User blog:K6ka/A call for copyeditors
A commonly discussed topic on the wiki is that we don't have enough editors expanding information on The Sims 4. While content expansion is important, so is maintaining our existing content as well.
I'm looking for users who are 1) competent in English; and 2) have an interest in helping to copyedit, or to make the content of articles "clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, and consistent; [to] make it say what it means, and mean what it says",[1] and to help with both copyediting new edits as they come through recent changes and for helping to clear out the growing backlog of articles at Category:Cleanup. Copyediting is an important process where we make improvements to our existing content to ensure that our articles are 1) written in the manner expected of in an encyclopedia; 2) is free of spelling and grammatical errors; 3) flows well so that it's easy to read; and 4) is "clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, and consistent."
Copyediting is something that doesn't get much attention on The Sims Wiki, I feel, and I think we focus too much on trying to expand content rather than trying to maintain the quality of our articles, which is also important. Ideally we should strive to get both together at the same time. The great thing about copyediting is that you don't need to own the games to help out; this means that people who don't own The Sims 4 can still help with the copyediting of TS4-related articles (and they should!).
If you're interested in helping out, there are a number of ways you can pitch in to help maintain or improve the quality of the wiki:
- Patrol Special:RecentChanges and copyedit new, incoming edits made to the wiki that need it.
- Go through Category:Cleanup and Category:Articles needing improvement to copyedit articles that have been tagged with {{Cleanup}}. A large quantity of articles that have been given the Cleanup tag are articles that need copyediting, so your help is needed there!
- Just start browsing the wiki! Pick a random page and start perusing, seeing how you can improve the readability and the flow of articles in small or significant ways. Every bit helps!
I understand the importance of content creation and expansion, but we shouldn't forget about our existing content as well, and we definitely should never forget about the quality of how our information is presented. Our articles should have, at the very least, proper grammar, and they should be easy to read and flow well. Copyediting can be tedious work—and make no mistake, it can be frustrating sometimes too, especially if the workload is great—but it's important, and the more people we have helping out, the better.