Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Backlog elimination drives/Archive2020

Suggestion for instructions
In the section where we're told to add *R and all of that stuff, I think it would really benefit from an example of what it would actually look like if you were editing it. Thoughts?TerribleTy2727 (talk) 14:38, 12 January 2020 (UTC)
 * I copy-pasted the example on the January drive page. All the best,  Mini  apolis  16:29, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

How to designate "old copyedit articles"?
I'm currently in the March 2020 drive and I was wondering if I needed to do anything to designate that the articles I'm working on fall in the "old copyedit article" group (with the word bonus). Do I leave a comment in each entry or will coordinators check that on their own? -- Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝)  15:44, 4 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Good question. The way to do it is to put *O after the word count in your list of completed articles (similarly, put *R after articles from the Requests page). This is supposed to be explained in the "Totals" section on the drive page, but I see now that we failed to insert the months designated "old" for this drive, making it unclear, so I will go fix that now! Cheers, Tdslk (talk) 17:29, 4 March 2020 (UTC)


 * I was being dumb and had been doing it all this time. XD Cheers! -- Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝)  00:46, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Help with number in bracket
Hello! I am a new Wiki user and I recently joined the GOCE. Today, I did my first ever copy edit for the Backlog elimination drive (I did some copy edits outside the Backlog elimination drive) and I need help with the total numbers. What number am I supposed to put after the title of the article I just completed? The character difference between my edit and the previous edit is a negative number. Fellowtorontonian (talk) 05:30, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
 * , thanks for taking part in the drive! The number you put in is the number of words in the article before you started editing it. In general copy edits (should) reduce the number of words in articles. — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 )  05:49, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Also, to get the number of words in an article, you can follow the directions here to install a tool that will do the counting for you. Regards, Tdslk (talk) 05:55, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
 * , I just installed the counter and I can't seem to find it. Is it under "Page information"?Fellowtorontonian (talk) 15:56, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
 * , You should find it on the sidebar as its own link: "Page size" under the section tools. It should be one of the last items on the list. — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 )  16:00, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

Articles I copy edited
Hello! During the past week or so, I copy edited a few articles and removed the copyedit tag on them. These were all done in the month of July, and also before I signed up for the drive (I only signed up about 2 days ago). Can I still count those articles in my list? Fellowtorontonian (talk) 16:55, 13 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't see a problem, but will defer to the active coordinators. Thanks for your help and all the best,  Mini  apolis  20:27, 13 July 2020 (UTC)
 * , that's fine. Thanks for participating! – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:53, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

Can any article I copyedit count towards my word total in a GOCE drive?
I plan to start copyediting for the September 2020 GOCE drive in the next few days. I wanted to ask if I may count any articles I copyedit towards my word total—even if not tagged or with no copyedit explicitly requested—provided I check and edit said articles in their entirety. I ask because I often read many articles in need of copyedit that are not tagged; these are mostly articles about Italy-related topics (places, sports, etc. with which I am relatively familiar) that likely contain text that was poorly translated from Italian (the poor grammar and punctuation stick out), and I wanted to know if they would count because I do not see anything about it explicitly mentioned anywhere. If so, I would report the appropriate word count, and in the absence of tags, an initial revision ID to label a clear starting point if necessary. ComplexRational (talk) 00:24, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi, Unfortunately, untagged articles do not count for purposes of the drive. I see the following Italy-related articles that are tagged for editing and would this count for the drive, though: Elections in Naples, Loquendo, Enel Green Power, and Serie A (women's football). Regards, Tdslk (talk) 01:29, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you for clarifying, I will keep this in mind. Could it also be a possibility down the line to have a separate drive for identifying and copyediting untagged articles in categories like this? (I would believe that many articles about topics in non-English-speaking countries could have this problem.) ComplexRational (talk) 17:38, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi, For over a decade, a major focus of the Guild has been on reducing the copy editing backlog. Within the past year or so, as the backlog has shrunk below 500, there has been some talk about being more proactive about finding articles that need copy editing that aren't already tagged. For what it's worth, I've been a strong advocate of this (I'd rather see 10,000 articles tagged for copy editing than 100 articles tagged for copy editing and 10,000 articles that need copy editing), but the consensus has been to focus on eliminating the current backlog before seeking out new work. As it has happened, the backlog has grown a bit since May, and so far the September drive is a bit quiet (including from me, personal things have slowed my participation rate in the past month), so it's not looking like we will eliminate the backlog in the short term. If we do ever fully eliminate the backlog, though, a strong case could be made for identifying untagged articles like you propose (and articles on topics where English is not the main language would be a smart place to start looking). Regards, Tdslk (talk) 18:12, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Glad it's not just me, ; lately I've been starting long articles just before a drive or blitz, and missed a blitz that way . I'm looking forward to hitting the backlog after I finish Shinji Ikari. Stay well and all the best,  Mini  apolis  19:33, 6 September 2020 (UTC)