Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Backlog elimination drives/May 2010


 * The following event has concluded. Please do not modify this page. Comments should be made on the talk page.

This Copyediting Backlog Elimination Drive is a one-month-long effort (originally organized by the Guild of Copy Editors) to reduce the backlog of copyedit requests. Please make sure that you know how to copyedit and that you are familiar with the Wikipedia Manual of Style before you begin copyediting. The coordinator for this drive was ɳorɑfʈ  Talk! and he was assisted by Diannaa  TALK and S Masters (talk). If you have any questions, leave a message in the drive's talk page. This drive began on 1 May 2010 00:00 UTC and ended on 31 May 2010 23:59 UTC.

The goal of this backlog elimination drive was to bring the number of outstanding copyedit requests to below 7500 (a 10% reduction from the original size of 8323). Awards will be given out to those individuals who help reduce the size of the backlog.

The backlog elimination drive is open to all, and you do not need to be a member of the Guild of Copy Editors to participate. However, you may want to consider joining as membership has its benefits. For example, you can place a special "page in use" tag when you are copyediting, and another on the talk page page when you finish. Please visit the Guild for more information.

Instructions for Participants

 * 1) Note the article's wordcount before you copyedit it. You will need it to get credit for the copyedit. There is an automated word counting script available at User talk:Dr_pda/prosesize.js. It is VERY easy to install and you don't need a shred of technical ability! If you can follow a recipe for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you can install this script. Instructions are below. If you get anxious, ask ɳorɑfʈ  Talk! for help.
 * 2) Log completed copyedits in the Running Totals section. If you complete a copyedit for an article, don't forget to list it so that you can get credit for the edit. Also don't forget to remove the tag from the article itself.
 * 3) No rubber-stamping of articles. Be thorough and complete in your copyedits, and make sure all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed. The prose in copyedited articles should comply with the Manual of Style and be free of grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors.
 * 4) Don't create extra work. Participants should not copyedit any article they themselves added a tag to during the month of May.
 * 5) Have fun. We're here to help bring these articles up to their fullest potential and hence improving the overall quality of the encyclopedia. If you do not enjoy doing that, then there is no motivation to improve these articles and the encyclopedia as a whole.



For new reviewers
The May 2010 elimination drive welcomes and encourages those who have not yet tried their hand at copyediting, or those who haven't done so in some time, to join the drive, even if only to copyedit one or two. If you feel like wanting someone to check over your edit and making sure that it's good, the drive coordinator will gladly assist.

Useful tags
While we try as far as possible to copy edit articles, this is not always achievable where the text is confusing or in need of content expertise. We are then forced to use a tag to attract such help for the article. Some useful tags are:

off-topic ~ Expand ~ Expert-verify ~ Expert-subject ~ contradict ~ confusing ~ refimprove ~ nofootnotes ~ notability ~ original research ~ crystal ~ POV ~ unreferenced

See WP:TC for a full list of cleanup template messages.

Progress




Awards
Awards will be given out at the conclusion of the backlog elimination drive as follows:

At least 2,000 words: The Modest Barnstar.

At least 4,000 words: The Working Man's Barnstar.

At least 8,000 words: The Cleanup Barnstar.

At least 12,000 words: The Tireless Contributor Barnstar.

At least 20,000 words: The old school League of Copyeditors Barnstar.

At least 30,000 words: The modern Guild of Copy Editors Barnstar.

At least 40,000 words: The Order of the Superior Scribe of Wikipedia.

At least 80,000 words: A special, VERY exclusive award created just for these few, these happy few, this band of brothers: the Most Excellent Order of the Caretaker's Star.

And remember, the ultimate winner here is Wikipedia.

Running total
You can still join! Feel free to put your name down at any time. Read the directions, and then add your name in Totals below.

Directions
Please log entries in the following format:


 * 1) John Doe (765)
 * 2) Example* (440)
 * 3) Jane Doe* (2,330)


 * Total articles: 3
 * Total requests: 2
 * Total words: 3,535

The numbers in parentheses are the word counts of the articles before copyediting. Please use an asterisk to indicate full copyedits completed from the Request page.

Will look like:
 * ɳorɑfʈ Talk!


 * 1) John Doe (765)
 * 2) Example* (440)
 * 3) Jane Doe* (2,330)


 * Total articles: 3
 * Total requests: 2
 * Total words: 3,535

Participants

 * 1)  ɳorɑfʈ  Talk!
 * 2) Dtgriffith (talk)
 * 3) User:Marek69.
 * 4) Auntieruth55 (talk)
 * 5) Theo10011 (talk)
 * 6)  Mike  moral  ♪♫
 * 7) Buggie111 (talk)
 * 8)  Bullock  Talk
 * 9) S Masters (talk)
 * 10)  Mlpearc   MESSAGE 
 * 11) Tea with toast (talk)
 * 12)  TheTito   Discuss
 * 13) Brickie (talk)
 * 14) NielsenGW (talk)
 * 15) A. Parrot (talk)
 * 16) Torchiest (talk | contribs)
 * 17)  The Utahraptor  Talk
 * 18) lfstevens( Talk! )
 * 19) – Juliancolton  &#124; Talk
 * 20) jpwoodard (talk)
 * 21) kojozone (talk)
 * 22) Mm40 (talk)
 * 23)  Nasir | ناصر یونس  have a chat
 * 24) fds  Talk
 * 25) m o ɳ o
 * 26) Bobnorwal (talk)
 * 27) Diannaa  TALK
 * 28) Truthkeeper88 (talk)
 * 29) Laurinavicius (talk)
 * 30) Annalise (talk)
 * 31)  • ɔ   ʃ   → 
 * 32) Beloved  Freak
 * 33) Schrandit (talk)
 * 34) liquidluck ✽ talk
 * 35) Quinxorin (talk)
 * 36) cymru lass (hit me up)⁄(background check)

Review
We will spot-check some of the completed copyedits for quality control reasons. If a rough consensus finds a copyedit is not of an acceptable standard, the tag will be readded and the reviewer will be assessed a penalty of 1200 words plus the length of the article reviewed.