The GA Cup is a competition designed to encourage Good Article Nomination (GAN) reviews and participation in Good Article Reassessments (GARs), by awarding barnstars and ribbons for certain numbers of reviews and an overall GA Cup for winning the competition. It combines features from the old GAN backlog elimination drives and the WikiCup. The competition has been moderately successful in reducing the GAN backlog, although it remains very high.
I recently returned to Wikipedia after being inactive essentially since 2012, and noticed the GA Cup while it was in the middle of the running of the second competition. Overall I thought it was a very good idea; however, a couple of points immediately struck me:
- If you weren't there for the start, you're out. This may seem obvious, but it means that new and returning users who notice or return in the middle of the competition are not encouraged to help reduce the GAN backlog since they can't get any award from the GA Cup.
- No further incentive for eliminated users. Because of the multi-round system where users are eliminated at each step, eliminated competitors no longer have any active incentive from the cup to review any further GANs.
- Inefficiencies due to pool groupings. A competitor more active than another might be eliminated simply because they happened to be randomly placed in a pool with many other active reviewers versus a less-active pool.
I believe with some restructuring, the GA Cup can better encourage potential reviewers, helping to permanently reduce the GAN backlog and therefore encourage editors to submit more articles to GAN. Here are my proposals:
GA Cup edit
The first steps:
- Eliminate rounds—change to one long competition where no one is eliminated.
- Eliminate pools—all participants are in a single group.
My proposal for the new competition would take place over a single, three-month long period. The competition would run seasonally, so for instance:
- Winter GA Cup: January–March
- Spring GA Cup: April–June
- Summer GA Cup: July–September
- Autumn GA Cup: October–December
Each seasonal cup would begin just as the last one ended. There would always be a GA Cup running. The three-month period allows reviewer to, for instance, take a multi-week vacation or go through exams and still be able to compete in the Cup.
We can design unique Cups for each of the seasons, for instance a snowflake for the Winter GA Cup, a flower for the Spring GA Cup, a sun for the Summer GA Cup, and a leaf for the Autumn GA Cup. I propose creating gold, silver, and bronze versions of the Cup to be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Barnstars can be awarded for achieving point milestones (such as 10 points, 25 points, 50 points, etc.). An unlimited number of barnstars can be given out, thus encouraging reviewers not in the running for the top three to keep reviewing.
The ultimate award for the top reviewers would be beyond the Cup...
GA Champions League edit
The GA Champions League would be the ultimate grouping of GA reviewers. After the first two seasonal GA Cups, the first GA Champions League will start parallel to the Cup.
There will be ten editors in the GA Champions League at all times (unless an editor resigns). The first Champions League will be populated by the following editors:
- The top three in the first two seasonal GA Cups. (6 total editors unless some place in multiple cups.)
- The top four (or more if necessary) GA reviewers between the first two seasonal GA Cups not in the top three of either competition.
These ten editors review on the same scoring system as the GA Cup and can earn the same barnstars. The Champions League would have separate awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place; Champions League editors are not in the GA Cup and cannot win the top three places.
After each GA Cup / GA Champions League season, there will be a system of promotion and relegation as follows:
- The top three editors in the GA Cup (winners of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards) are promoted to the GA Champions League.
- The bottom three editors of the GA Champions League are relegated to the GA Cup.
Advantages of the proposal edit
- Anyone can join at any time. While it might be hard to win the Cup if you joined the competition in the last month, you can still go for a barnstar! This is an advantage that the backlog elimination drives had over the current GA Cup.
- Users at all levels are encouraged to keep reviewing. Beginning reviewers, or reviewers without much time this quarter, can still go for a barnstar, or a higher tier barnstar. New top reviewers are encouraged to go for winning the GA Cup or for placing top three to make the Champions League. Champions League reviewers can go for the review championship, or can try to stay in the top 7 to avoid the drop. At all levels, everyone is encouraged to keep reviewing at all times.
- Long competition periods allow flexibility, while continuous competition keeps the focus on the backlog. The three-month long competition period allows participants the flexibility to participate when they can and not get overly disadvantaged by exams or vacations. The continuous competition means there is always an incentive to review a GAN or participate in a GAR, hopefully serving to permanently reduce the backlog.
Please, feel free to leave comments and suggestions on the talk page! –Grondemar 06:13, 9 December 2015 (UTC)