Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Membership/News/2020 Annual Report

 Report by, , , , , and. | Publication date.

Introduction 

Welcome to the Guild of Copy Editors' (GOCE) annual report for 2020, a summary of membership activity, progress on the copy-editing backlog, and throughput of our Requests page.

Introduction text goes here.

Membership
GOCE membership is open to all editors in good standing who are interested in copy editing. Please see our membership page for information about signing up and remember to add your username to our mailing list to receive Guild news. Guild membership is voluntary and informal, and editors do not have to be members of the Guild to participate in its activities. Many editors perform copy editing outside of our organized events but we have no means of tracking such efforts.

At the end of 2020 there were 1928 pages populating the Guild's membership category, 1429 names on the Guild's membership list, and 651 names on the mailing list. This is a growth of, , and , respectively, from the end of 2019.

Of the approximately 127 editors who are listed as having joined the Guild in 2020:
 * 30 completed a copy edit with a Guild-organized activity during 2020, including:
 * 16 who participated in one or more Drives
 * 13 who participated in one or more Blitzes
 * 13 who completed Requests
 * 2 who participated in all three activities

If you were one of these new editors, thank you, and welcome!

Coordinators
The GOCE coordinators are responsible for coordinating Guild activities, maintaining our pages, organizing Drives and Blitzes, looking after the Requests page, and performing other maintenance tasks that keep the Guild running smoothly. They are chosen twice a year through consensus voting. The coordinator team remained largely unchanged at the beginning of 2020. stepped down as lead coordinator and served alongside returning coordinators, , and. Coming back from a brief wikisabbatical, served as lead coordinator throughout 2020. retired as an active coordinator and was named a coordinator emeretus – a distinction last bestowed six years previously.

Into the second term, Reidgreg stepped down and was replaced by first-time coordinator. However, Puddleglum2.0 became inactive on Wikipedia partway through the term.

The December 2020 elections saw a bigger turnover. and were elected as first-time coordinators. Dhtwiki has been a long-time member of the guild, while Tenryuu is a relative newcomer but among the most active members in 2020. Miniapolis returned to serve as an active coordinator, while Tdslk stepped down after serving nine consecutive terms.

Tdslk became the eighth editor inducted into the GOCE Hall of Fame, for long-time service and keeping the GOCE running smoothly.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to participate in the elections and thanks to our coordinators for their diligent, drama-free volunteer labor. Elections are scheduled for June and December each year; links to the election pages are posted in the Guild's message box (add it to your Watchlist). All Wikipedians in good standing are welcome to nominate themselves or others. Please consider helping out if you can.

For the GOCE's 10th anniversary, here is a table of everyone who has served as a coordinator or earned a place in the GOCE hall of fame.

Coordinator Lead coordinator Inducted as a coordinator emeretus Inducted into the Hall of Fame

Requests page
Requests for copy editing are one of the Guild's main focal points. In 2020, our Requests page (REQ) had its busiest year since its inception; 752 requests were received, 720 were processed and 684 were completed.

February was our quietest month for received requests; 47 requests were received and 66 were processed, and by 3 March there were just four requests awaiting attention (diff). The early-to-mid-year period saw a dramatic increase in the number of new requests, probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and restrictions in many countries. This increase is reflected in the processing times; requests waited an average of 5.2 days in March and 37.1 days in August, and the average processing time remained at just under 30 days for the rest of the year.

Any editor can accept requests but because articles posted to the Requests page are often being held to a higher standard of compliance with Wikipedia's guidelines, we prefer editors who are new to or inexperienced with copy editing to gain experience with articles in the backlog before handling requests.

Among the 752 requests received in 2020 were:


 * 326 for GAN
 * 3 for GAR
 * 95 for FAC
 * 2 for FAR
 * 7 for FLC
 * 15 for PR
 * 6 for ACN
 * 1 for ACR
 * 2 for BCN
 * 4 for CCN
 * 68 for DYK
 * 1 for OTD
 * 1 for section-only copyedit
 * 27 declined
 * 14 withdrawn
 * 233 unspecified


 * Monthly breakdown

Note that because some requests are declined or withdrawn, there will always be more requests received than completed.

Some analysis and comparison to previous years:
 * 684 requests were completed in 2020 (including 18 from 2019), compared with 607 in 2019, 668 in 2018, 571 in 2017, 665 in 2016, 537 in 2015, and 486 in 2014.
 * 752 requests were received in 2020, compared with 616 in 2019, 690 in 2018, 588 in 2017, 690 in 2016, 543 in 2015, and 489 in 2014.
 * The mean completion time was 23.3 days. The median was 26 days and the mode was 34 and 35 days. Previous averages were 19 days in 2019, 15 days in 2018, 26 days in 2017, 17 days in 2016, 30 days in 2015, and 41 days in 2013.
 * Fewer than 34% of requests waited more than 30 days, and 8% of requests waited longer than 40 days.

Distribution of time-to-completion of requests (in days) from 2017 (light green) to 2020 (dark green)

2020 began with 18 copy-edit requests remaining from December 2019. The number of pending requests fluctuated from the mid-teens to the mid-twenties for the first half of January, rose to the mid-thirties in the following week, then declined to single-digit figures at the end of February and beginning of March. Figures then rose again and peaked in the mid-sixties by the end of April (that month's blitz had a non-request theme). The request backlog then held in the mid-fifties to mid-sixties through the northern summer, briefly peaking in the seventies in June. The backlog saw reductions in August and held in the thirties and forties throughout September, revisiting the fifties in late October and the mid-sixties in early December before closing the year with 51 pending requests.

Of the 752 requests submitted in 2020, 41 were declined or withdrawn. Fifty-one copy editors completed the remaining 710 requests, which were submitted by 276 editors.


 * Top five request copy editors:
 * (273 & 7 assists)
 * (156 & 5 assists)
 * (41)
 * (38 & 2 assists)
 * (22)


 * Top five request submitters:
 * (35)
 * (28)
 * (24) / (24)
 * (22)
 * (14)


 * Notes


 * Figures were arrived at by exporting tables from the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013 request archives into a spreadsheet for analysis, particularly for completion periods.
 * Some requests were made for multiple reasons; these were listed in each applicable category.
 * Figures for completed requests discount any that were declined or withdrawn. Figures for requests submitted, received, processed or addressed include requests that were ultimately declined or withdrawn.

A full list of 2020 requests is available at our 2020 archive page.

Human interest section (if any)
A 'human interest' section about events or happenings around the GOCE could go here. We might mention the COVID-19 effects, the march MILHIST blitz, the May 10th Anniversary Drive, the unintended June 'Leap Blitz', and the two reports at The Signpost. Who knows what else might happen this year? This is a bit rough and may be moved elsewhere...


 * In March, the Guild teamed up with WikiProject Military History to copy-edit articles related to, erm, Military History. (stats etc).


 * May 2020 was the tenth anniversary of the Guild's first month-long Backlog Elimination Drive.To mark the occasion, Wikipedia's internal magazine The Signpost included an interview with regular GOCE copy-editors and project coordinators. The early June edition also included a piece about our May drive.


 * Our June Blitz was unexpectedly extended for a day due to a coordinator's error. To save face, this was retrospectively named a "Leap Blitz". Deep joy.

Backlog Elimination Drives
The Guild's main efforts toward reducing the number of articles tagged with copy edit were six backlog-elimination Drives held in alternating months, starting in January. At the beginning of the year, there were 638 articles in the backlog. A record low of 118 was reached at the end of the March Drive, and the backlog was reduced to a single month at the end of the May Drive. Self-isolation from coronavirus may have played a hand in making the March through July Drives among our most successful. While the backlog rebounded somewhat after that period, the backlog averaged at about 360 articles and three months throughout the year.


 * January Drive: 215 copy edits were completed including 56 articles from the Requests page and 116 backlog articles from the target months of June to August 2019. At the conclusion of the drive there was a record low of 323 articles in the copy editing backlog. Of the 27 editors who signed up for the drive, 21 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.


 * March Drive: The copy-editing backlog was reduced from 477 to a record low of 118 articles, a 75% reduction. The last four months of 2019 were cleared, reducing the backlog to three months. Fifty requests were also completed, and the total word count of copy-edited articles was 759,945. Of the 29 editors who signed up, 22 completed at least one copy edit. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.


 * May Drive: This event marked the 10th anniversary of the GOCE's copy-editing drives and diminished the backlog to just one month of articles – i.e.: eliminating all the tags which had been placed prior to the start of the drive. 499 copy edits were recorded totalling 832,609 words. Of the 51 editors who signed up, 43 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.


 * July Drive: For the third consecutive drive, copy editing totals exceeded 750,000 words. All but three tags placed prior to the drive were addressed. Of the 38 people who signed up, 30 copyedited at least one article. Final results and awards are listed here.


 * September Drive: Activity slowed dramatically this month; only 15 of the 27 editors who signed up for the event recorded a copy edit. 36 Requests were completed and 88 articles were removed from the backlog. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.


 * November Drive: Activity remained low for the final drive of 2020. Of the 18 editors who signed up, 15 completed at least one copy edit. They completed 39 Requests and removed 95 articles from the backlog, which was 481 articles and just over three months at the end of the drive. Final results and awards are listed here.

Drive totals for the year: 71 editors removed 1,356 articles from the backlog and completed  301 copy edit requests for a total of 1,657 copy edits or  2,575,027 words.

29 editors participated in two or more Drives, 17 editors participated in three or more Drives, and 8 editors participated in all six: thanks to Baffle gab1978,, Dhtwiki, , Jonesey95, Miniapolis, Tdslk, and Twofingered Typist. 140 barnstars were awarded for contributions to Drives.

Notes: About 300–400 articles are tagged with copyedit every month, so we need to process somewhere around 4,000 articles from the backlog each year just to break even. The number of articles formally listed as copy-edited during each Drive includes only articles for which editors took credit on the Drive page. Additional articles are removed from the backlog by editors who do a quick or minor copy edit and don't record it on the Drive page, edit during non-Drive months, remove a copyedit tag because it is no longer needed or not applicable, or nominate an article for deletion.

Blitzes
The Guild organized six one-week Blitzes in 2020, in alternating months with the backlog drives. These year saw our first "leap blitz" and the first time that the backlog was reduced during a blitz month.


 * February Blitz: Of the 15 editors who signed up, 13 completed at least one copy edit. A total of 32 articles were copy edited, evenly split between the twin goals of requests and the oldest articles from the copy-editing backlog. Full results are here.


 * April Blitz: This blitz ran from 12 to 18 April with a theme of Indian military history. Of the 18 people who signed up, 14 copyedited at least one article. Participants claimed a total of 60 copyedits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.


 * June Blitz: This blitz ran from 14 to 21 June – due to an uncorrected typo (even copyeditors make mistakes) this became an eight-day "leap blitz". Of the 31 editors who signed up, 19 completed at least one copy edit. 54 articles with a total of 101,180 words were copy edited. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.


 * August Blitz: From 16 to 22 August, we copy edited articles tagged in June and July 2020 and requests. Of the 15 editors who signed up, 12 editors completed 37 copy edits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.


 * October Blitz: This event ran from 18 to 24 October, targeting articles tagged in July and August 2020 and requests. Of the 13 editors who signed up, 11 editors completed 21 copy edits. (full results)


 * December Blitz: This event ran 13 to 19 December and targeted articles tagged in August and September 2020 and requests. Of the 21 editors who signed up, 14 copyedited at least one article—including 15 requests—and removed 15 articles from the backlog. This, along with a lot of gnomish retagging, made this the only blitz month to see an overall reduction in the backlog. (full results)

Blitz totals for the year: 37 editors completed  71 requests and  114 articles from the backlog, plus 49 articles on a special theme, for a total of  234 copy edits  (414,919 words).

15 editors participated in two or more Blitzes, 11 editors participated in three or more, and 5 editors participated in all six: thanks to Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Jonesey95, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist! These five editors also participated in the Guild's six Drives, making them a perfect 12 for 12!

The Guild awarded 73 barnstars for contributions to Blitzes.

Annual Leaderboard
The following table records the top contributions for combined activity in the Guild's Drives and Blitzes and on the Requests page throughout 2020. We appreciate the many hours of volunteer work represented here. Will you be on this table in 2021?


 * Notes


 * Requests completed in 2020, counting a half-point when credit was split.
 * Includes Blitzes and Drives only.
 * Articles from the oldest or target backlog month(s) of each Drive and of Blitzes except for the April blitz (which had a theme).
 * Number of articles of 5,000 words or more. An article of 10k+ words counts as 2, of 15k+ as 3, etc.
 * Awards from Drive leaderboards only.

Plans for 2021
The newly elected or returning GOCE lead coordinator writes something inspiring here (hopefully).

Placeholder text:
 * All-time low backlog count.
 * Looking for new population of articles to edit (typo team partnership)
 * Requests very popular
 * Tdslk HOF induction