number of backlog articles. It isn't a drive to reduce the number of large articles needing wikification. Our goal is based purely on the number of articles. The way we measure success is measured purely on the number of articles. I understand the desire to reward work on large articles. It's tough work, and perhaps we can find other ways to reward these efforts on the monsters. -- Whpq (talk) 16:25, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Agreed. W i k i C o p t e r 19:44, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Coords

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)

I believe its for one full year. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 13:17, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Yup, look under the "How are we elected" sectiom - elections are held once per year. Nolelover^{It's almost football season!} 17:03, 30 May 2011 (UTC)