Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-14/Op-ed


 * Chris Troutman is one of the many volunteers fielding questions at the WikiProject Articles for Creation help desk. He also thanks, , and for their input on this op-ed.

Ever since the Wikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident in 2005 triggered the restriction against un-registered editors creating new pages, WikiProject Articles for Creation (AfC) has stood in the breach. The WikiProject's purpose is to review draft submissions from IPs (and frequently new registered editors) to sort the wheat from the chaff. The policy change at this time nine years ago shifted the burden to AfC from the New Page Patrol, whom Jimbo at the time called "very brave people (which they are) standing in front of a firehose of nonsense (which it can be)". AfC has necessitated the work of hundreds of editors reviewing drafts, automating the review process, and fielding new editor questions about drafts at the AfC help desk. The work of AfC upholds Wikipedia's claim that "anyone can edit."

AfC is very much an incubator. Whereas policies about verifiability, notability, and copyright lead to article deletion in the article namespace, within the draft namespace deletion procedures aren't typically used because the slack helps new editors learn rather than penalize their ignorance. Reviewers typically provide comment when they decline a submission, letting the author know if they need to improve their use of in-line citations, tone down promotional language, or tighten the copy to what the sources actually support. Each declination of a submitted draft has a reason explicitly attached to help new editors learn what Wikipedia expects. Most drafts require a few if not several attempts before acceptance.

Wikipedia garners wide interest from a variety of would-be editors. The in-flow of drafts has continually been more than the members of AfC can keep up with. The pool of pending submissions has had over nine hundred potential articles for at least the past year. Recently the backlog has toggled in and out of "out of order" status, which indicates more than three thousand waiting submissions. The reasons for the growing number of drafts remain unclear. Efforts like the article wizard to make draft submission easier seem to have succeeded in their goal, increasing the number of submissions beyond the limit of reviewers to manage. The size of the pool of submissions correlates to a delay in response to each draft. Eager would-be editors waiting for their first draft to be accepted may lose interest as the wait passes from days, to weeks, to more than a month or longer. Those who thought their Wikipedia careers would start with a draft article may quit Wikipedia before they receive outreach. As a result, AfC's most pressing need is for reviewers. For editors with even a little editing experience (500 un-deleted mainspace edits and registration more than 90 days ago) you can add yourself to the participants' list and start reviewing drafts.

Typically, WikiProjects hold backlog drives to reduce the burden of overdue tasks. I and others have opposed starting another drive, as the last two drives (in March and again in June) were marred by the results of gamification. AfC seeks to be fair with each and every review and simply pressing "accept" or "decline" isn't sufficient. My primary reason for opposing a backlog drive despite how badly such a drive is needed is that unlike some WikiProjects, AfC is rudderless and adrift without a coordinator. My exemplar for WikiProjects is WikiProject Military History and they hold regular elections for a group of coordinators, who then take responsibility for the functioning of the WikiProject. I know other WikiProjects do this as well and I think an elected coordinator or group of coordinators could lead AfC out of its current state.

Of course, every draft submitted to AfC comes from an editor with a purpose in mind. Some editors with open conflicts of interest bring drafts to AfC to ensure neutrality in their submissions. Some number of college students submit the sandbox entries they wrote for class to AfC by clicking the button on User sandbox. Wikipedia's ubiquity and #7 Alexa rank represent a public relations goldmine and everyone from up-and-coming academics to business start-ups are writing ad copy for deployment on our wiki.

Floating in this sea of drafts alongside the detritus about garage bands and the latest candidate to stand for election are some well-written articles. These articles could help improve our encyclopedia and members of each WikiProject should be interested in fishing out these draft articles. Technical subjects like classical nucleation theory (a recently accepted draft) would benefit by the review of a specialist. Joe Reviewer at AfC won't necessarily have the same appreciation for a given draft that you might, so your participation is not only wanted, but also vital.


 * The views expressed in these op-eds are those of the authors only; responses and critical commentary are invited in the comments section. Editors wishing to submit their own op-ed should email the Signpost's editor.