User talk:Squitor

Here's wishing you a belated welcome to Wikipedia, Squitor! I see that you've already been around a while and wanted to thank you for your contributions. Though you seem to have been successful in finding your way around, you may still benefit from following some of the links below, which help editors get the most out of Wikipedia:

If you have questions, just use this link to ask for help; a volunteer will visit you here shortly!

Need some ideas of what kind of things need doing? Try the Task Center.

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Again, welcome! 🍅 fx (talk) 20:41, 12 April 2026 (UTC)

Many thanks! Squitor (talk) 21:11, 12 April 2026 (UTC)

Saw some of your edits for the April blitz, how did you learn to copy edit so well and comprehensively. I'm trying to get good at it, but I have issues telling when tone and flow are poor, any help is appreciated but not expected. Oofgl (talk) 17:35, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

@Oofgl Thank you for reaching out!

For flow, the easiest thing to start with, in my opinion, would be watching for sentence length. If you notice a particularly long sentence, sometimes trying to split it into two can be an easy fix. Short sentences are much more digestible than long ones! Other times, there may be unnecessary language that can be removed while still conveying the same thing; for example, I could've typed 'exact same thing' right there, but no meaning is lost by omitting 'exact' in that context.

I'm not sure if it's strictly necessary, but I've also tried looking out for repetitive sentence structure, for example if several sentences begin with 'In [year], [thing happened]'. A variety of sentence structures keeps things from feeling samey.

For tone, remember that Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia. Ideally, our articles should only include facts that are notable within the topic.

"[The house] became a shambolic shadow of its former glory."

Here's a short quote from the revision of Milner Field prior to my copyedit attempt. The article was fun to read from a storytelling perspective, but storytelling is not Wikipedia's goal. Regardless of how agreeable or inoffensive the statement is, it's certainly not said from a neutral point of view, and it's not our place to make such claims, unless we may frame it in a way that uses verifiable facts.

Also on the topic of tone, articles should sound formal, yet not overcomplicated. Good command of language is important for a few reasons. At the same time, our articles should be accessible. Fancy vocabulary can help sentences with conciseness and precision in meaning, but what's the point if only a percentage of people can understand in the first place? Similarly, if fancy phrases say the same thing with more words, there's nothing wrong with using less. Why waste time with lot word when few word do trick?

As for how I personally learned: I don't have a good answer, sorry! Best I can give you is that I have recent (though limited) experience writing articles for a student newspaper, and have been studying and editing Wikipedia maybe a little too much over the past few days, so I've learned a lot.

I hope at least some of that is helpful to you! Hopefully my advice makes sense, but do take it with a grain of salt; I've actually only been a Wikipedia member for just over a week now so I'm quite the opposite of an expert. I'm very flattered you believe I'm doing a good job. I've been telling myself I could be doing everything wrong and that I'm causing yet-to-be-noticed issues somehow, so it's reassuring to hear!

In case I've left you with more questions than answers, I have no doubt you're aware of some or all of these articles but I'll leave them here anyway for you to read or refer to as needed, since they'll cover the topics much more accurately and comprehensively than I have:

- Wikipedia's Manual of Style

- Wikipedia's guide on basic copyediting

- Wikipedia's guide on improving your writing

- The core policies of article content

Perfectly happy to answer any further questions if you have any! Squitor (talk) 18:49, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank You! Oofgl (talk) 19:46, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

@Oofgl (and @Squitor) I got a notification for this because I put a welcome message here, so sorry for accidental talk page stalking, but I recently found those excercises which are great to practice different copyediting aspects: User:Tony1/Writing exercise box. You may find them useful as well 🍅 fx (talk) 21:07, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

Looks helpful, thank you! Squitor (talk) 21:32, 14 April 2026 (UTC)