| content | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
This is a WikiProject, a collaboration area and open group of editors dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of a particular topic, or to organizing some internal Wikipedia process. Please see the Guide to WikiProjects and the Directory of WikiProjects for more information. |
Contents |
Introduction
This project is looking at methods of transforming red links (links to articles that do not exist - like this one) into blue ones - links to articles that do exist. See Wikipedia:Red link.
It will look at all methods of transforming red links into blue ones, including but not limited to:
- Creating missing articles or redirects for which many red links exist
- Automatically suggesting alternate targets for red links
- Identifying and removing red links to topics for which no article will ever exist
In order to help people find this project, consider using an edit summary like the following: link repair ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Red Link Recovery|You can help!]])
In addition to fixing red links by altering the article in which the link appears, it is often worthwhile to make a redirect from the old target to the new target in case anyone makes the same mistake again.
Status
New reports being generated from 2nd August 2007 database dump - TB 20:17, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
To do
Current lists of things to fix are:
| Category | Last updated | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diacritic suggestions | 2008-05-24 | Recently updated | Suggestions for turning red links blue by changing diacritics |
| Punctuation suggestions | 2008-05-24 | Recently updated | Suggestions for turning red links blue by altering punctuation |
| Capitalisation suggestions | 2008-05-24 | Recently updated | Suggestions for turning red links blue by changing the case of letters |
| Unwanted articles | 2007-09-08 | Ongoing | Articles that have been deleted but still have many incoming links |
| Unlikely links | 2008-08-11 | Completed | Red links to topics that are unlikely ever to exist |
| Repeated letter suggestions | 2008-08-03 | Completed | Suggestions for turning red links blue by changing repeated letters |
| Initialisation suggestions | 2008-05-24 | Completed | Make red links blue by using middle names or just their initials |
| Sounds-like suggestions | 2007-09-08 | Completed | Suggestions for turning red links blue by replacing similar sounds |
| Vowel transposition suggestions | 2006-07-28 | Completed | Turn red links blue by transposing vowel combinations |
| Numeric suggestions | 2005-06-30 | Completed | Turn red links blue by changing numbers to words or vice versa |
| Pluralisation suggestions | 2005-06-23 | Completed | Suggestions for turning red links blue by making words plural |
Related
- Most red links - Articles containing the greatest number of red links. Updated 5th July 2007
- Wikipedia:Most wanted articles - The most common targets of red links. Updated most recently from 2007-09-08 database dump.
- Category:Red list
- Wikipedia:Requested articles
- Wikipedia:Dead external links - A project of similar scope, but for external links as opposed to internal links
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Database analysis
Participants
The list of past and present participants in this project can be found here. Add your name to the list if you consider reducing the number of red links in Wikipedia a useful task.
Userbox
I've made this userbox. Feel free to use it!
{{User:JackSparrow Ninja/Userboxes/User Redlinkrecoveryteam}}
 |
This user is part of the WikiProject Red Link Recovery. |
Scripts and tools
- The exception list - this is a list of previous suggestions that project members have marked up as incorrect. Suggestions on the list won't be made again.
- The script used to generate lists of suggested corrections for red links
- Random additional SQL scraps used in/by this project.
- Hint: Where there is a suggestion, and it's hard to spot because the relevant page has lots of Red Links, try using Find in this page (from the Edit menu in your browser or by pressing ctrl F) to find a keyword. thisisace 22:21, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
General strategy and discussion forums
Stats
The first iteration of this project (in mid-2005) succeeded in 'fixing' over 50,000 red links. While this is a vanishingly small proportion of the red links in the whole of wikipedia, this nevertheless represents 50,000 improvements in nearly as many wikipedia articles. Additionally, a lot has been learned, particularly about the sorts of typos, assumptions and mental farts in general that lead people to add red links to articles that needn't be. A list of 5000 or so 'false positives' (that is, suggested alternate targets for red links that were not correct) have been collected and are available to 'fine tune' the next iteration of the project.
Iteration 2 began in mid-2006 and resurrected the most successful mechanisms for detecting 'easily fixable' red links and introduced a few new ones. Many more suggestions were created (about 95,000 in total). Thankfully many new faces joined the project to help work through them - thanks to you all, you know who you are! The average quality of suggested fixes was higher than in phase one (9.3% false-positive compared to 10.1% last time around).
Iteration 3 was started in mid-2007 tackling over 140,000 new and existing red links. While the lists are completed, the stats for this are not yet compiled - watch this space.
Iteration4 of the red link recovery project is now underway.
Templates
- Template:WikiProject Red Link Recovery/List handling instructions
- Template:WikiProject Red Link Recovery/List handling instructions (non-suggestion)
