Our goal is to achieve good article status or better for all Vital articles by 2030.
When this WikiProject was revived in July 2022, there were 199 articles that achieved this status. Right now, 193 out of 998 are currently good or featured articles.
Please do edit this page! Visual editor link
Ask yourselves: why didn't you look up Wikipedia's articles about economy, Dmitri Mendeleev, man, or land even though you know little about them? Simple, because they suck. Millions of people feel the same way too. This is not acceptable on our side and this must be changed by making these articles good.
As for the ambitious timeline, it has to be. Making a goal too far into the future encourages people to become sluggish. Because the Wikipedia community has proved themselves capable of doing great things, this is a goal that is attainable. Wikipedia as a whole is not finished – we've only just taken a small step in a vast sea of knowledge.
Subpages
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Vital Articles/Tools - technical how-to on how to use tools and scripts
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Vital Articles/LLMs - LLMs for large language models
Past work
- 30 kB drive
- 47 articles expanded to 30 kilobytes; 26 July 2022 – 31 August 2022
- Vital GA Drive
- Land to good article status, unsuccessful; 1 September – 15 November 2022
Function
This WikiProject is designed to be a public space that has neat stuff to do or learn about, and to serve as a place where you sit down, relax, and make edits or discuss with others. Its purpose is to improve the Vitals articles and lists. We always welcome anonymous and new people here (and if you are one of them, have a chat at the talk page!)
There is no such thing as "joining" or "registering" for this WikiProject, as it is an overarching project that aims to gather other WikiProjects together for collaboration. If you're actively improving vital articles, you're already a member of this WikiProject. If you want to find people that are working on Vital articles, use this link to find recent edits and talk to them directly.
Tasks
- Wikipedia:Database reports/Vital articles update report
- Backlog!Unassessed vital articles – 174 articles in total
- No backlogVital articles with unknown topic – 0 articles in total
Improving a Vital article
While we might not know the exact formula for mass-produce Vital GAs, we do know ways to tackle and improve these kind of articles. Here are some techniques that you can use:
- Don't be afraid to try and don't be a perfectionist. Yes, that paragraph that you just wrote might not be there once the article is at GAN, but it will be an important stepping stone for recognizing further improvement. As long as your own content is significantly better and more reliable than the rest of the article, you've done a good job.
- Be concise and keep the summary style in mind. An article should not be too long or else the readers will become dizzy (~60 kB of readable prose is the ideal size). Pro tip: one of the best way to quickly raise article quality is to trim bad content, such as cruft, unsourced sections, original research, etc.
- Be mindful of systematic bias. For vital articles specifically, the most commonly encountered bias is American-European bias. For example, there's a tendency of using European allegories or paintings to illustrate abstract ideas. Don't just swap these images for the sake of diversity however. Remember, the best images are the one that is relevant, high-resolution, sharp, shows the subject clearly in the small thumbnail and is applicable to all cultures.
- Patrol sources and ensure their quality. If you find a low-quality source, either replace it with higher-quality ones or jank the content if it doesn't warrant inclusion in the first place. The WP:RSP list, User:SuperHamster/CiteUnseen and User:Headbomb/unreliable are some of the best tools available to detect bad sources, though remember to use your own judgement as well.
- Copyedit the text and make sure that the text looks more Wikipedia-like. If in doubt, take a look at Wikipedia:Basic copyediting, Wikipedia:Writing better articles, WP:Manual of Style and more.
If you had completed all of these basic techniques, here are some of the more specialized yet powerful ways that you can improve Vital articles. Enjoy these dishes with extra Wikipedia:Ignore all rules and common sense:
- Use the bold, revert, discuss cycle to garner attention and quickly adding improvements the (old) Wikipedia way. This method is especially useful for editing popular country articles provided that you're prepared. Just make an edit that you think it would improve the article, the edit then gets reverted, and both people discuss to reach a better solution.
- Use AutoWikiBrowser and other automated tools to quickly correct errors in many Vital articles. For example, you can use AWB to monitor typos and fix them accordingly. Detailed instructions for some tools such as WP:PetScan and user scripts can be obtained at Wikipedia:WikiProject Vital Articles/Tools.
- Import good content from subtopic articles. For example, in a section about the properties of numbers, it may be helpful to get the content from smaller scope articles such as natural numbers. However, you will need to attribute the source per Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia and can be pretty tedious when messing with the template. An IAR and simpler way might be to make a talk page section and list all of your articles that you've copied, including their oldid.
- And perhaps, the most spicy of 'em all is using large language models such as ChatGPT, GPT-3, etc. for brainstorming ideas on Wikipedia. These neural networks as of 2023 are one of the most powerful tool to face the writer's block and give clues at expanding broad-topic articles, and they have the potential to do far more in the future. It should NOT, however, be used to generate original content because of original research and verifiability policy. For tips on using large language models, see Wikipedia:Using neural network language models on Wikipedia and Wikipedia:Large language models.
Awards
We have a good roster of awards given to those that help us advance the goal to make all Vital Articles GAs and FAs. These awards may be awarded by anyone to anyone worthy.
Barnstars
- {{Vital Barnstar}} – good old barnstar, given to those that have done a good job.
Vital Barnstar | ||
{{{1}}} |
Userboxes
- {{User Vital}} – for members of the project.
This user is interested at improving vital articles. |
- {{Vital userbox}} – good old userbox, given to those that have done a good job.
This user has received a Vital barnstar. |
- {{Good Vital infobox}} – Userbox for those that have successfully nominated a Vital good article.
This user has helped promote vital good articles on Wikipedia. |
- {{Featured Vital infobox}} – Userbox for those that have successfully nominated a Vital featured article.
This user has helped promote vital featured articles on Wikipedia. |
Assessment
For mobile readers, you can click here to switch to desktop mode to read the table more easily. This Vital article assessment scheme is meant to be subjective and complementary to Wikipedia:Content assessment.
Dashboard
Today's featured articles
- 18 Feb 2023 – Back to the Future (talk · · hist) will be Today's Featured Article; see blurb
Today's featured article requests
- 07 Apr 2023 – Beaver (talk · · hist) has been proposed for Today's Featured Article by LittleJerry (t · c); see discussion
Did you know
- 08 Feb 2023 – Muhammad al-Jawad (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Onegreatjoke (t · c); see discussion
- 28 Jan 2023 – New York Yankees (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by LuK3 (t · c); see discussion
- 14 Jan 2023 – Bronisław Malinowski (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Piotrus (t · c); see discussion
Articles for deletion
- 24 Jan 2023 – Eddie Torres (talk · · hist) was AfDed by JeffUK (t · c); see discussion (2 participants; relisted)
- 27 Jan 2023 – Hope (dolphin) (talk · · hist) AfDed by Clarityfiend (t · c) was closed as redirect by Liz (t · c) on 10 Feb 2023; see discussion (4 participants; relisted)
Redirects for discussion
- 10 Feb 2023 – Human goat sexual intercourse (talk · · hist) →Zoophilia was RfDed by Liz (t · c); see discussion
- 10 Feb 2023 – Metal Masters Tour (talk · · hist) →Judas Priest was RfDed by 2600:1700:9BF3:220:8CA6:EC32:D6DE:D5E (t · c); see discussion
- 10 Feb 2023 – Hans "Long John" Zimmer (talk · · hist) →Hans Zimmer was RfDed by TNstingray (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Wagner (talk · · hist) →Richard Wagner was RfDed by Mirrortemplar (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Oiled (road) (talk · · hist) →Asphalt concrete was RfDed by Steel1943 (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Second woe (talk · · hist) →Book of Revelation was RfDed by Veverve (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – First woe (talk · · hist) →Book of Revelation was RfDed by Veverve (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – The Revelation of Jesus Christ (talk · · hist) →Book of Revelation was RfDed by Veverve (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Revelation of Christ (talk · · hist) →Book of Revelation was RfDed by Veverve (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – First imperialist war (talk · · hist) →World War I was RfDed by An anonymous username, not my real name (t · c); see discussion
- (43 more...)
Files for discussion
- 05 Feb 2023 – File:Woodstock poster.jpg (talk · · hist) (on Woodstock) was FfDed by King of Hearts (t · c); see discussion
Featured article candidates
- 03 Feb 2023 – Barry Sanders (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by NSNW (t · c); see discussion
- 31 Jan 2023 – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by Darkwarriorblake (t · c); see discussion
- 24 Jan 2023 – Frilled lizard (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by LittleJerry (t · c); see discussion
- 23 Jan 2023 – Ayn Rand (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by RL0919 (t · c); see discussion
- 18 Jan 2023 – Alexis Soyer (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by Tim riley (t · c); see discussion
- 15 Jan 2023 – Diprotodon (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by Dunkleosteus77 (t · c); see discussion
- 02 Jan 2023 – Edward I of England (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by Unlimitedlead (t · c); see discussion
- 29 Dec 2022 – Angela Lansbury (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by Midnightblueowl (t · c); see discussion
- 04 Feb 2023 – Wikipedia (talk · · hist) FA nominated by MyCatIsAChonk (t · c) was not promoted; see discussion
A-Class review
- undated – Diadumenian (talk · · hist) was put up for A-Class review
Good article nominees
- 07 Feb 2023 – TRAPPIST-1 (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Jo-Jo Eumerus (t · c); start
- 03 Feb 2023 – Vanadium (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Praseodymium-141 (t · c); start
- 02 Feb 2023 – Susan B. Anthony (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Bilpen (t · c); start
- 27 Jan 2023 – Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (video game) (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by AdoTang (t · c); start
- 26 Jan 2023 – Gaetano Bresci (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Grnrchst (t · c); start
- 26 Jan 2023 – Lizzie McGuire (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by SatDis (t · c); start
- 23 Jan 2023 – Harrison Schmitt (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by QuicksmartTortoise513 (t · c); start
- 21 Jan 2023 – The Firebird (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by MyCatIsAChonk (t · c); start
- 18 Jan 2023 – L. Ron Hubbard (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Feoffer (t · c); start
- 11 Jan 2023 – The Exorcist (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Daniel Case (t · c); start
- (33 more...)
Featured article reviews
- 05 Feb 2023 – Redwood National and State Parks (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by George Ho (t · c); see discussion
- 05 Feb 2023 – Panic of 1907 (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by Buidhe (t · c); see discussion
- 05 Feb 2023 – Yellowstone National Park (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by Hog Farm (t · c); see discussion
- 30 Jan 2023 – Uranium (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by Hog Farm (t · c); see discussion
- 24 Jan 2023 – Psilocybin (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by DigitalIceAge (t · c); see discussion
- 21 Jan 2023 – George F. Kennan (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by SandyGeorgia (t · c); see discussion
- 07 Jan 2023 – Inner German border (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by Buidhe (t · c); see discussion
- 18 Dec 2022 – Diocletian (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by SandyGeorgia (t · c); see discussion
- 18 Dec 2022 – Tulip mania (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by Z1720 (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Nov 2022 – Lung cancer (talk · · hist) was put up for FA review by Buidhe (t · c); see discussion
- (6 more...)
Featured topic removal candidates
- 29 Jan 2023 – Noble gas (talk · · hist) FT removal nominated by Praseodymium-141 (t · c) was closed; see discussion
Good article reassessments
- 10 Feb 2023 – Albany, New York (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Femke (alt) (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Lipid (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Onegreatjoke (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Antibody (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Onegreatjoke (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Norman Finkelstein (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Femke (t · c); see discussion
- 08 Feb 2023 – Amino acid (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Onegreatjoke (t · c); see discussion
- 08 Feb 2023 – East Riding of Yorkshire (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Femke (t · c); see discussion
- 07 Feb 2023 – X-ray crystallography (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Onegreatjoke (t · c); see discussion
- 07 Feb 2023 – Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Onegreatjoke (t · c); see discussion
- 07 Feb 2023 – Atomic theory (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Onegreatjoke (t · c); see discussion
- 06 Feb 2023 – Universe (talk · · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Artem.G (t · c); see discussion
- (17 more...)
Requests for comments
- 09 Feb 2023 – 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine (talk · · hist) has an RfC by HappyWithWhatYouHaveToBeHappyWith (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Byzantine Empire (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Eliasbizannes (t · c); see discussion
- 03 Feb 2023 – Muhammad of Ghor (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Mydust (t · c); see discussion
- 02 Feb 2023 – Constitution of the United States (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Freoh (t · c); see discussion
- 01 Feb 2023 – Kim Kardashian (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Throast (t · c); see discussion
- 31 Jan 2023 – Circumcision (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Neveselbert (t · c); see discussion
- 30 Jan 2023 – Franz Schubert (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Smerus (t · c); see discussion
- 26 Jan 2023 – Billie Eilish (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Knightoftheswords281 (t · c); see discussion
- 26 Jan 2023 – Heat (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Cessaune (t · c); see discussion
- 25 Jan 2023 – Jenny Lind (talk · · hist) has an RfC by Zackmann08 (t · c); see discussion
- (9 more...)
Peer reviews
- 05 Feb 2023 – Wikipedia (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by MyCatIsAChonk (t · c); see discussion
- 21 Jan 2023 – Edgar, King of England (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Dudley Miles (t · c); see discussion
- 18 Jan 2023 – Animal (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by PrathuCoder (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Jan 2023 – Henry II of England (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Unlimitedlead (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Jan 2023 – Hatshepsut (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Gingermead (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Jan 2023 – Hair (musical) (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Jaydenwithay (t · c); see discussion
- 08 Jan 2023 – Hammurabi (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Gingermead (t · c); see discussion
- 23 Dec 2022 – Otto Klemperer (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Tim riley (t · c); see discussion
- 04 Nov 2022 – Efren Reyes (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Lee Vilenski (t · c); see discussion
- 29 Oct 2022 – Samarium (talk · · hist) has been put up for PR by Praseodymium-141 (t · c); see discussion
- (4 more...)
Requested moves
- 10 Feb 2023 – Georgia Tech (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to Georgia Institute of Technology by Cfls (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – 1900 Summer Olympics (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to 1900 Olympics by BilledMammal (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – 1904 Summer Olympics (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to 1904 Olympics by BilledMammal (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – 1908 Summer Olympics (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to 1908 Olympics by BilledMammal (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – 1912 Summer Olympics (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to 1912 Olympics by BilledMammal (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – 1920 Summer Olympics (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to 1920 Olympics by BilledMammal (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – 1896 Summer Olympics (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to 1896 Olympics by BilledMammal (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Maize (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to Corn by 108.4.251.123 (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Feb 2023 – Hypertext Transfer Protocol (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved to HTTP by Zerbu (t · c); see discussion
- 07 Feb 2023 – Classical radicalism (talk · · hist) is requested to be moved somewhere else by PhotographyEdits (t · c); see discussion
- (25 more...)
Articles to be merged
- 04 Feb 2023 – Constitution of the United Kingdom (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to United Kingdom constitutional law by Kaihsu (t · c); see discussion
- 20 Jan 2023 – Giant Void (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to List of largest cosmic structures by 4lepheus B4ron (t · c); see discussion
- 18 Jan 2023 – KBC Void (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to List of largest cosmic structures by 4lepheus B4ron (t · c); see discussion
- 15 Jan 2023 – Heraldry (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to Division of the field#Marshalling by W like wiki (t · c); see discussion
- 10 Jan 2023 – Russian colonization of North America (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to Russian America by Beland (t · c); see discussion
- 04 Jan 2023 – Urban renewal (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to #Controversy by Beland (t · c); see [[Talk:#Controversy|discussion]]
- 29 Dec 2022 – Pedro II of Brazil (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to Early life of Pedro II of Brazil by WikiCleanerMan (t · c); see discussion
- 28 Dec 2022 – Stream (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to Intermittent river by Marisauna (t · c); see discussion
- 28 Dec 2022 – Wadi (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to Intermittent river by Marisauna (t · c); see discussion
- 28 Dec 2022 – Arroyo (creek) (talk · · hist) is proposed for merging to Intermittent river by Marisauna (t · c); see discussion
- (25 more...)
Articles to be split
- 06 Feb 2023 – Huang Chao (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by Imcdc (t · c); see discussion
- 04 Feb 2023 – Julian Assange (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by NadVolum (t · c); see discussion
- 20 Jan 2023 – MTR (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by 61.244.93.97 (t · c); see discussion
- 14 Jan 2023 – Iran–United States relations (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by Vanserver (t · c); see discussion
- 06 Jan 2023 – Cybernetics (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by 2804:14C:183:8BED:A14B:1DDC:26F5:FE2 (t · c); see discussion
- 31 Dec 2022 – Phishing (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by Kjerish (t · c); see discussion
- 26 Dec 2022 – South Africa (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by HadesTTW (t · c); see discussion
- 24 Dec 2022 – Geography of South Korea (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by Piotrus (t · c); see discussion
- 14 Dec 2022 – Berbers (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by Blueshiftofdeath (t · c); see discussion
- 04 Dec 2022 – Wankel engine (talk · · hist) is proposed for splitting by Thumperward (t · c); see discussion
- (84 more...)
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See also
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Vital articles/Article alerts – specialized noticeboard for Vital articles
- File:Wikipedia’s poor treatment of its most important articles.pdf (2011)
- File:Fun or Functional? The Misalignment Between Content Quality and Popularity in Wikipedia (WMF Research Showcase 2015-09-16).pdf
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Vital Articles/Readability (2016)