Wikipedia talk:The 50,000 Destubbing Challenge

It would probably be more ideal to set a 10,000 target but given that we have over 2 million stubs, 50,000 really doesn't seem that large a figure! I think it would be a fanastic achievement to eventually see 50,000 stubs improved on one list!♦ Dr. Blofeld 15:06, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Formatting suggestions

Perhaps we should take a page from the U.S. version and put flags before the articles to make things easier to see. Also, are we allowed to add retroactive de-stubbed articles from earlier this year? SounderBruce 19:44, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Good idea @SounderBruce:, I don't want to be the one to reformat though haha! Yes let's include everything done for the challenges in January, February and March 2020 which is a destub, make it a 2020 onwards thing.† Encyclopædius 20:07, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

@SounderBruce: For this list I really think it looks better with the article first and the country name afterwards.† Encyclopædius 12:30, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Creation of nation subpages?

Are there plans to kick off sub-campaigns for specific nations? I see a few redlinks. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 15:45, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

Not sub challenges but I was thinking of running more contests over the next few years. The red links are potential contests for different regions or countries which might have enough editors to make it worthwhile. I think we need a long term destubbing challenge as a lot of editors only tend to create articles when we've got a few million articles needing sorting out. Getting editors to contribute at the moment though is the problem with the current crisis.† Encyclopædius 16:42, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

Destub experts

I can't find even a single (non wiki-mirror) reference to Bishriyata. Anyone with Lebanese resources have anything? All the best: Rich Farmbrough (the apparently calm and reasonable) 12:48, 12 April 2020 (UTC).

Little queries

• 1) Okay I do have a question about the week of Europe. Do countries who have land and areas outside Europe count as part of Europe? Countries like Portugal, Spain, France, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark have overseas territories. Only Denmark's outside European territory Greenland is included in the list. Does that mean they are included in the week?
• 2) Some countries are transcontinental in Europe like Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazachstan (and some count Greece too). Does that mean we should only destub areas who are within Europe or could we destub topics outside Europe but they're still related to a Europian country too? An example is the "Tom River" which is within Russia but is also in Asia?
• 3) Because Cyprus is technically in Asia but because of cultural reasons it is included in the week of Europe, shouldn't we add Armenia because of cultural reasons too?
• 4) Should border disputes between a country outside Europe and a European be induced too? Like for instead with Melilla and Ceuta in Africa between Spain and Marocco?
• 5) If you want to add a former stub but it is related to the Isle of Man for instead does that mean it should be added in a separated section or would it be merged with its country section in this case with the UK? The areas which I include and are a separate country or autonomy within their country are: Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey (all of them are British), Mount Athos (Greek), Åland Islands (Finland) and the Faroe Islands in Denmark but that's already included.
• 6) Are European countries' stubs about the European countries' claims in Antarctica also included even though it's by no one recognised?
• 7) What are the statuses of Svalbard and Jan Mayen?
• 8) Kosovo is included in the list (which is a not recognised country by some) does that mean this list should also include Donetsk People's Republic, Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia, Republic of Artsakh and Transnistria some of them have barely recognition by a country. But all of them are recognised by at least one UN member or by themselves. They even have a separate WikiProject called WikiProject Limited recognition. So should they include in their own sections or in their international recognised country's section?
• 9) And as of last, I don't think the Central African Republic, Cameroon and South Sudan are considered West or North African countries?

Those are my questions. I've also added some countries who weren't in the week of Europe list. Cheers. CPA-5 (talk) 14:06, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

Cyprus and Turkey are Europe. Armenia in my opinion is Asia. Svalbard and Jan Mayen are Europe. Overseas territories near other continents are not Europe. Yes, includes the dodgy self-claiming countries. The African one I have a cut off point it's a little over half the continent but I want to include those countries even if there's not considered Northern Africa.† Encyclopædius 18:54, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

Prizes approved

WMUK have kindly approved the prize fund for this. We need to publicize it now and get more people on board!† Encyclopædius 18:55, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

Revision

If there's no objection I'm going to scrap focus of the week and give the following prizes. I don't think a weekly focus is going to work well in the current situation, 12 weeks with a set goal is a bit daunting. Articles done already in the last 3 days can count towards this. Everybody has three months still. Keep it open and easy going. If we could get a prize for most countries covered that would be good.† Encyclopædius 08:15, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

• £25 - England
• £25 - Wales
• £25 - Scotland
• £25 - Ireland/N. Ireland
• £25 - Europe
• £25 - Africa
• £25 - Asia
• £25 - Latin America/Caribbean
• £25 - North America
• £25 - Oceania

I agree with this; from a personal perspective it will give me much more time to work on "my" geographic area rather than worrying about fitting it all into this first 10 days. Having until the end of July to work on it gives me an achievable target of trying to destub/correctly classify all suburbs and areas of Brighton and Hove – some of which are in a horrendous state (the articles, not the suburbs!). Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 22:28, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

WikiAwards

The Destub Barnstar

I'm a vain person, and I'm sure many of you also like fake internet awards. Do we have anything for this already? Would I be allowed to make a few for bringing articles up to a specific ranking? i.e. Stub to C class. puggo (talk) 22:01, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

@Bug2266: Your post prompted me to create the image on the right. The Squirrel Conspiracy (talk) 02:15, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Oh no, now I want to make a gif out of that. The star filling up? Kingsif (talk) 16:04, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Hey hey, that's pretty good! I was thinking of something where each point on the star is an article ranking (excluding A-class and FA because they just seems unlikely). I hope we can put these to good use somewhere, somehow. puggo (talk) 18:00, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Bug2266, I'm also working on a barnstar based on the Stub Barnstar, here. Eumat114 formerly TLOM (Message) 05:16, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

By the way what tool can I use to make better images? I'm going to ask at the Ref Desk. Eumat114 formerly TLOM (Message) 05:18, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

Sourcing requirements

The requirements state "Please try to source every claim, no unsourced paragraphs. Try to write a minimum of 1.2 kb of readable prose (not including lists), but aim for no less 1.5 kb unless you genuinely can't find enough material." Unaware of this challenge, I coincidentally destubbed numerous municipality and other community articles by adding sourced content. Pre-existing content that was unsourced was not necessarily sourced over the process. So does "... source every claim, no unsourced paragraphs" apply to only the newly contributed content to enable destubbing, or does it apply to the article as a whole (pre-existing content + new content)? Cheers, Hwy43 (talk) 01:55, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Yes, if there are claims in the article not supported by citations it should really be removed until it can be verified, but I'm being very lenient in running this and won't pick on articles too much in deciding the prize winners. You look like you're generally doing a good job though and I appreciate the work you're doing but do try to follow the guidelines if you can, thanks. † Encyclopædius 20:30, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

2 weeks to go for the Summer Challenge

1964 articles to date, considering the troubling times of the last few months nearly 2000 articles in a few months is a great achievement I think and I'm sure WMUK will also be pleased. Love seeing the wide range of world flags coming in. † Encyclopædius 20:35, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Prizes

Thank you to everybody who participated in the Summer Challenge. I will sort out the prize winners within the next few days. Some of them were hotly contested nearer the end! The challenge continues anyway, I hope some of the contestants who didn't contribute before will still continue to create here, though breaks are very well deserved now!† Encyclopædius 13:05, 2 August 2020 (UTC)

Winners

• £25 - England - MauraWen
• £25 - Wales - Sturmvogel_66
• £25 - Scotland - Sturmvogel_66
• £25 - Ireland/N. Ireland - The C of E
• £25 - Europe - Sturmvogel_66
• £25 - Africa - Kingoflettuce
• £25 - Asia - Nehme1499
• £25 - Latin America/Caribbean - Cwmhiraeth
• £25 - North America - Penny Richards
• £25 - Oceania - SuperJew and Kingoflettuce

By amount won

• Sturmvogel_66 - £75
• King of Lettuce - £38.50
• MauraWen - £25
• The C of E - £25
• Cwmhiraeth - £25
• Nehme1499 - £25
• Penny Richards - £25
• SuperJew - £13.50

Congratulations to Sturmvogel 66 for winning the challenge with 3 regions and everybody else who contributed, particularly Vami and Quetzal out of those who didn't win prizes but deserved something for a very good effort. I will alert WMUK and see if they can sort out the prizes this week. Thanks! † Encyclopædius 17:22, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for organising this, was great fun. Thought I'd pipped SuperJew in Oceania--should have destubbed a couple more for insurance! Cheers Kingoflettuce (talk) 07:16, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Thanks again for running it! Northern Ireland really pulled through for me! The C of E God Save the Queen! (talk) 20:29, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Haha that was close in the end Kingoflettuce - I was sure I had a healthy enough lead on you :) Great work by everyone, and loved the close contests :) @Encyclopædius: I think it'd be worth pinging the users involved or writing on the talk page of the contest (I personally didn't see this message until now because I'm apparently only watching the contest sub-page). Thanks for all your efforts organising the contest! --SuperJew (talk) 20:23, 5 August 2020 (UTC)

Well done everyone! @Sturmvogel 66, KingofLettuce, MauraWen, The C of E, Penny Richards, and SuperJew: if you could email me at richard.nevellwikimedia.org.uk with the best email address to send your Amazon voucher to I'll take care of that. @Cwmhiraeth: I've got your email address from a previous contest, would that still be the best address to send your prize to? Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 09:05, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Thank you. That will be fine for me. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 09:12, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

I sent you Richard Nevell (WMUK) an email :) --SuperJew (talk) 10:38, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

@Kingoflettuce: The message above applies to you, but I put a capital at the wrong place in your username so it won't have gone through! Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 09:06, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

All sorted I gather?† Encyclopædius 10:34, 9 September 2020 (UTC)

Stub improvement drive

WikiProject Stub improvement is holding its first week-long drive to improve stubs in selected topics. It directs participants to list their successes here as well as on the drive page. This week's drive is about women's history, so it could also help with the goal of destubbing women's biographies. Editors who contribute here are invited to join in. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 19:39, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

@Thebiguglyalien Thank you for flagging it! It sounds like a great idea, considering that the challenge likely needs a further boost...

On a side note, will each category be selected randomly, or will we decide which one should get the nod? Oltrepier (talk) 20:04, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

I picked the first two just based on what I think might get the most contributors, based on what can reach the most active WikiProjects. I haven't planned it out much farther than that yet, as it really depends on how active it ends up being. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 20:12, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

@Thebiguglyalien Fair enough. By the way, have you already thought about promoting this week's drive at the "Women in Red" project's area? You should get a good amount of interest over there, as well! Oltrepier (talk) 20:15, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

I left notices at WikiProject Women and WikiProject Women's History. I wasn't sure if Women in Red was applicable, because they're about creating articles (and I assume there's significant overlap between these projects' memberships anyway). Thebiguglyalien (talk) 20:19, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

Adelino

I got the footballer Adelino up to date, but as there's not a lot about him, I don't know if I can de-stub it? I would use the tool that checks the size of prose but I don't fully understand how to use it, I'm sorry to say. Is it a stub or can I destub it? Thanks :) RossEvans18 (talk) 02:58, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Consistency, please

Why is this page stylized so much more differently from the other challenge pages. Like, this page boldens it’s articles. This page uses en dashes instead of commas. This page resets every 1000, the US 50000 resets every 500. This page has a seperate list for women destubs, for some reason, just combine it or make a seperate article.

I’m just wanting similarity between the challenge pages, please. Roasted (talk) 02:44, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

I prefer this format to the other lists and argue that they are the ones which should be reformatted like this. Feel free to reformat the other lists. Please leave the women's list alone, there are several reasons why we're maintaining a separate list. All the entries can also be put in the main list anyway. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 15:51, 17 March 2024 (UTC)