Nupedia's system automatically posts notices of new articles to copyedit to copyeditame-l and copyeditbre-l (the American English and the British English copyedit mailing lists). Volunteers from those mailing lists will check those articles that have been approved by all relevant review groups for proper spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, and (to some small degree) style. An article's copyeditors will be properly credited for their work, just as the editor, lead reviewer, and author(s) are properly credited. The copyediting procedure and policy will be as follows.
After an article passes open review, the Nupedia system posts a message on copyeditame-l (for articles in American English) or on copyeditbre-l (for articles in British English) soliciting help from copyeditors. Copyeditors can follow an URL given in this message to sign up to copyedit an article. Generally speaking, it's preferable that they not be experts on the subject of the article, unless the article is particularly technical. It is best, in any case, if copyeditors can understand what they propose to copyedit.
The author chooses two people, from among those who respond, as the first and second copyeditors. This is accomplished by logging into the system and following the links provided on the member area homepage.
The author has the choice of making one of the copyeditors a copyediting proxy. In this case, the author does not make copyediting changes to the article. The copyediting proxy makes changes directly to a draft of the article, rather than suggesting changes which the author then decides on. The proxy can of course confer with the author about ambiguous wordings, pronunciations, and other matters as necessary. But the proxy's role is not to give feedback to the author but directly to make those changes to the article that the proxy believes are necessary and appropriate. The copyediting proxy is expected not to rewrite the article, though (unless absolutely necessary and the author gives permission)--some sentences might have to be reworded, of course, but the style and wording of the original article are to be preserved wherever possible. Once an article has undergone the whole copyediting process, the system will send the author a notice asking for his or her approval of the copyediting changes.
The first copyeditor copyedits the article in accordance with the general copyediting guidelines and, if the first copyeditor is not made a copyediting proxy, posts suggestions for changes back to the author. A series of comments and adjustments then takes place. After the author makes all required changes to the satisfaction of the first copyeditor--or after the proxy copyeditor finishes making all changes deemed necessary--the first/proxy copyeditor approves the changes made (there is a link to an approval button on the article's copyediting discussion page). The second copyeditor then goes to work, and the process is repeated. If at any point in this process, the author has reasoned disagreements with something the copyeditor requires, the article can be passed provisionally (rather than unconditionally). That is, the copyeditor asserts that after the controversial issue in question has been discussed publicly, he or she might still refuse to give final approval the article. Sometimes, it's wise just to keep things moving along rather than getting stuck over relatively insignificant points. When the second copyeditor approves the article (i.e., presses the approval button), the lead copyediting stage is complete.