User:BDD/Mentorship/FrankyFour

With few formal definitions of what the Guild's mentorship program is about, I think the logical conclusion is that it's about whatever you want it to be. You could pick up a book to learn about copy editing in general, but I'm guessing you want to know more about the practice in the context of Wikipedia and the Guild. So first give me a brief rundown of your copy editing experience so far and what you hope to take away from this mentorship. And this probably goes without saying, but the Manual of Style will be the "textbook" for this course. You don't have to read every word of it, but make sure you're familiar with it and can refer to it when necessary. --BDD (talk) 17:31, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

Well my copy-editing experience is relatively zero to nil. I mean I've done basic proofreading and correcting on Wiki over the years under different usernames (the which I can't seem to recall) but nothing as intense as what needs to be done by this generation. I'm a concrete entrepreneur in Canada so I don't always have the time to sit down and really devote myself to the Project (I'm in my year-end right now actually). What I hope to take away from this is a leading hand. I've always worked best when someone gave me a list of things to do. "Get this, this, and that done, then come ask for more." You understand? I've started reading the Manual of style and I get the gist of most of it. So how about it?

P.S. Although I wish I could take credit for the allusion to Snatch, I must woefully say that the system just wouldn't give me the usernames I usually use online. FrankyFour (talk) 20:18, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Alright, so let's see. Basic proofreading and correcting is actually a pretty good start. Most Wikipedia copy editing is just a more involved form of that. To basic print copy editing, you'll just want to add things like wikifying, ref formatting, and policing for neutrality and such. If you haven't already read Wikipedia:Basic copyediting, do so, though you may find it more of a review. So what do you think? Do you want me to assign you a live article to work on, or would you rather do some training exercises first? --BDD (talk) 00:26, 12 January 2013 (UTC)