Wikipedia:WikiProject Unreferenced articles/Backlog drives/February 2024

The following event is now closed. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate talk page.

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Welcome to WikiProject Unreferenced Articles's February 2024 backlog drive! The referencing portion began on February 1 and ran until March 1, 23:59 UTC. At the start of the drive, there were 111,643 articles tagged as entirely without references on Wikipedia. At the end of the drive, there were 97,343, a net decrease of 14,300 articles.

There is a very simple way to improve Wikipedia: add at least one inline citation of a reliable source to any article tagged as lacking sources. Fewer unsourced articles means the quality of Wikipedia as a whole increases, accurate information becomes more reliable and transparent, and inaccurate information can be removed. (§ Detailed instructions).

To get through this backlog, which dates back to 2008, we need a lot of people to help with this monumental task. So leave your dent on the backlog today!

1 point was awarded for sourcing. Mass deletion or tag removals were strictly prohibited, and were subjected to disqualification.

If you need tips or guides, you can take a look at § Tips, the helpful guide at WP:CITE, or ask at the WikiProject's talk page. The drive began on February 1 and ran until March 1. To encourage additional reviews, the drive was extended for one week (March 1-8) as an additional review period. Only reviews were counted during this period.

1. 1 point for adding at least one inline citation from a reliable source to an unreferenced article, usually tagged with {{Unreferenced}} or {{BLP unsourced}}.
   • No points for simply listing references in a section.
   • To keep this drive focused, no points for adding additional citations to one article, though editors are encouraged to do so whenever possible.
   • Primary sources are permitted so long as they are only used to make straightforward, descriptive statements of facts. Please see WP:PRIMARY.
2. 0.5 points for reviewing submissions of the drive. See more at /Reviews.
   • The point is less because reviewing submissions is easier than finding reliable sources. Nevertheless, reviewers have an extremely important job of verifying submissions and require a high level of trust.
3. No points for deleting an article via AfD, PROD or blank and redirect.
   • Per this discussion, encouraging these actions would cause more heat than light and does not belong to the focus of the drive.
4. All citing contributions without [[WP:FEB24]] in the edit summary will not be counted.
   • If making multiple edits to an article, include FEB24 in only one edit summary.
   • If the editor forgets to put that summary, they may add it retroactively using a dummy edit.
5. Problematic behaviors are grounds towards disqualification and blocks. Examples are:
   • Spamming articles to AfD/PROD/blank and redirect
   • Mass-removal of {{Unreferenced}}
   • Adding fake references and content
   • Being disruptive by being uncivil, wikilawyering, etc.

Remember to tag your edit summary with [[WP:FEB24]], both to advertise the event and tally the points later using Edit Summary Search.

Find an article in Category:Articles lacking sources (Credits to User:Ajpolino and User:Ipigott).

• Go to the search bar and type [search term] incategory:"All articles lacking sources".
• Go to the search bar and type articletopic:[topic] incategory:"All articles lacking sources". The list of topics can be found at mw:Help:CirrusSearch/articletopic.
• Take a look at § Popular articles
• For WikiProjects, take a look at Bambot's WikiProject Cleanup Listings, click on your project's "by cat", then scroll down to "Cites no sources".
• Use WP:PetScan and find the intersection between "All articles lacking sources" and your category.

Then, find a reliable source. Look for reliable sources, see §§ Some tricks​ and Determining what sources are usable for tips.

If at least one reliable source is found:

• Cite it inline.
  • Please add all the needed author, title and date metadata (see WP:CITE).
  • For recent books, ISBN and page numbers are strongly recommended.
  • The inline citation should go after the period without a space, not before it:
• Add {{reflist}} and ==References== if none are present (see MOS:ORDER).
• Remove {{Unreferenced}} or {{BLP unsourced}} when you are finished adding citations.
• (recommended) Add {{More citations needed}} to large parts of the article or add {{cn}} to short chunks of text.
• Add an edit summary including: [[WP:FEB24]]

If no reliable source can found with the best of your effort, according to WP:BEFORE, there are a few options:

• PROD the article if it is obvious that the article should be deleted.
• AFD the article if it is not obvious that the article should be deleted.
• Merge discussion and redirect the article if the article has some useful content but it is not notable.
• Make a new thread at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Unreferenced articles if you are unsure.

Goal: Bring the backlog down to below 100,000. Achieved on February 22! At the end of the drive there were 97,343 articles left, which means that since the start of the drive we have removed unreferenced tags from 14,300 articles.

Progress Chart

Date	Participants	Articles	Change since previous day	Change since beginning
1 February 2024	241	111,643	—	—
2 February 2024	254	110,859	784	784
3 February 2024	261	109,820	1039	1823
4 February 2024	268	109,147	673	2496
5 February 2024	271	108,439	708	3204
6 February 2024	274	107,808	631	3835
7 February 2024	274	107,189	619	4454
8 February 2024	278	106,446	743	5197
9 February 2024	278	105,743	703	5900
10 February 2024	279	105,305	438	6338
11 February 2024	281	104,847	458	6796
12 February 2024	282	104,342	505	7301
13 February 2024	284	103,956	386	7687
14 February 2024	284	103,494	462	8149
15 February 2024	284	103,056	438	8587
16 February 2024	286	102,715	341	8928
17 February 2024	288	102,169	546	9474
18 February 2024	288	101,749	420	9894
19 February 2024	288	101,415	334	10228
20 February 2024	288	101,127	288	10516
21 February 2024	288	100,819	308	10824
22 February 2024	288	100,348	471	11295
23 February 2024	290	99,975	373	11668
24 February 2024	290	99,645	330	11998
25 February 2024	291	99,408	237	12235
26 February 2024	290	99,065	343	12578
27 February 2024	290	98,792	273	12851
28 February 2024	291	98,413	379	13230
29 February 2024	292	97,845	568	13798
1 March 2024	292	97,343	502	14300

• 1,000 articles reached – February 2, 2024.
• 2,000 articles reached – February 3, 2024.
• 3,000 articles reached – February 4, 2024.
• 4,000 articles reached – February 6, 2024.
• 5,000 articles reached – February 7, 2024.
• 6,000 articles reached – February 9, 2024.
• 7,000 articles reached – February 11, 2024.
• 8,000 articles reached – February 13, 2024.
• 9,000 articles reached – February 16, 2024.
• 10,000 articles reached – February 18, 2024.
• 11,000 articles reached – February 21, 2024.
• Goal reached – February 22, 2024.
• 12,000 articles reached – February 24, 2024.
• 13,000 articles reached – February 27, 2024.
• 14,000 articles reached – February 29, 2024.

Category:Articles lacking sources from April 2008 (Category does not exist or has been deleted due to completion of task.) Started at 1 February 2024 with 337 articles. 0 left.

337 / 337 (100%)

Category:Articles lacking sources from May 2008 (Category does not exist or has been deleted due to completion of task.) Started at 1 February 2024 with 283 articles. 0 left.

283 / 283 (100%)

Category:Articles lacking sources from June 2008 (Category does not exist or has been deleted due to completion of task.) Started at 10 February 2024 with 355 articles. 0 left.

355 / 355 (100%)

Category:Articles lacking sources from July 2008 (Category does not exist or has been deleted due to completion of task.) Started at 17 February 2024 with 241 articles. 0 left.

241 / 241 (100%)

Last updated March 08, 12:01 UTC.

User	Tally	References	Reviews	Total points
User:CactiStaccingCrane	Tally	12	0	12
User:DreamRimmer	Tally	0	0	0
User:Cremastra	Tally	16	0	16
User:Feralcateater000	Tally	77	0	77
User:Tails Wx	Tally	1	0	1
User:Lee Vilenski	Tally	13	0	13
User:Kj cheetham	Tally	7	0	7
User:ARandomName123	Tally	100	5.5	105.5
User:NightWolf1223	Tally	2	0	2
User:CrafterNova	Tally	0	0	0
User:AirshipJungleman29	Tally	7	0	7
User:Geni	Tally	8	0	8
User:PerfectSoundWhatever	Tally	64	17.5	81.5
User:Kazamzam	Tally	112	0	112
User:Gnomingstuff	Tally	55	21	76
User:Demt1298	Tally	103	0	103
User:StarTrekker	Tally	0	0	0
User:Staraction	Tally	0	0	0
User:Tooncool64	Tally	85	0	85
User:Ethmostigmus	Tally	58	0	58
User:DressChimera241	Tally	6	0	6
User:NotAGenious	Tally	0	0	0
User:SunDawn	Tally	66	0	66
User:Riley1012	Tally	18	0	18
User:ForsythiaJo	Tally	40	0	40
User:MrLinkinPark333	Tally	45	5	50
User:NatwonTSG2	Tally	0	0	0
User:IndigoManedWolf	Tally	49	0	49
User:Davest3r08	Tally	16	0	16
User:PamD	Tally	156	0	156
User:Penny Richards	Tally	55	0	55
User:Waylon111	Tally	0	0	0
User:Frostly	Tally	0	0	0
User:Meanderingbartender	Tally	3	0	3
User:GamerPro64	Tally	18	0	18
User:Joe Roe	Tally	0	0	0
User:Paulpat99	Tally	3	0	3
User:Sturmvogel 66	Tally	206	10	216
User:Egeymi	Tally	925	0	925
User:Chaiten1	Tally	150	0	150
User:JuanGLP	Tally	0	0	0
User:Mach61	Tally	53	0	53
User:Kencf0618	Tally	37	0	37
User:IAmAtHome	Tally	0	0	0
User:Ca	Tally	2	0	2
User:Bearian	Tally	10	0	10
User:Worldbruce	Tally	51	0	51
User:Dougal18	Tally	103	0	103
User:Rhododendrites	Tally	91	0	91
User:Another Believer	Tally	50	0	50
User:ThadeusOfNazereth	Tally	0	0	0
User:Ealdgyth	Tally	2	0	2
User:Moriwen	Tally	270	0	270
User:GELongstreet	Tally	13	0	13
User:ZWUZWUZWU	Tally	0	0	0
User:TAnthony	Tally	0	0	0
User:78.26	Tally	25	0	25
User:1AmNobody24	Tally	48	2	50
User:Ben Azura	Tally	0	0	0
User:Broc	Tally	169	33	202
User:Jaireeodell	Tally	3	0	3
User:LEvalyn	Tally	34	9.5	43.5
User:Yeeno	Tally	0	0	0
User:Meleager91	Tally	32	0	32
User:Boardwalk.Koi	Tally	2	0	2
User:Pothos144	Tally	11	0	11
User:Pinktoebeans	Tally	45	6	51
User:Pickersgill-Cunliffe	Tally	0	0	0
User:Flod logic	Tally	0	0	0
User:WikiOriginal-9	Tally	0	0	0
User:Red Devil	Tally	1	0	1
User:Bklibcat67	Tally	29	21	50
User:Johnson524	Tally	0	0	0
User:Voorts	Tally	10	0	10
User:StefenTower	Tally	6	0	6
User:That Tired Tarantula	Tally	21	0	21
User:Wizardman	Tally	38	0	38
User:Shushugah	Tally	2	0	2
User:Novellasyes	Tally	45	0	45
User:SVcode	Tally	11	0	11
User:JimKillock	Tally	2	0	2
User:CycloneYoris	Tally	0	0	0
User:BusterTheMighty	Tally	213	14	227
User:TrademarkedTWOrantula	Tally	46	166	212
User:Patar knight	Tally	2	0	2
User:Grorp	Tally	29	0	29
User:Kiwatts	Tally	46	0	46
User:Wracking	Tally	0	0	0
User:BeanieFan11	Tally	51	0	51
User:Dobbyelf62	Tally	40	0	40
User:Innisfree987	Tally	7	0	7
User:GraziePrego	Tally	3	0	3
User:Mir Novov	Tally	52	3	55
User:AryKun	Tally	0	0	0
User:Babakathy	Tally	31	0	31
User:Tobyhoward	Tally	0	0	0
User:Exp691	Tally	243	37	280
User:Youknowwhoistheman	Tally	12	0	12
User:Boyinaroom	Tally	0	0	0
User:456legend	Tally	11	0	11
User:Leschnei	Tally	14	0	14
User:Synthfiend	Tally	51	0	51
User:Flux55	Tally	5	0	5
User:MainlyTwelve	Tally	54	0	54
User:Butlerblog	Tally	31	0	31
User:TheZoodles	Tally	93	25	118
User:The Grid	Tally	4	0	4
User:DarkStarHarry	Tally	0	0	0
User:OhanaUnited	Tally	2	0	2
User:Yoblyblob	Tally	2	0	2
User:JaneClawsten	Tally	39	4	43
User:Praseodymium-141	Tally	6	0	6
User:Xnyarla	Tally	1	0	1
User:Coderzombie	Tally	0	0	0
User:Davidindia	Tally	160	0	160
User:Engineerchange	Tally	28	0	28
User:Heihaheihaha	Tally	7	0	7
User:DMPenguin	Tally	0	0	0
User:SounderBruce	Tally	12	1	13
User:Lacanthrope	Tally	1345	0	1345
User:QuicoleJR	Tally	0	0	0
User:Palisades1	Tally	8	0	8
User:Carcharias taurus	Tally	3	0	3
User:Mr vili	Tally	0	0	0
User:Noorullah21	Tally	72	0	72
User:PigeonChickenFish	Tally	38	0	38
User:HistoryTheorist	Tally	7	0	7
User:Gen. Quon	Tally	0	0	0
User:Peter Flass	Tally	42	0	42
User:TheDoctorWho	Tally	15	10	25
User:MatthewDalhousie	Tally	1	0	1
User:Trumpetrep	Tally	509	0	509
User:HawkAussie	Tally	9	0	9
User:D-Flo27	Tally	102	2	104
User:Contrawwftw	Tally	26	3.5	29.5
User:Tosatur	Tally	0	0	0
User:EmeraldRange	Tally	5	0	5
User:Victuallers	Tally	156	0	156
User:Prburley	Tally	103	0	103
User:Neko-chan	Tally	35	0	35
User:Vkwiki100	Tally	0	0	0
User:Fylindfotberserk	Tally	0	0	0
User:ATeaAddict	Tally	0	0	0
User:Suntooooth	Tally	19	0	19
User:Dan arndt	Tally	72	0	72
User:CipherSleuth	Tally	20	0	20
User:SailingInABathTub	Tally	0	0	0
User:VastV0idInSpace0	Tally	3	22.5	25.5
User:AnOpenBook	Tally	66	0	66
User:Alanna the Brave	Tally	8	0	8
User:UnexpectedSmoreInquisition	Tally	0	0	0
User:Flurrious	Tally	500	0	500
User:LemonSlushie	Tally	0	0	0
User:StreetcarEnjoyer	Tally	57	0	57
User:Jengod	Tally	111	0	111
User:PritongKandule	Tally	17	0	17
User:JoyD Smiths PTMr8	Tally	0	0	0
User:Snowflakedivertor	Tally	3	0	3
User:Tom Radulovich	Tally	10	0	10
User:Ratnahastin	Tally	0	0	0
User:Pyrrho the Skipper	Tally	11	0	11
User:Fico Puricelli	Tally	0	0	0
User:THamuntili	Tally	0	0	0
User:1keyhole	Tally	2	0	2
User:Ellwat	Tally	0	0	0
User:Nirmaljoshi	Tally	64	0	64
User:CommissarDoggo	Tally	6	0	6
User:Mychemicalromanceisrealemo	Tally	0	0	0
User:Ligaturama	Tally	16	0	16
User:Carrite	Tally	0	0	0
User:Geraldshields11	Tally	0	0	0
User:Lord Clayton7	Tally	0	0	0
User:Ayenaee	Tally	0	0	0
User:Significa liberdade	Tally	111	0	111
User:Oldsanfelipe2	Tally	145	0	145
User:David Fuchs	Tally	0	0	0
User:Per$1$tenceofv1$1on	Tally	336	0	336
User:HouseBlaster	Tally	7	0	7
User:Greyjoy	Tally	9	0	9
User:Shenaall	Tally	4	0	4
User:changeworld1984	Tally	0	0	0
User:BBQboffin	Tally	4	0	4
User:etymologicon	Tally	0	0	0
User:Nuel Jr	Tally	0	0	0
User:DetriaSkies	Tally	16	0	16
User:Nihonjoe	Tally	32	0	32
User:Asilvering	Tally	6	0	6
User:Annwfwn	Tally	55	0	55
User:Skyshifter	Tally	2	0	2
User:Aintabli	Tally	25	0	25
User:0xDeadbeef	Tally	0	0	0
User:Cielquiparle	Tally	277	30.5	307.5
User:Tikwriter	Tally	1	0	1
User:Butterdiplomat	Tally	0	0	0
User:Pilaz	Tally	23	3	26
User:Grungaloo	Tally	29	0	29
User:Jaguarnik	Tally	44	3.5	47.5
User:Elvisisalive95	Tally	18	0	18
User:GoldenBootWizard276	Tally	0	0	0
User:Aintiainti	Tally	0	0	0
User:NoahKale	Tally	0	0	0
User:Mugtheboss	Tally	12	0	12
User:Bill Wrigley	Tally	0	0	0
User:Oronsay	Tally	1	0	1
User:GranCavallo	Tally	36	15	51
User:Wil540 art	Tally	54	0	54
User:Meteorname	Tally	9	0	9
User:R0paire-wiki	Tally	37	0	37
User:Jon698	Tally	2	0	2
User:Cloventt	Tally	56	7	63
User:Betterkeks	Tally	87	60	147
User:Bneu2013	Tally	21	0	21
User:Apollo468	Tally	112	18	130
User:Jnglmpera	Tally	9	0	9
User:Persingo	Tally	1	0	1
User:SpookiePuppy	Tally	41	25.5	66.5
User:Jamzze	Tally	0	0	0
User:Reconrabbit	Tally	33	0	33
User:Secretlondon	Tally	0	0	0
User:Aezarebski	Tally	2	0	2
User:OnlyNano	Tally	4	0	4
User:ItsCheck	Tally	0	0	0
User:LeónGonsalvesofGoa	Tally	0	0	0
User:BobKilcoyne	Tally	0	0	0
User:Vrxces	Tally	11	1	12
User:Tim Landy	Tally	31	0	31
User:Glx272727	Tally	0	0	0
User:Merlinderhindergrinder	Tally	7	0	7
User:Lollipoplollipoplollipop	Tally	5	6.5	11.5
User:Replayful	Tally	101	0	101
User:Ingratis	Tally	126	0	126
User:Altamel	Tally	4	12.5	16.5
User:Perimeander	Tally	43	0	43
User:Waterfelt	Tally	128	0	128
User:Iostn	Tally	62	0	62
User:John Broughton	Tally	0	0	0
User:Icandostuff	Tally	5	0	5
User:Liandrei	Tally	47	0	47
User:Geardona	Tally	6	0	6
User:Chaotic Enby	Tally	6	0	6
User:Chris troutman	Tally	28	24.5	52.5
User:Ruud Buitelaar	Tally	99	2	101
User:Reidgreg	Tally	29	5	34
User:DutchTreat	Tally	16	7.5	23.5
User:Eddie891	Tally	14	0	14
User:Whpq	Tally	8	0	8
User:Astrophobe	Tally	1	0	1
User:InterstellarGamer12321	Tally	0	0	0
User:Goldsztajn	Tally	60	12	72
User:TimothyBlue	Tally	0	0	0
User:JTtheOG	Tally	1276	155	1431
User:Crispulop	Tally	134	2.5	136.5
User:Firefangledfeathers	Tally	18	7	25
User:Shonyx	Tally	0	0	0
User:GeoffreyT2000	Tally	2	0	2
User:Pretzelles	Tally	55	0	55
User:Ghosts of Europa	Tally	7	0.5	7.5
User:Blitzfan51	Tally	5	0	5
User:Suriname0	Tally	33	0	33
User:Endrabcwizart	Tally	0	0	0
User:Mjroots	Tally	4	0	4
User:AlexandraAVX	Tally	22	0	22
User:Aerin17	Tally	10	0	10
User:Isaidnoway	Tally	306	0	306
User:Acebulf	Tally	1	0	1
User:Epicgenius	Tally	1	0	1
User:94rain	Tally	2	0	2
User:Tokisaki Kurumi	Tally	5	0	5
User:Donner60	Tally	8	0	8
User:Alansohn	Tally	37	0	37
User:Golem08	Tally	0	0	0
User:TappyTurtle	Tally	1	0	1
User:Pedantical	Tally	1	0	1
User:Millerdl	Tally	3	0	3
User:IgnatiusofLondon	Tally	175	27	202
User:BirdMeat	Tally	0	0	0
User:Rosallorico	Tally	2	0	2
User:Rocfan275	Tally	7	0.5	7.5
User:NikosGouliaros	Tally	16	10	26
User:ArcticSeeress	Tally	13	0	13
User:Simongraham	Tally	223	0	223
User:MRRaja001	Tally	0	0	0
User:Rusalkii	Tally	43	45	88
User:Lenticel	Tally	102	9	111
User:BaduFerreira	Tally	11	0	11
User:Dblu9494	Tally	11	0	11
User:Straughn	Tally	3	0	3
User:The-Pope	Tally	3	0	3
User:Le Loy	Tally	9	0	9
User:Turtlecrown	Tally	26	0	26

Sign up here

All participants with experience in citing sources were encouraged to perform reviews. Reviewers were awarded 0.5 points for each review. A tool was available to locate unreviewed submissions and simplify wikitext formatting.

Even though we are just citing one source to the article, that source must be chosen carefully. That source needs to:

• verify information in the article,
• reliable enough to be trusted.

This is a lot to take in. And worse, sometimes you couldn't find such a source! It can be very hard to determine whether you should go forward to cite the article or ask for its deletion, even for experienced WikiGnomers, and sometimes you have to follow through with your gut feelings.

Generally speaking for English languages sources, citing Wikipedia:WikiProject Unreferenced articles/Resources or Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Perennial sources or peer-reviewed textbooks (for math and science articles) is enough to do satisfy all four of these criteria. However, other books and most reliable non-English sources are not present in these lists. In that case, you need to determine all four of these criteria yourself. It's probably easier to give examples of common not suitable sources:

• Database listings – iMDb, unofficial sport stats and results webpage
• Tabloids – Daily Mail, listicles at Hindustan Times, etc.
• Blogs – Wordpress, Blogger, personal websites
• Wikipedia mirrors, substantially duplicating existing content
• Books not under editorial control, self-published (tip: search on Wikipedia the publisher's name)

Searching sources

• Use "" (double quotes) to search for the term exactly. This means that "pinnochio" will only show up articles with words matched with "pinnochio", not pinocchio (although some websites will disregard this and show the wrong search term anyway).
• Some articles, especially for more general topics, might have sources available with slightly different wording -- "basketweaving" vs "basket weaving," "basket weaver," etc.
• Search inside millions of old and new books at Google Books and Archive.org - for the archive, go to https://archive.org/search then click the search bar, then click "search text contents" radio button, it will search over 10 million books.
• Access to some paywalled content, including Newspapers.com and ProQuest, is provided to editors via The Wikipedia Library.
• For Google, use - (ie. dash) as a way to remove unwanted entries, like -pinocchio
• See more tips at Wikipedia:Advanced source searching
• You can search for related articles on Wikipedia (as in other pages or other languages) and access some sources there. Do not copy the reference in verbatim. Only after you've checked the source and that the source indeed verify the text, you may cite it in the article.

Reading and parsing sources

• Use machine translation, either at a website or as built in to your web browser, for reading foreign article texts.
• For foreign texts on Google Books where their texts cannot be copied, take a screenshot, go to Google Translate and click on the "Images" button. Upload the image there and Google Translate will translate the passage inside the image itself.
• Use the text searching feature to locate what you are looking for faster, such as Ctrl+F on Windows or ⌘ Cmd+F on macOS.

Processing articles

• Twinkle might be helpful for cleaning up article banners and nominating articles for deletion
• While you're there, you could expand the article or clean up any other problems you see with it.
• If you are familiar with AWB/JWB, you can use it to quickly add a "References" section and {{reflist}} template.

The articles below are some of the more popular pages on Wikipedia and thus might be easier to find sources. They are queried from pageviews analysis at Wikimedia Cloud Services (WMCS). Please remove entries once references have been added. This section should be updated every day.

• 
  1 point
• 
  5 points
• 
  10 points
• 
  25 points
• 
  50 points
• 
  100 points
• 
  200 points
• 
  300 points
• 
  500 points
• 
  750 points
• 
  Top 3 of the drive
• 
  Top 2 of the drive
• 
  Top 1 of the drive