De-orphaning articles—a huge task but with a huge team of volunteers to help

Have you ever come across an orphaned article (an article with no links to it) on Wikipedia, and decided to add some incoming links to it and make the world a little bit better? There's a massive backlog of over 123,500 articles needing this treatment. Even if you don't do this very often, there is a project to help. The subject of the report for this week is WikiProject Orphanage, an organised group of editors dedicated to clearing that backlog. Of course, there is no real way of measuring this project's success; we can't count Featured articles, editor participation, or tell how much of any reduction in the backlog was due to these editors. There's not really very much more I can say about them at this point, so we had an interview to find out more. Here to talk us through it are PaintedCarpet, MrLinkinPark333 and Otr500.

What motivated you to join the project?

PaintedCarpet: Linking orphaned pages was a good way for me as a new editor to get used to the workings of Wikipedia.

MrLinkinPark333: I like going through the backlog of things to be done. Joining WikiProject Orphanage is a simple, and sometimes challenging, way to help.

Otr500: I joined because I saw (Dec. 2010) there was a need to address a problem of related articles not being linked. I have not been as active as I would like but I was invited to participate in a backlog drive. It is certainly a challenge that any new editor should consider. I actually received my first and so far only Barnstar that was a Barnstar for de-orphaning articles. That was a nice bonus.

Can you explain precisely what this project does and its scope?

PaintedCarpet: WikiProject Orphanage aims to connect all Wikipedia pages, so that pages can be found and read more easily.

MrLinkinPark333: The project aims to link related pages that haven't been connected to each other.

Otr500: This WikiProject helps link related articles and in research this is important. It is also important to the average reader to be able to find the ladder (up or down) to other articles.

Does WikiProject Orphanage collaborate with any other projects?

PaintedCarpet: I use it in conjunction with WikiProject Islands. For example, recently WP:ISLANDS deorphaned every island listed on its cleanup page.

MrLinkinPark333: Some of the WikiProjects I work with intersect with orphaned pages. For example, if I am working with Wikiproject Stub Sorting, I can stumble upon a orphaned page that needs to be worked on.

Otr500: Collaboration by association. I am not sure on direct collaboration. I work on stub articles also and run into a lot of tagged stubs and I always try to work linking into my edits.

How would you rate this project's success and participation?

PaintedCarpet: It's a Herculean task, especially since many new articles don't get linked right away. There's always a need for more help.

MrLinkinPark333: Over 100+ people are currently active in the WikiProject. This project is successful because [without] this project, these pages would still be orphaned.

Otr500: A whole lot of names were added since I joined and I like that. The more help the more can get done and that makes the project successful and improves Wikipedia.

What are WikiProject Orphanage's most pressing needs? How can a new contributor help today?

PaintedCarpet: I recommend checking out the cleanup listing of your favorite Wikiproject and see which of its articles are also listed as orphaned articles. In my case it narrowed my editing scope and made the task much smaller and easier to digest.

MrLinkinPark333: A new contributor can help by looking at the Orphaned articles category and focus on the older backlog, primarily from 2008-2011. The orphanage would benefit with created tools that would help deorphan articles more quickly.

Otr500: Hands down it is helping with the backlog. I have seen a lot of projects, that are to me less important than this one, gain great results from a diversity of editors.

Anything else you'd like to add?

PaintedCarpet: Deorphaning articles is fun; everyone should give it a try.

MrLinkinPark333: WikiProject Orphanage can be challenging, but it is a good way to help with the backlog. It's quick, easy, and fun to do.

Otr500: You don't have to be a new editor to help. This project can benefit from experienced editors as well as new editors with a drive to make a difference. It is an important project that enhances the Wikipedia experience. Give it a try and you might find it rewarding.

Gbawden: Page creators need to try link their new article to at least one page to better integrate the article. If your article is an orphan no-one is likely to see it!

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22 October 2014 (all comments)

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If we required all new articles to be created from a red link, there would be very few orphans in the first place. (Doesn't help the existing orphans, but can prevent making the problem worse). Kerry (talk) 10:28, 24 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Its a slippery slope. If we required all articles to have categories, we'd have less articles needing categories, etc.--Milowent • ^hasspoken 15:04, 24 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Scarily describing "a huge task" in the headline may be off-putting. While there are indeed a lot of such articles, de-orphaning a single article is a small task, and ideally suited to those with small amounts of free time, or those making tentative first contributions. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:43, 24 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you can always edit the title if you feel you want to - this is a wiki. Rcsprinter₁₂₃ (commune) @ 11:57, 24 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

We want people to read these articles too, i would have preferred "Project may be drowned by orphans unless you help now!!" but they didn't ask me. :-) --Milowent • ^hasspoken 15:04, 24 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Glad to read this report -- didn't even know about this worthy project!--Milowent • ^hasspoken 15:05, 24 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations, de-orphaners!

Historic footage of a distinguished de-orphaner accepting congratulations and zooming back to work.

Evidently, there is much, much more activity on this project than is apparent at first glance. In just one category alone, Category:Orphaned articles from February 2009, the month that articles were tagged by a bot, the backlog has been reduced by 90,000 articles !!! It was at 114,437 in 1 March 2009, and today, 26 October 2014, it's down to 24,940.

Congratulations, de-orphaners! -- Djembayz (talk) 21:49, 26 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]