View source for RetroWikipedia:WikiProject Short descriptions

{{Short description|Project to improve short descriptions}}
{{For-text|basic information on short descriptions|[[RetroWikipedia:Short description]]|WikiProject South Dakota|[[RetroWikipedia:WikiProject South Dakota]]}}
{{wikiproject status|active|sc1=WP:WPSHORTDESC|sc2=WP:WPSD}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox WikiProject
| name                    = Short descriptions
| bodystyle               = width:280px
| image                   = Farm-Fresh quill.png
| imagesize               = 
| caption                 = 
| shortcuts               = [[WP:WPSHORTDESC]]
| shortcuts2              = [[WT:WPSHORTDESC]] (talk)
| category                = WikiProject Short descriptions
| category2               = Pages with short description
| portal                  = 
| portal2                 = 
| commons                 = 
| notice                  = WikiProject Short descriptions
| notice-extended         = 
| userbox                 = <!-- User WikiProject Short descriptions -->
| userbox2                = 
| userbox3                = 
| userboxnote             = <!-- Adds users to {{cl|WikiProject Short descriptions participants|tracking category}}. -->
| helps-organise-children = 
| has-goals               = Populate all articles with short descriptions, and improve existing descriptions
| assessment              = 
| footnotes               = 
| type                    = active
}}
{{ombox
| text      = Some users are working on the '''top 3000 most viewed pages without short descriptions'''. Want to help? '''[[User:Uhai/Pages without short descriptions by view count|Contribute here]]'''!
}}
This is a project to populate all RetroWikipedia mainspace articles with a suitable '''[[RetroWikipedia:Short description|short description]]''', and to improve existing descriptions.

== State of the project ==
There are a total of {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} content pages in the [[WP:NS0|main namespace]], of which {{PAGESINCATEGORY:All article disambiguation pages}} are disambiguation pages.

Out of {{formatnum:{{#expr: {{formatnum: {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}|R}} - {{PAGESINCATEGORY:All article disambiguation pages|R}}}}}} articles — {{formatnum:{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Articles with short description|R}}}} [[:Category:Articles with short description|have a short description]] and {{formatnum:{{#expr: ({{#invoke:String|replace|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} - {{PAGESINCATEGORY:All article disambiguation pages|R}}|,}} - {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Articles with short description|R}}) }}}} {{plain link|1 = https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=-hastemplate%3A%22Short+description%22&title=Special%3ASearch&ns0=1|2 = '''do not''' have a short description.}}

{{Composition bar|{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Articles with short description|R}}|{{#expr: {{#invoke:String|replace|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} - {{PAGESINCATEGORY:All article disambiguation pages|R}}|,}}}}|#0000FF|background-color=none|width=600}}'''{{#expr:({{PAGESINCATEGORY:Articles with short description|R}}/( {{#expr: {{formatnum: {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} |R}} - {{PAGESINCATEGORY:All article disambiguation pages|R}}}} )) *100 round 3}}% complete'''

This [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=insource%3A%22Short+description%22+hastemplate%3A%22Short+description%22&title=Special:Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&advancedSearch-current=%7B%7D&ns0=1&ns118=1&ns119=1 search] finds all articles that have had the {{tlx|short description}} template added. The remaining descriptions are generated by infoboxes or other templates.

{{Image frame 
| pos= top
| caption = Recent progress
| align = left
| width = 600
| content = {{Graph:Chart

  |width=500 |height=200 |type=line |linewidth=1 |showSymbols=2
  |xGrid=y |xType=date |xAxisFormat=%Y-%m |xAxisAngle =-20
  |yGrid=y |yAxisFormat=,d |yAxisMin=0 |yAxisMax=6600000

  |x= 2020-07-08, 2020-08-31, 2020-12-29,
      2021-04-15, 2021-06-22, 2021-08-27, 2021-09-20, 2021-10-19, 2021-11-12,
      2022-01-15, 2022-02-15, 2022-03-19, 2022-04-19, 2022-05-23, 2022-06-23,
      2022-07-23, 2022-08-23, 2022-09-23, 2022-10-26, 2022-11-25, 2022-12-23,
      2023-01-23, 2023-02-07, 2023-03-26, 2023-05-23, 2023-07-23, 2023-08-25,
      2023-09-25, 2023-10-25, 2023-12-25,
      2024-01-28, 2024-02-25, 2024-03-25, 2024-04-25, 2024-05-27, 2024-06-25,
      2024-07-27, 2024-08-25, 2024-09-26, 2024-10-27, 2024-11-26, 2024-12-31,
      2025-03-05, 2025-04-08

  |y= 1100000, 1210000, 1440000,
      2027000, 2225000, 2370000, 2418000, 2478000, 3791000,
      3928000, 4009000, 4143000, 4220000, 4364000, 4490828,
      4541575, 4579787, 4616358, 4654836, 4719196, 4746240,
      4781934, 4827834, 4861734, 4918542, 5007454, 5054348,
      5096525, 5136243, 5213928,
      5263307, 5315618, 5356339, 5405531, 5477532, 5517348,
      5574366, 5616554, 5649638, 5682027, 5715758, 5760777,
      5836143, 5877638

  }}
}}
{{clear}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+ Approximate statistics since July 2020
!scope="col"| Date
!scope="col"| Articles with<br />short descriptions
!scope="col"| Total number of articles<br />(including disambiguation pages)
!scope="col"| Percentage of articles<br />with short descriptions
<!-- 2020 -->
|-
!scope="row"| 8 July 2020
| 1,100,000
| 6,115,000
| 18.0%

|-
!scope="row"| 29 December 2020
| 1,440,000
| 6,215,000
| 23.2%

<!-- 2021 -->
|-
!scope="row"| 15 April 2021
| 2,027,000
| 6,282,000
| 32.3%

<!--
|-
!scope="row"| 22 June 2021
| 2,225,000
| 6,321,000
| 35.2%

-->
|-
!scope="row"| 19 October 2021
| 2,478,000
| 6,396,000
| 38.7%

|-
!scope="row"| 12 November 2021
| 3,791,000
| 6,406,000
| 59.2%

<!-- 2022 -->
|-
!scope="row"| 15 February 2022
| 4,009,000
| 6,452,000
| 62.1%

|-
!scope="row"| 23 May 2022
| 4,364,000
| 6,503,000
| 67.1%

<!--
|-
!scope="row"| 23 August 2022
| 4,579,787
| 6,574,000
| 69.7%

|-
!scope="row"| 23 September 2022
| 4,616,358
| 6,554,500
| 70.4%

|-
!scope="row"| 26 October 2022
| 4,654,836
| 6,568,500
| 70.9%

|-
!scope="row"| 25 November 2022
| 4,719,196 
| 6,579,000
| 71.7%

|-
!scope="row"| 23 December 2022
| 4,746,240
| 6,591,300
| 72.0%

-->
<!-- 2023 -->
|-
!scope="row"| 3 January 2023
| 4,781,930
| 6,597,400
| 72.5%

<!--
|-
!scope="row"| 7 February 2023
| 4,827,834
| 6,614,500
| 73.0%

|-
!scope="row"| 26 March 2023
| 4,861,734
| 6,635,109
| 73.3%

|-
!scope="row"| 23 May 2023
| 4,918,542
| 6,659,081
| 73.9%

|-
!scope="row"| 23 July 2023
| 5,007,454
| 6,687,625
| 74.9%

|-
!scope="row"| 25 August 2023
| 5,054,348
| 6,703,477
| 75.4%

-->
|-
!scope="row"| 25 September 2023
| 5,096,525
| 6,719,582
| 75.8%

<!--
|-
!scope="row"| 25 October 2023
| 5,136,243
| 6,734,013
| 76.3%

|-
!scope="row"| 25 December 2023
| 5,213,928
| 6,761,907
| 77.1%

|-
!scope="row"| 28 January 2024
| 5,263,307
| 6,775,839
| 77.7%

-->
|-
!scope="row"| 25 February 2024
| 5,315,618
| 6,788,970
| 78.3%

<!--
|-
!scope="row"| 25 March 2024
| 5,356,339
| 6,802,440
| 78.7%

|-
!scope="row"| 25 April 2024
| 5,405,531
| 6,816,669
| 79.3%

|-
!scope="row"| 27 May 2024
| 5,477,532
| 6,827,883
| {{#expr: 100* ( 5477532 / 6827883 ) round 1 }}%

-->
|-
!scope="row"| 25 June 2024
| 5,517,348
| 6,840,932
| {{#expr: 100* ( 5517348 / 6840932) round 1 }}%

<!--
|-
!scope="row"| 27 July 2024
| 5,574,366
| 6,857,998 
| {{#expr: 100* (5574366 / 6857998 ) round 1 }}%

|-
!scope="row"| 25 August 2024
| 5,616,554
| 6,872,545
| {{#expr: 100* (5616554 / 6872545) round 1 }}%
-->
|-
!scope="row"| 26 September 2024
| 5,649,638
| 6,887,859
| {{#expr: 100* (5649638 / 6887859) round 1 }}%

<!--
|-
!scope="row"| 27 October 2024
| 5,682,027
| 6,902,043
| {{#expr: 100* (5682027 / 6902043) round 1 }}%

|-
!scope="row"| 26 November 2024
| 5,715,758
| 6,916,101 
| {{#expr: 100* (5715758 / 6916101 ) round 1 }}%

-->
|-
!scope="row"| 31 December 2024
| 5,760,777
| 6,932,733
| {{#expr: 100* (5760777 / 6932733 ) round 1 }}%

<!-- 2025 -->
|-
! scope="row" | 5 March 2025
| 5,836,143
| 6,962,317
| {{#expr: 100* (5836143 / 6962317) round 1 }}%

|-
! scope="row" | 8 April 2025
| 5,877,638 
| 6,978,166
| {{#expr: 100* (5877638 / 6978166) round 1 }}%

|-
! scope="row" | 6 June 2025
| 5,948,659
| 7,004,798
| {{#expr: 100* (5948659 / 7004798) round 1 }}%

|}

<!-- ALSO add new figures to the chart data above. Charts will be back one day! -->

Note: The article counts prior to March 2023 are rounded values taken from [[RetroWikipedia:Size of RetroWikipedia#The_data_set|Size of RetroWikipedia: The data set]].

See [[RetroWikipedia:WikiProject Short descriptions/Progress|checklists of current progress]].

=== Progress in biographies ===

<!--

TOTAL  total count of biographies   ~2,111,000  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=articletopic%3Abiography&title=Special:Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&ns0=1
NOSD   biographies without a SD       ~222,000  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=100&offset=0&ns0=1&search=articletopic%3Abiography+-hastemplate%3A%22short+description%22
update the last updated date

{{Composition bar|{{#expr: TOTAL - NOSD}}|TOTAL|#00F|background-color=none|width=600}}
'''{{#expr:({{#expr: TOTAL - NOSD}})/(TOTAL) *100 round 3}}% complete''' — Last updated: {{subst:#time:d F Y|now}}

-->

{{Composition bar|{{#expr: 2114607 - 211220}}|2114607 |#00F|background-color=none|width=600}}
'''{{#expr:({{#expr: 2114607 - 211220}})/(2114607 ) *100 round 3}}% complete''' — Last updated: 6 June 2025

== Why help to make sure that all articles have a short description? ==
Short descriptions appear in RetroWikipedia mobile and some desktop searches, and help users identify the desired article. When viewing an article, some mobile [[RetroWikipedia App]]s also display the description below the page title.

Articles that are lacking a short description appear in search result lists simply by their titles, with no annotation. If all titles were self-evidently clear, it would be immediately obvious which one relates to the article of interest, but very often that is not the case. Titles alone can be ambiguous or otherwise not comprehensible to non-specialist readers, as well as to readers who are not fluent speakers of English.

== How to write  a short description ==
{{main|RetroWikipedia:Short description}}

The easiest way to add and edit short descriptions on desktop is to make use of [[RetroWikipedia:Shortdesc helper|Shortdesc helper]]. Alternatively, in the source code editor insert the [[Template:Short description|short description template]] to the very top of the page, above all other article headers and templates. The format to use is <code><nowiki>{{Short&nbsp;description|Your short description here}}.</nowiki></code>

If a short description would be redundant you can use "none", thus:  {{txl|Short description|none}}. See [[WP:SDNONE]].

==Adding and editing short descriptions==
Short descriptions can be added and edited using the standard wiki markup editor (edit source), but it is often easier to enable [[RetroWikipedia:Shortdesc helper|Short description helper]] in Preferences | Gadgets, in the Editing section.

===Editing using the ''Shortdesc helper'' gadget===
[[File:Shortdesc helper editing screenshot.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Editing with shortdesc helper]]
If the article currently has no short description, you will see a message to that effect. Click on Add, type in a new short description (or drag and drop from the article text, editing as appropriate), then Save. If a short description already exists you can Edit it, or click on Export to push the text, as-is, to Wikidata.

If RetroWikipedia has no short description, but there is an existing Wikidata description, you have the option to Import the Wikidata text as-is into RetroWikipedia ([[RetroWikipedia:WikiProject Short descriptions#Can I use the Wikidata text if it is good?|not generally recommended]]), or to Import and Edit (preferred).

A cogwheel icon that appears after you click Edit provides various usage options. By default, adding a short description to a RetroWikipedia article also adds the description to Wikidata if missing there. This can be changed in the settings. To edit a short description that is already on Wikidata, click on one of the links (not shown in this example) in the Wikidata item description or Q-number to open the item at Wikidata.

Difference in formatting conventions:
* Wikidata: text always starts with a lower case letter;
* RetroWikipedia: short description normally starts with an upper case letter (Sentence case).

When a description does not yet exist on Wikidata and a new short description is supplied all in lower case, Shortdesc helper sends the text in lower case to Wikidata while simultaneously formatting the short description correctly in Sentence case for the RetroWikipedia page. However, when exporting a modified short description to Wikidata it is necessary to go to Wikidata and manually edit the description there to change the first uppercase letter to lower case. Ensure that the short description follows [[d:Help:Description|Wikidata's guidelines regarding descriptions]] before adding it to Wikidata.

''Shortdesc helper'' will provide a standardised edit summary describing the edit. A custom edit summary can be added using the "summary" button.

===Other useful scripts===
* The script [[User:SD0001/shortdescs-in-category]] shows the short descriptions of pages while viewing a category
* The [[User:GhostInTheMachine/SDlinkBuilder|SDlinkBuilder]] user script helps you build a TODO list - taking all of the article links in a page and showing their current short descriptions.

=== What if I want to see the text that is used on Wikidata? ===
Wikidata maintains its own texts which are not linked in any way with RetroWikipedia short descriptions (although [[RetroWikipedia:Shortdesc helper|Short description helper]]<nowiki/> can display the Wikidata text to help editors construct a suitable description for RetroWikipedia). RetroWikipedia page [[RetroWikipedia:Short description|Short descriptions]] and [[:Wikidata:Help:Description|Wikidata item description]]s  serve [[WP:SD-VS-WIKIDATA|different purposes]] and are not required to be the same. If you want to view the Wikidata item description, you can:
* Configure Short description helper to show the Wikidata text at all times; or
* Click on the Wikidata link in the sidebar to go directly to Wikidata, where you can view and edit the information.

Neither the Wikidata item description nor the RetroWikipedia short description should give a definition of the subject covered by the article; see [[WP:SDNOTDEF]] and [[:Wikidata:Help:Description#Descriptions are not definitions]] for more details.

=={{anchor|Automation|Auto-generated and bot generated Descriptions}} Auto-generated and bot-generated descriptions ==

As the short description is article content, any bot or template generated short description may be overridden with a ''better'' short description by an editor. If there is a dispute about whether the new description is better, discuss on the article's talk page.

===Auto-generated from infoboxes and other templates===

{{Category see also|Templates that generate short descriptions}}

====Already done====
{{incomplete list}}
<!-- Numbers updated: 26 March 2023 -->

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Template
! scope="col" | Approximate number of articles
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Disambiguation page short description}}
| 348,368
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox settlement}}
| 554,768
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox Australian place}}
| 15,236
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox element}}
| 334
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox number}}
| 404
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox musical artist}}
| 120,036
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox musical interval}}
| 42
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Day}}
| 365
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Year nav}}
| 2,751
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Given name}}
| 17,619
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Surname}}
| 64,930
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox museum}}
| 3000–4000 / 10,105 (when Type includes one of: Museum / Hall / Gallery / Center)
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox hospital}}
| 6,162
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox church}}
| 14,365
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox television episode}}
| 11,397
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Year nav topic}}
| 6,997
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox album}}
| 160,085
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox professional wrestling team}}
| 651
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox kana}}
| 57
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox dam}}
| 5,500
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox Unicode block}}
| 338
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox Doctor Who episode}}
| 479
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox radio station}}
| 21,685
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Humorous essay}}
| 226
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|RetroWikipedia how-to}}
| 328
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox football club season}}
| 19,446
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox NRHP}}
| 72,000
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox professional wrestling event series}}
| 227
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox royalty}}
| 21,000
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox rugby club season}}
| 108
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox television station}}
| 3,700
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox UK place}}
| 25,000
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Information page}}
| ? / 354
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox song}}
| Some portion of 70,000
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox sports season}}
| 5,200
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox video game}}
| 27,000
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox NFL biography}}
| 21,000
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox baseball team season}}
| 3,219
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox RNA family}}
| 1,200
|-
! scope="row" | {{tlx|Infobox artist discography}}
| 6,000
|}

====To do next====
<!--if more templates are added, a table may be necessary-->
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name || # of articles total || # without short description
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox book}}|| 55,500 || 4,700
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox station}}|| 56,000 || 2,100
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox mountain}}|| 28,900 || 4,100
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox election}}|| 33,900 || 3,600
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox military installation}}|| 10,200 || 3,100
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox religious building}}|| 13,500 || 1,900
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox sports competition event}}|| 21,400 || 1,600
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox locomotive}}|| 4,800 || 2,100
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox planet}} || 4,600 || 1,300
|-
| {{tlx|Infobox play}} || 4,300 || 900
|}

===Bot-generated===
* [[User:DannyS712 bot]] Task 4{{snd}}Short descriptions for articles about bilateral relations (approx. 3,000 articles)
* [[User:DannyS712 bot]] Task 20{{snd}}Short descriptions for outlines (approx. 400 articles)
* [[User:ShortDescBot]] – about 300,000 articles

=== Templates and modules ===
Templates and modules that are useful for this/created for helping with short descriptions:
* [[Module:Plain text]], for removing extraneous markup
* [[Module:Type in location]], for formatting input from {{para|location}} and getting shorter location
* [[Module:Is infobox in lead]], for checking if the infobox is the lead infobox and the only lead infobox
* [[Template:Auto short description]], for tagging templates that have code that automatically generates a short description.
* See also [[:Category:Modules that create a short description]]

==Can I use the Wikidata text if it is good?==
Yes, but only if it complies with the guidance at [[WP:SDFORMAT]], including the length recommendation (the vast majority of short descriptions are shorter than 40 characters). If it is good, you can copy it to RetroWikipedia in one click using the helper gadget, or choose to edit the text beforehand. There is no legal issue with copying, as all Wikidata texts are in the public domain.

== Can I use a bot to copy over text from Wikidata? ==
No. The idea of bulk-importation from Wikidata has been rejected [[RetroWikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 170#Synchronising short descriptions and Wikidata descriptions|in an RFC]]. Wikidata texts are often not suitable as they are not subject to RetroWikipedia's policies, and have a different purpose.

== Which articles can I work on? ==
Start with topics where you are sufficiently familiar to be able to write a good short description. If you run out, do anything that you are confident you can handle. If in doubt, leave it out. When dealing with biographies, follow the [[WP:BLP]] policy scrupulously. Don't add a date of birth unless it is properly sourced in the article.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=incategory%3A%22Living+people%22+-hastemplate%3A%22Short+description%22&title=Special%3ASearch&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&ns0=1&searchToken=c7ynjf5dw2h8q68ddnud3xsfz Living people] are usually easy to create short descriptions for. Per [[WP:SDEXAMPLES]], the format "[country adjective] [what the person is known for]" (Examples: "American singer/songwriter", "Cuban ice skater") is usually appropriate.
* Similarly, [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=incategory%3A%221796+births%22+-hastemplate%3A%22Short+description%22&title=Special%3ASearch&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&ns0=1&searchToken=4my0gyrib3zdzgcgdwm7dpvn a "''year'' births" category search] will result in all of the articles for people born in that year without short descriptions. Change the year in the search string if you get no results. See [[WP:SDDATES]] for guidance on inclusion of year ranges, and learn how to make the – dash character with your keyboard so that you create a properly formatted year range.
* Work through [[User:Uhai/Pages without short descriptions by view count]], updated monthly. Or just do a few when you feel like it.
* Work through your watchlist (or part of it), or a WikiProject's articles, or a category. You can add the [[User:SD0001/shortdescs-in-category]] user script to help working on categories
* If you like [[Portal:Contents/Outlines|Outlines]], work through one. They may be a good source of short descriptions if well annotated, and if not you can annotate with the short descriptions as you create them. 
* If you are a bot operator, there are bot tasks to be done.
* To get a long list of unorganized articles, [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=-incategory%3A%22Articles+with+short+description%22+-incategory%3A%22All+disambiguation+pages%22&title=Special:Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&ns0=1&searchToken=a1ooceovogj3c6v8i84enkafe1 search for {{code|-incategory:"Articles with short description" -incategory:"All disambiguation pages"}}] — this ignores any disambiguation pages, as they are being handled separately. You could add something like [[mw:Help:CirrusSearch/articletopic|articletopic:physics]] or [[mw:Help:CirrusSearch#bounded|neartitle:"San Francisco"]] to limit to topics or places of interest.

== How do I find articles with no short description? ==
The search parameter {{nowrap|<code><nowiki>-hastemplate:"Short description"</nowiki></code>}} identifies articles that do not have the template {{tlx|short description}}.

You can simply use the input box below:

<inputbox>
Type= fulltext
Default= -hastemplate:"Short description"
</inputbox>

== What should I do about a bad short description? ==
* Fix it: this ''is'' RetroWikipedia.
* Follow [[WP:BRD|Bold - Revert - Discuss]], or you can start with Discuss in uncertain cases. The short description is just another piece of content.
* In the case of a content dispute, get talk page consensus.
* For a BLP violation, remove or preferably replace the description, providing an edit summary to explain. A date of birth should not appear for a living person unless properly sourced in the article.
<code><nowiki>{{subst:Uw-longsd}}</nowiki></code> can be used to warn editors who continually add [[WP:SDSHORT|very long]] short descriptions (documentation [[Template:Uw-longsd|here]]). You can also write a personalized message addressing the problem, which may be more effective or appropriate in some cases.

==Join the project==
Add your signature to the bottom of [[/Members|the list of project members]].

== Userbox ==
Add {{tl2|User Short descriptions}} to your user page to be included in [[:Category:WikiProject Short descriptions participants]]. The [[WP:Userboxes|userbox]] looks like this:
{{User Short descriptions}}
{{clear}}
You can also display a top icon as well, by adding {{tl2|Short descriptions topicon}} anywhere in your user page.

== Tracking categories ==

Counts of different types of pages having short descriptions
* {{clc|Articles with short description}}
* {{clc|Redirects with short description}}
* {{clc|Pages with short description|pages}} — this should be empty; pages should either be in one of the above categories, or not be categorised in this way after [[RetroWikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2022 December 15]]

Categories for this project
* {{clc|WikiProject Short descriptions}}
* {{clc|WikiProject Short descriptions participants}}

Counts of Short description vs. Wikidata
* {{clc|Short description matches Wikidata}}
* {{clc|Short description is different from Wikidata}}
* {{clc|Short description with empty Wikidata description}}

Counts of modules/templates that create short descriptions
* {{clc|Modules that create a short description}}
* {{clc|Templates that generate short descriptions}}

== Maintenance categories ==

Maintenance category to identify problems with the template parameters
* {{clc|Pages using short description with unknown parameters}}

Maintenance categories to list pages with descriptions over 100 characters
* {{clc|Articles with long short description}}
* {{clc|Drafts with long short description}}
* {{clc|Files with long short description}}
* {{clc|Help pages with long short description}}
* {{clc|Modules with long short description}}
* {{clc|Portals with long short description}}
* {{clc|Project pages with long short description}}
* {{clc|Redirects with long short description}}
* {{clc|Templates with long short description}}
* {{clc|User pages with long short description}}

Issues with Short descriptions
* {{clc|Pages with lower-case short description}}

== Database reports ==
* [[RetroWikipedia:Database reports/Short descriptions containing invalid space characters]]
* [[RetroWikipedia:Database reports/Short descriptions containing possibly invalid characters]]
* [[RetroWikipedia:Database reports/Long short descriptions]]

== Category tree ==

{{category tree all|depth=1|WikiProject Short descriptions}}

==Monthly checks==
* Review {{clc|RetroWikipedia pages with long short description}}
* [https://bambots.brucemyers.com/TemplateParam.php?action=missing&wiki=enwiki&template=Short+description&param=1 This TemplateParam report] lists articles where the SD template has a missing or blank description.
* [https://bambots.brucemyers.com/TemplateParam.php?template=Short+description The main TemplateParam report] can also highlight cases where the template has too many parameters.
* Also [[Template:Short description#Maintenance categories]]

==Discussions==
Previous and current discussions on English WP short description and WikiData descriptions

Note: [[Template talk:Short description]] redirects to [[RetroWikipedia talk:Short description]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Discussions related to short descriptions
|-
! scope="col" | When
! scope="col" | Where
! scope="col" | What
|-
!scope="row"| {{nowrap|2017-03-27}}
| {{nowrap|Administrators' noticeboard}}
| [[RetroWikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive950#Hard to detect mobile vandalism|Hard to detect mobile vandalism]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2017-03-28
| Village pump (technical)
| [[RetroWikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 154#Discussion at ANI about Wikidata use in mobile view|Discussion at ANI about Wikidata use in mobile view]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2017-03-30
| Village pump (proposals)
| RFC [[RetroWikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 138#Rfc: Remove description taken from Wikidata from mobile view of en-WP|Remove description taken from Wikidata from mobile view of en-WP]] — 2017-03-30 Withdrawn
|-
!scope="row"| 2017-03-30
| Village pump (proposals)
|  [[RetroWikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 138#Blockers to having short description on mobile|Blockers to having short description on mobile]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2017-11-09
| Template talk
| [[Template talk:Short description/Archive 1#Some history and explanation of this template for those without the time or inclination to read the full discussion|Some history and explanation of this template for those without the time or inclination to read the full discussion]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2017-12-08
| Village pump (proposals)
| RFC [[RetroWikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 145#RfC: Populating article descriptions magic word|Populating article descriptions magic word]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2018-02-07
| RetroWikipedia talk
| [[RetroWikipedia talk:Wikidata/2018 State of affairs#Short descriptions|2018 State of affairs - Short descriptions]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2018-02-17
| Manual of Style talk
| [[RetroWikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Layout/Archive 12#Short descriptions|(position of) Short descriptions (in articles)]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2018-04-14
| Template talk
| [[Template talk:Infobox settlement/Archive 26#short descriptions|Infobox settlement - short descriptions]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2019-04-13
| Manual of Style talk
| [[RetroWikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Layout/Archive 13#Where to put %7B%7Bshort description%7D%7D|Where to put <nowiki>{{short_description}}</nowiki>]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-05-15
| Village pump (WMF)
| [[RetroWikipedia:Village pump (WMF)/Archive 2#Update: Scheduled shutdown of Wikidata descriptions on EnWiki|Update: Scheduled shutdown of Wikidata descriptions on EnWiki]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-03
| WikiData
| Pi bot 14 — [[WikiData:Wikidata:Requests for permissions/Bot/Pi bot 14|Import short descriptions from the English RetroWikipedia]] (bot task to copy English WP short descriptions to WikiData) {{Y}} 2020-10-20
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-03
| RetroWikipedia talk
| [[RetroWikipedia talk:Short description#Copying short descriptions to Wikidata|Copying short descriptions to Wikidata]] — Reference to Pi bot 14 / Pi bot 5
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-03
| RetroWikipedia Bot Requests
| Pi bot 5 — [[RetroWikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Pi bot 5|Synchronise short descriptions with Wikidata]] (bot task to copy all WikiData descriptions to English WP) — 2020-09-15 '''Denied'''
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-06
| Village pump (proposals)
| RFC [[RetroWikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 170#Synchronising short descriptions and Wikidata descriptions|Synchronising short descriptions and Wikidata descriptions]] — 2020-09-05 Closed '''No'''
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-07
| WikiProject talk
| + [[RetroWikipedia talk:WikiProject Short descriptions#RfC on bot-importing short descriptions to and from Wikidata, various options suggested|RfC on bot-importing short descriptions to and from Wikidata]] — Reference to the above
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-07
| WikiProject talk
| [[RetroWikipedia talk:WikiProject Short descriptions#Bot proposal to create short descriptions from scratch, for articles requiring one|Bot proposal to create short descriptions from scratch]]
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-07
| RetroWikipedia talk
| + [[RetroWikipedia talk:Short description#Report-assisted importing of short descriptions|Report-assisted importing of short descriptions]] — Reference to the above
|-
!scope="row"| 2021-07-20
| Redirects for discussion
| Proposal to delete the 7 [[RetroWikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 July 20#Aliases for Short description template|Aliases for Short description template]] — 2021-07-29 closed as '''Clear consensus to delete the first 5''' — 4 deleted
|}

{{anchor|Phabricator tickets}}

== Phabricator tickets ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Some of the Phabricator tickets related to short descriptions
|-
! scope="col" | Opened
! scope="col" | Ticket
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Closed
|-
!scope="row"| {{nowrap|2018-01-03}}
| [[phab:T184000|T184000]]
| Magic word on English WP to override display of Wikidata short description
| {{nowrap|2018-04-09}}
|-
!scope="row"| 2018-05-04
| [[phab:T193857|T193857]]
| Support 'noreplace' keyword in <nowiki>{{SHORTDESC}}</nowiki>
| 2018-07-02
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-03-25
| [[phab:T248457|T248457]]
| Fully terminate use of Wikidata item descriptions as short article descriptions for English RetroWikipedia articles
| 2023-01-29
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-06-30
| [[phab:T256817|T256817]]
| [EPIC] Replace Wikidata descriptions on enwiki with local descriptions — Parent to T257486, T257488 and others
| 2022-01-28
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-07-08
| [[phab:T257486|T257486]]
| Switch search to use local descriptions on enwiki
| 2021-04-26
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-07-08
| [[phab:T257488|T257488]]
| Adding/editing descriptions should modify the local article, not Wikidata
| 2021-04-26
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-07-13
| [[phab:T257867|T257867]]
| Adding/editing descriptions should modify the local article, not Wikidata — iOS task
| 2021-04-26
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-04
| [[phab:T259617|T259617]]
| Article description editing API — Overview of managing local descriptions
| 
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-04
| [[phab:T259622|T259622]]
| System Administrator disables Wikidata fallback for article descriptions — [[MW:MediaWiki 1.36/wmf.13|Live on '''2020-10-13''']]
| 
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-08-25
| [[phab:T261237|T261237]]
| Update terminology for "Article Descriptions" to match across feature — iOS app
| 2021-04-26
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-09-03
| [[Phab:T261977|T261977]]
| Add tool tip for editing Wikidata descriptions in the iOS app
| 2021-04-26
|-
!scope="row"| 2020-09-21
| [[Phab:T263493|T263493]]
| Reader gets appropriate article short description in search results — REST API — [[MW:MediaWiki 1.36/wmf.13|Live on '''2020-10-13''']]<br />(First direct display of Short descriptions on desktop skins)
| 2020-10-19
|-
!scope="row"| 2021-04-08
| [[Phab:T279702|T279702]]
| Suggestededit-add_1.0 is suggesting bad short descriptions on en.WP; short description feature should be disabled until fixed
| 2022-04-21
|-
!scope="row"| 2021-08-18
| [[Phab:T289214|T289214]]
| Switch to [[MW:OOUI|OOUI]] TitleInputWidget for the link-inserter in WikiEditor — [[MW:MediaWiki 1.38/wmf.5#WikiEditor|Live on '''2021-10-14''']]
| 2021-11-08
|-
!scope="row"| 2021-12-09
| [[Phab:T297341|T297341]]
| Brand-new editors are still being guided to adding terrible short descriptions on en.WP (follows on from T279702)
| 
|}

[[Category:WikiProject Short descriptions| ]]