An unusual greenbusting experiment, begun in an equally unusual manner, is yielding positive results, and may be a model for future greenbusting efforts.
The saga began in early April in the #ODP channel within Internet Relay Chat. Editor jordancpeterson was concerned with the number of greens within several of the Business/ categories, and was trying to recruit anyone who entered the IRC channel. It had become a fun thing, with jordancpeterson playfully bugging everyone in the channel - from senior editalls to junior editors to come help out in Business/. He was primarily looking for editors to apply for some of the categories with lots of greens.
At one point he approached spectregunner, who declined, explaining that he had recently been granted new permissions in Society/Military/Aviation/Aircraft and did not want to get overextended. With the over-exuberance of youth, jordancpeterson then went on to explain to spectregunner that there were aviation cats within Business/ and that those needed help too. He suggested that spectregunner apply for greenbusting permission, "just to help out." Besides, he explained, editing in Business/ was "easy" and that green busting was "fun." Jordancpeterson will definitely run for a national political office some day.
Spectregunner went on to explain that he didn't know how to greenbust, he didn't know anything about editing in Business/ and that perhaps jordancpeterson's efforts would be better directed elsewhere.
At that point editall suzy1212 jumped in and told spectregunner that she would personally assist him with the effort.
Spectregunner, with only 1,000 edits to his credit and not knowing any better, erroneously believed that no editall would ever mislead him, and reluctantly agreed to submit an application. It was approved in a flash and spectregunner began working the greens in Business/Transportation_and_Logistics/Aviation/Aircraft. The partnership was underway.
As spectregunner began to navigate through the greens, he would ask a million questions in the IRC channel. If he needed help with a site, suzy1212 would check it out, give him advice (and occasionally a small nudge) and the greenbusting would continue. None of the pending greenbusts sat for more than 48 hours before either being approved or being "sent back" to spectregunner for "more work."
Spectregunner took on a personal goal of 20 to 25 edits a day, and it took a little more than two weeks to clean out the bulk of the greens.
Around that time, rwkat and jcand, noticed the interaction between spectregunner, jordancpeterson and suzy1212 and began assist in the effort and shared their thoughts (and links to past fora threads) when spectregunner asked questions. They also began to tease spectregunner about coming to help out in one of the Regional/ categories. As the Business/ greenbust neared completion, they turned up the heat on spectregunner.
Spectregunner said that he was somewhat willing to try and help out in Regional/ (truth be told, spectregunner was starting to enjoy editing in vastly different parts of the directory - but he didn't want to reveal that to the pack of "recruiters" who were nipping at his heels).
Finally, in a somewhat serious IRC conversation, spectregunner explained to rwkat that while he generally enjoyed the greenbusting, he was frustrated when he had to move incorrectly submitted sites to areas where he had no permissions, and felt that he was just "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" by moving greens into the queues for other editors. Thus, if he were to undertake another greenbust, he would want to be high enough up in the tree where he would not be moving many greens into the queues for other editors. What were the chances he could get approved for greenbusting at the state level?
Rwkat explained that it was unlikely he could get approved that high since in Regional/ like many other areas of the directory, the meta editors usually want editors to have some experience in an area before granting privileges higher up in the tree.
Rwkat then went off and had conversations with at least one meta editor who said that an application might get consideration if spectregunner were to have a "mentor" guiding his journey through Regional/. Rwkat offered to be that mentor and suggested that spectregunner submit an application that explained the assistance that he would receive.
With a high expectation of rejection, spectregunner submitted the application, and was accepted to greenbust Regional/North_America/United_States/Arizona. Rwkat was delighted to see the application approved just before going to bed that night, and slightly less overjoyed when she logged on at 7 a.m. to find 25 greenbusts awaiting her attention. Over the next few days she quickly adjusted to the fact that every time she logged on there would be a new pile of greenbusts for her, often containing mistakes that she remembered making when she first edited in Regional/.
Early on, rwkat and spectregunner swapped a lot of e-mail. Spectregunner made all of the mistakes that a new editor in Regional/ is prone to make, and rwkat patiently explained those mistakes and how to avoid them in the future. She spent a lot of time composing tutorial e-mails that would help spectregunner not make common mistakes without discouraging his effort. Rwkat also took the time to email the relevant portions of the guidelines and important fora threads to spectregunner so that he could read up on how things were done in Regional. Rwkat felt it was important to do more than just correct spectregunner's mistakes, it was important to teach him how not to make the same mistakes in the future. Thus, spectregunner found himself going back and having to redo greenbusts that he had done the night before, fixing his own mistakes and learning how to avoid them in the process.
Here is how a typical evening would work. Spectregunner would pick a cat within a locality and take a look at the existing sites. If there were a lot of out-of-compliance descriptions he would ask (in the IRC channel) either suzy1212 or rwkat to unreview any sites in that cat where they felt the descriptions needed work. Spectregunner would then work all of the greens - both new submissions and the recently unreviewed - until the cat was caught up. At the same time, suzy1212 and rwkat would work on the structure of the categories, making sure that the related categories were sufficient and appropriate and that the necessary @links and relcats were in place.
On more that one occasion, rwkat felt as if spectregunner was determined to make her head explode. Doing both Travel_and_Tourism and Real_Estate, all on the same day? Spectregunner needs a life!
During this process, numerous other editors were dragged into the greenbust. If spectregunner needed assistance, and neither rwkat nor suzy1212 were online, then other editors in the IRC channel (who had been watching this happen) would dive in and lend a hand. The IRC channel became a training and discussion tool for spectregunner as he learned how to deal with spam, handle real estate sites, and other editing issues that he never ran into within the categories where he had permanent rights.
An IRC posting along the lines of "Can someone look at www.foobar.com? I'm not sure if it has sufficient content." Would often launch a broad discussion of that site, how to find the mirrors, etc. Other editors got involved in those discussions, and many times they went well beyond the site in question.
After about a month, rwkat was enjoying the greenbust. She felt that this was the closest thing to "click-through" editing she'll ever see. Spectregunner reviews the site, places it in the correct subcat, and all she has to do is browse the title and description, load the site and see that everything's ok. Life is good!
Since that time, spectregunner has done more than 1,000 edits with Regional/ and has applied for and received permanent permissions in Regional/North_America/United_States/Arizona/Localities. Because of the cooperative nature of the greenbust, the editing team was able to focus on category quality in addition to just clearing greens. Many of the subcats has not been touched in quite some time, and the existing descriptions needed a lot of work to bring them back into compliance with current editing guidelines.
From suzy1212's perspective, the joint effort is extremely satisfying because greenbusted sites actually make it into the directory. The value of this cannot be underestimated. She really hates it when she finds greenbusts that have been waiting for months to be approved. It has to be disheartening to the editor who worked so hard on them. Suzy1212 feels we need an organized effort to pair greenbusters with editalls or other editors with privileges in the area to get the greenbusts into the directory, or sent back to the greenbuster with an explanation of what needs to be done to improve. If the ODP does not pair greenbusters and editors, then a fora thread needs to be dedicated to greenbust, where they can ask for help with their work.
Rwkat believes that, all in all, team greenbusting is the way to go. You build long term relationships, the greenbusters receive nearly instantaneous feedback, and the directory is better for everyone's efforts.
Jordancpeterson thinks that the teamwork concept is the one of the best parts! It helps the newer and not so new editors to learn different areas of the directory. It gives a level of camaraderie that working alone doesn't always give. He thinks that the teamwork approach is something that most of the editors should be involved with. Sometimes editors may feel all alone in the directory. They feel nothing is happening. Those greens just seem to stay at 63!
He encourages all new editors, whether involved in greenbusts or not, to find at least one other editor that enjoys the same area of the directory and work together on it, even if it is via the forums and e-mail.
The bottom line for the ODP is that using the teamwork approach to greenbusting makes sure that the editor doing the greenbust has the assistance needed to be successful, that greenbusts don't languish for months waiting on approvals, and that the "team" feels responsibility for working quality issues in addition to simply clearing the greens.
Spectregunner is glad for the experience and really values the friendship, the learning and the opportunity. He is still committed to getting the total number of greens within Arizona further reduced, and has been encouraged by rwkat and jcand to help in one of the food-related categories. Seems that spectregunner believes that spaghetti grows on trees and macaroni grows on bushes. "See, he is fully qualified," notes rwkat.