WikiProject Good Articles will be running a GAN backlog elimination drive for the entire month of March. The goal of this drive is to bring the number of outstanding Good Article nominations down to below 50. This will help editors in restoring confidence to the GAN process as well as actively improving, polishing, and rewarding good content. If you are interested in participating in the drive, please place your name here. Awards will be given out to those who review certain numbers of GANs as well as to those who review the most. On behalf of my co-coordinator Wizardman, we hope we can see you in March. MuZemike delivered by MuZebot23:56, 21 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The "mentorship process" section lays out approximately what will be expected of you as a mentor. If you'd like, you can also volunteer to be the coordinating online ambassador for a class or two.
Please add yourself to the top of the list of available mentors, and note the number of students you think you'd like to mentor next term (it doesn't have to be a final answer, this is just to help with matching students and mentors once the students start getting active) and if you'd like to take on the coordination role for any classes note that as well: Wikipedia:Online_Ambassadors/Mentors
(Don't add yourself to the lower "Additional online ambassadors section; that's for ambassadors-in-training and ambassadors who are already mentoring all the the students they want to take on.)
To coordinate between Online Ambassadors and Campus Ambassadors, we've been using a Google Group as a mailing list. It's not required, but almost all the ambassadors are on it. Would you like me to subscribe you? Email me with your email address if so.
You can also check out the first two ambassador newsletters, which have more detail about what's going on right now. You'll get future editions delivered to your talk page.
If you use IRC, please consider adding #wikipedia-en-ambassadors and #wikipedia-en-classroom to your channel lineup.
Finally, please help us find more mentors! Because the number of students, and their involvement with mentors, is increasing so much for this term, we're going to need a lot of solid Online Ambassadors. Please take a few minutes to think of several other editors you know who would make good mentors, and invite them to apply the the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. The key things we look for are: regular activity (so that we can be confident they'll keep up with their mentoring role for the whole term), friendliness, and the ability to give detailed, substantive feedback on articles (both short new articles, and longer, more mature ones). You can point them to Wikipedia:Online Ambassadors for information on how to apply and what to expect.
Thanks for uploading File:Ejzl2h.jpg. You don't seem to have said where the image came from or who created it. We require this information to verify that the image is legally usable on Wikipedia, and because most image licenses require giving credit to the image's creator.
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For more information on using images, see the following pages:
Thanks for uploading File:Foo Fighters Wasting Light Album Cover.jpg. You don't seem to have indicated the license status of the image. Wikipedia uses a set of image copyright tags to indicate this information; to add a tag to the image, select the appropriate tag from this list, click on this link, then click "Edit this page" and add the tag to the image's description. If there doesn't seem to be a suitable tag, the image is probably not appropriate for use on Wikipedia.
The February 2011 Wikification Backlog Elimination Drive is almost complete. Please help, as the backlog is still very large. Still exceeding 20,000 articles! The goal is 18,000 or less. Lets see if we can do it! We're going to need all the firepower we can get, so please remind your friends to help as well.Thank you for all your help thus far!
Hi. You're doing some great typo team work, making lots of corrections, so thanks from me (and, I'm sure, the rest of the team and the whole community). Could I ask you to be careful of one thing though? When you update the Wikipedia:Typo Team/works completed list, can you remember to keep it in chronological order with new additions always made to the end of the list, rather than grouping all of your own changes together - it gets archived in date order, so that's the way it really needs to be kept. One other suggestion - most people tend to group their total daily work into one line rather than adding a new line per typo corrected, so that the list doesn't grow too long and unwieldy too quickly, and I hope you might consider doing it that way - you can see the way people generally do it. Best regards, and keep up the good work. -- Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 11:26, 26 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
So begins round two of the WikiCup! We now have eight pools, each with eight random contestants. This round will continue until the end of April, when the top two of each pool, as well as the next 16 highest scorers of those remaining, will make it to round three. Congratulations to The Bushranger (submissions) (first, with 487 points) and Hurricanehink (submissions) (second, with 459), who stormed the first round. Casliber (submissions) finished third with 223. Twelve others finished with over 100 points- well done to all of you! The final standings in round one can be seen here. A mere 8 points were required to reach round two; competition will no doubt be much more fierce this round, so be ready for a challenge! A special thanks goes, again, to Jarry1250 (submissions) for dealing with all bot work. This year's bot, as well as running smoothly, is doing some very helpful things that last year's did not. Also, thanks to Stone (submissions) for some helpful behind-the-scenes updating and number crunching.
Some news for those who are interested- March will see a GAN backlog elimination drive, which you are still free to join. Organised by WikiProject Good articles, the drive aims to minimise the GAN backlog and offers prizes to those who help out. Of course, you may well be able to claim WikiCup points for the articles you review as part of the drive. Also ongoing is the Great Backlog Drive, looking to work on clearing all of the backlogs on Wikipedia; again, incentives are offered, and the spirit of friendly competition is alive, while helping the encyclopedia is the ultimate aim. Though unrelated to the WikiCup, these may well be of interest to some of you.
Just a reminder of the rules; if you have done significant work on content this year and it is promoted in this round, you may claim for it. Also, anything that was promoted after the end of round one but before the beginning of round two may be claimed for in round two. Details of the rules can be found on this page. For those interested in statistics, a running total of claims can be seen here, and a very interesting table of that information (along with the highest scorers in each category) can be seen here. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAC, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges are reachable on their talk pages, or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start receiving or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn and The ed1723:53, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Wilhelmina Will, I saw that you are in the Wikification Leaderboard of February 2011 and I would like to ask you if you want to participate in an initiative [Public Policy Initiative (PPI)] carried out by Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy. If you are interested in research and want to experiment with article assessment or just want to help out, please, join our group of assessors because we really need your help. If you have questions or need more information, please check out the discussion on the assessment tab and the WPUSPP Assessment department, or contact ARoth (Public Policy Initiative) (talk·contribs), who is the Research Analyst for the project. Also, if you know valuable and trusted editors who are expert in USPP and/or articles assessment, please invite them to participate to this project. The work to be done is not so much, and will start next spring. Your help would be much needed and greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance and all the best. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 10:17, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
That'll work. It dosen't need to be done for a few weeks, I just figured I'd get an early start on the letter this time(last time was really down to the wire!). Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me!03:42, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for uploading File:12thPlanetPressPhoto.jpg. I noticed the description page specifies that the media is being used under a claim of fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails our first non-free content criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed media could reasonably be found or created that provides substantially the same information or which could be adequately covered with text alone. If you believe this media is not replaceable, please:
If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified how these images fully satisfy our non-free content criteria. You can find a list of description pages you have edited by clicking on this link. Note that even if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, non-free media which could be replaced by freely licensed alternatives will be deleted 2 days after this notification (7 days if uploaded before 13 July 2006), per our non-free content policy. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. —Bkell (talk) 16:21, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Please take a look at this project page and see if you can be a mentor to one of the many Areas of Study. If you can, please put your name in the "Online Mentor" area of the Area of Study of your choice and then contact the students you will be working with. As the Coordinating Online Ambassador for this project, please let me know if I can be of assistance. Take Care...Neutralhomer • Talk • 04:16, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for uploading File:2011 MAC Tournament Logo.PNG. You don't seem to have said where the image came from, who created it, or what the copyright status is. We require this information to verify that the image is legally usable on Wikipedia, and because most image licenses require giving credit to the image's creator.
To add this information, click on this link, then click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page and add the information to the image's description. If you need help, post your question on Wikipedia:Media copyright questions.
For more information on using images, see the following pages:
Hello, I have updated the Project Page you are mentoring on with usernames for all the students in your Area of Study. Please send them a message introducing yourself and let them know you are there to help.
Sorry for the slow reply, I hit the proverbial "wall" about 6pm and just woke up for a couple. I was meaning contact them via their individual talkpages and just watchlist them. What I do for a mass post is write it down, copy it and paste it to each person. That way you have a good post and don't have to keep typing it. :) - Neutralhomer • Talk • Coor. Online Amb'dor • 06:00, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
In that case, I believe I've already done so. At least, I contacted everyone who had listed themselves in the sections on the two projects I was asked to mentor for. Wilhelmina Will (talk) 07:42, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Okie Dokie. I just wanted to make sure everyone was notified that I had updated all the sections with usernames that weren't put in place by the students. Some were, some weren't, so I wanted to make sure. Take Care...Neutralhomer • Talk • Coor. Online Amb'dor • 08:02, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hello this is Nick from Michigan State University. Thanks for getting a hold of my group, we look forward to working with and getting your advice in the next few weeks and month as we begin our page. We haven't created the actual page yet but we're going to work within one of our sandboxes first so we'll send you the link soon so you can stay updated. Please feel free to send us and advice if you want.
Thank you again for volunteering to be an online Mentor!
Hi! this is Mike from Nick and Stephen's group. Looking forward to working with you! Really excited to hear what input you have on our topic. —Preceding undated comment added 02:17, 16 March 2011 (UTC).
Hi there! This is Gina from Michigan State University. We have our initial text up for our case - excited to get started on our article. Looking forward to working with you! —Preceding undated comment added 04:06, 15 March 2011 (UTC).
Hi - there seems to be a bit of confusion as to what I was actually proposing here - hopefully my latest comments have explained things a bit better - could you have a second look, please? Grutness...wha?23:38, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It's great to be getting some of these marine micromollusks represented in the Wikipedia coverage of gastropods. Many thanks Wilhelmina Will! Invertzoo (talk) 21:43, 5 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for uploading File:Throttle DVD.jpg. You don't seem to have said where the image came from or who created it. We require this information to verify that the image is legally usable on Wikipedia, and because most image licenses require giving credit to the image's creator.
To add this information, click on this link, then click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page and add the information to the image's description. If you need help, post your question on Wikipedia:Media copyright questions.
For more information on using images, see the following pages:
This Barnstar of Diligence is given to Wilhelmina Will for wikifying 270 articles, a total of 40,868 words (including rollover). Thanks for participating, and please be sure to help out at our next drive! Sumsum2010·T·C·Review me!00:10, 7 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, Wilhelmina Will. You have new messages at Sumsum2010's talk page. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.
Hello, I thought you would be interested in the March Mini, a coordinated effort by WikiProject Wikify members to eliminate the 2008 backlog of articles tagged with {{wikify}} and/or {{dead end}}. Come join in the fun! There are only three prizes to be won, including a special barnstar created just for this drive!
Thanks for uploading File:Green Arrow Batman.PNG. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you.
I know you tried to replace the JPG with a PNG because of the should-be-PNG tag. However, this file was originally captured from a screenshot. Presumably, you converted the JPG rather than capturing your own identical screenshot. Since the original JPG is smaller, I assert it's superior. If you did get this image from a non-JPG source, please let me know and undo everything I did. -- Ken_g6 (factors | composites) 05:50, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi there, just a quick note to let you know I've corrected those points listed on the GA review for Saluki. Thanks for bringing them to my attention, I'm surprised I'd put them into the article as I've done enough of these breed articles to know about editing out weasle words from the original text. Thanks for reviewing. Miyagawa(talk)12:33, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Wilhelmina, Thanks for participating in the GOCE drive. Just wanted to drop you a friendly note to let you know that there are a substantial amount of working tags on your list, which became the subject of a query on the drive's talk page. Editors are not encouraged to use this tag to book or reserve articles. It doesn't really work as no one will check, unless it is somehow marked on the article or its associated talk page. I noticed that you did this in the last drive as well. The tag is temporary, and is meant to used if you are working o the article. We encourage editors to remove all working tags at the end of an editing session. It should certainly not remain for more than a few days, and should not apply to more than a few articles. Please take this note as a gentle reminder. If you are not working on any of the articles, please do remove it from your list. Thanks for your support and contributions, and happy editing! Cheers. – SMasters (talk) 06:37, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I was keeping those listed because I wanted to work on them, but didn't have the time then. This way, I can find them again. If anyone copyedits them before I do, that's perfectly fine with me. Thanks for your concern, though! :) Wilhelmina Will (talk) 07:44, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for explaining. Not really a big problem for me, but some editors may view it differently. Maybe put them somewhere on a personal sub-page for yourself. That way, we keep everyone happy. – SMasters (talk) 08:14, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, Wilhelmina Will. Could you please do me a big favour and remove the {{GOCEinuse}} template from any articles that you are not actively working on? Thank you very much. --Diannaa(Talk)18:43, 4 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Chaosdruid has now gone ahead and removed the tags. Please tag only the article that you are actively working on in the future. If you tag all of August 2009 and then do not edit the articles, that is counter-productive. Thanks. --Diannaa(Talk)23:20, 4 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hello mentor! My name is Robyn and I am part of the group working on this project. Thanks for helping us out, look forward to starting the new page! Spartans24 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:13, 15 March 2011 (UTC).[reply]
GOCE March 2011 backlog elimination drive progress graphs
So far, 79 people have signed up for this drive. Of these, 64 have participated. Interest is high due to a link to our event from the Watchlist page, and many new and first-time copy editors have joined us for the drive. If you signed up for the drive but haven't participated yet, it's not too late! Try to copy edit at least a few articles. Remember, if you have rollover words from the last drive, you will lose them if you do not participate in this drive. If you haven't signed up for the drive yet, you can sign up now. Many thanks to those editors who have been helping out at the Requests page. We have assisted in the promotion of seven articles to Good article status so far this month.
Progress report
We have already achieved our target of reducing the overall backlog by 10%; however, we have more work to do with the 2009 backlog. We have almost eliminated May 2009 and we only have some 700 articles left from 2009. It is excellent progress, so let's concentrate our fire power on the remaining months from 2009. Thank you for participating in the March 2011 drive. We anticipate it will be another big success!
Utahraptor resigns
The UtahraptorTalk to me has decided to step down from his position as project coordinator due to real-life issues.
This is a quick message to all the ambassadors about marking and tracking which articles students are working on. For the classes working with the ambassador program, please look over any articles being worked on by students (in particular, any ones you are mentoring, but others who don't have mentors as well) and do these things:
Add {{WAP assignment | term = Spring 2011 }} to the articles' talk pages. (The other parameters of the {{WAP assignment}} template are helpful, so please add them as well, but the term = Spring 2011 one is most important.)
If the article is related to United States public policy, make sure the article the WikiProject banner is on the talk page: {{WikiProject United States Public Policy}}
Add Category:Article Feedback Pilot (a hidden category) to the article itself. The second phase of the Article Feedback Tool project has started, and this time we're trying to include all of the articles students are working on. Please test out the Article Feedback Tool, as well. The new version just deployed, so any bug reports or feedback will be appreciated by the tech team working on it.
And of course, don't forget to check in on the students, give them constructive feedback, praise them for positive contributions, award them {{The WikiPen}} if they are doing excellent work, and so on. And if you haven't done so, make sure any students you are mentoring are listed on your mentor profile.
It is possible that the bot is confused and found similarity where none actually exists. If that is the case, you can remove the tag from the article. The article will be reviewed to determine if there are any copyright issues.
If substantial content is duplicated and it is not public domain or available under a compatible license, it will be deleted. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material. You may use such publications as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. See our copyright policy for further details. (If you own the copyright to the previously published content and wish to donate it, see Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials for the procedure.) CorenSearchBot (talk) 00:26, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Got a message about an hour ago from Professor Obar of the Media and Telecommunication Policy project and I think it is viewed best in full:
Can you please communicate to the online mentors that I DO NOT want them moving student material into the main space for them. This is a big problem. I have noticed that this has happened with a number of the projects already, for example, in the broadband.gov article and the media cross-ownership article. We need the students to be doing this on their own, of course so they can learn how to do it, and also so that I can grade what they've done. How am I supposed to follow student submissions if the data is associated with online mentors? A BIG PROBLEM ALREADY... please help me with this. None of you responded to my post about this on the discussion page. This is about to get out of hand. Jaobar (talk) 05:27, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
With that, of course, please only give instructions on how to move, don't do it for them. Please only let them know what to do and let them do it themselves. If they run into problems, provide further instructions. Do not it for them. This seems to be making a mess of Prof. Obar's grading system and I would like to avoid that. Thanks. - Neutralhomer • Talk • Coor. Online Amb'dor • 06:15, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 21 March 2011
This is the third issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.
Where the courses are - A brief summary of how each of the 31 Public Policy Initiative courses are faring so far in the Spring 2011 term, as of 9-11 March. Feel free to add more detail.
Tracking students' articles - Make sure students' articles are tagged with {{WAP assignment}} on the talk pages, and have the newly improved Article Feedback Tool active.
Online Ambassadors logistics - If you don't have a Wikipedia Ambassador sweatshirt, now's your chance to get one! (Also, some other more mundane, but important, details.)
Steering committee preparing proposals - Look for discussions about two major proposals about the future ambassador program soon: the "Regional Ambassador" role, and elections for a new committee.
I created the talk page for the Sable v. FCC page you're helping with. Please add the appropriate templates to this page. I would also like to see some discussion with the group. I'm not sure if you're doing this on their talk pages. I think initiating conversation on the article's talk page would be ideal.
We are half way through round two of the WikiCup, which will end on 28 April. Of the 64 current contestants, 32 will make it through to the next round; the two highest in each pool, and the 16 next highest scorers. At the time of writing, our current overall leader is Hurricanehink (submissions) with 231 points, who leads Pool H. Piotrus (submissions) (Pool G) also has over 200 points, while 9 others (three of whom are in Pool D) have over 100 points. Remember that certain content (specifically, articles/portals included in at least 20 Wikipedias as of 31 December 2010 or articles which are considered "vital") is worth double points if promoted to good or featured status, or if it appears on the main page in the Did You Know column. There were some articles last round which were eligible for double points, but which were not claimed for. For more details, see Wikipedia:WikiCup/Scoring.
A running total of claims can be seen here. However, numerous competitors are yet to score at all- please remember to submit content soon after it is promoted, so that the judges are able to review entries. The number of points that will be needed to reach round three is not clear- everyone needs to get their entries in now to guarantee their places! If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAC, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges are reachable on their talk pages, or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start receiving or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn and The ed1701:12, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
GOCE March 2011 backlog elimination drive progress graphs
There were 99 signups for the drive; of these, 70 participated. Interest was high mainly due to a link to our event from the Watchlist page. We had a record-breaking 84 articles listed on the Requests page in March; 11 of these have been promoted to Good article status so far. Several of our recent efforts have received Featured Article status as well, and the GOCE is becoming a solid resource for the Wikipedia community. Many thanks to editors who have been helping out at the Requests page and by copy editing articles from the backlog.
Progress report
Remarkable progress was made in reducing the backlog this month, as we now have fewer than 500 articles remaining from 2009. We are well under the 4,000-article mark for the total number remaining in the queue. Since our backlog drives began in May 2010 with 8,323 articles, we have cleared more than 53% of the backlog. A complete list of results and barnstars awarded can be found here. Barnstars will be distributed over the next week. If you enjoyed participating in our event, you may also like to join the Wikification drives, which are held on alternate months to our drives. Their April drive has started.
This Special Barnstar is given to Wilhelmina Will for wikifying 31 articles, and helping to eliminate the 2008 backlog. Thanks for participating, and please be sure to help out at our next drive! Sumsum2010·T·C17:08, 2 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for uploading File:Eriemainstreet.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Nyttend (talk) 22:30, 2 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi there Wilhelmina Will! I had been quite busy recently, so I'm glad the review didn't bring up any issues which were left unanswered. Thank you for reviewing the article. Cheers! --Sherif9282 (talk) 18:33, 3 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Wilhelmina, I am a student at Syracuse University and a part of Wikipedia's Public Policy initiative. I am interested in creating and reorganizing articles relating to nongovernment organizations and failed states. I could certainly use your guidance. Please let me know if you are available to be my mentor. Thanks!
Hi, I notice that you have visited Nature vs. Culture and given it a 'tone' tag. There have been multiple issues with the original article before I came through a little while ago to try to wikify it somewhat. Sure there's more to do, preferably by someone who knows a bit more about anthropology. But given your interest could you help out, or at least give some tips on its talk page as to what you would expect to see? Thanks, Ephebi (talk) 14:38, 5 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
On behalf of User:Wizardman and myself, we would like to take the time and thank you for your contributions made as part of the March 2011 Good articles backlog elimination drive. Awards and barnstars will go out shortly for those who have reviewed a certain number of articles.
During the backlog drive, in the month of March 2011,
522 GA nominations were undertaken.
423 GA nominations passed.
72 GA nominations failed.
27 GA nominations were on hold.
We started the GA backlog elimination drive with 378 GA nominations remaining, with 291 that were not reviewed at all. By 2:00, April 1, 2011, the backlog was at 171 GA nominations, with 100 that were left unreviewed.
At the start of the drive, the oldest unreviewed GA nomination was 101 days (Andrei Kirilenko (politician), at 20 November 2010, reviewed and passed 1 March 2011); at the end of the drive the oldest unreviewed GA nomination was 39 days (Gery Chico, at 24 February 2011, still yet to be reviewed as of this posting).
While we did not achieve the objective of getting the backlog of outstanding GA nominations down to below 50, we reduced the GA backlog by over half. The GA reviews also seemed to be of a higher quality and have consistently led, to say the least, to marginal improvements to those articles (although there were significant improvements to many, even on the some of the nominations that were failed).
The April 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.
India pilot being organized now - Plans are currently underway for a pilot expansion of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – in India! Hisham Mundol and other Wikimedia staff have begun recruiting Campus Ambassador candidates for Pune.
Document DYK, peer review and other milestone at the trophy case - If students you are working with (or any others you notice) are doing work that makes to DYK, is nominated for Good Article status, or is just solid content worth marking, then please help us document the students' success at the trophy case.
Changes to mailing list - A new low-volume mailing list, [Ambassador-announce-l], is being created. It will be reserved for key announcements and news, which we'd like all ambassadors to be subscribed to.
I am a Wikipedian, who is studying the phenomenon on Wikipedia. I need your help to conduct my research on about understanding "Motivation of Wikipedia contributors." I would like to invite you to Main Study. Please give me your valuable time, which estimates about 20 minutes. I chose you as a English Wikipedia user who made edits recently through the RecentChange page. Refer to the first page in the online survey form for more information on the study and me.cooldenny (talk) 01:30, 24 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Round 2 of the 2011 WikiCup is over, and the new round will begin on 1 May. Note that any points scored in the interim (that is, for content promoted or reviews completed on 29-30 April) can be claimed in the next round, but please do not start updating your submissions' pages until the next round has begun. Fewer than a quarter of our original contestants remain; 32 enter round 3, and, in two months' time, only 16 will progress to our penultimate round. Casliber (submissions), who led Pool F, was our round champion, with 411 points, while 7 contestants scored between 200 and 300 points. At the other end of the scale, a score of 41 was high enough to reach round 3; more than five times the score required to reach round 2, and competition will no doubt become tighter now we're approaching the later rounds. Those progressing to round 3 were spread fairly evenly across the pools; 4 progressed from each of pools A, B, E and H, while 3 progressed from both pools C and F. Pools D and G were the most successful; each had 5 contestants advancing.
This round saw our first good topic points this year; congratulations to Hurricanehink (submissions) and Nergaal (submissions) who also led pool H and pool B respectively. However, there remain content types for which no points have yet been scored; featured sounds, featured portals and featured topics. In addition to prizes for leaderboard positions, the WikiCup awards other prizes; for instance, last year, a prize was awarded to Candlewicke (submissions) (who has been eliminated) for his work on In The News. For this reason, working on more unusual content could be even more rewarding than usual!
Sorry this newsletter is going out a little earlier than expected- there is a busy weekend coming up! A running total of claims can be seen here. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAC, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges are reachable on their talk pages, or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start receiving or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn and The ed1719:34, 29 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for uploading File:AA Stepped-n-Scratched.PNG. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Courcelles05:46, 1 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Your comments concerning my article about the Escanjaque Indians are totally off base. First of all, the writing of the article is not a "story." Secondly, the references are adequate and of excellent quality. Thirdly, the article doesnt violate any POV examination Wikipedia would like to give it. I've written more than 100 Wikipedia articles and I have frankly never been more unjustly criticized than this. Please take another look at and I'm sure you'll change your mind -- and remove the offensive tags. This is a good quality article as now written. Can it be improved? Certainly. But your comments are destructive. If you have a specific suggestion for improvement, why not put it on the talk page?
Dear Miss Ambassador: Not having received a reply to my previous message I have removed the erroneous tags. If you wish to discuss this further I would be glad to do so.Smallchief (talk) 20:45, 7 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I have removed the GOCEeffort tags from some of the article you added it to. Unfortunately any May drive copy-editor who looked at those pages could have assumed someone was working on it, consequently they would have to click on many articles (as I did) before they found one they could work on.
You could consider using the GOCEeffort tag, which only remarks that the page is "receiving attention", rather than the inuse tag which asks all editors, including non-GOCE ones, not to work on it at all while the tag is displayed.
Thank you for participating in WikiProject Wikify's April 2011 Backlog Elimination Drive! The backlog was reduced by over 1,500 articles, even though about 1,500 articles were added to the backlog in April 2011. For wikifying between 62 and 92 articles, you have been awarded the Barnstar of Diligence! Your contributions through WikiProject Wikify improve the quality of Wikipedia articles and encourage their growth on Wikipeida, the largest English encyclopedia in human history. Be sure to participate in our next drive! For WikiProject Wikify, Guoguo12--Talk--02:23, 6 May 2011 (UTC).[reply]
The May 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.
Your work as an Online Ambassador is making a big contribution to Wikipedia. Right now, we're trying to measure just how much student work improves the quality of Wikipedia. If you'd like contribute to this research and get a firsthand look at the quality improvement that is happening through the project, please sign up to assess articles. Assessment is happening now, just use the quantitative metric and start assessing! Your help would be hugely appreciated!
GOCE May 2011 backlog elimination drive progress graphs
So far, 54 people have signed up for the drive, and 33 are actively participating. If you signed up for the drive but have not participated yet, it's not too late! Try to copy edit at least a few articles. Remember, if you have rollover words from the last drive, you will lose them if you do not participate in this drive. If you have not signed up for the drive yet, you can sign up now. If you have questions about getting started, feel free to talk to us. Many thanks to those editors who have been helping out at the Requests page. We currently have 17 articles awaiting edit.
Progress report
We are making slow progress on achieving our target of reducing the overall backlog by 15%; in order to accomplish this goal we will need to complete about 400 more articles. However, we are making good progress on the 2009 backlog, as we have eliminated over half of the articles from 2009 that were present at the start of the drive. Let's concentrate our fire power on the remaining months from 2009; leaderboard awards will be handed out for 2009 articles this drive. Thank you for participating in the May 2011 drive. We hope it will be another success!
To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.
Hello Wikifiers!
Sorry this Newsletter is late, It should have gone out a month ago. I've been very busy in real life and didn't have time to get over to the newsletter. In this edition of the Newsletter, we have an editorial written by our new executive coordinator; Guoguo12. Guoguo12 has succeeded Mono due to an indefinite wikibreak. We also have the results of the February and March Mini drives.
Happy Wikifying,
Sumsum2010, the assistant coordinator of WikiProject Wikify
Hi! This is the last call for signing on for a Wikipedia Ambassador hooded sweatshirt (in case you missed the earlier message in one of the program newsletters about it). If you would like one, please email me with your name, mailing address, and (US) sweatshirt size. We have a limited number left, so it will be first-come, first-served. (If more than one size would work for you, note that as well.)
Hello Wilhelmina, I recently stumbled onto a great new source for moth genus articles. It is a database containing the complete taxonomy for the complete Pyraloidea superfamily. I already started adding info from it to wikipedia (I updated the taxonomy section on Crambidae and will continue with Pyralidae. I was wondering if you would be interested in helping out adding species to the genus articles, since you have shown an interest in similar work in the past. The database can be found at http://globiz.pyraloidea.org/Pages/Reports/TaxonReport.aspx. Cheers and any help is greatly appreciated!Ruigeroeland (talk) 18:39, 23 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Ruigeroeland! I'm sorry I didn't reply earlier, but as frequently happens, things elsewhere've been getting in the way. I'd be more than happy to help out, however! Wilhelmina Will (talk) 23:54, 27 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
We are at a pivotal point in the development of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. Your feedback will help shape the program and role of Ambassadors in the future. Please take this 10 minute survey to help inform and improve the Wikipedia Ambassadors.
WMF will de-identify results and make them available to you. According to KwikSurveys' privacy policy: "Data and email addresses will not be sold, rented, leased or disclosed to 3rd parties." This link takes you to the online survey: http://kwiksurveys.com?u=WPAmbassador_talk
Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, Thank You!
Thanks for uploading File:Cave Story Title Screen.PNG. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
Hi there! I thought you might be interested in WikiProject Wikify's June Wikification Backlog Elimination Drive. We'll be trying to reduce the backlog size by about 900 articles and we need your help! Hard-working participants in the drive will receive awards for their contributions! If you have a spare moment, please join and wikify an article or tell your friends. Thanks!
Note: The drive starts June 1, but you can still sign up!
Thanks for uploading File:Texasjack.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
We're half way through round 3 of the 2011 WikiCup. There are currently 32 remaining in the competition, but only 16 will progress to our penultimate round. Casliber (submissions), of pool D, is our overall leader with nearly 200 points, while pools A, B and C are led by Racepacket (submissions), Hurricanehink (submissions) and Canada Hky (submissions) respectively. The score required to reach the next round is 35, though this will no doubt go up significantly as the round progresses. We have a good number of high scorers, but also a considerable number who are yet to score. Please remember to submit content soon after it is promoted, so that the judges are able to review entries. Also, an important note concerning nominations at featured article candidates: if you are nominating content for which you intend to claim WikiCup points, please make this clear in the nomination statement so that the FAC director and his delegates are aware of the fact.
A running total of claims can be seen here. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAC, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges are reachable on their talk pages, or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start receiving or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn and The ed1723:39, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
GOCE May 2011 backlog elimination drive progress graphs
There were 63 signups for the drive; of these, 45 participated. Although we did not award a bonus for articles from the Requests page this drive, we are not experiencing lengthy delays in getting the articles processed. Many thanks to editors who have been helping out at the Requests page and by copy editing articles from the backlog.
Progress report
During the month of May we reduced the backlog by approximately 10%, and made remarkable progress on eliminating articles tagged from 2009. There are now only 15 articles left, down from the 415 that were present when the drive started. Since our backlog drives began in May 2010 with 8,323 articles, we have cleared more than 54% of the backlog. A complete list of results and barnstars awarded can be found here. Barnstars will be distributed over the next week. If you enjoyed participating in our event, you may also like to join the Wikification drives, which are held on alternate months to our drives. Their June drive has started.
Coodinator election
The six-month term for our first tranche of Guild coordinators will be expiring at the end of June. We will be accepting nominations for the second tranche of coordinators, who will also serve a six-month term. Nominations will open starting on June 5. For complete information, please have a look at the election page.
There are reasons for believing that the composer Allan Willcocks is not a real person - for instance, one well-established guitar music publisher, with decades of experience in uncovering little-known works by little-known composers, has not been able to find any reference to him anywhere, outside of a few notes in a CD notes section. Attributing new works to fictitious people has a long history, of course.
I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that by choice, I don't have much experience with article deletion procedures, so I can't help you there. I might refer you to User:AnmaFinotera or User:TTN; I believe they have more experience with the process. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. Wilhelmina Will (talk) 01:51, 12 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The June 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.
Thanks for your input on bare URLs. I have made suggested fixes (minus one...still looking for info). I don't know how to delete the bare URL box that now shows at the top of the page. Can that be deleted?...by you?...by me? Please advise.Whysosirius (talk) 21:44, 14 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
All you have to do is go to the top of the edit page for the article, and remove the text which reads: {{barelinks|date=June 2011}}. Cheers! Wilhelmina Will (talk) 22:04, 14 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for uploading File:AA Stepped-n-Scratched.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
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