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The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 48, November – December 2021

• 1Lib1Ref 2022
• Wikipedia Library notifications deployed

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --15:13, 2 February 2022 (UTC)

Dear Mahendra, please give your advice on Draft:upGrad. It is a properly stated WP:COI about an Indian education company. The draft was declined at the AfC with the comment from the reviewer that it didn’t pass WP:NCORP. Do you think that this issue still exists after the rewrite? Any advice that you can give me on improving the article? Thanks! Peter. -- Bbarmadillo ( talk) 19:04, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

Isabella I of Castile in the Rimado de la Conquista de Granada, by Pedro Marcuello Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Isabella I of Castile Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Cult of personality • Joseph Lelyveld Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 21 February 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Google's corporate headquarters is named Googleplex, and is also the headquarters of its parent company, Alphabet Inc. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Google Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Isabella I of Castile • Cult of personality Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 28 February 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

And so ends the first round of the WikiCup. Last year anyone who scored more than zero points moved on to Round 2, but this was not the case this year, and a score of 13 or more was required to proceed. The top scorers in Round 1 were:

• Epicgenius, a finalist last year, who led the field with 1906 points, gained from 32 GAs and 19 DYKs, all on the topic of New York buildings.
• AryKun, new to the contest, was second with 1588 points, having achieved 2 FAs, 11 GAs and various other submissions, mostly on the subject of birds.
• Bloom6132, a WikiCup veteran, was in third place with 682 points, garnered from 51 In the news items and several DYKs.
• GhostRiver was close behind with 679 points, gained from achieving 12 GAs, mostly on ice hockey players, and 35 GARs.
• Kavyansh.Singh was in fifth place with 551 points, with an FA, a FL, and many reviews.
• SounderBruce was next with 454 points, gained from an FA and various other submissions, mostly on United States highways.
• Ktin, another WikiCup veteran, was in seventh place with 412 points, mostly gained from In the news items.

These contestants, like all the others who qualified for Round 2, now have to start scoring points again from scratch. Between them, contestants completed reviews of a large number of good articles as the contest ran concurrently with a GAN backlog drive. Well done all! To qualify for Round 3, contestants will need to finish Round 2 among the top thirty-two participants.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Anything that should have been claimed for in Round 1 is no longer eligible for points. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed.

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 or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 ( talk) and Cwmhiraeth ( talk) MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 12:07, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

And so ends the first round of the WikiCup. Last year anyone who scored more than zero points moved on to Round 2, but this was not the case this year, and a score of 13 or more was required to proceed. The top scorers in Round 1 were:

• Epicgenius, a finalist last year, who led the field with 1906 points, gained from 32 GAs and 19 DYKs, all on the topic of New York buildings.
• AryKun, new to the contest, was second with 1588 points, having achieved 2 FAs, 11 GAs and various other submissions, mostly on the subject of birds.
• Bloom6132, a WikiCup veteran, was in third place with 682 points, garnered from 51 In the news items and several DYKs.
• GhostRiver was close behind with 679 points, gained from achieving 12 GAs, mostly on ice hockey players, and 35 GARs.
• Kavyansh.Singh was in fifth place with 551 points, with an FA, a FL, and many reviews.
• SounderBruce was next with 454 points, gained from an FA and various other submissions, mostly on United States highways.
• Ktin, another WikiCup veteran, was in seventh place with 412 points, mostly gained from In the news items.

These contestants, like all the others who qualified for Round 2, now have to start scoring points again from scratch. Between them, contestants completed reviews of a large number of good articles as the contest ran concurrently with a GAN backlog drive. Well done all! To qualify for Round 3, contestants will need to finish Round 2 among the top thirty-two participants.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Anything that should have been claimed for in Round 1 is no longer eligible for points. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed.

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 or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 ( talk) and Cwmhiraeth ( talk) MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 13:55, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

A letter is a segmental symbol of a phonemic writing system. Pictured are uppercase and lowercase Z with stroke letters. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Letter (alphabet) Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: First Sudanese Civil War • Google Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:08, 14 March 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Tomba is a drink of Sikkimese cuisine made from fermented millet: warm water is added to the millet and the liquid is consumed. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Sikkimese cuisine Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Letter (alphabet) • First Sudanese Civil War Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 21 March 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 49, January – February 2022

• New library collections
• Blog post published detailing technical improvements

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:06, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

Pumpkin pie is a dessert pie with a spiced, pumpkin-based custard filling. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Pumpkin pie Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Sikkimese cuisine • Letter (alphabet) Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 28 March 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Paddle ball is a one-person game played with a paddle and an attached ball. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Paddle ball Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Pumpkin pie • Sikkimese cuisine Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 4 April 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. Pictured is a chart of global bandwidth concentration: 3 countries have almost 50% between them; 10 countries almost 75%. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Broadband Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Paddle ball • Pumpkin pie Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 11 April 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

The second round of the 2022 WikiCup has now finished. It was a high-scoring round and contestants needed 115 points to advance to round 3. There were some very impressive efforts in round 2, with the top seven contestants all scoring more than 500 points. A large number of the points came from the 11 featured articles and the 79 good articles achieved in total by contestants.

Our top scorers in round 2 were:

1. Epicgenius, with 1264 points from 2 featured article, 4 good articles and 18 DYKs. Epicgenius was a finalist last year but has now withdrawn from the contest as he pursues a new career path.
2. AryKun, with 1172 points from two featured articles, one good article and a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews.
3. Bloom6132, with 605 points from 44 in the news items and 4 DYKs.
4. Sammi Brie, with 573 points from 8 GAs and 21 DYKs.
5. Ealdgyth, with 567 points from 11 GAs and 34 good and featured article reviews.
6. Panini!, with 549 points from 1 FA, 4 GAs and several other sources.
7. Lee Vilenski, with 545 points from 1 FA, 4 GAs and a number of reviews.

The rules for featured and good article reviews require the review to be of sufficient length; brief quick fails and very short reviews will generally not be awarded points. Remember also that DYKs cannot be claimed until they have appeared on the main page. As we enter the third round, any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed now, and anything you forgot to claim in round 2 cannot! Remember too, that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 ( talk) and Cwmhiraeth Cwmhiraeth ( talk) 10:39, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Astrid Lindgren was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays who is best known for several series of children's books. Pictured is Lindgren around 1960. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Astrid Lindgren Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Broadband • Paddle ball Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 18 April 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Sani Pass is a mountain pass in Mokhotlong, Lesotho, Africa. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Mountain pass Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Astrid Lindgren • Broadband Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:07, 25 April 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Churaman Ahir is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Churaman Ahir until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article.

RuudVanClerk ( talk) 14:11, 28 April 2022 (UTC)

A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Food court Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Mountain pass • Astrid Lindgren Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:06, 2 May 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Soil profile: Darkened topsoil and reddish subsoil layers are typical of humid subtropical climate regions. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Soil Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Food court • Mountain pass Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:07, 9 May 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

A 500 dollar cheque of the Lithuanian Trade and Industry Bank with Vytis, circa 1920–1922 Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Cheque Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Soil • Food court Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:06, 16 May 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

A turkey in a field Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Turkey (bird) Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Cheque • Soil Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:09, 23 May 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Hello Mahensingha,

At the time of the last newsletter (No.26, September 2021), the backlog was 'only' just over 6,000 articles. In the past six months, the backlog has reached nearly 16,000, a staggering level not seen in several years. A very small number of users had been doing the vast majority of the reviews. Due to "burn-out", we have recently lost most of this effort. Furthermore, several reviewers have been stripped of the user right for abuse of privilege and the articles they patrolled were put back in the queue.

Several discussions on the state of the process have taken place on the talk page, but there has been no action to make any changes. The project also lacks coordination since the "position" is vacant.

In the last 30 days, only 100 reviewers have made more than 8 patrols and only 50 have averaged one review a day. There are currently 816 New Page Reviewers, but about a third have not had any activity in the past month. All 861 administrators have this permission, but only about a dozen significantly contribute to NPP.

This means we have an active pool of about 450 to address the backlog. We cannot rely on a few to do most of the work as that inevitably leads to burnout. A fairly experienced reviewer can usually do a review in a few minutes. If every active reviewer would patrol just one article per day, the backlog would very quickly disappear.

If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, do suggest they help the effort by placing {{subst:NPR invite}} on their talk page.

If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process and its software.

To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.
Sent 05:18, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 50, March – April 2022

• New library partner - SPIE
• 1Lib1Ref May 2022 underway

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --12:52, 1 June 2022 (UTC) (UTC)

Squash is a racket and ball sport played by two or four players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball. The players alternate in striking the ball with their rackets onto the playable surfaces of the four walls of the court. The objective of the game is to hit the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Squash (sport) Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Pop music • Turkey (bird) Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:08, 6 June 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Bulletproof glass window of a jeweler after a burglary attempt Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Bulletproofing Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Squash (sport) • Pop music Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 13 June 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Raw pork tenderloin Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Pork tenderloin Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Bulletproofing • Squash (sport) Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 20 June 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions

Hello Mahensingha,

Backlog status

At the time of the last newsletter (No.27, May 2022), the backlog was approaching 16,000, having shot up rapidly from 6,000 over the prior two months. The attention the newsletter brought to the backlog sparked a flurry of activity. There was new discussion on process improvements, efforts to invite new editors to participate in NPP increased and more editors requested the NPP user right so they could help, and most importantly, the number of reviews picked up and the backlog decreased, dipping below 14,000 ^[a] at the end of May.

Since then, the news has not been so good. The backlog is basically flat, hovering around 14,200. I wish I could report the number of reviews done and the number of new articles added to the queue. But the available statistics we have are woefully inadequate. The only real number we have is the net queue size. ^[b]

In the last 30 days, the top 100 reviewers have all made more than 16 patrols (up from 8 last month), and about 70 have averaged one review a day (up from 50 last month).

While there are more people doing more reviews, many of the ~730 with the NPP right are doing little. Most of the reviews are being done by the top 50 or 100 reviewers. They need your help. We appreciate every review done, but please aim to do one a day (on average, or 30 a month).

Backlog drive

A backlog reduction drive, coordinated by buidhe and Zippybonzo, will be held from July 1 to July 31. Sign up here. Barnstars will be awarded.

TIP – New school articles

Many new articles on schools are being created by new users in developing and/or non-English-speaking countries. The authors are probably not even aware of Wikipedia's projects and policy pages. WP:WPSCH/AG has some excellent advice and resources specifically written for these users. Reviewers could consider providing such first-time article creators with a link to it while also mentioning that not all schools pass the GNG and that elementary schools are almost certainly not notable.

Misc

There is a new template available, {{ NPP backlog}}, to show the current backlog. You can place it on your user or talk page as a reminder:

Very high unreviewed pages backlog: 14682 articles, as of 06:00, 25 April 2024 (UTC), according to DatBot

There has been significant discussion at WP:VPP recently on NPP-related matters (Draftification, Deletion, Notability, Verifiability, Burden). Proposals that would somewhat ease the burden on NPP aren't gaining much traction, although there are suggestions that the role of NPP be fundamentally changed to focus only on major CSD-type issues.

Reminders

• Consider staying informed on project issues by putting the project discussion page on your watchlist.
• If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, suggest they help the effort by placing {{subst:NPR invite}} on their talk page.
• If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process and its software.
• To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

Notes

1. ^ not including another ~6,000 redirects
2. ^ The number of weekly reviews reported in the NPP feed includes redirects, which are not included in the backlog we primarily track.

MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 10:01, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

These flaming cocktails illustrate that some liquors can readily catch fire and burn. Hello, Mahensingha. The article for improvement of the week is: Liquor Please be bold and help improve it! Previous selections: Pork tenderloin • Bulletproofing Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations Posted by: MusikBot talk 00:05, 27 June 2022 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions