User:Novem Linguae/Essays/Backlog drive checklist

Pros

 * Decreased backlog
 * Feels amazing to hit zero backlog
 * Feels good to receive barnstars, recognition, a top place on the leaderboard
 * Increase WikiProject morale and sense of community

Cons

 * Burnout (the top people may be burned out for months afterward)
 * Gamification may encourage sloppy editing/reviewing/whatever the drive is rewarding (but this con is often exaggerated, and can be mitigated with a re-review system)

Deciding the backlog drive essentials

 * Pick a duration (week, two weeks, month)
 * Find a backlog drive coordinator
 * Find a backlog drive bot operator. (A bot is needed to convert actions into points and update the leaderboard daily. If a re-review system is being used, the bot can also assist with creating re-review pages, which are pages containing all the user's diffs/actions during the drive.)

Pre drive

 * Create drive page (copy/paste/tweak an old backlog drive page)
 * Create a page to collect signups. Can do with a bulleted list, or using content model MassMessageListContent (MassMessageListContent creation link for non-admins)
 * Create draft of WP:MMS message (copy/paste/tweak an old MMS message)
 * Around two weeks before the drive, start marketing it
 * WikiProject talk page posts
 * MMS message blast
 * Watchlist notice?

During the drive

 * Answer questions on the backlog drive talk page
 * Be the decision maker for anything that comes up

After the drive

 * Supervise the tallying of points
 * Award barnstars

Example pages
Why reinvent the wheel? Use these pages as templates if you want. If copy/pasting, please provide edit summary attribution.
 * AFC example
 * General backlog drive page: WikiProject Articles for creation/Backlog elimination drives
 * Specific backlog drive page: WikiProject Articles for creation/January 2023 Backlog Drive
 * MMS list for the WikiProject: Wikiproject articles for creation/active users mailing list
 * User list for the backlog drive: WikiProject Articles for creation/January 2023 Backlog Drive/Participants
 * MMS message: Template:WPAFCDrive
 * Re-review page: WikiProject Articles for creation/January 2023 Backlog Drive/Participants/Mattdaviesfsic
 * Bot BRFA: Bots/Requests for approval/IngenuityBot
 * Bot source code: User:IngenuityBot/backlogdrive.py
 * NPP example
 * General backlog drive page: New pages patrol/Backlog drives
 * Specific backlog drive page: New pages patrol/Backlog drives/October 2022
 * MMS list for the WikiProject: New pages patrol/Reviewers/Newsletter list
 * MMS list for the backlog drive: New pages patrol/Backlog drives/October 2022/Participants
 * MMS message: User talk:Novem Linguae/Newsletters
 * Re-review page: New pages patrol/Backlog drives/October 2022/Re-reviews
 * Bot: User:TolBot/Task 8/Drives/2021-11 New Page Patrol