Wikipedia:WikiProject Hungary/Project organization

Dear Fellow Wikipedians,

I would like to invite you to re-organize and give a boost to the WikiProject Hungary. Having been editing Wikipedia for almost two years, it became obvious for me that although there are some editors who are determined to cover as much of the Hungarian related things as their time/knowledge allows, there is no organized, collaborative work and which slightly affects the effectiveness of the project. I started to tidy up the things a bit, assessing articles and adding project banners, however, I soon had to realize that the number of articles and their diversity prevent me to make a full job. I also had to witness that many of these articles are in quite bad condition, need cleanup, references, fixing MoS and so on. Here is a short draft with some quick stuffs how to improve the articles and make the project a lively and well-working machine.

Propositions

Task forces

Since everyone has its own topic of interest, in which s/he is quite good, it would make sense to divide the project to smaller parts to work more effectively. I quickly drawn up some possible task forces, focusing on the fact that the project is not too populous (yet) so in some occasion I pulled together more topics to create a larger group. Later of course they can be further divided if there are enough participants. I think about 5 members in a task force are just enough to launch it; once it is set up it will be easier to recruit others. If you would like to be part of a task force, please add your name below the proposed task force by typing # and three tildes (~~~). If you think there might be another work group, do not be shy to add yours to the list!

Arts, media and entertainment – to cover artists, entertainers and their works, movies, tv- and radio shows, press, etc.

Business and industry – to cover brands, companies and economy related articles

Geography

Madridista92 (talk)

History

Hungarian diaspora – to cover articles related to Hungarians (culture, heritage, identity, etc.) living outside the borders of Hungary. For further details see the task force draft.

Politics and law

Norden1990 (talk)

Religion

Science and education

KœrteFa {ταλκ}

Sports and games – For further details see the task force draft

Miscellaneous

Invite others

And I want you for the HU Project. Drop your weapons, grab your keyboard!

While the project definitely suffers from lack of members, there are many contributors who are close to it, they edit articles which are within the scope of WP HU, but they just simply do not get touched. Don't be afraid of dropping a few lines to a user who comes across the articles you watch and appears to be interested in Hungarian related stuffs. Some good words can make big things! In addition you can bring over your friends, colleagues, classmates, etc. for Wikipedia. Real life connections can even make easier to cover your common interest!

Set goals

This one applies for both the project and individuals. As of now, everyone goes in his/her own way and working beside the others not together with them. I think setting up common goals and using the power of collaborative work would ease the developement of the articles. A good idea might be to choose an article that is likely to become frequented and is attached to a recent event. This could have been in the past the Hungarian Revolution (50 yrs anniversary; 2006), Pécs (cultural capital of Europe; 2010), Franz Liszt (200th birthday, Liszt year; 2011). I don't know what's the big thing in this year, but let it know and go on to push it to GA level! I'm in it whatever it is. I'd also urge everyone to find his/her own interest in Wikipeda and create new articles that fits it, and improve the existing ones all the time, even only by a little at once. Fill the red links, make stubs. Don't just stick to your favourite few articles. Look for common points, ways to integrate your interest to the encylopedia. There's no more amazing moment, when your work get connected with other's, joins the blood circulation of Wikipedia and gives a much wider perspective for the topic you like.

Active care

It's about paying attention on pages appear in the recent articles section. I usually throw banners on the related new articles coming up this way and also correct the obvious mistakes. Sometimes I watchlist them as well, especially if some of them are in danger. My experience is that nobody cares about them too much and these articles remain in bad condition (ie tagged with wikify, cleanup tags) for a long time. Acknowledgement for Norden1990 who often fix the mistakes especially in politician/nobility bios! I think it's only a small job if one corrects these articles day by day but results a real improvement in the long way.

Also, I don't know how many of you use the project watchlist, but it would be preferable to take a look on it to see what's going on with the pages that are within the scope of WP HU, reverting vandalism, spotting determined users who would be welcomed in the project or just get a new impulse or direction, which way to futher develop the articles.

Probably here belongs the fact that a lot of articles are unassessed, which also could be improved. I tried my best but I'm kinda unfamiliar with some topic so experts' work would be welcomed in their specific area to add the correct class/importance levels.

Round table talks

Communicate. I don't know why the project went down (probably it wasn't a well functioning one in the past either), but the unwillingness of the users to cooperate might have a serious impact on it. In my opinion a continous talk would be great: asking for good sources, announcing if you've created a bigger article or made a serious expansion – others might check the factual accuracy, add relevant links/refereces, fix typos, etc. – or just simply share your experiences, an intersting thing you red. I can imagine to invite "outsiders" as well for asking tips (ones who helped articles to reach GA/FA level, members of the copyedit project, etc) and getting a guide to further revise the articles.

Cleanup

Almost half of the project's articles have some issues, which surely should be fixed. The cleanup listings is availabe in the bottom of this page, if someone has the nerves, go ahead! Just a little, always just a little.

Epilogue

That much at first. Most of these might be self-evident for experienced users, but could be helpful for contributors who are less familiar with the Wikipedia. If I missed a thing, left something unclarified or you just would like to have your say, go straight to the talk page! If you feel you have a good idea, simply list it here by keeping the structure and balance of the proposal. I only would like to ask to have positive approach and go for the goods. Leave the negative thoughts in front of your door. Building up the project is likely to be a slow process, but if we keep it improve step by step we can be a very fruitful community!