Jump to content

Wikipedia:WikiProject National Football League/Assessment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Index · Statistics · Log

This is the assessment department for the National Football League WikiProject. This department focuses on assessing the quality of Wikipedia articles relating to the National Football League. While much of the work is done in conjunction with the WP:1.0 program, the article ratings are also used within the project itself to aid in recognizing excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work.

The ratings are done in a distributed fashion through parameters in the {{WikiProject National Football League}} project banner; this causes the articles to be placed in the appropriate sub-categories of Category:National Football League articles by quality and Category:National Football League articles by importance.

Frequently asked questions

[edit]
How can I get my article rated?
As a member of the NFL WikiProject, you can do it yourself. If you're unsure, list it in the requesting an assessment section below.
Who can assess articles?
Any member of the project is free to add—or change—the rating of an article, but please follow the guidelines.
Why did someone change the assessment of a particular article?
You should start by asking the person who assessed the article; if you leave a note on their Talk page they will usually be happy to provide you with their reasoning. If you'd like a second opinion, then list the article in the requesting an assessment section below and someone will take a look.
Where can I get more comments about my article?
You may consider listing the article for a Peer review.
What if I don't agree with a rating?
Relist it as a request or post a note on the project talk page.
Aren't the ratings subjective?
Yes, they are (see, in particular, the disclaimers on the importance scale), but it's the best system we've been able to devise; if you have a better idea, please don't hesitate to let us know!

If you have any other questions not listed here, please feel free to ask them on the discussion page for this department.

Instructions

[edit]

Quality assessment

[edit]

An article's quality assessment is generated from the class parameter in the {{WikiProject Banner Shell}}. Articles that have the {{WikiProject National Football League}} project banner on their talk page will be added to the appropriate categories by quality.

The following values may be used for the class parameter to describe the quality of the article (see Wikipedia:Content assessment for assessment criteria):

FA (for featured articles only; adds articles to Category:FA-Class National Football League articles)  FA
A (adds articles to Category:A-Class National Football League articles)  A
GA (for good articles only; adds articles to Category:GA-Class National Football League articles)  GA
B (adds articles to Category:B-Class National Football League articles) B
C (adds articles to Category:C-Class National Football League articles) C
Start (adds articles to Category:Start-Class National Football League articles) Start
Stub (adds articles to Category:Stub-Class National Football League articles) Stub
FL (for featured lists only; adds articles to Category:FL-Class National Football League articles)  FL
List (adds articles to Category:List-Class National Football League articles) List

For non-standard grades and non-mainspace content, the following values may be used for the class parameter:

Category (for categories; adds pages to Category:Category-Class National Football League articles) Category
Disambig (for disambiguation pages; adds pages to Category:Disambig-Class National Football League articles) Disambig
Draft (for drafts; adds pages to Category:Draft-Class National Football League articles) Draft
FM (for featured media only; adds pages to Category:FM-Class National Football League articles)  FM
File (for files and timed text; adds pages to Category:File-Class National Football League articles) File
Portal (for portal pages; adds pages to Category:Portal-Class National Football League articles) Portal
Project (for project pages; adds pages to Category:Project-Class National Football League articles) Project
Redirect (for redirect pages; adds pages to Category:Redirect-Class National Football League articles) Redirect
Template (for templates and modules; adds pages to Category:Template-Class National Football League articles) Template
NA (for any other pages where assessment is unnecessary; adds pages to Category:NA-Class National Football League articles) NA
??? (articles for which a valid class has not yet been provided are listed in Category:Unassessed National Football League articles) ???
  • The quality parameter should be assigned according to the Quality scale below.

Importance assessment

[edit]

An article's importance assessment is generated from the importance parameter in the {{WikiProject National Football League}} project banner on its talk page:

{{WikiProject National Football League|importance=???}}

The following values may be used for the importance parameter to describe the relative importance of the article within the project (see Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Priority of topic for assessment criteria):

Top (adds articles to Category:Top-importance National Football League articles)  Top 
High (adds articles to Category:High-importance National Football League articles)  High 
Mid (adds articles to Category:Mid-importance National Football League articles)  Mid 
Low (adds articles to Category:Low-importance National Football League articles)  Low 
NA (adds articles to Category:NA-importance National Football League articles)  NA 
??? (articles for which a valid importance rating has not yet been provided are listed in Category:Unknown-importance National Football League articles)  ??? 

Quality scale

[edit]

Importance scale

[edit]

The criteria used for rating article importance are not meant to be an absolute or canonical view of how significant the topic is. Rather, they attempt to gauge the probability of the average reader of Wikipedia needing to look up the topic (and thus the immediate need to have a suitably well-written article on it). Thus, subjects with greater popular notability may be rated higher than topics which are arguably more "important" but which are of interest primarily to students of baseball. Importance does not equate to quality; a featured article could rate 'mid' on importance.

One way to think of importance is this: imagine a person with absolutely no knowledge of the NFL who is researching the topic on Wikipedia. Importance can be defined by how greatly the absence of an article on a particular subject would be felt and/or how quickly that article's absence would be noted.

WikiProject importance assessments

[edit]
Top Subject is a must-have for a print encyclopedia
High Subject contributes a depth of knowledge
Mid Subject fills in more minor details
Low Subject is mainly of specialist interest.
NA Subject is a disambiguation or redirect page, residing in article space and thus does not require an importance assessment.

See the table on the right for a summary of manual assessment levels. Keep in mind that the importance assessment of an article bears no relation to the quality of that article, nor is it a reflection on the amount of work editors have put into that article. It's simply a measure of the relative importance of that article within the sphere of the NFL project.

Importance must be regarded as a relative term within this project. Assessments should only reflect the perceived importance to the NFL project. An article judged to be "Top-importance" in one WikiProject's context may be only "Low-importance" for another WikiProject. For example, a player may have an exemplary college football career where he leads his team to a national title and wins major individual awards, but then has only a short, non-distinguished NFL career. The article covering this player could be regarded as "Top-importance" to the College Football project but as "Low-importance" to the NFL project.

Consider a hierarchy such as National Football League (Top) -> NFL Draft (High) -> 2011 NFL Draft (Mid)-> List of 2011 NFL Draft early entrants (Low). As one can see the centrality to the overall scope of the NFL of the topic being covered by each article in this hierarchy decreases. Another example of a hierarchy one could consider: National Football League (Top) -> 2005 NFL season (High) -> 2005 Minnesota Vikings season (Mid)-> Minnesota Vikings boat party scandal (Low).

Ranking within this project will be helpful in determining which articles should be the focus of editing efforts put forth by the project participants. Additionally, ranking could be helpful in deciding which articles are included first as the scope of the Wikipedia 1.0 project expands. An article labeled as "Top-Importance" for the subject of the NFL would almost certainly warrant inclusion in all general print encyclopedia releases.

National Football League WikiProject article importance grading scheme
Label Criteria Reader's experience Editor's experience Examples
Top General articles:
Reserved exclusively for articles that are vital to the understanding of the National Football League. This should include any articles or lists on the general topic of the league, articles on current franchises and articles that cover topics that are central to the history of the league.
These will be the most likely reader entry points to the subject. If articles covering these subjects did not exist, they would need to be created. National Football League, Green Bay Packers (current franchise), History of the National Football League, Super Bowl
Biographic articles:
Reserved exclusively for biographic articles covering persons who are vital to the understanding of the National Football League. This will include articles on league founders and notable franchise owners; successful, long-tenured head coaches (particularly any who've won multiple championships) and particularly noteworthy players, e.g. any Hall of Famers, members of the league's All-Time team and players named to five or more first-team All-Pro selections or seven or more Pro Bowls (i.e. Hall of Fame caliber players and coaches) and any other personnel who are central to the league's history.
George Halas, Don Shula, Johnny Unitas, Dick Butkus, Ray Lewis, Al Davis
High General articles:
Articles that fall just short of being vital in the understanding of the subject as a whole. This should include articles on individual league seasons; articles on individual Super Bowls, league championship games and playoff years, defunct franchises and general articles on topics central to the league.
Most readers would quickly notice the omission of any of these articles. These articles are probably among the most actively edited articles in the project. 2011 NFL season (individual league season), National Football League playoffs, National Football League Draft, Super Bowl XL (individual Super Bowls and league championship), Canton Bulldogs (defunct franchise)
Biographic articles:
This classification should include articles on players who were very good but not quite among the very best (i.e. Hall of Fame caliber). This would include most coaches who held head coaching positions for 4+ seasons but fall short of "Top" importance criteria, players who were voted first-team All-Pro 2–4 times or reached 3–6 Pro Bowls. Additionally this will include any coaches who held coordinator positions for 8+ seasons and won at least one championship.
Dan Reeves, Jerry Richardson, Byron White, Shaun Alexander, Marty Schottenheimer, Jack McBride
Mid General articles:
The article covers a topic that has a strong but not vital role in a thorough understanding of the National Football League. This group will include articles on the history of individual franchises; articles on seasons of individual teams; articles on individual NFL drafts, Pro Bowls and All-Pro teams and articles on current stadia and former stadia which were used by an NFL team for 20 years or more.
Many readers will be familiar with the topic being discussed, but a larger majority of readers may have only cursory knowledge of the overall subject. Articles at this level will cover subjects that are well known but not necessarily vital to understand the subject. History of the New York Jets (history of individual franchises), 1972 Miami Dolphins season(individual franchise season), 2010 NFL Draft (individual draft), CenturyLink Field (current stadium)
Biographic articles:
This should include players who had careers of seven or more seasons, but did not meet the criteria for the categories above, OR any players with shorter tenure, but who made at least two Pro Bowl rosters, a first-team All-Pro selection or who were top-ten selections in the NFL Draft. This should also include most head coaches who coached more than one season who aren't included above and most coordinators with 4+ years of service who don't fall into the categories above and any outstandingly successful position coaches.
Mike Martz, JaMarcus Russell, Jay Cutler, Mewelde Moore
Low General articles:
The article is not required knowledge for a broad understanding of the topic, but may cover topics directly or indirectly related to it. This category will include articles on individual games and individual plays.
Few readers outside of the topic area may be familiar with the subject matter. It is likely that the reader does not know anything at all about the subject before reading the article. Articles at this range of importance will often delve into the minutiae of the league. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Brian's Song, List of 2011 NFL Draft early entrants, Minnesota Vikings boat party scandal, Pitt Stadium (short-term former stadia), Immaculate Reception
Biographic articles:
This should include players who made only minor contributions in the league or none at all, i.e. players with careers of six or fewer seasons who never made an All-Pro first-team roster or made only a single Pro Bowl. This category will also include most position coaches.
Jamar Hunt, Tai Streets, Brock Lesnar, Todd Marinovich
Unknown The importance of this article has not yet been assessed. Editors should assess this article and add their assessment of its importance to the subject to the NFL project template on the article's talk page. List of such articles