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* [[/Archive 1|18 March 2006 – 15 April 2006]]
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* [[/Archive 6|April 2007 – July 2007]]
* [[/Archive 7|July 2007 – September 2007]]
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GA: [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 1|1]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 2|2]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 3|3]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 4|4]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 5|5]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 6|6]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 7|7]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 8|8]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 9|9]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 10|10]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 11|11]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 12|12]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 13|13]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 14|14]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 15|15]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Archive 16|16]]


Criteria: [[Wikipedia talk:Good article criteria/Archive 1|1]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article criteria/Archive 2|2]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article criteria/Archive 3|3]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article criteria/Archive 4|4]]
== Mac OS X ==


Reassessment: [[Wikipedia talk:Good article reassessment/archive1|1]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article reassessment/archive2|2]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article reassessment/archive3|3]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article reassessment/archive4|4]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article reassessment/archive5|5]], [[Wikipedia talk:Good article reassessment/archive6|6]]
I'm currently reviewing [[Mac OS X]], and have commented that it's too insider-oriented in both content and sources - IMO the things that matter to ordinary users are pricing, performance, reliability, security, ease of use, and avaibilit yof applications, about all of which which the article says next to nothing. The editors disagree, and there has been no real movement on this for nearly 3 weeks.


GA help: [[Wikipedia:Good article help/Archive 1|1]], [[Wikipedia:Good article help/Archive 2|2]]
I'd be grateful if another reviewer would look over the article and let me known whether what I've said is reasonable.


Nominations/Instructions: [[Wikipedia talk:Good article nominations/Instructions/Archive 1|1]]
PS I'm aware of other issues that I haven't raised yet, e.g. the genealogy and architecture of the Unix-based parts of OS X is unclear and the statement about the "Taligent", "Copland" and "Gershwin" projects is not fully supported by the source (mentions only "Taligent"). I saw no point in going into detail while there was an issue about the scope. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 13:20, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
:Well, since you asked... :-)<br/> Judging by a fairly superficial read-through of the GA review and the article, to the degree that your comments in the review are intended to be encompassed by your one-sentence summary here, I think you're on the wrong path here. The article seems generally fine <small>(in fact, in some respects it may have been better before the editors started trying to address your comments; specifically the Architecture section, which should probably have been improved and illustrated rather then removed)</small> and mostly needs attention to details and fleshing out or merging of the various single-sentence top-level sections. The issues and perspectives you mention here are fair, but, in my opinion, boil down to a minor content addition and some copyediting; and not, as you appear to suggest, a significant change in overall focus. I'm also left with a feeling that you may want to examine how much of your own POV is shining through in your assessment; some of the comments gave me the impression that you're extrapolating from your experiences with Windows (and primarily as a home user) and assuming they're generally valid. In short, I suspect the reason you're uncomfortable with the focus and coverage of the article is because it does not conform with what a specifically Windows user would expect an article on Mac OS X to look like.<br/> That's not to say the article doesn't have problems and rough spots—and isolated instances of “insider-oriented” POV—but I'm guessing the reason it's stuck is because you're arguing the bit above and refusing to get into the details.<br/> Anyways… I hope that wasn't too much of the “though love” and that you found a second pair of eyes useful (even if they disagreed fairly significantly with you). :-) --[[User:Xover|Xover]] ([[User talk:Xover|talk]]) 20:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::I will be concise: the article fails [[WP:JARGON]] (which is part of criterion [[WP:WIAGA|1b]]) in spades. Partly as a consequence, it is essentially unreadable (1a) to a large proportion of the likely readership. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 21:59, 29 January 2009 (UTC)


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Criterion 3 (a) requires that good articles "address the main aspects of the topic". I'm wondering i. whereabouts the threshold for "main aspect" is, and ii. whereabout the threshold for "address" is. I'm reviewing an article on a one term U.S. Senator (the subject's primary claim to notability) who was a state legislator before his Senate career. I'm generally satisfied with the comprehensiveness of the coverage of his Senate career, but his career as a state legislator is dealt with in a single sentence that includes only the dates in which he served. I'm on the fence on this, and would appreciate others' thoughts. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 13:45, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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:Depends on what the scope of the article is intended to be. If it's called something like "Senate career of John Doe", then I wouldn't be expecting to see anything other than material about that period in his life. If it's called "John Doe" on the other hand, then I'd be expecting substantially more than one sentence of biographical material beyond the account of his senate career. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 13:56, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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::Thanks for your response. The article is for the individual, but you may have misunderstood me: there's much more than one sentence about his life outside of the senate; my concern is specifically with the portion dealing with his career as state legislator, which is only one sentence. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 14:11, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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:::Ah, I see, I did misunderstand you. Then my reply would be that the number of sentences isn't important, rather the importance of what isn't being said. If one sentence covers all that needs to be said, fine. Are there questions in your mind about important material you feel may be missing about his career as a legislator? --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 14:23, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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::::No specific questions beyond "What did he do during his six years as state legislator?" I'm not really wondering whether the article *should* include material on this; there's no doubt in my mind that it should. I'm more wondering whether the absence of such material is a reason to fail the article, given that [[WP:GA?]] is quite clear that an article doesn't need to be entirely comprehensive to be listed. If it helps, the article is [[Joseph Tydings]]. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 14:32, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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:::::Well, speaking only for myself, that looks broad enough to me. It'll be interesting to see what others think. I'd be concerned about the claim in the infobox that he fought in World War II though. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 18:52, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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::::::Thanks, both for your thoughts on the broadness issue and for drawing my attention to the World War II claim, which I'd missed. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 20:39, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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:::::::I would agree with Mall here, the coverage given at the moment seems to suffice. For better or for worse we generally (or I generally, back when I was reviewing more) assume that if there's nothing more said it's because there's nothing more to say. No hard in asking as part of your review comments if anything of note happened in those six years; the author may have forgotten to mention them in the article. But if there's nothing to say, I think it's OK as is. [[User:Giggy|Giggy]] ([[User talk:Giggy|talk]]) 04:30, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
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I have a related topic I wanted to raise: I have over the last six months been working through the sports person articles for GA Sweeps. One recurring issue is that many otherwise OK articles (i.e. [[Paul Dickov]], [[David Beharall]] or [[Andrés Nocioni]] to name a few) have zero information about the person's life outside sports. I would normally consider this essential but upon consultation some time ago (and I now cannot find the discussion or remember exactly who was involved) I was advised to drop this consideration from my reviews. I still mention it, but it is no longer a cause to delist an article. I was wondering whether people felt such information was essential for a GA or peripheral and if it should be included, to what degree? (One of the better examples of such a section is, I feel, the one at [[Brian Urlacher]]).--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 23:13, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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:Again, speaking only for myself, I ''would'' delist an article if it didn't contain information about the subject's life outside of sport, as failing 3a. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 23:18, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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::Unless the article was "John Doe, the Sportsplayer" it should have some relevant information. And it should only have such a title if their is a main article on that person.[[User:Jinnai|<span style="background:#00CCFF;color:"><font color="black" size="2px">じん</font>]][[User talk:Jinnai|<span style="background:#00CCFF;color:"><font color="red" size="2px">ない</font>]] 23:42, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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:::Absent contrary evidence of past consensus on the question (I don't follow these things that closely), I'd agree that an article purporting to be a biographical one needs to have some information about the subject's life outside his/her specific claim to fame to pass 3 a. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 01:49, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
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::::I agree with SI. [[User:Giggy|Giggy]] ([[User talk:Giggy|talk]]) 04:30, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
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:::::Some biographies may lack Personal life sections simply because there is little or no information available on the subject's personal life. In such cases, the lack of a Personal life section should not prevent the article from attaining GA status. The inclusion of a Personal life section in a biography of a [[WP:NPF|non-public figure]] may cause the article to violate the [[WP:BLP|BLP]] policy. Surely we do not want BLP-violating articles to achieve GA status? Remember, broadness is not comprehensiveness. GA was created for short articles and is hence a process that helps in [[Wikipedia:countering systemic bias|countering systemic bias]]. I should note that I wrote [[Denise Phua]], which achieved GA status despite having no Personal life section, and [[Yip Pin Xiu]], a current GA nominee which also lacks a Personal life section. --[[User:Hildanknight|J.L.W.S. The Special One]] ([[User talk:Hildanknight|talk]]) 08:11, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
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::::::Both of those articles lack personal life sections, but both of them also include information extraneous to the primary claim to notability. For example, Phua's claim to notability appears to be her status as an MP, but the article includes her year of birth, educational background, managerial positions, and volunteerism (though this last might actually be on par with the MP status as a claim to notability - I can't tell). Yip Pin Xiu includes a year of birth and educational background, as well as details about her condition that might not be strictly relevant to her claim to notability. As far as I can tell, Jackyd101 is talking more about an article that covers a person's athletic career in reasonable details (statistics, career highlights, etc.) without including any basic biographical data at all (place of birth, year of birth, residence, educational background, etc.). In my view, if basic biographical information is not available for an article subject, that subject probably doesn't clear [[WP:N]] (or, if it does, doesn't clear it by enough to have a GA written about it, though I recognize that the question of whether it's possible to make a GA out of every article is not one on which there exists universal agreement). [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 08:21, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
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:::::::I think that makes sense, and I agree that a minimum level of biographical information isn't hard to come by for any truly notable sportsperson who has had some kind of professional career - they'll have appeared in sports magazines and on club websites, if nothing else. If the focus of an article can't be changed by tweaking the title, then I'd be inclined to delist and possibly even recommend that the article be merged with a club article if appropriate. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 10:21, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

::::::::I don't think we can disqualify articles on sports celebs for lack of personal info, as some are very reclusive out of the arena. E.g. [[Stefan Edberg]] in tennis and [[Lisa Moretti]] in wrestling. It certainly does not impact the subject's notability, which is generally for achievements in top-class competition.--[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 11:07, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

:::::::::The [[Stefan Edberg]] article ''does'' contain personal info, such as his ownership of an investment company, his wife and children, although why that's considered to be trivia ... --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 12:02, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

::::::::::I agree the small amount of personal info about Edberg should be retitled "Personal life" - except for the freak injury that killed a linesman, which real trivia as it waas not a foreseeable consequence of anything Edberg did. However I think the main point remains that personal info about about sports celebs can be miniscule or missing - e.g in the case of [[Ellsworth Vines]] you'll miss personal info in the [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505E5DF143CF933A15750C0A962958260 NY Times obit] if you blink at the wrong time. Until the 1980s the kind of books and articles we regard as [[WP:RS]] were very discreet about personal details. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 12:20, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

::::::::::::I think it is disrespectful to have the death of the linesman in a section named Trivia in any case. But to return to the question, if there is no biographical material then the article cannot be considered to have covered the main topics of its subject, and so fails criterion 3. Doesn't make it not a "good" article, simply means that it doesn't meet the GA criteria and so can't be listed as a GA. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 16:12, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

(deindent) To note, my question was not about a "Personal Life" section specifically, but rather the inclusion of personal information in the article, whether in its own section or not. I agree that such information is probably available for all contemporary sports personalities and most former ones, although I would also add that a personality who is notable for their reticence is likely to have reliable sources documenting said reticence, which can form a paragraph of its own. Given the trend of this discussion, I will be returning to re-review the articles that I passed without any personal information in the near future. A related issue however is the question of how much information is required. For example, [[Emile Heskey]] has appeared in the media outside his sporting capacity (although not a huge amount) and yet the section on this in his article is only the barest minimum. Another example of this (although from a lower profile footballer) is [[Clayton Donaldson]]. How much do people think is necessary? Personally I think that at least one properly developed paragraph is a mimimum, but perhaps less is acceptable.--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 18:01, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
:We can't call it a biography article if it doesn't cover the subject's life with some degree of completeness. Obviously we aren't looking for FA standards, but if relevant information ''can'' be sourced, it really ought to be included (and if not, perhaps as you suggest there's something to be written about why not). Personally I tend to drop or mitigate objections at GA-level if a good-faith effort has been made to find sourced info on something that I think ought to exist, even if it's drawn a blank, but that wouldn't apply where an article remains obviously incomplete or unbalanced, and tends to be for minor rather than major omissions. Not every article is capable of becoming a GA; for the Heskey article I find the almost complete lack of personal information more concerning than the passing mention of his non-sporting related activities, though that, too, is an issue. If the article was entitled "Emile Heskey's footballing career", it would more accurately reflect the content (and open a whole new can of worms!) [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 21:35, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
::OK, on the basis of the discussion here, I will be rereviewing the articles that I passed without adequate personal life information. I will begin by posting a warning and [[User:Jackyd101/review templates#Personal life guide|this instruction guide]] on the talk page of each (if anyone has any suggestions or improvements for the guide please let me know, and feel free to use any bits of it you like for your own reviews). If after seven days there has been no improvement then I will begin a formal individual GA reassessment and notify the relevant wikiproject and/or contributors. If no work happens after seven days then the article will be delisted. Any one contesting this is quite welcome to take the article to GAR. Sound fair?--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 22:53, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
(unindent)You have to take each article on its own merits; however, the good article [[WP:WIAGA|criteria]] particular 3a says<br>
"Broad in its coverage:<br>
(a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic;[3] and<br>
(b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail"<br>
Where the note states: "This requirement is significantly weaker than the "comprehensiveness" required by WP:FAC; it allows shorter articles, articles that do not necessarily outline every part of the topic, and broad overviews of large topics."<br>
To me, that does not say a biography of someone who is very rarely in the public eye outside of his/her main field, needs to go into much detail at all. Some detail is certainly preferable and not to be discouraged, but I wouldn't be ''demanding'' much more than that. [[User:Peanut4|Peanut4]] ([[User talk:Peanut4|talk]]) 23:05, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:(ec) I would encourage the option of page moves (renaming the article) rather than failing as a biography. The broadness of an article is determined by its title. If reliable sources only exist to document one aspect of a person's life, it is better for the encyclopedia to have a good quality, reliably sourced article on that aspect, rather than an attempt at a full biography with less than stellar sources. This is a very serious and topical issue, as biographies can be libelous and can damage real peoples lives. See [[WP:BLP]]. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:13, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::There have been articles on athletes that have gotten through FAC with basically no personal life, because that person lived in a age before "personal lives" and did not have anything remarkable in his personal life to note. &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 23:17, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::I'm afraid that I don't think the responses of a) I can't find sources and b) there is nothing to note really stand up at GA (and I certainly think there is no excuse at FA). An article I wrote ([[John Capper]]) recently failed a GAN from Matisse because "He does not come to life as an individual. There is not enough information about him other than a chronology of his career". Assuming this to be the standard (and I'm not complaining, just comparing), then why should articles about sports people pass without information about them as individuals?

:::I'm also reluctant to advocate moving articles simply because aspects of them aren't good enough: articles about a particular aspect of a person's life should only be employed if the parent article is too big, not as a convenience to prevent the delisting of Good Articles.--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 23:29, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::::Sorry. Perhaps you want it reevaluated. The FA article I was thinking of was [[Bob Meusel]]. &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 23:33, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::::Its not a challenge on that particular article, I'm not trying to make a point (I'd have gone to GAR for that), I'm just trying to establish where the line is and what crosses it. As for Meusel, I think that that amount of information is OK for GA, but that it would be very lucky to pass FAC at current standards. As it is, I have dropped notifications at [[Paul Dickov]], [[David Beharall]], [[Mark Hammett]] and [[Andrés Nocioni]] which all have 0 personal information. Those with inadequate information I will continue to consider in the context of this discussion.--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 23:41, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::::::I feel that the gravity of my previous comment has not yet been taken on board. Articles should not be moved for convenience, nor should we stop challenging nominators to find more and better sources. However, like everything else on Wikipedia, GAN can only justify its existence if, overall, it [[WP:IAR|improves the encyclopedia]]. Encouraging wiki-biographers to add dubiously sourced material about the personal lives of well known living persons most definitely ''does not'' improve the encyclopedia. I hope everyone can agree on that. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:46, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::::::I've no doubt that everyone ''does'' agree that encouraging wiki-biographers to add dubiously source material is of no benefit either to the article or to the encyclopedia. But that's not what I understood was being discussed here. I too share Jackyd101's reservations about renaming just to creep under the 3a bar. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 23:58, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::::::(ec) I do understand your comment, but I think you are assuming something that hasn't been suggested: no one has indicated that anything other than reliable sources should be used to back up this material. In fact I said in my proposed [[User:Jackyd101/review templates#Personal life guide|instruction guide]] that reliable sources are a must. I think that "Encouraging wiki-biographers to add <s>dubiously sourced</s> material about the personal lives of well known living persons" most definitely ''does'' improve the encyclopedia. --[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 00:02, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::::That is well and good when nominators share our enthusiasm for improving the encyclopedia, as opposed to, say, getting more GAs under their belt for [[WP:RfA|other reasons]]. Reliable sourcing is not a binary issue: there isn't a clear line between reliability and unreliability, judgment is needed. For BLPs it would be much better if this project encouraged the very best sources, at the expense of less information. I don't have a problem with YM's nominations of articles which refer to a person's contribution to a particular event. What is unencylopedic about that? Why do we have to describe people only in biography format? Why can't we have GAs that discuss the contribution of person X to Y? ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 00:22, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

:::::::::We do have GAs that discuss the contribution of person X to Y - some chess player GAs and other that have not yet reached GA have an "Influence on the game" section.
:::::::::Chess promotion apart, ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' is right - "it addresses the main aspects of the topic" makes influences on and influences of the subject more important than private lives, unless these became ''causes celebres'' (to put it politely) or influenced the career that made the subject notable. For example many chess enthusiasts know how [[Mikhail Botvinnik]] first got noticed, who his major rivals were at various stages, who his pupils were, his ideas on preparation for important chess contests, his pupils - but it's pretty difficult to find the name of his wife. Apart from Posh 'n Becks, footballers' wives seldom make much impact. Half the times you only read about celebs' families in the celebs' obituaries. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 00:43, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
(de-indent)I was brought to this discussion after it came up at [[Talk:Arjen Robben]]. If personal life sections are to become mandatory for sports figures than it will severely limit the amount of biographical articles I bring to GAN. The very reason I would choose GAN over FAC is that there is some detail missing which prevents it meeting the criterion ''[[WP:WIAFA|it neglects no major facts or details and places the subject in context]]'', but does not stop it from ''[[[WP:WIAGA|address[ing] the main aspects of the topic]]''. For example, I own the majority of books which mention [[Sam Cowan]]. If the information isn't in the article it has probably never been published. [[Ken Barnes (footballer)|Ken Barnes]] manages to go through the entirety of his 190 page autobiography without mentioning his wife's name once. Frequently the only sources for such things are tabloid scandal sheets, the antithesis of the type of sourcing we want to encourage. [[User:Oldelpaso|Oldelpaso]] ([[User talk:Oldelpaso|talk]]) 08:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
:Having just seen the notification for [[Paul Dickov]], this brings up a case in point. Dickov scored the most important goal of his career when [[Vince Bartram]] was the opposing goalkeeper. The poignant part is that Dickov was the best man at Bartram's wedding. When I wrote the article I was aware of this, but couldn't find a reliable source. Since I now live somewhere where I can access [[Newsbank]] using my library card (but didn't then), I just ran a search. On this occasion we're lucky. Three publications mention it, one of which is [[The Guardian]]. The other two are [[The Sun]] and the [[News of the World]]. Those two I wouldn't touch with a bargepole from a [[WP:RS]] point of view. But most of the time it is that type of publication that tends to be the one to delve into personal lives. [[User:Oldelpaso|Oldelpaso]] ([[User talk:Oldelpaso|talk]]) 08:38, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::Good work on that, but it raises a question: tabloids are subject to the same libel laws as broadsheets, so in theory at least, their news (if not their tone or writing style) does qualify under [[WP:RS]]. We don't have a blanket ban on those sources, so perhaps we just have to exercise caution when using them?--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 08:53, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
:::The red tops in particular deliberately sail very close to the wind, careful use of the word "allegedly" a favourite. Put it this way: Yesterday the front page headline on the Sun was "[[Robinho]] Rape Arrest". The player had been bailed by police in connection with an investigation into a sexual assault. Other papers reported the same story, but were ''far'' more reserved in the way they reported it. Today, though a search of their website brings 51 results for "Robinho" from 2009, yesterday's article is mysteriously not among them. [[User:Oldelpaso|Oldelpaso]] ([[User talk:Oldelpaso|talk]]) 09:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::::Agreed, but surely the role of Wikipedia as a tertiary source is to distill the relevant information from the news article, just as with a broadsheet - our role is not to determine which information from commercially released newspapers or journals is newsworthy or reliable, but to report what others considered to be newsworthy and the manner in which they reported it. Thus allegedy is appropriate in many instances: for an example, see [[Tony Parker]] - he was accused of having an affair with a model in the tabloid press, the story ran for several weeks and later turned out to be a hoax - it generated a fairly high level of media interest and therefore is important enough to include in the article, in spite of its lack of relevance to his sporting career and in spite of the totally invented nature of the story (in fact the fraudulent nature of the story makes it even more important that wikipedia reports it accurately to conform with BLP). Wikipedia is fast becoming many people's first choice for biographical information on "celebrities" and the Parker story, like many others, will attract a large number of viewers to the page who are looking for information unrelated to the subject's sporting career. For information such as this, often the only sources available come from the tabloid media and yet that doesn't mean that the information is not relevant to the article or cannot be reliably sourced - it just means that we as editors must take care in the manner in which we phrase and source the information in the article in question.--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 12:19, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::I think that's the correct interpretation of [[WP:BLP]]. As an encyclopedia, we aren't competent to decide what is and isn't 'true', but we have policies to [[WP:NPOV|guide our use]] of what reliably-sourced information we do find. I share Oldelpaso's opinion of tabloid newspapers, but think that as long as they're used responsibly, they can be a valuable resource. [[WP:RS]] specifies the source should be "regarded as trustworthy or authoritative in relation to the subject at hand", which is different to completely reliable in all things. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 13:22, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::If something is of note, then it ought to be documented in sources whose reliability is not suspect. We should endeavour to use the highest quality sources, doubly so for biographies of living people. To rely on sources are not regarded as trustworthy or authoritative is to hinder that goal. If something can only be sourced to publications with poor reputations for reliability, then my interpretation of [[WP:RS]] is that they should not be included at all - "if an article topic has no reliable sources, Wikipedia should not have an article on it" surely applies. [[User:Oldelpaso|Oldelpaso]] ([[User talk:Oldelpaso|talk]]) 13:40, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::::That's broadly true, of course, but we're in a bit of a grey area. I think part of the problem is that while many things ''are'' of note, they aren't documented in the highest-quality sources because they aren't of note to those sources. We wouldn't, for example, expect to find personal information about a footballer in a peer-reviewed academic journal or even necessarily a quality broadsheet - the audience for that information, by and large, is the readership of the tabloid newspaper, so that's where we'd look. I completely agree that such sources must be handled carefully, but that doesn't mean they have no value at all. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 14:57, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

== GA guides ==

We've all grumbled about the poor state of some nominations. While there is a decent [[Wikipedia:Reviewing good articles]] guide, there's no simple guide to writing GAs for editors who are not familiar with the details of the relevant policies, etc. Would it be a good idea to write a relatively simple guide, possibly with sub-pages for aspects that are more complex or more topic-specific (e.g. the discussion about breadth of coverage, especially in bios), and then feature it prominently in the "How to nominate" section of [[WP:GAN]] and possibly link to it in [[Wikipedia:Good article criteria]]? I know the relevant policies etc. would take precedence, but I think a shorter, common-sense outline would suffice for at least at least 95% of the content in articles we review. I have a few thoughts on the contents, and could draft a guide in my sandbox for other reviewers to comment on.

BTW we had a discussion recenty about poor reviews. Would it be useful to add to [[Wikipedia:Reviewing good articles]] something like "It's a bad idea to review an article for GA status if you have not already produced or improved at least two articles that have then passed GA reviews"? --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 11:00, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

For both editors and new reviewers I suggest it would also be helpful to provide a list / category of fairly recent GA passes by sub-topic in the nominations list, as some people learn more easily by example than from guides and rule-books. Does anyone know how this could be automated? --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 11:00, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

:I've produced the beginnings of such a guide at [[User:Philcha/Sandbox/Producing a Good Article]]. Please comment at [[User talk:Philcha/Sandbox/Producing a Good Article]]. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 14:33, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

::We do already have [[Wikipedia:Guide for nominating good articles]], which is largely written by [[User:Nehrams2020|Nehrams]]. I also found [[User:Jacklee/Writing good articles]]. But the more the merrier! ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 20:16, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

:::Thanks for the links! I especially like [[User:Jacklee/Writing good articles]], because I think a light, almost chatty style will be more helpful to new(ish) editors. The problem with [[Wikipedia:Guide for nominating good articles]] is that, although its content is good, its title suggests yet another dreary piece of WP bureaucracy, and the Guide itself contains too many policy acronyms - I don't think I've ever read a policy or guideline all the way through, and I've produced a reasonable number of GAs in the last 8 months or so. Whichever version we use:
:::*Its title must imply "this is what to do ''before'' nominating" - why, if that's not obvious to a new(ish) editor.
:::*Tthe way it is presented in the "How to nominate" box of [[WP:GAN]] must also give this impression.
:::*Its style should be light and easy.
:::*It should include tips and tools (e.g the link checker) as well as rules.
:::*It should cover it all in one page, with the possible exception of breadth of coverage, so that the TOC is a good summary and readers don't lose the plot while waiting for a linked page to load.
:::Hopefully that will lead to better average quality of nominated articles, reviews that make a more positive impression, and more people willing to review.
:::PS to make it work, it needs a commitment from the GA project to keep it up to date - some parts of [[User:Jacklee/Writing good articles]] are visibly out of date. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 21:49, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

:::BTW has anyone any ideas on how to automate presentation of a list of recent GAs in each topic area, so that readers can see examples that meet the current interpretation(s) of the current criteria? --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 21:44, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
::::That is a very good idea, as I frequently look for examples of articles in a certain area (like albums, or films etc.) so I know what is supposed to be in such an article. &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 00:27, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::I do this too. [[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 00:36, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::I don't think warning potential reviewers against reviewing if they have not already been a key contributor to multiple articles that have then passed GA reviews is a good idea. I understand what you mean in terms of someone understanding the process if they've experienced it from the other side though. Willingness to read, and ability to understand, the policies, guidelines &amp; criteria in a potential reviewer though is what's crucial.

::You make a great point about many learning more easily by example, Philcha. Specimen or [[Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_nominations/Archive_11#Model_GA_reviews|model]] reviews, selected by others, might better guarantee quality than automated selection? [[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 00:41, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::For model reviews I think you're right, they have to be hand-selected. Unfortunately [[Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_nominations/Archive_11#Model_GA_reviews|model]] went so dormant it's been archived, although it was only opened around 12 Jan 2008. To make that work I think we'd need to:
:::*Get a decent range of reviews - different types of subject; easy passes and those were harder work; close "fail"s; and maybe some that weren't so close, although the reviewees might not be happy about that, and perhaps we should ask if they are willing for the reviews to be listed.
:::*Make them easy to access, e.g. links to them at the top and bottom of [[Wikipedia:Reviewing good articles]].
:::*Review the list if standards change - which has happened, my impression is that many FAs promoted before 2007 would struggle to pass GA reviews now.
:::The need to keep "model" lists up to date is one of the reasons why I suggested automating the selection of model GAs. The other main one is that we need one or two from each sub-topic because e.g. a science GA looks very different from a sports GA, in fact there are wide differences within sub-topics.
:::The idea of warning against reviewing if they have not already been a key contributor to multiple articles that have then passed GA reviews came up in recent discussions about poor quality reviews ([[Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_nominations/Archive_11#Rule_to_make_only_established_editors_review_for_GA_status.3F]] and [[Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_nominations/Archive_11#Criticism.2C_not_review]]). I think a would-be reviwer should first have been on the "receiving" at 2-3 articles ''which passed''. It's how I got into GA reviewing - maybe I was lucky, but my first 3 experiences of "receiving" GS reviews were positive. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 08:32, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
::::For myself at least I wouldn't qualify as a reviewer under those rules. Whether or not that's a bad thing is, I guess, quite another matter! <tt>;)</tt>&nbsp;&ndash;[[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 11:15, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::Probably jumping off on a slight tangent, but it's always struck me as a little strange that nominators aren't asked to give feedback on the reviews of their articles, perhaps on a scale of 1–10, for instance. Who decides what is a good review? Me? You? --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 01:17, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

== Is there a limit to how many noms you have? ==

No offense to this user, but [[User:YellowMonkey]] has 20 noms in the sports and recreation section. In addition, to this being a lot of noms, it contributes to the huge 60+ backlog. The users also should help in decreasing the backlog if he wants to have those many noms. I'm just saying.--'''''<small>[[User:Truco|<font color="navy">TRU</font>]]</small><small>[[User talk:Truco|<font color="black">CO</font>]]</small>''''' 22:00, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
:There is no such limit currently. There has been some discussion as to whether such a limit might be desirable, but none has yet been imposed. I agree with the spirit of what you're saying, and I try to keep my ratio of articles submitted to article reviewed right around one. Some users, though - no idea whether this applies to YM or not - may not be comfortable reviewing articles, as reviewing good articles requires a different competence than writing them. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 22:07, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
:There's currently no limit, but it is generally encouraged to review other nominations if you list one (or 20) here. &ndash;[[User:Juliancolton|Juliancolton]] [[User talk:Juliancolton|<font color="#66666"><sup>'''T'''ropical</sup></font>]] [[Special:contributions/Juliancolton|<font color="#66666"><sup>'''C'''yclone</sup></font>]] 22:10, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

::I've seen YellowMonkey review articles, it's not something I think he's shy about doing, but he does have other things to do. If someone feels there time is better spent writing articles than checking other peoples', I think that's fair enough. [[User:Nev1|Nev1]] ([[User talk:Nev1|talk]]) 22:17, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
:::I'm not against someone writing articles, I have 2 noms up there, but I reviewed 3 in exchange. Its fair to review to get a review IMO. I just think that 20, especially almost back-to-back is a bit overwhelming.--'''''<small>[[User:Truco|<font color="navy">TRU</font>]]</small><small>[[User talk:Truco|<font color="black">CO</font>]]</small>''''' 22:25, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

::::It's not a ''quid pro quo''. Our aim here is to improve the quality of the encylopedia. Why should YellowMonkey be slowed down just because we can't keep up? --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 00:28, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::Just to play Devil's Advocate&hellip;I think the OP was suggesting mass noms were contributory to ''why'' we might not be able to keep up. <tt>;)</tt> [[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 00:58, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:Like Sarcasticidealist comments others have thought this is something for discussion too. The [[Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_nominations/Archive_11#Limiting_nominations.3F|immediate last archive]] of this page has something on this too&nbsp;&mdash;brought up by an pretty experienced reviewer I believe. Wikipedia is not a sprint. I can see how a cap on the amount of nominations (# of noms per editor) at one time, say a maximum of 3, is reasonable.

:Reviewers place articles on hold for ''a short period'' so article problems can be fixed. This is so when they are fixed, and no new problems are introduced, they can pass the article. With a large amount of concurrent nominations an editor's time and attention is spread more thinly; even allowing for case multiple noms might not all be taken by reviewers at the same time this is valid; this means less time for addressing any concerns raised by each reviewer for each nominated article. [[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 00:12, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

That an editor has twenty nominations suggests he is a prolific contributor of quality content and should be encouraged to write even more. But after closely scrutinising [[User:YellowMonkey|YellowMonkey]]'s nominations, I am rather concerned. Six of his nominations are about the 1948 Ashes series and fourteen are entitled "X with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948". Would reviewers want to review so many articles with excessive details about a minor sporting event? Floods of such articles just show how severe the [[WP:CSB|systemic bias]] of Wikipedia is. Perhaps there should be limits on nominating many ''similar and excessively trivial'' articles? While I wish to applaud YellowMonkey for writing so many articles about cricket, I wish he (and others) would do more to counter systemic bias by writing about, for example, Singaporean historical sites and politicians. --[[User:Hildanknight|J.L.W.S. The Special One]] ([[User talk:Hildanknight|talk]]) 09:11, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:Tangentially, I clicked through and glanced at your talk page and something there led me to Peer Review. It (i.e. [[WP:REVIEW]]) has a note in '''bold''' type advising noms:
:''Nominations are limited to one per editor per day and four total open requests per editor. ...[A]nd 14 days must have passed since the previous peer review or unsuccessful FAC.'', and a further info link that explains: ''Since PR is supposed to be an interactive process, having more than four open PR requests seems counterproductive. ... The basic idea is that editors should look carefully at feedback from any review process, and make the needed changes before asking for a peer review.''
:It suggests to me how established the understanding is that limited or finite resources exist and, to effectively make those available for everyone, some limits have to be placed to facilitate that. As someone said, aiming to be about the "us and the we" instead of the "I and the me". It does look like limits to ga noms wouldn't be a paradigm shift from the setup that wiki contributors will experience and are used to onsite. &nbsp;–[[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 11:01, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::See [[Wikipedia talk:Good article nominations/Archive 11#Limiting nominations?]]. <font face="Impact">[[User:Apterygial|<font color="#006400">Aptery</font>]][[User talk:Apterygial|<font color="#006400">gial</font>]]</font> 11:14, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
:::Piped link 'immediate last archive' posted a couple of paragraphs up. *g* &nbsp;&ndash;[[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 11:18, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::::Ah. So you did. But what that thread shows is that a policy of limited noms would be impossible to implement: the opposition from some sections of the GA community would be insurmountable. While I was originally for it, it is important to recognise the effect that such a policy could have on the output of quality articles. <font face="Impact">[[User:Apterygial|<font color="#006400">Aptery</font>]][[User talk:Apterygial|<font color="#006400">gial</font>]]</font> 11:23, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::I honestly didn't get that from the debate there. Strong support&nbsp;&mdash; near unanimous&nbsp;&mdash; for some sort of cap, with [[User:TonyTheTiger]] the only opposed; [[User:Geometry guy]] said later in the thread he felt a cap would have limited impact too though.
:::::I did quite like your your idea of further noms if you review a block, [[User:Apterygial]]. Interesting.
:::::I found it interesting some of the 5 editors [[User:Geometry guy]] points out would be affected are the same names seen in the [[Wikipedia_talk:Peer_review/Archive_5#Proposed_limits|discussion]] that led to Peer Review introducing limits. &nbsp;&ndash;[[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 11:55, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

We write and review subjects we care about and hopefully know something about. If all the nominations are of high quality than I do not see what the concern would be? If some or many are of questionable quality than that is another issue. I consider all sports game outcomes trivia, but that is just me. :-) Looked at some of the pages and all I can says is WOW. Dedicated. --[[User:Jmh649|<span style="color:#0000f1">'''Doc James'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Jmh649|talk]] · [[Special:Contributions/Jmh649|contribs]] · [[Special:EmailUser/Jmh649|email]]) 11:44, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:Because it's frustrating for the would-be-nominator who eagerly, with some trepidation, puts up the article they've lavished attention on&hellip; Only for it to languish in the queue for ages because of en masse noms from a small cadre of editors.
:Time and again the sentiment there is a problem is brought up, like [[Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_nominations/Archive_11#Informing_nominators_of_GA_expectations|here]]; or, this current {{H:title|Featured Article Candidate| FAC}} submission:<br /> (quote) {{xt|Mother's Milk is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is a project I have been intending to work on since the last Chili Peppers' album, One Hot Minute, was completed and subsequently Featured in November 2007. &hellip; I elected not to nominate this article for potential GA status as I feel that process has become a useless outlet of mere waiting; it is a test not of the article's quality but of it's contributor(s)' patience.}} (unquote)<br />&ndash;[[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 12:51, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::Well, if more editors took that view then the backlog problem would be eliminated, at least at GAN anyway, although taking articles which are clearly not ready for GA, much less FA, will not do much for queue at that review process. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 15:11, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::There's always the possibility of that. My latest FA creation skipped right over the GA process completely. (I'd still be waiting for a review most likely based on the dates in the backlog) [[User:Wizardman|<span style="color:#060">'''''Wizardman'''''</span>]] 15:38, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::::The problem though is a severe lack of willing reviewers, both at GAN and at FAC. Pushing the problem onto FAC solves nothing. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 15:53, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::Like a user pointed out above, it really drags reviewers away to review 20 noms of the same type of articles.--'''''<small>[[User:Truco|<font color="navy">TRU</font>]]</small><small>[[User talk:Truco|<font color="black">CO</font>]]</small>''''' 17:25, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::::::I think you've touched on something important. What isn't being considered in this wringing of hands and clenching of teeth over the size of GAN's backlog is that the waiting time is not uniform across topics, and some are severely backlogged because of an apparent lack of reviewer interest, others get picked up almost instantly. I can't remember ever having to wait much more than a week or so for a review, for instance. We don't have the right statistics available either. So the queue size is n? So what? What's the median waiting time for a review to begin? Standard deviation? Variation across topic categories? That there's a bottleneck with pop culture topics, for instance, is not something that I'm ever likely to be concerned about. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 18:39, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::Perhaps the need is not for more reviewers ''per se'', but for more reviewers in categories x, y or z? --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 18:49, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::That's because of the rich inner light that shines through in your eyes, Malleus. People flock to it. Stats wise I don't know of any of that either. The only statistical data I've seen is [[WP:GAN/R|GAN/R]], the [[Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_nominations/Archive_10#GA_statistics|template]], and [[WP:GAS|GA/S]]. &ndash;&nbsp;[[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 13:34, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Malleus has centered the point with his comment that the number of articles at GAN is irrelevant. What matters to nominators is how long is the wait. That will depend on the article. For instance several of YM's articles have been at GAN for some time, presumably because such specific topics haven't attracted reviewer attention. However, to those who think YM is not helping the encyclopedia with these specific, but well polished nominations, please address your concerns via User talk, not WT:GAN. I'm not aware of any evidence that such nominations cause delays to others in the same area: GAN is not a queue. Indeed, from a reviewer perspective, having more articles at GAN is a good thing, because it provides a greater selection of articles to review. These particular articles have evidently not been selected yet!

Yes, we need more reviewers, but, as I have pointed out several times, reviewer numbers are growing steadily: GAN is rather successful. If we want to reduce nominations, I agree with Philcha that the priority is to educate nominators in GA expectations so that the articles nominated here are close to meeting the criteria and we spend less time on articles needing significant work. However, and this I must stress, this does not involve regulating nominations or skipping reviews of good faith nominations. Like all volunteer work here, GAN reviewing is a service to the community, and we will only continue to grow if we build on the spirit to give every article we review the best service we can. That is how we encourage nominators to become new reviewers. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 20:44, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:I have reviewed and passed two of Yellow Monkey's GA noms. They were the two easiest GA I've done. Quick, easy wins. I'd be quite happy to speed through the others in order to reduce the list. My view on this is that it's not the amount of noms that hold us up, but the quality of the noms, and the attitude of the nominators. Some nominators seem to feel that we will finish off an article that doesn't quite make GA. I'm happy to make minor corrections, and then make suggestions for improvements, but feel that if there is substantial work required, and the nominators are not doing the work, then the noms should be delisted. Arguments from nominators isn't helpful either - it is very demotivating. A nominater should be able to challenge views, and to have their concerns addressed, but no more than that. The process is light enough that a nominator can resubmit their article again if it is rejected. We are not a court of law, and quibbling over disagreements is wearisome and time-consuming. I'd take 20 noms of the quality of Yellow Monkey's articles, than 1 nom which fails on several borderline aspects which have to be explained in detail and then defended against a nominator who doesn't agree. <span style="border: 1px #F10; background-color:cream;">'''[[User:SilkTork|<font face="Script MT" color="#1111AA" size="2">SilkTork</font>]]''' *[[User talk:SilkTork|<sup>YES!</sup>]]</span> 13:22, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

::That's a good point. Some articles can be bloody hard work, but others can be a breeze. I suspect that those nominators with a reputation for quality work don't usually have too long a wait at GAN. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 14:38, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your feedback, Geometry guy. If I may I'd like to take each of your points in turn. On your edit summary comment ''"Is there a limit to how many times this thread crops up?"'', my view is that this ''does'' keep cropping up says something; a dismissive or ostrich-syndrome approach could well be a mistake. Asking questions can cause us to re-examine an issue and find where improvements can be made. Some things bear repeating. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment ''"need to encourage more nominators to review"''. With respect to ''"Number of articles at GAN is irrelevant"'', I don't wish to be contrary&hellip;but no. On the comment ''"indeed it provides reviewers with more choice"'', the opposite seems surely true: Bulk nominations tend to be concentrated on a single or narrow topic area, which gives reviewers a limited topic range to choose from.

''"However, to those who think YM is not helping the encyclopedia with these specific, but well polished nominations, please address your concerns via User talk, not WT:GAN."'' Please Don't. Nobody but nobody has said YM or any other user is harming the encyclopedia with adding content on their topics of interest, nor has anybody said any such user is sabotaging the encyclopedia, or GA, through making use of the GA process. Rather, '''''all''''' community members can help ensure the GA project can manage its backlog and turnover effectively. We have seen what happens to project areas that become overwhelmed &mdash; they are extinguished: LoCE.

''"Malleus has centered the point with his comment that the number of articles at GAN is irrelevant."''
I didn't see him say ''that''; I saw he said ''something'' about the size of the backlog, but I didn't see he said that.

''For instance several of YM's articles have been at GAN for some time, presumably because such specific topics haven't attracted reviewer attention. ''
My take on this is some articles take longer to be picked up for review for, well, various reasons &mdash; most commonly complexity of subject.
I think there's a sharp contrast between an isolated lengthy science-oriented article, which could daunt somebody without a strong grasp in science (not essential for reviewing that, but certainly doesn't hurt), and as someone pointed out above a long list of noms from the same nominator, on the same general topic, at the same time.

''"Yes, we need more reviewers, but, as I have pointed out several times, reviewer numbers are growing steadily&hellip;"''
I couldn't say whether that's accurate; others have commented most reviewers don't quickly go onto review another, but review one or two and simply move on. I inferred from the graph you linked above that nominations consistently exceed demand; still, not my area of expertise.

''I'm not aware of any evidence that such nominations cause delays to others in the same area: GAN is not a queue.''<br />
It has a queue.<br />
Well, yes, there is no quantitative 'evidence' I can hand to you. I do, however, find the backlog usually hovers around the 300 mark. (I commend those that take part in backlog elimination drives.)
Taking older nominations though, while not obligatory, <u>is</u> strongly encouraged. WP:GAN has: "It may take several weeks for your nomination to be reviewed, as this page often has a large backlog." and "nominations towards the tops of the lists are older, and should be given higher priority." As others have pointed out: it is not fair to other nominators who have to wait for another person to get ''10'' articles reviewed before they can get ''one'' reviewed.

All the colloborative article quality, accreditation, and review projects on Wikipedia: PR, FA, have identified their project's resources are limited, recognized editor focus on a low number of articles as crucial given the interactive nature of a review, sought to ensure continued efficient and effective service for the benefit of all the Wikipedia community, and acted accordingly setting limits. &ndash;&nbsp;[[User talk:Whitehorse1|Whitehorse1]] 13:15, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
[[File:GANonreview.png|right|250px|thumb]]
: Thanks for this. Malleus will correct me if I am wrong, but I'm pretty sure that his statement "So the queue size is n? So what?" may be interpreted to mean that he regards the number of articles at GAN as fairly irrelevant compared to (say) "median waiting time" (one of his choices). I paraphrased because I disagree with his implicit suggestion that GAN is a queue. At best you can argue that it is a large number of queues, one for each subtopic. However, the items are only ordered to encourage (but not require) the reviewing of "nominations [which] are older", and hence improve (e.g.) the median wait time. If the goal were to reduce the number of articles at GAN, reviewing any article would do. Unfortunately we don't have stats on the median wait: if someone wants to set that up, it would be very welcome. I maintain graphs based on the stats we have. I didn't actually link any of them in this thread, but regarding reviewer growth, the best one I have is on the right (it shows articles on review/hold, and averages). The number of articles at GAN has been growing steadily, but a large proportion of that growth is the number of articles on review/hold. From the data, and my experience, I conclude that there are more reviewers and they are taking more time to provide higher quality reviews. Rumours of GAN's forthcoming demise, under the weight of nominations, have been greatly exaggerated. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 22:04, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
:PS. I admire backlog elimination drives too, but all the evidence I have seen in the data is that they have absolutely no long term effect.

::Your interpretation of what I meant to say is spot on, as is your analysis that there's not one queue but many. I persist in my use of the word "queue" though, based on my experience that there are many different strategies for dealing with queues, only one of which is FIFO, which is not always the most efficient. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 22:28, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

== [[Osteitis fibrosa cystica]] ==

This article was recently promoted to GA by [[User:Cssiitcic]]. Here are his comments on the article [[Talk:Osteitis fibrosa cystica/GA1]]. I however fell that it still multiple issues to be addressed. It is still not a good overview. Maybe I am just being to hard on the editors but... If someone else could take a look I would appreciate it.--[[User:Jmh649|<span style="color:#0000f1">'''Doc James'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Jmh649|talk]] · [[Special:Contributions/Jmh649|contribs]] · [[Special:EmailUser/Jmh649|email]]) 09:42, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:I assume you mean comments on the article, not the review. Unlike you I'm no medic, so I'll assume the medical coverage, content and refs are OK. From the exposition point of view:
:*I'd want a ''brief'' explanation of why hyperparathyroidism causes OFC and why the article is so confident that hyperparathyroidism is ''the'' cause.
:*"The addition of weight loss, appetite loss, vomiting, polyuria, and polydipsia to the aforementioned symptoms may indicate that OFC is the result of parathyroid carcinoma" is ungainly. I'd prefer e.g. "If the patient also suffers from ..., the underlying cause may be parathyroid carcinoma."
:*"osteoclasts", "polyuria" and "polydipsia" can easily be explained at their first use
:*A medical question - is parathyroid carcinoma a cause of hyperparathyroidism? If not, then hyperparathyroidism is not the cause of OFC.
:*"serum calcium levels higher than usual" needs explanation - in e.g. pop science "serum" often refers to antidotes.
:*I'd probably not ask for an inline explanation of "palpable" as the common use is close enough to the medical.
:*"virtually nonexistent in patients with OFC with a different origin" - 2 x "with", suggest ""virtually nonexistent in patients whose OFC has a different cause"
:*The parathyroid carcinoma eventually explains that the cancer is a cause of hyperparathyroidism - see my comment above. I suggest the carcinoma→hyperparathyroidism should be earlier, poss 2nd sentence of para.
:*I don't get the significance of "Muscles in patients afflicted with OFC generally appear unaffected or "bulked up" instead of diminishing in mass". does thisentence actually explain anything?
:Thats the first 25-30% of the article. I don't think I need to go on much longer. If the medical aspects, including scope of coverage, are OK, this has all the ingredients of a GA but is not quite baked. OTOH I would not quick-fail, as the issues all look easy to handle and fixable within a week. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 10:28, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
::Have added a number of my concern about this article to its talk page. [[Talk:Osteitis_fibrosa_cystica#Issues_with_this_article]] The medicine is a little confusing. After reading it twice I am left with many unanswered questions. I posted a few concerns earlier on epidemiology. Another big concerns is defining the boundary between OFC and Parathyroid problems. But there are many others.
::The reviewer said many good pictures. There are two pictures and neither one is of the condition discussed. No discussion of histology or fine needle aspiration.--[[User:Jmh649|<span style="color:#0000f1">'''Doc James'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Jmh649|talk]] · [[Special:Contributions/Jmh649|contribs]] · [[Special:EmailUser/Jmh649|email]]) 10:34, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

:::[[User:Jmh649|<span style="color:#0000f1">'''Doc James'''</span>]], if the medical aspects are so flawed, I suggest you post your concerns on the article's Talk page, add that they are serious enough to warrant a prompt GAR, and draw the reviewer's attention to this. I can't speak for the medical aspects, but the presentation of the part I looked over (25-30%) was IMO not GA-standard. So if you get serious resistance, I'll back you up, just give me call. BTW I notice [[User:Cssiitcic]] is a member of [[Wikipedia:WikiProject_Pharmacology]], so it might be advisable to get a 2nd opinion on the medical aspects. I expect you can think of someone, but if not give me call, as I think I know someone who can point in the right direction(s). --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 13:46, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

::::There has been a plethora of posts on this incident in various places (see [[Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Featured articles/FA-Team/Mission 6#Experts in need!|here]]; it's complicated slightly by the fact that it's linked to an educational assignment). However, I think we've reached a workable solution; I've delisted the article and, since the article writer has indicated they are willing to to continue working, will be conducting a full review. I've also left a note for the original reviewer. Thank you all for your advice and assistance in maintaining the quality of our assessment process. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 09:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

== Theses as sources ==

Is there a consensus about using one's own MSc or PhD thesis as a source of information? Does this conflict with the no original research rule? Couldn't find anything specific in the MOS, and would like to have it clarified. Thanks [[User:Sasata|Sasata]] ([[User talk:Sasata|talk]]) 05:22, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

:I don't really have a problem with it, as long as it's done well, and doesn't look like self-promotion. But, please see [[WP:COI]], which discusses conflicts of interest. But theses and dissertations don't explicitly violate [[WP:RS]] or [[WP:NOR]], since they have been previously published, so that's fine. [[WP:NOR]] specifically exists to prevent people from using Wikipedia as the primary publishing venue for something that hasn't been published anywhere else.

:As a general rule of thumb, if we're just talking about a 1-2 references in an article, it's probably ok; but if the entire article cites some guy's thesis, it's probably a violation of [[WP:COI]]. [[User:Derek.cashman|Dr. Cash]] ([[User talk:Derek.cashman|talk]]) 16:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

::This was discussed at [[WP:RSN]] about a month ago. A PhD thesis is probably OK provided it avoids [[WP:COI]], as PhD theses are generally reviwed by exteranl examiners. With Masters' theses, it varies - the review may be exteranl or internal, so in general they are not wonderful sources. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 16:45, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

:::If one has written a thesis in an area of science than it should be well referred. These references may be preferable.--[[User:Jmh649|<span style="color:#0000f1">'''Doc James'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Jmh649|talk]] · [[Special:Contributions/Jmh649|contribs]] · [[Special:EmailUser/Jmh649|email]]) 18:43, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::::You spell like a doctor (... just kidding, my wife is one, so I have 1st hand experience). I okayed ([[Talk:Long-toed_Salamander/GALong-toed_salamander#GA_Review|GA review]]) the nominator's use of his MSc thesis as source material. Thanks all for your input. [[User:Sasata|Sasata]] ([[User talk:Sasata|talk]]) 19:12, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

== Any article can become a GA ==

From what I have seen, GA can be the "last step" for an article in which very little information is available; any article can become a GA. Is this true? ~<strong>'''''[[User:Editorofthewiki|<font color="#F900">EDDY</font>]]'' <sup>([[User talk:Editorofthewiki#top|<font color="Green">talk</font>]]/[[Special:Contributions/Editorofthewiki|<font color="Green">contribs</font>]]/[[Wikipedia:Editor review/Editorofthewiki|<font color="Green">editor review</font>]])</sup>'''</span></strong>~ 21:32, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
:If it passes all the GA criterion then yes and if it doesn't no. That simple. [[User:Edmund Patrick|Edmund Patrick]] &ndash;<small> [[User talk:Edmund Patrick|'''confer''']]</small> 21:38, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::and thinking about it that difficult as well. [[User:Edmund Patrick|Edmund Patrick]] &ndash;<small> [[User talk:Edmund Patrick|'''confer''']]</small> 21:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Let's take a look at the GA criteria, shall we:
A [[Wikipedia:Good articles|good article]] is&mdash;
# {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|1}}:
#:(a) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|1a}}; and
#:(b) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|1b}}.
# {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|2}}:
#:(a) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|2a}};
#:(b) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|2b}}; and
#:(c) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|2c}}.
# {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|3}}:
#:(a) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|3a}}; and
#:(b) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|3b}}.
# {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|4}}.
# {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|5}}.
# {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|6}}.
#:(a) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|6a}}; and
#:(b) {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria/GAC|6b}}.

I'm only bringing this here because [[Maurice Kouandete]] was failed recently, citing the lack of personal life. Should I resubmit? ~<strong>'''''[[User:Editorofthewiki|<font color="#F900">EDDY</font>]]'' <sup>([[User talk:Editorofthewiki#top|<font color="Green">talk</font>]]/[[Special:Contributions/Editorofthewiki|<font color="Green">contribs</font>]]/[[Wikipedia:Editor review/Editorofthewiki|<font color="Green">editor review</font>]])</sup>'''</span></strong>~ 22:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

See [[Wikipedia talk:Good article nominations#Queston on comprehensive]] above for more discussion on something similar. The main point is GAC 3a. [[User:Peanut4|Peanut4]] ([[User talk:Peanut4|talk]]) 22:45, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

:That was by no means the only reason given by the reviewer for the article not being listed. I've had a look through both the article and the review, and I agree with the comments made by your reviewer. I would not recommend resubmitting at GAN until the outstanding comments are addressed. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 22:48, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
::No, but I plan to adress thoss issues shortly. ~<strong>'''''[[User:Editorofthewiki|<font color="#F900">EDDY</font>]]'' <sup>([[User talk:Editorofthewiki#top|<font color="Green">talk</font>]]/[[Special:Contributions/Editorofthewiki|<font color="Green">contribs</font>]]/[[Wikipedia:Editor review/Editorofthewiki|<font color="Green">editor review</font>]])</sup>'''</span></strong>~ 23:53, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

== [[WP:Notability (fiction)]] ==

Good article regulars may be interested in the above proposed guideline, particularly the following segment: "''Although an article with no independent sources may meet the minimum threshold to avoid deletion, independent sourcing is necessary to reach good article status. Articles that resist good-faith efforts to improve them to good article status, including the search for independent sources, are often merged into other articles.''"

Discussion can be found at [[Wikipedia_talk:Notability_(fiction)#Good_article_status]]. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 14:00, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

:Thanks - I'd looked at that, and by the time I got halfway down the debate was thoroughly confused :P As far as I could tell the proposed change will have no impact on how we assess such articles (it seems to relate mainly to the notability of subtopics of fictional subjects), but I'm happy to be corrected. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 15:43, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

::The debate was thoroughly confused because the editors involved are defending entrenched positions, or a less than transparent compromise.

::I think this sets a poor precedent. The guideline proposes that articles without independent sourcing might meet the new notability guidelines, but that that independent sourcing is required for GA status. That essentially creates a new class of articles which are not eligible for GA status, in contradiction to [[WP:WIAGA]], which says nothing about independent sourcing. In support of the work done by reviewers here, I go out of my way to stress that WikiProject criteria are not part of the GA criteria. The latter already apply pressure on reviewers. We don't want guidelines to start making implicit or explicit assertions about the GA criteria as well. Particularly if, as in this case, GA is completely irrelevant. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:06, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

== Just playing Devil's advocate ==

I've expressed my view on the GAN backlog elsewhere, which is that by and large I don't see it as anything to get too excited about. But I've been wondering. I also occasionally hang around at FAC, where there's also a backlog and a shortage of willing reviewers. A frequent suggestion to dealing with that problem is for reviewers to be quicker to lodge an oppose to the article's promotion.

A great deal of GA reviewer time is spent in fixing up articles during the review itself. At one extreme, we could eliminate the backlog overnight by simply looking at each article in turn and assessing whether or not it meets the GA criteria, writing a list of its shortcomings if it doesn't, and moving on to the next. At the other extreme we could extend the backlog asymptotically to infinity by spending as much time as it takes to get each and every GAN listed.

Occupying the middle ground makes it inevitable that there will be a backlog, so should we be encouraging reviewers not to spend so much time on each review during periods of high backlog? Answers on a postcard please. :-) --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 21:57, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
:Postcard answer - No, we should not encourage reviewers to spend less time on each review relative to what they currently spend.
:Longer answer - Each reviewer spends different amounts of time reviewing articles, and different articles require different amounts of time to review. It is necessary to walk the "middle ground", as Malleus puts it, because fails without hold are not always the answer, but neither is spending months attempting to help a nominator fix up an article that needs serious work. Each article should be addressed on its own merits, and each reviewer must decide how much time they are willing to give to an article. I would agree that backlog is not something to get too excited about - as there become fewer subjects that don't already have an article on WP, there will be (or should be) more of a focus on improving existing articles. Because GAN is a major spot for bringing articles after they have been improved, that will necessarily increase the amount of articles going through the process. Not a huge deal, just something that nominators need to be willing to deal with (they can always help out by reviewing a few, as well). I know, I'm getting into [[WP:TLDR]] territory, so I'll shut up now and go review a few articles :) [[User:Dana boomer|Dana boomer]] ([[User talk:Dana boomer|talk]]) 22:11, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
::It may be possible to address this with a variation on open review. Suppose that instead of the first reviewer being automatically the lead reviewer who decides whether to list or not (as is the case right now), reviewers could leave comments on a GAN subpage ''without'' undertaking to be the decision-maker. Then a nomination might acquire useful comments sooner. It would still need to have a full review by someone willing to make the decision, but comments from other reviewers would be encouraged, might motivate the nominator, and might help the eventual lead reviewer provide a good review and reach a good decision. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 22:19, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
:::I've only done 42 reviews and only two of these had a second (or more) reviewer(s) providing a contribution. In my experience I don't see this concept of multiple reviewers commenting on a GAN happening.[[User:Pyrotec|Pyrotec]] ([[User talk:Pyrotec|talk]]) 22:53, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
::::I'm not so sure. I've certainly looked at more than a few GANs and thought I'd like to leave a comment, but I didn't want to be the lead reviewer. I haven't always remembered to go back to them once the review has been opened though. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 22:58, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::(To original point) I think it totally depends on the review, to be honest because there is no model GA review. If there is a huge backlog and a nomination isn't up to scratch, then a reviewer could give a short review to start with listing an array of ways an article can be improved. It could simply be failed or placed on hold with this list in place with a promise of a better review if those points are addressed. If they are addressed then a fuller review would be quicker and easier, if they are not addressed, the article could be failed, without the need for a long review. I hope that makes sense! [[User:Peanut4|Peanut4]] ([[User talk:Peanut4|talk]]) 23:07, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::That makes complete sense, Peanut4, and I have done this with several reviews. Basically, if the article is not quite deficient enough to merit a fail-without-hold, but there are still significant problems, I'll list four or five of the most pressing issues. If these are resolved, I'll continue the review. If a week goes by with little or no action on the part of the nominator, the article gets failed. That way, I don't have to spend the time on a full review for a nominator that's no longer interested, and at the same time have the option of going back and adding more comments if it appears that the nominator is willing to invest some effort in the process. [[User:Dana boomer|Dana boomer]] ([[User talk:Dana boomer|talk]]) 23:51, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::::I think this is excellent practice, and the kind of advice that needs to be inform our guidelines on reviewing good articles. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 01:02, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
::::Even if we disagree on whether this will happen, I don't see any reason not to encourage it. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:10, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
:::::[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus Fatuorum]] did provide some useful and welcome second comments on the review page of one of the GANs that I was reviewing, but I think I semi-ignored them, or didn't act on them fully. Perhaps I should have kept quiet about the last bit.[[User:Pyrotec|Pyrotec]] ([[User talk:Pyrotec|talk]]) 23:17, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::Don't worry about it. The point of open review is to make clear that one editor always makes the decision. They can take into account other information or not, as they choose. I have sometimes not acted on Malleus' good advice myself, but it was still better to have that advice, so that I could take it or not according to my opinion. In cases that I didn't, I might later realise he was right, or he might realise he was wrong, or neither. But at GAN, Pyrotec, when you are the lead reviewer, to list or fail is ''your call''. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:41, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
::::::As Geometry guy says. I'm quite accustomed to having my opinions ignored. I not infrequently ignore the opinions of others myself. :-) --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 00:43, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

== Question about offering tit for tat incentive ==

I have a number of articles that I'd like to see get promoted to GA status. I've been careful not to "flood" the queue, only putting one on at a time, and I've been sure to review at least as many articles that I submit. However, I'm impatient, and would like to speed up the process. How does does the editorship feel about me adding a byline to my nominations, something like "Review this article and I'll do a copyedit or peer review on an article of your choice?" I don't want to make GA waves, nor give the appearance of impropriety, so thought I'd ask here first. [[User:Sasata|Sasata]] ([[User talk:Sasata|talk]]) 17:46, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


== I've changed my mind about hard caps on open nominations ==
:I don't think it's a good idea really; you're heart's in the right place but I don't think the plan would work. It gives rise to questions of neutrality and may lead to some more inexperienced editors rushing to review your article to help theirs. While it's important to get reviews done, I don't think this the right way to encourage more reviews. [[User:Nev1|Nev1]] ([[User talk:Nev1|talk]]) 18:10, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


In the past, I've objected to hard caps on how many nominations someone can have open at once. My reasoning was that it's unfair punishment to our most active content creators and that it only masks the problem. After running the numbers, I believe these arguments are outweighed by other factors.
::I tend to agree with Nev1 on this point. It is worth pointing out (yet again) that there is not a uniform backlog of GAN reviews, some categories are much worse than others: see [[Wikipedia:Good article nominations/Report#Summary]], i.e. the oldest GANs in some categories are 2 and 8 days old, whilst others are in the 50s, 60s and sometimes 70 days. One "solution", which may be unworkable for you, is to create and submit GANs that are in low backlog categories. Another way of getting them through quickly is to build up a track record of producing articles than are easy for the reviewer to review (and pass).[[User:Pyrotec|Pyrotec]] ([[User talk:Pyrotec|talk]]) 18:32, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


As of the most recent [[WP:GANR|GAN report]], there are 677 nominations under review or awaiting a reviewer. There are 58 nominators with at least three nominations, making up 340 noms in total. We make up almost exactly half of the backlog. If we emptied the "Nominators with multiple nominations" section by reducing everyone down to two noms, the backlog would instantly decrease by 224 nominations, bringing us down to 453. That's one third of the total backlog just made of those extra nominations. If we limit it to a more generous five noms, that's still 95 extra nominations beyond that limit.
::: I also think this is dangerous ground, despite your good faith, and would not like to see such bylines at GAN. However, what you say in your user space is up to you. I've noticed generally that Wikipedians are more inclined to help other editors who are helpful themselves. For instance some reviewers like to review nominations from nominators who only nominate when the article is really close to GA and respond swiftly to fix concerns. Similarly, if you do a lot of reviews yourself, your good will may be noticed. As long as the reviewing process is transparent, and the outcome is based only on whether the article meets the GA criteria, it seems churlish to forbid the collegiate spirit that "helping the helpful" fosters. If you regularly offer to copyedit or peer review ''after'' a GAN review, no matter what the outcome, even a fail you strongly disagree with, then you may acquire a reputation as being helpful. If there is any sign that you are attempting to influence the outcome with such offers, you may instead acquire a reputation for impropriety. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 21:33, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


To the argument that limiting noms only hides the full backlog, it's about how the noms are weighted. Right now, these "power users" make up half the backlog despite being a minority of the total nominators. This is unfair to the people who wait months longer in line just so we can double, triple, quadruple dip. To the argument that it makes it harder for efficient nominators to nominate, there's a way to make your nom a higher priority: ''review''! Review the noms above yours in that category, or just review in general to lower the backlog. Even if new noms instantly take their place, those will have a more recent nom date. This way, there won't be one person who still has eight other nominations ahead of you after you review one of theirs. Or you could review for people who only have one nom and won't immediately replace it, which is often a new nominator who should get priority anyway. Alternatively, there's [[Wikipedia:Good article review circles]] where you can get a reviewer much more quickly.
::::OK, that's what I figured, just needed to hear it from others. I'll work on making sure my articles are easy to pass :) [[User:Sasata|Sasata]] ([[User talk:Sasata|talk]]) 22:52, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


Once my current nominations are done, I'm going to voluntarily limit myself to no more than five at a time. But these limits only have significant effect if we adhere to them collectively, and I'm switching to a support !vote on such a measure. I'm also going to ping the few people who have more open noms than I do in case they'd be interested in a similar voluntary limitation: {{u|Magentic Manifestations}}, {{u|Chiswick Chap}}, {{u|Aszx5000}}, {{u|Gonzo fan2007}}, {{u|Ippantekina}}, {{u|Aintabli}}, {{u|Epicgenius}}. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 02:22, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
== [[Hamnet Shakespeare]] problem ==


:Frankly, I think this is not a very good idea. The "power users" are often our most experienced and dedicated contributors - so notably, they tend to have articles that are high quality to begin with and thus easier to review. Reviewing a newer editor's GAN is often far more difficult, because they aren't used to all the inns and outs yet - this takes an entirely separate skillset from reviewing an Epicgenius or Chiswick GAN (namely, that only an experienced reviewer would be as good at it!) I really don't looking at reducing the backlog as a numbers game is beneficial; what's important is getting articles reviewed in timely manner, which I don't think the "power users"' GAs are contributing to. <small> [[User:Generalissima|Generalissima]] ([[User talk:Generalissima|talk]]) (it/she) </small> 02:46, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
Could someone offer a second opinion on this article? The reviewer and I have differing opinions. Someone more experienced with GA would be a huge help. The more the merrier. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 22:30, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
::Oh dear, this old chestnut again. I'll just say that it's bound to have something like the [[Poisson distribution]], that's just how nature is. [[User:Chiswick Chap|Chiswick Chap]] ([[User talk:Chiswick Chap|talk]]) 03:39, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::Yes, generally an experienced editor's work is easier to review, given that the length and complexity of the article are the same. But by sheer volume, one experienced editor with lots of noms, myself included, is going to squeeze out those newer nominators who need the most attention. And like I said above, reviewing those nominations would be incentivized relative to an experienced nominator, as newer nominators wouldn't immediately have another nom ready to go. It's not a numbers game, it's about weight, and it would be fewer articles at a time being reviewed more quickly than a whole block of them being reviewed slowly.
::And to approach from the other angle, I believe we should more readily (quick)fail nominations that aren't ready for GAN. It shouldn't just be "is it far from the criteria" but whether it fails the criteria in a way that puts an undue burden on a reviewer. These are ones that probably shouldn't have been nominated anyway, but they take up a disproportionate amount of reviewer time. When nominations aren't ready, we can direct editors to peer review, GOCE, the Teahouse, help pages, or wherever depending on where its weaknesses are. I'd say a limit on max noms plus holding nominators accountable for making sure nominations are ready is the best combo. We could get nominations in and out much more quickly that way while using GAN as a lightweight quality assurance/verification process instead of as Peer Review 2. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 03:44, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Unfortunately, the trend has been to increase GA standards rather than to accept that GAs aren't expected to be perfect (and that no article is, honestly). I doubt we'll secure any kind of consensus for returning GA to the lightweight process it was written as. &spades;[[User:Premeditated Chaos|PMC]]&spades; [[User_talk:Premeditated Chaos|(talk)]] 04:29, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Given how little oversight there is, there's really nothing stopping individual reviewers from deciding how strict or lenient they want to be with the criteria, with failing, or with how they think the process should work. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 04:37, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::Generally I'd agree, except that people who are "caught" doing reviews that others find inadequate are regularly dragged here and castigated. And when mistakes are caught in a GA that passed, reviewers catch flak for it.
:::::On the other hand, people don't like being the "bad guy" and failing articles that aren't ready, so we give infinite time and chances for articles that frankly aren't up to snuff. Some noms will get upset that you failed their article, and nobody likes being on the other end of that conflict.
:::::Basically, there's a competing social pressure to be incredibly thorough yet infinitely forgiving. Reviewers can't win, they get discouraged, and difficult articles sit around for ages. We need to change the culture around GA reviewing if we ever want to make a meaningful change in the backlog. &spades;[[User:Premeditated Chaos|PMC]]&spades; [[User_talk:Premeditated Chaos|(talk)]] 04:54, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::Honestly, I'd be willing to strike out everything I said above and go in the opposite direction. We could just as easily say it's a free for all on nominating but then be more firm with reviewing and quickfailing so weak noms don't bog us down. I'm actually more inclined toward that than a hard cap, except right now there's no consistency in reviews, and of course many nominators feel entitled to a pass. I personally am willing to be the one to say "this isn't ready for nomination" (and I have been trying to look for those nominations lately), but like you said, it needs to be part of a broader cultural change.
::::::I'm going off on a slight tangent now, but I believe there are more sub-standard reviews that slip through the cracks than ones that get "caught". I watch many of them go by feeling like my hands are tied because there's also a stigma against accusing people of doing bad reviews, and it's gotten to the point where I just ignore them unless they start reviewing one of mine, in which case I ask them to return it. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 12:34, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::I prefer to review the new nominators, starting with the ones who have done reviews, which usually means a higher failure rate and slower reviews for the passes because they are learning. I do this because I believe in encouraging a good review/nomination ratio, but another benefit is that it is an opportunity to teach those nominators how a good review should look. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 13:12, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::I strongly disagree there is a stigma against accusing people of doing bad reviews. People do it on this talk page regularly, and the prospect of being publicly shamed creates a chilling effect for new reviewers.
:::::::I do want to point out the contradiction between suggesting that we use "GAN as a lightweight quality assurance/verification process" and saying reviewers should basically review how they want, but then bringing up "sub-standard reviews". We can't have speed and perfection. Either we accept that the process is supposed to be lightweight and allow reviews to be lightweight, or we keep tightening the screws and watch the backlog climb. &spades;[[User:Premeditated Chaos|PMC]]&spades; [[User_talk:Premeditated Chaos|(talk)]] 14:12, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::I'm probably part of the problem -- I can't really do "lightweight" reviews. I personally want peer reviews and suggestions to improve my articles much more than I care about another green plus, and so my reviews tend to be in depth and address more than the GA criteria. And nobody calls me out on this, even for monstrosities like [[Talk:Chinese characters/GA1]]. I am not sure whether dedicated coordinators who look at every review for some quality assurance would help or harm, but this might be worth brainstorming about. —[[User:Kusma|Kusma]] ([[User talk:Kusma|talk]]) 09:49, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::I suspect coordination would start off at what we are de facto doing now in a haphazard and likely arbitrary manner, which is checking that reviews are 1) not checklists, 2) do source checks. I doubt it would crack down too much on being over-picky, especially as there is a lot of grey zone in the criteria. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 11:02, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::I think it's OK to point out issues that go beyond the GA criteria, so long as the nominator is clear that those comments don't need to be addressed to get the article to GA, and so long as there are not too many -- some nominators don't want to bring the article up to FA standards and shouldn't be asked to. But letting them know that a link is dead or MoS issues that are not in the GA criteria is fine, so long as they understand what's a GA comment and what is not. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 11:31, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:Reducing the backlog by artificially throttling nominations does nothing to increase the rate of promotions of GAs. It is hiding the problem (we aren't getting enough GA reviews done and enough GAs promoted) by addressing the symptom of the problem rather than doing anything to improve the unwillingness of editors to do more reviews. We could decrease the backlog to zero by shutting down the whole GA process and cancelling all current nominations; do you think that would be an improvement? —[[User:David Eppstein|David Eppstein]] ([[User talk:David Eppstein|talk]]) 04:35, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::{{tq|To the argument that limiting noms only hides the full backlog, it's about how the noms are weighted. Right now, these "power users" make up half the backlog despite being a minority of the total nominators. This is unfair to the people who wait months longer in line just so we can double, triple, quadruple dip.}} – Right there in the original post you're replying to. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 04:38, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::There is no line. Nobody requires review be done chronologically. Nobody will yell at your reviewer and you if your nomination attracts enough interest to get reviewed quickly. And we tried prioritizing frequent reviewers and new participants instead of listing nominations chronologically; it didn't help. —[[User:David Eppstein|David Eppstein]] ([[User talk:David Eppstein|talk]]) 04:55, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::I'm inclined to agree with David Eppstein here. When we tried to push first-time nominators and frequent reviewers to the front of the line, it just increased the number of GANs that had been sitting in the queue for six months or longer.{{pb}}I think the issue here is that the review process is still fairly daunting. No one wants to be yelled at for looking at an article, determining that there are no (or very few) problems, and then quick-passing the article. Conversely, no one wants to be yelled at for looking at an article, seeing that it's riddled with problems, and then quick-failing the article. Quick-passing and quick-failing articles are both seen as problematic, even though there's nothing wrong with the latter. {{pb}}Therefore, many reviewers find themselves having to conduct intensive reviews, which means that fairly long articles are often skipped over by all except the most experienced reviewers. Many of these long articles come from power editors, which may be why it seems like the power editors are dominating the GAN queue. &ndash; [[User:Epicgenius|Epicgenius]] ([[User talk:Epicgenius|talk]]) 14:26, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::I'm not going to suggest a return to the old sort order (though I did prefer it), but I think it's wrong to say that "all it did was increase the age of the oldest GANs". That's exactly what you would expect from reducing the importance of age in the GAN sort order. It doesn't mean the old sort order achieved anything else, but neither is it evidence that it didn't make a difference. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 14:30, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::I meant to say that the change in sort order increased wait times for nominators near the bottom of the list. Currently, the newest nominations are near the bottom of each section, and the oldest nominations are near the top. Back when we were using the other sort order, we were grouping the nominations by username, so users near the bottom of the list saw their wait times increase. Granted, the other sort order did help decrease wait times for first-time nominators, but I think that came at the expense of everyone else, which is what I was getting at. &ndash; [[User:Epicgenius|Epicgenius]] ([[User talk:Epicgenius|talk]]) 14:39, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::Wasn't that the point? If the sort order was causing those with better review ratios to have their wait times decreased (new submitters having a perfect ratio), then the system was achieving what it was meant to do. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 17:39, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::Yeah, in that respect, it was working as intended (i.e. people with better review-to-nomination ratios didn't have to wait as long).{{pb}}I was trying to make the point that reviewers' limited time was diverted to people who have a lot of reviews and relatively few or no GAs. If someone was a prolific reviewer but an even more prolific nominator, they would be disadvantaged; e.g. if they had 100 reviews and 200 nominations, they were pushed further down the review queue than someone with 100 reviews and 10 nominations. Power users are more likely to have dozens or hundreds of GAs, so under the old sort order, they would be inherently disadvantaged because of the raw numbers of GAs that they had (unless they conducted even more reviews to make up for this). {{pb}}Perhaps it may be a good idea to consider formatting the GAN lists as sortable tables. That way, reviewers could decide on whether to review nominations by people with better review-to-nomination ratios. &ndash; [[User:Epicgenius|Epicgenius]] ([[User talk:Epicgenius|talk]]) 18:23, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::{{u|Epicgenius}} We could make [[User:ChristieBot/SortableGANoms]] more prominent somehow. Right now it's just a link above the nominations. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 18:37, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::Thanks for the link. That is exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't even realize it already existed. &ndash; [[User:Epicgenius|Epicgenius]] ([[User talk:Epicgenius|talk]]) 18:59, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::I was also unaware of this page until now, and second Epicgenius' comment immediately above. [[User:Trainsandotherthings|Trainsandotherthings]] ([[User talk:Trainsandotherthings|talk]]) 19:08, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::::{{u|Thebiguglyalien}}, {{u|Epicgenius}}, {{u|Trainsandotherthings}}: this would be easy to do, and I agree it might be beneficial. That part of the layout is hardcoded in ChristieBot at the moment. If someone mocks up a GAN page header they think would be preferable, I can change the bot to hardcode that text, or possibly to transclude it. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 11:38, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::Quickfails are not problematic in the slightest, as long as the reasoning is there. The difficulty is merely in the length of the average review. When people say "I'm not good at reviewing", what they actually mean is "I find reviewing tediously boring and don't want to do it", which is perfectly understandable.{{pb}}To prevent [[WP:DCGAR]] happening again, we have decided that quality reviews must be directly enforced through the [[WP:GACR|GA criteria]]. Now, each review must go over the prose, images, sourcing, and do a source spotcheck. At FAC, this is handled by multiple people, and the source spotcheck is not needed after the first successful nomination. We have got ourselves into a situation where the "lightweight review process" is multiple times more onerous than the heavyweight process.{{pb}}Is there a better way? After DCGAR, I remember that {{u|SandyGeorgia}} was encouraging the institution of GAN coordinators who would check reviews, as the FAC coordinators do. I think that option, in combination with lowering GACR standards, could help encourage reviewing—but only, of course, if editors with high nomination/review ratios want to pick up their own slack. [[User:AirshipJungleman29|&#126;~ AirshipJungleman29]] ([[User talk:AirshipJungleman29|talk]]) 15:05, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::I agree, quickfails should not be problematic if done correctly. However, I noticed that nominators sometimes challenge GAN quickfails even if the reviewer has done everything correctly, e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Bneu2013&oldid=1228684846#I-485_review this thread] from a few days ago. I was trying to make the point that some reviewers may be afraid to quickfail articles because they fear being confronted by the nominator; sorry if that isn't clear. &ndash; [[User:Epicgenius|Epicgenius]] ([[User talk:Epicgenius|talk]]) 15:32, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::Indeed, and not even just quick fails, but any fail that takes less than a day or two. There are a couple of noms I've had on my mind for awhile that have been submitted with eg. unsourced sections, but the idea of pulling them out and failing them feels like more effort than it is worth. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 17:41, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
*'''Some thoughts''' generally agree with the above discussion that throttling noms doesn't solve the problem, that being stricter on reviews (i.e. quick failing) may push people to improve the quality more before nomming and that having a backlog in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. My own reflections on the challenges of [[WP:GAN]] come down to a lack of incentive for reviewing articles. When I started nomination articles at [[WP:GAN]], I told myself that I would keep a 2-to-1 ratio of reviews versus my own GAs. I did that mostly out of fear of being ostracized by the community for not reciprocating. [[WP:DYK]] and [[WP:FLC]] provide good examples of the extremes (where [[WP:GAN]] is in the middle). DYK requires QPQ, increasing the QPQ requirements for frequent DYK users during backlogs. [[WP:FLC]] on the other hand, limits you to one active nomination at a time (allowing for a second nom after your first has substantial support). I would argue that neither process is running very well, with backlogs or lack of reviews still being a challenge.
:I think the most important thing to remember is that the purpose of recognition is to incentivize and encourage content ''creation''. So long as [[WP:GA]] encourages me and others to create fairly well-written articles, it's doing its job. To conclude on that point, I wouldn't support any changes that would limit the incentive for users (especially users who create a lot of good content) to keep writing. That little green icon will get up there at some point, it really doesn't matter when though.<span style="white-space:nowrap; font-family:Harlow Solid Italic;"><span style="font-size:small; color:teal;"> « Gonzo fan2007</span> [[User talk:Gonzo_fan2007|<small style="color:#2A2722">(talk)</small>]] @ </span> 15:07, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:After reading the replies, I can say that I'm back in the "I don't know" camp, but at least we got a discussion going! I'm sympathetic to PMC's point above, and others that have expressed similar thoughts, that it's more of a cultural issue than anything that can be directly solved by fiddling with how we organize nominations. But it just happens that most of the people close to GA's "culture" monitor and participate in this talk page, so this is where any concentrated change would happen. Personally I've been trying to be more open to failing nominations that weren't ready to be nominated. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 18:36, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::Replying to myself so I can think aloud and express general thoughts. My takeaway here is that consensus is ''against'' limiting our own nominations as a means to reduce the backlog, and instead we should be more willing to fail nominations if they're not ready for a GAN review. Maybe we should be a little more firm with nominators who make a scene about reviewers who fail a nom, in the same way that we're being more firm with nominators who make a scene about inadequate reviews. I still don't love that the most active content writers have such a disproportionate number of nominations, but good points have been raised about other factors at play there. At the end of the day, like {{u|SusunW}} said, there's really no way to incentivize reviewing for someone whose focus on Wikipedia isn't reviewing and trying to do this can be counterproductive. And like I've said before, GAN reviewing is harder than other reviews because all of the pressure is on the one reviewer, even if they're better at reviewing some aspects than others (looking at you, source reviews). [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 01:40, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:My answer to this problem has been the same for a while now: I don't review nominations of those who refuse to meaningfully contribute to reviewing (and have a decent number of GAs, I'm not punishing people doing their first ever nomination). But when I see someone with 50 GAs and 0 reviews, I cannot in good conscience ever take up one of their nominations. I work hard to keep my review/GA ratio close to 1, so I'm not expecting anyone to do something I wouldn't do myself. We need a cultural shift towards this mindset, in my opinion (and some will disagree with me, which is their right). We also have the age-old problem of how to incentivize reviewers, which many brighter than I have tried to solve. {{pb}} I think large numbers of open nominations are in part a symptom of these known issues, excluding the (thankfully rare) bad actor nominating crappy articles en masse (and I'm sure some of you know exactly who I am referring to). Bottom line - when I see people argue so strongly against any reform yet refuse to do any reviews themselves, I really have no sympathy for them. If you don't want to do reviews, fine, but don't expect others to prioritize your nominations. [[User:Trainsandotherthings|Trainsandotherthings]] ([[User talk:Trainsandotherthings|talk]]) 18:52, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::been watching this conversation quietly - completely agree with the above that this is a cultural problem that really needs a broader informal shift rather than acute reforms addressing only the symptoms. <span style="color:#618A3D">... [[User:Sawyer777|<span style="color:#618A3D">sawyer</span>]] * <small>he/they</small> * [[User talk:Sawyer777|<span style="color:#618A3D">talk</span>]]</span> 01:08, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:Comment – Every time these discussions come up I am less inclined to participate in the GA process, if I am being honest. I find the pressure to review more articles disheartening. Encouraging reviews is fine, reforming the processes is good too, but discouraging writing and limiting collaboration for improving articles is counter-productive. The entire point of GA, IMO, is improving article quality, but if all we are to do is focus on pushing reviews through, the processes begins to focus more on quantity, which to my mind is how we end up with so many poorly written articles to begin with. We are a very diverse community of volunteers. Not everyone's skill-sets are the same and assuming that we can all do the same tasks equally well fails to recognize our diversity. The constant chastisement of people who don't review more doesn't encourage people to participate, but in fact does the opposite, at least for me. (For the record, I have nominated only 1 GA all year (at the request of the reviewer). Although I have written articles that would benefit from collaboration, I have not nominated them, but forced myself instead to review other's work. I spent over a month helping an editor at peer review prepare their first FA nomination, reviewed 5 FA/GA nominations. Not big numbers to some people's standards, but that required a huge amount of effort for me, as my reviews are meticulous, and I am incapable of making them less so. I see no value in holding anyone to my standards, but rather think that all contributions which lead to a better encyclopedia are valuable.) [[User:SusunW|SusunW]] ([[User talk:SusunW|talk]]) 20:59, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::My comment was not directed at you, I specifically pointed the finger at people who refuse to review ''at all''. [[User:Trainsandotherthings|Trainsandotherthings]] ([[User talk:Trainsandotherthings|talk]]) 21:36, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
:::{{u|Trainsandotherthings}}, I didn't mean to imply that it was. If I did, I apologize. Communication is sometimes quite challenging {{wink}} [[User:SusunW|SusunW]] ([[User talk:SusunW|talk]]) 21:41, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
::Generally I think we should try to be more positive about all contributors here. Perhaps we should celebrate reviewers more (COI alert: I tend to review more than I write) instead of looking down at non-reviewers (although it is a very human thing to do). I like reviewing {{u|SusunW}}'s biographies (and I really enjoy working with her) so I am sad there have been so few of them here recently.
::I am very interested in seeing whether the [[WP:GARC|review circles]] idea can work as a (completely voluntary) way where people who are OK with doing some reviewing get their own nomination reviewed faster. If this becomes popular, people will have a choice: do a review to get your own nom reviewed very soon/put your nom on the pile with no questions asked about reviewing (and that means you may have to wait until the next backlog drive). —[[User:Kusma|Kusma]] ([[User talk:Kusma|talk]]) 09:32, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Thank you {{u|Kusma}} I enjoy working with you too a lot. I am going to rip a bandaid off here and be vulnerable for a minute, but maybe it will help some people understand that reviewing is not simple for everyone. When I review I file, I tell myself, this time I am just going to read it, make comments, do a spot check and move on. But that never happens, ever. I read through the article. I start a 2nd read through and when I get to the first citation, I check it. I tell myself at the second citation to just accept it, but my brain says, what if it doesn't verify the information or has a copyvio? You have to sign-off that it's okay, so I check it. And this continues through every single citation. If I find an inconsistency, instead of just asking the question do you have a source that supports this?, I must know if there is a source. Or, I encounter something that the context is unclear. If a source is off-line do I AGF? Totally depends on whether other checks have had no problems. So I research (sometimes for hours) to find a reference that supports the data, provides context, or is accessible. Only if I cannot find a source do I just ask the question.
:::By this time, an entire day has passed and I am probably only 1/3 to 1/2 way through the article, so I post what I have from my notes to WP. I rewrite each query to make sure that what I am asking is clear and a suggestion, not a demand. I preview it and rewrite it again before I finally save it and move on. Day 2 and Day 3 are more of the same until I finally reach the end of the article, drained and exhausted. I hope that the nominator will take at least a day to respond to give me time to regroup. I review the responses as meticulously as I did the queries and finally make a decision on the outcome. Instead of feeling successful, my feeling is relief that it's over. And then I see a post on this page, admonishing people about not doing enough reviews and I force myself to do it again. The struggle is real, and it is hard. Howie Mandel once said I know my approach is not logical, but in spite of that I am compelled to do the illogical. That's me. We cannot assume we know why people don't do reviews, but we can change our approach to one which encourages people to do what they can. (And yes, I rewrote this 5 times.) [[User:SusunW|SusunW]] ([[User talk:SusunW|talk]]) 16:04, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Thanks for taking the time to write this out Susun. The work you have done over the years to improve articles on here has been amazing and very inspiring, it has always been a pleasure to read what you have written and to work with you not only on reviews but other projects too. It's heartbreaking to hear you have been so discouraged by these periodic discussions on reviews, and I apologise profusely if I have contributed to that discouragement. Discouraging others from doing such good work should ''never'' be what we aim to accomplish here, and it is not a good sign if we are going in that direction. I agree completely that we need to reevaluate how to encourage more reviews without discouraging nominations, and to be more holistically positive towards each other. --[[User:Grnrchst|Grnrchst]] ([[User talk:Grnrchst|talk]]) 19:40, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
::::So—to be direct—you find GA reviewing difficult because you don't actually do GA reviews. [[User:AirshipJungleman29|&#126;~ AirshipJungleman29]] ([[User talk:AirshipJungleman29|talk]]) 20:15, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::{{u|Grnrchst}} we're all good. I honestly just wanted to offer a different perspective to remind everyone that we don't all have the same access and abilities. The internet has been a great bridge but its anonymous nature can also make us forget that there is a real human on the other side. I don't often speak of my struggles, but perhaps it can help us be more "holistically positive towards each other". {{u|AirshipJungleman29}} I am uncertain what you are saying, I do and have done GA reviews. [[User:SusunW|SusunW]] ([[User talk:SusunW|talk]]) 20:26, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:My two centimes: Since my foray into good article nominations, I have tried to maintain at least 2 reviews for each nomination. Not only do I enjoy reviewing articles, because it gives me a way to read in-depth on subjects that I normally wouldn't have spent more time on, but I also try to be a net contributor to cutting down the backlog. My frustrations with the ever-growing backlog has, at least in part, come from a selfishness on my part.
:Off the top of my head, there are at least a couple dozen or so articles that I have written to (I think) a GA standard, but which I haven't nominated due to the length of time it takes for nominations to get reviewed. Often I'll end up finishing an article, having polished off its prose and gone through every source I have in a number of languages, but then I just don't end up nominating it because I already had a number of months-old pending nominations that I was anxious to get reviewed. I think the only time I have exceeded five open nominations is during the ongoing WiG edit-a-thon.
:I seriously regret that I have let my frustration at this process bubble over into support for certain restrictions, so I can't rightly support TBUA's proposal, despite understanding where he's coming from. The reason I want the backlog to be reduced is so that we can get ''more'' articles nominated, not restrict incoming nominations and punish some of our best writers. I would like applaud GMH Melbourne's recent review circles initiative, which I think could be an excellent way forward with encouraging more reviews. Let's consider making more positive projects like this, rather than imposing negative restrictions. --[[User:Grnrchst|Grnrchst]] ([[User talk:Grnrchst|talk]]) 20:12, 18 June 2024 (UTC)


I have only seen the ping for me by the op of this thread. I am new to GA, so if I have made too many nominations, I can certainly take some off, and don't want to be disruptive. Given my nominations are in the niche area of climbing, I felt that I needed to give a range of noms to attract/tempt some interest from reviewers. Two of them have been given GA status (and a third is almost there), but I never considered that I would be able to do the reviewing, is that something that I am meant to be considering at this stage? thanks. [[User:Aszx5000|Aszx5000]] ([[User talk:Aszx5000|talk]]) 21:50, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
== How to handle the cricket nominations? ==


:{{u|Aszx5000}}, reviewing is entirely up to you, and I was just trying to open another discussion on how to get articles reviewed more quickly. Based on the discussion above, it seems that we're largely okay with lots of nominations at once (and personally I'm glad to see more niches showing up). If you're interested in reviewing other people's nominations but not sure where to start, you can make a post at the [[WP:GANMENTOR|mentorship page]] so someone can help you with your first review. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 22:07, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
I'm new to GAN and I suspect that I should pick an "easier" article to review, but looking at the backlog the several XX in Australian cricket in YYYY articles that are up for review seem to be at the top of the backlog pile. My problem is that the articles appear to be well written, but can they pass 3b? Take for example [[Bill Johnston with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948]]. Obviously [[Bill Johnson]] and [[Australian cricket team in England in 1948]] could have GA articles about them, but can an article so narrow in focus be ''broad in its coverage'', per 3c? I'd almost suggest that they should be merged up into one or both of those instead. Is it the role of a GA reviewer to even consider scope of an article or should we take it as a given and review what's here? Thoughts? [[User:Jrp|JRP]] ([[User talk:Jrp|talk]]) 23:02, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
::Thanks @[[User:Thebiguglyalien|Thebiguglyalien]]. I though I would have to have more GAs under my belt before doing reviews. Let me get through a few more as I am still learning new things, but would love to give it a try later, and will follow your steps. thanks. [[User:Aszx5000|Aszx5000]] ([[User talk:Aszx5000|talk]]) 10:32, 25 June 2024 (UTC)


== July backlog drive ==
:The GA reviewer's job is to decide whether or not an article meets the [[WP:WIAGA|good article criteria]]. Simple as that. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 23:22, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
::Can an article that is so narrowly focused meet the criteria? In specific, how do we weigh these narrowly focused articles against requirement 3? [[User:Jrp|JRP]] ([[User talk:Jrp|talk]]) 23:25, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


Yes, it's happening! I'd apologize for the short notice, but a July backlog drive ''has'' been on the backlog page since April, so instead I'll apologize for disappearing for most of May-June and not getting to this earlier.
:::Don't see any reason why not, looks like a nice article to me. In fact the [[WP:summary style|summary style]] recommended here on wikipedia tends quite naturally to lead to articles like this one. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 00:08, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::: All the articles Yellow Monkey has wrote are of a very very high quality! The articles are way too informative to be merged. '''[[User:Aaroncrick|<font color="#228B22">Aaroncrick</font>]]''' (''[[User_talk:Aaroncrick#Just_Babble|<font color="#002bb8">Tassie Talk</font>]]'') 00:16, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::Great. That's all I was looking for. I'm not experienced enough at reviewing these so I wanted another set of opinions. [[User:Jrp|JRP]] ([[User talk:Jrp|talk]]) 01:47, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::Looks all done here, but just to say I think you're misinterpreting "broad in its coverage". This part of criteria means broad in the coverage of the specific topic. Thus, if Johnston's role in the team is not discussed, or one of the tests isn't discussed ''then'' it wouldn't be "broad in its coverage". It means coverage within the article's scope. Hope that clarifies things. [[User:Sillyfolkboy|Sillyfolkboy]] ([[User talk:Sillyfolkboy|talk]]) 04:42, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::Just to add I think Sillyfolkboy's comment is the clearest. "Broadness" means the article broadly covers the scope defined by the article title. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:04, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


The aim this time around is to encourage participation by people who haven't done many GA reviews before. Experienced reviewers are encouraged to assist newbie reviewers with their reviews - but if you want to ignore the theme and just bang out a bunch of GA reviews as usual, go right ahead. This format is obviously somewhat experimental, so if anyone has suggestions, please do suggest away. And if anyone else would like to volunteer as co-ordinator, so far it's just me by my lonesome and I'd love to have you. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 05:42, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
The parent article [[Bill Johnston (cricketer)]] and most of the other ones are already FAs and GAs so merging into it wouldn't work without making the article too big and undue weight on the famous tour. All the matches every person played in is discussed, and their role/job in the team is also discussed. '''[[User:YellowMonkey|<font color="GoldenRod">YellowMonkey</font>]]''' (''[[User_talk:YellowMonkey#Straw_poll_for_selecting_photos_of_cyclists_at_the_2009_Tour_Down_Under|<font color="#FA8605">click here to vote for world cycling's #1 model!</font>]]'') 23:09, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


:@[[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]], is it possible to get a list of all editors who have reviewed 1-4 GANs? A list of editors who have GAs but have never reviewed would also be really helpful. I have no idea how to generate either of these. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:25, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
== Problematic review ==
::For the first question, does [[User:GA bot/Stats]] give you what you need? For the second, yes; do you want it restricted to editors who have a GA in the last N years, for some value of N? [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 01:29, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Yes, for the first one, that's fine. Though if there's some way to restrict the list to only active accounts, that would be even more useful. For the second, yes, a restriction like that would be useful, though I'm not sure exactly where I'd draw the line. The last two years maybe? Or if there's a way to only get active accounts, that would be useful too. Define "active" however seems workable. My aim is to come up with a list of people who might be interested in participating in the backlog drive as a newbie reviewer. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:38, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
::::OK -- it'll be a few days, as I'm traveling, but I should be able to get you the data by some time this weekend. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 02:06, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:{{ping|asilvering}} I've never been a co-ordinator of a GAN backlog before, but I have participated in previous ones, so I'm interested. What and where could I help? [[User:Vacant0|Vacant0]] ([[User talk:Vacant0|talk]]) 15:12, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
::Glad to have you! I'll add your name to the backlog drive page. While I'm at it, pinging @[[User:Ganesha811|Ganesha811]] and @[[User:Vaticidalprophet|Vaticidalprophet]], who were also co-ords of the last one - are you folks interested?
::The main part of the job is checking off reviews as editors post them as finished on the drive page - checking to make sure the reviews aren't seriously inadequate, and double-checking what additional points for length might be given, or if you think the review is so good you ought to give it a discretionary bonus point. Since this drive is specifically encouraging collaboration between newbie reviewers and more experienced reviewers, this will be a little (but only a little, I hope) more complicated than usual, since you'll also have to award a point to the assistant reviewer. I anticipate also that there will be more questions than usual and that we may need to assist with matching newbie reviewers with experienced ones.
::Also, if you'd like to revise the barnstar awards list, that would be great! I just copied the one from the March backlog drive. But I think it would be nice to tailor it a bit - for example, we could have a barnstar for the editor who assisted with the highest number of reviews, some kind of special "thanks for joining" barnstar for newbies (I think there's a "promising newbie" barnstar somewhere?), or so on. I haven't put any further thought into it than that, so if you want to go ahead and rework the list, it's much appreciated, and all yours! -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 18:33, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Considering that assistant reviewers will get one point per review, I could create a couple of barnstars (e.g. a 5 point one, a 10/12 point one, and the one that reviewed the highest amount of GANs). Or we could only stick with one barnstar for assistant reviewers.
:::The only barnstar that I could have found similar to "promising newbie" is {{t|The New Editor's Barnstar}}.
:::Also, do we want to include qualifying old articles, like for previous GAN backlog drives? [[User:Vacant0|<span style="color:#5E9A4A;font-weight:bold">Vacant</span><span style="color:#A24B4B;font-weight:bold">0</span>]] <span style="font-size:small">([[User talk:Vacant0|talk]] &bull; [[Special:Contributions/Vacant0|contribs]])</span> 19:08, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Hm too bad re: promising newbie. Since I imagine most GAN newbies will not actually be new editors. Whatever you find that you like, go for it.
::::This drive deliberately doesn't have points for reviewing really old articles, to keep the focus on bringing new people into GA reviewing. Earlier, when we discussed having multiple backlog drives as part of the broader discussions about what to do with the backlog, there were concerns about reviewer burn-out or reviewers holding off on doing reviews when there aren't backlog drives (since another one will be around the corner). So the idea is that the January drive is the "main" drive, the mid-year one is focused on recruitment, and the fall one addresses a specific portion of the backlog, to be determined closer to the date, depending on what looks like it needs the most help. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 19:46, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::Before uploading anything, I'll send it first on Discord in case of possible corrections . I'll be busy tomorrow so expect barnstars to come during the weekend. Cheers, {{smiley}} [[User:Vacant0|<span style="color:#5E9A4A;font-weight:bold">Vacant</span><span style="color:#A24B4B;font-weight:bold">0</span>]] <span style="font-size:small">([[User talk:Vacant0|talk]] &bull; [[Special:Contributions/Vacant0|contribs]])</span> 13:51, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
:::I'm happy to assist as a co-ordinator, but I do have some work travel in July which means I'd have to take on more of a background role - checking a few reviews where I can, not making any big decisions. If that's ok, feel free to add my name! —[[User:Ganesha811|Ganesha811]] ([[User talk:Ganesha811|talk]]) 21:20, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Sounds good to me! Thanks. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 02:50, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
{{u|BlueMoonset}}, are you available to update the progress tracker for this drive? If you are, that would be great! If not, no worries of course. —[[User:Ganesha811|Ganesha811]] ([[User talk:Ganesha811|talk]]) 17:44, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
:[[User:Ganesha811|Ganesha811]], thanks for asking. I'm going to be away the first week; though I might be able to log on at night, it won't be as timely as usual. Another difficulty is that I would be required to make the second column the number of old nominations (90 days or more) rather than the number of unreviewed nominations (which we have always done before), per the general RfC that was held earlier in the year, so rather than just taking the number from the Reports page and adjusting back the hour), I'd have to do a more manual calculation. I'm not sure I'll have the time to deal with the extra work involved. [[User:BlueMoonset|BlueMoonset]] ([[User talk:BlueMoonset|talk]]) 00:10, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::Hm, good point. And since we aren't targetting old noms specifically this time around, maybe we should rethink the progress list, at least for this drive. A running total of reviews opened/ended might be the way to go this time. I'm happy to do that one, since I tend to be around when a new day starts on UTC time. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 00:23, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:::[[User:Asilvering|asilvering]], I'm not sure how that would work with the current {{tl|GAN changes}} template in terms of display. You may need to create your own table. But I would keep the total number of nominations as the first column, since that tracks how many are outstanding at the beginning of the drive, and all the way through to the end. Good luck! I'll sit this one out, then, unless you change your mind on how you want it to work. [[User:BlueMoonset|BlueMoonset]] ([[User talk:BlueMoonset|talk]]) 00:33, 28 June 2024 (UTC)


== Is this a list or an article ==
Please look at [[Talk:Hamnet Shakespeare]] and the GA reviews. It's been put up for a second opinion, but I think it needs more than that. - [[User:Peregrine Fisher|Peregrine Fisher]] ([[User talk:Peregrine Fisher|talk]]) ([[Special:Contributions/Peregrine_Fisher|contribs]]) 07:49, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


:The article has passed. It meets the GAC. What more can we do? Personally, I think the article is so slight that it doesn't warrant stand alone status. But it does meet GAC and has passed review. [[User:ShaShaJackson|ShaShaJackson]] ([[User talk:ShaShaJackson|talk]]) 08:23, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
I nominated [[Grade (climbing)]] into the GA queue, which I overhauled and expanded, but given what happened with my GA nomination of [[Rock-climbing equipment]], I wonder if it is really a list, and therefore maybe an FLC? thanks. [[User:Aszx5000|Aszx5000]] ([[User talk:Aszx5000|talk]]) 13:45, 24 June 2024 (UTC)


:It looks like an article (with some incorporated list-like material) to me, without any obvious flaws of a type that would lead me to quickfail it. —[[User:David Eppstein|David Eppstein]] ([[User talk:David Eppstein|talk]]) 17:28, 25 June 2024 (UTC)
::The sad thing is that in a legalistic sense Hamnet may perhaps be WP:notable but is not notable in real terms - he should be a footnote in 3 or 4 plays, with a redirect to [[William Shakespeare#Life]], which can accomodate content that is not play-specific. [[User:ShaShaJackson|ShaShaJackson]], the reviewer, wrote, "The actual content in this article about Hamnet Shakespeare could be written on the head of a pin. The article may better serve Wikipedia by being merged into a larger article, er .... something like “Shakespeare's children” or “Scholarly speculation about Shakespeare's descendants”? The article passes the Wikipedia:Good article criteria for good spelling, good grammar, good punctuation, good footnoting, good this, good that, blahblahblah that I'm tempted to pass it but I'm going to ask for a second opinion. The editor replied, "This is about all that can be said about the guy. Don't worry about the length, ..."
::So do we go with WP:rules or [[WP:COMMONSENSE]]? -[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 10:14, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::Thanks for that - I will leave it in the GA queue. Feedback is much appreciated! [[User:Aszx5000|Aszx5000]] ([[User talk:Aszx5000|talk]]) 18:53, 25 June 2024 (UTC)


==Category organisation==
Every wikipedia article has to be on a notable subject, that's nothing to do with the GA criteria. Hamnet doesn't look notable to me (notability is not inherited), and so someone should formally propose that it be merged, perhaps with the main [[William Shakespeare]] article, or even that the article be deleted. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 13:39, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
Grouping these here, if no further comments or consensus is reached I plan to implement these at the end of the month, before the backlog drive starts. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 01:02, 26 June 2024 (UTC)


===Video games===
:I'm forced to agree with Malleus; the content should probably be merged into [[Shakespeare]] and/or [[Hamlet]] and the title redirected. There's no indication of why this young lad is notable in his own right. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 13:49, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::I'm on the fence; obviously, articles need to be notable, but I'm not convinced that this one isn't. There's not much there for a biography, but his influence on his father's work does seem to have been the subject of some serious mainstream scholarship. I'm not sure it's a GA (I'd want to see more elaboration of the apparent mainstream view that Hamlet wasn't inspired by him, since by the information currently in the article it seems very intuitive that it would have been), but I don't know that merging is the best course of action. The best way to resolve this might be via AFD; that's where notability is properly ascertained. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 14:04, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::I'd be inclined to take it to AfD as well, on balance. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 14:17, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::::That might be best. Even the connections to Hamlet and Twelfth Night, which is where notability would be asserted, are highly speculative. FWIW, (and unrelated to GA) [[Susanna Hall]] is even more tenuous, though [[Judith Quiney]] looks better. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 14:30, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::AfD might be the best bet, but I totally agree with Sarcasticidealist above. He seems to have been an inspiration for Shakespeare's work, and in my eyes this would make him notable. —'''<font face="Script MT Bold">[[User:the_ed17|<font color="800000">Ed <font color="00008B">17]] <sup><small>[[User talk:the_ed17|<font color="800000">(Talk]] / [[Special:Contributions/the_ed17|<font color="800000">Contribs)]]</small></sup></font></font face>''' 14:32, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::I have been called many things before, but "an inspiration for Shakespeare's work" is among the kindest. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 14:42, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::LOL, sorry but I meant Hamnet was... ;) —'''<font face="Script MT Bold">[[User:the_ed17|<font color="800000">Ed <font color="00008B">17]] <sup><small>[[User talk:the_ed17|<font color="800000">(Talk]] / [[Special:Contributions/the_ed17|<font color="800000">Contribs)]]</small></sup></font></font face>''' 15:46, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
[[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hamnet Shakespeare|Taken to AFD]]. [[User:Sarcasticidealist|Sarcasticidealist]] ([[User talk:Sarcasticidealist|talk]]) 14:46, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::You folks are inserting your own opinions about whether or not this figure is notable, rather than objectively looking at policy. Notability is determined by the sources. There are plenty of sources about Hamnet, therefore Hamnet is notable. It's that simple. I challenge anyone to type his name into any scholarly or not-so-scholarly database. He's all over the place. Please just leave this article well enough alone. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 18:10, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::That Hamnet has been the subject of a great deal of unsubstantiated academic speculation is not in doubt. The question is, does that make him notable? Or is this really an article about the speculation, as I believe? Either way, everyone is as entitled to their opinion as you yourself are. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 18:52, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::::If you're going to make judgments about the scholarship, please, please at least spell the name right. Otherwise it will appear that you haven't actually read much of it at all and I will doubt your conclusion. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 18:59, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::Actually I've read all of the article, twice. Took me a total of 28.5 seconds. :lol: --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 19:04, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


[[Wikipedia:Good articles/Video games]] is one of two long lv2 categories with no lv3 split <small>(the other is [[Wikipedia:Good articles/Language and literature|Lang & Lit]])</small>, and one that feels it has a very obvious split: between the Video Games (and series) themselves, and everything else (provisionally I propose "Context and content"). Regarding the lower splits, the video games are currently divided into five-year blocks, some of which are getting very large. There's no clean split there, but if there is a desire to maintain the chronological split it could transition into two-year chunks for at least the 21st century, imitating [[Wikipedia:Good articles/Music|Music]]. The other large sections is "Video game characters", currently at 200. This seems a simple candidate from pulling out series, with the two obvious candidates being Pokémon (26) and Final Fantasy (at least 34, I think, it's a complicated series). 13:45, 24 June 2024 (UTC) [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 13:45, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
Behind this storm in a tea-cup, I would like to point out that this article has not received a thorough GAN review (see [[Talk:Hamnet Shakespeare/GA1]], [[Talk:Hamnet Shakespeare/GA2]]). The GA criteria are not primarily about "good spelling, good grammar, good punctuation, good footnoting" etc. They are primarily "Is it broad, is it neutral, is it verifiable?" For myself, I am somewhat concerned that the relevance of an extremely long quote (from King John) is sourced to [[Bill Bryson]], which seems somewhat [[WP:UNDUE]]. Furthermore, in the key passage, "''More recent scholarship has emphasised that, while Hamlet has a Scandinavian origin and may have been selected as a play subject for commercial reasons, Shakespeare's grief over the loss of his only son may lie at the heart of the tragedy. This scholarship remains outside the mainstream view.[9][13]''" both citations are to Greenblatt, who is the proponent of this view. Hence they should be attached to the first sentence and he should be attributed to the viewpoint, which needs to be checked against the source for synthesis. The second sentence needs independent verification. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 20:30, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::The second sentence does not need independent verification as Greenblatt himself, I believe, acknowledges that his view is not in the mainstream. His essay covers the sentence. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 22:17, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::Indeed, widely accepted views don't need citation at the GA level. But there's no harm in finding an independent reference anyway (and you'll need it at FAC!) ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:17, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:Thank you for these good and constructive comments on how to improve the article. I won't speak for Wrad (the nominator), but I know I felt the review(s) provided to be a bit on the… uhm. …superficial side, and might even go so far as to suggest that the GA Pass may have been somewhat premature or motivated by factors outside the GA criteria. However, since the review(s) are now closed (for good or bad), perhaps I could persuade you to place these comments on the article's Talk page? I'm not sure very many of the potential editors for the article follow the GAN talk page. Thanks. --[[User:Xover|Xover]] ([[User talk:Xover|talk]]) 20:43, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::(ec) I agree, Geometry guy, and have been concerned as I have watch the issues regarding this article being distilled to "good spelling, good grammar, good punctuation, good footnoting" etc. I hope this is an opportunity to clarify the issues of context and focus. And I am concerned about possible [[WP:SYN]]. &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 20:46, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
:::Let's take it to GAR after. I really despise how the GA process is so dependent on ONE editor's review. I don't think it needs saying, but I really felt cheated by the reviews I got. Jackyd had some good ideas, but I never got a chance to implement them because of this big distraction. I have some ideas to improve on it. I'll do those as the AfD continues, and then we'll have a GAR. Sound good? [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 22:21, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::::I may have missed something, but the review appears to have been closed, as the article is now listed as a GA. In any event, I would have thought that this whole kerfuffle demonstrates very well that the GA process is ''not'' at the whim of one editor's review. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 22:28, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
::I commented here because one of the purposes of this talk page is to promote best practice for GAN reviews. If my specific comments are useful on the talk page of the article, feel free to quote me. I also think that if the article survives AfD without a merge (or delete), a GAR might be helpful. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 23:17, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
The AfD closed as keep. I want to point out that the article has improved quite a bit since the review. I believe it meets the criteria. It's been put through a pretty stiff strainer. Still, anyone who wants to has every right to ask for a GAR. If I could politely request though, that you put your suggestions on the article's talk page and give us a chance to respond to them first, before putting it up for GAR, that would be great. I would be more than happy to respond. I also want to request that we close the merge discussion with the AfD. Consensus has overwhelmingly established that this article has a right to exist on its own. Let's let the issue rest and move on to ways that this article can remain at GA quality on its own, thus respecting that consensus. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 05:16, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:I voted keep at the AfD, and upon cursory examination, I think the article meets the GAC. However, the GA pass seems to have been done in frustration, and I think you might want to renominate it. - [[User:Peregrine Fisher|Peregrine Fisher]] ([[User talk:Peregrine Fisher|talk]]) ([[Special:Contributions/Peregrine_Fisher|contribs]]) 05:28, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::Basically, I think you need a real review. I imagine the article will pass easily. - [[User:Peregrine Fisher|Peregrine Fisher]] ([[User talk:Peregrine Fisher|talk]]) ([[Special:Contributions/Peregrine_Fisher|contribs]]) 05:29, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::I'm not going through that again. I'm not leaving this to the whim of one editor again. Any issues people want to work out can be done either on the talk page or at GAR. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 05:34, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Apologies to all (perhaps especially Wrad), but I don't believe [[WP:SNOW]] was correctly applied in closing the AfD debate, especially while it was still underway. I haven't overturned the closure, but I've posted to that effect on [[WT:AFD]]. It may be that we can [[WP:IAR]] as far as the debate is concerned and let sleeping dogs lie, though obviously there are still issues around the GA assessment. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 10:06, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:I agree, a complete waste of time that resolved nothing. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 12:51, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Where else would SNOW be better applied than in an AfD with 0 delete votes, and more than a 4 to 1 margin for keeping over merging (even the nominator voted keep!)? If you restarted the AfD, you would just get the same results and it would be a waste of everyone's time since consensus clearly established that the article has a right to exist as a stand alone. Any disinterested passer-by would see that as clear as day. If you really think something was wrong with it, feel free to renominate it for AfD so that it can prove even more solidly its right to exist! Either that or drop it and leave this poor article alone. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 16:08, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


:Maybe break out some entire series into their own subcat? Eg you could put all Final Fantasy, Mario, Pokemon, etc grouped together (both games and game-adjacent articles). That seems more helpful to me than these huge by-half-decade chunks. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:23, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:I agree that no-one had voted to delete, so strictly speaking SNOW did apply, but I thought it was unhelpful to close a discussion that was still underway and might as well continue there as anywhere - I felt the closure was a application of process over product, if you like. However, although as Malleus says nothing was really settled, I guess we've been kicked back to GA. How do you feel about the GA status - would GAR be useful? [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 18:30, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::Well that would invalidate my lv3 split, but I'm not in opposition. I have pulled out just the characters for now, which can be a start for pulling relevant articles out from the other subsections too. Pokémon is easy enough, the games all include the word Pokémon, Final Fantasy has a list at [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Square Enix]]. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 14:31, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
:::SNOW didn't apply, in my view. RfA is not a vote, and "delete" and "keep" are not the only possible outcomes. But comments on this belong at [[WT:AfD]], not here. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 22:50, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::I would go the other way on this - games should be listed strictly chronologically. Having some sorted by series, and some sorted by chronology, seems strange and "surprising" (in the bad sense) to me. [[User:SnowFire|SnowFire]] ([[User talk:SnowFire|talk]]) 17:37, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
::I have no idea what you're talking about with this "nothing was really settled" bit. It was 4 to 1 that the article should be kept as a stand alone. You'd have to be blind not to call that an overwhelming consensus. I personally feel like the article meets the criteria, as do others. I don't see any reason for me to challenge the article's status at GAR if I agree with it's status. If someone else wants to, that is their right. However, since an overwhelming consensus has already voted ''against merging'' the article, that point needs to be dropped. If you have an issue with this article's status, it's gotta be something besides that. If you disagree (speaking to anyone) I issue an open challenge to ''anyone'' to put this article up at AfD and have another merge discussion. That proposal will crash and burn just as it did last time. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 18:37, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::Do you have a better idea for how to separate them? The issue at hand here is that when the categories get super long, they should be subdivided. But the chronology sections are already divided in 5-year blocks. We could make the categories shorter by shortening that to 2-year blocks, I suppose, but I don't think that's likely to be helpful to anyone. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 02:53, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Again I apologise for my lack of clarity. I'm referring to the article's GA status as measured against the GA criteria. Nothing to do with notability at all. You mention above that you now believe the article meets the GA criteria as some improvement has taken place, but there was another suggestion to renominate it to get a proper review (to which you responded that you'd prefer the 'talk page or GAR'). That's what I was referring to. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 18:52, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::An alternate lvl3 split could be "by date" and "by series", in that case. I do agree that your originally proposed lvl3 split is better than no lvl3 split at all. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 02:54, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Since the discussion at AfD was (I still believe) closed prematurely, it looks like this'll have to go to GAR, on the basis that the article does not meet criterion 3, in particular 3b, and did not in any case receive a proper review. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 18:57, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::Well, what are you waiting for? Why does everyone insist that ''I'' challenge my own article's GA status? Would you do that if you had gone through what I have? Seriously, people :) [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 19:02, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::And here's me trying to be tactful :) I was concerned not to give the impression that there's a vendetta underway against the article, which was why I asked rather than nominated. I see your point though... [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 19:08, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::And I must say I appreciate that tact! Speaking as one (of several) contributor(s) to that article, it was very painful to watch what—from my point of view—at times felt like a big pileup of people just wanting to tear down what I'd painstakingly built (or in this case, contributed to building). While watching Wikipedia happily accumulate fancruft and "specific notability guidelines", it seemed entirely incomprehensible to me that so much effort would be put into removing (delete or merge) this article. In that context, a little tact went a long way towards making the process a more constructive one. In other words: Thank you, it is much appreciated! :-) --[[User:Xover|Xover]] ([[User talk:Xover|talk]]) 19:21, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::I'm waiting for you to calm down a little, so that the discussion can be rational instead of emotional. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 19:10, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::::It would help me calm down if people approached this more like Serene and less like an all out war (kill it or bust!) [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 19:25, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::::That's pretty much what I mean, you're seeing everything in black and white at the moment. If you had looked a little closer you might have noticed that nobody was trying to "tear down" or "kill or bust" anything. The essence of the discussion is not whether the article ought or ought not to be kept, but whether—given its present title—it meets criterion 3. My submission that it does not is no reflection on anything other than that, and it would be better if the discussion did not once again deteriorate into unwarranted and unhelpful personal comments. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 21:16, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::If I nominated it, I would say something silly like "I actually think this article passes, so I don't really have any specific criteria in mind that it doesn't meet, but oh well." That would be weird. Also, if there honestly isn't a vendetta against this article, why isn't anyone challenging the other three or four articles this reviewer passed? Why all the attention on Hamnet? The reviewer didn't fail a one, yet this is the only one people care about. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 19:19, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::::This article caught attention because the poor review was highlighted on this talk page. If you see bad reviewing practice anywhere, please advise us here. It is preferable to post about a review (or reviews), as in this case, rather than a reviewer. The edit, not the editor is the unit of currency on Wikipedia. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 22:50, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::::::That is absolutely false Geoguy. ALL of his reviews were highlighted on this page as being faulty, and ONLY Hamnet was spear tackled. The rest were just ignored. Don't try to paint a prettier picture here. People are saying the review was faulty, and that's why it should be at GAR, but they turn a blind eye at all of his other faulty reviews. Say all you want about edits versus editors, but the GA process doesn't seem to be in practice what you think it is. Right now, it feels to me like a platform for some frankenstinian mixture of [[WP:I DON'T LIKE IT]] and [[WP:Notability]], with utter disregard for the actual GA criteria. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 00:37, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::::::Can you link these threads? The only ones I know are [[#Hamnet Shakespeare problem]], started by you, and [[#Problematic review]], which refers to the same article. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 00:48, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:(unind)I guess no one did say anything, at least not, is even more of a crime.. Ironically, '''''I''''' was the one who asked for help, and in return I get harassed and ridiculed, my work is considered worthless. What kind of organization is this?! GA is apparently just a gang of kids going after picked targets. There is a pretense of objectivity, but nothing real under the surface. One editor with no experience in literature and even less in actual Wiki editing (just over fifty edits), can come through here and pass several articles, catching all of you guys with your pants down, ''and you don't even care''. And then this project has the gall to ask for a little green symbol in the corner of its articles. Gimme a break. My eyes are opened now.
:I tried to get help from this talk page and all I got was a good kick in the crotch. Last time I ever ask for help from the GA process. I try to free myself from the clutches of this terrible review, and then suddenly it's all ''my'' fault. People want ''me'' to delist the article I've fought so hard for! They want me to put it up for GAR!
:And they don't even realize the irony of what they're saying! They say that it's all speculation, yet none of them seem to realize that '''90% of the Humanities discipline is speculation'''! We might as well delete 90% of the [[William Shakespeare]] article, if we're so concerned with bare facts. And we shouldn't stop there. We should comb through [[Romeo and Juliet]] and [[Hamlet]] to take it down to bare facts. Do realize how silly that would be?? And then there's this idea that somehow the article goes off topic by discussing it's subjects influence on literature. Doesn't anyone notice that [[William Shakespeare]]'s article talks about his influence on literature? How about [[RMS Lusitania]]? About half of it is the influence of it sinking on history. Did anyone notice this gross violation of GA criteria 3b?? Apparently they don't, otherwise they would demand the offending sections be removed as a distraction to the article's subject, just as they are with Hamnet.
:Don't you have some video game cruft to go after, rather than attacking this legitimate subject of Shakespearean scholarship. Can't you just leave well enough alone? Is this the best use of your time? Can I ask, just once, that someone here put themselves in my shoes and try to uderstand my frustration here. This whole thing is ABSOLUTELY MINDBOGGLING to me! An article with 15 citations, most of which are from well-respected scholarly sources, is put up for freaking '''AfD'''. And then when it fails by an overwhelming margin, you say it wasn't closed right and the conclusion is in question? What kind of Circus is this?
:Are you starting to see how utterly strange this is all to me? I respect you, Geo Guy. I always have, and Malleus and I share many common opinions, but what the heck kind of drugs have you all been smoking lately? I say that in the kindest way I can muster in my baffled state. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 01:11, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


===Rail transport - time for some splitting?===
::I'm saddened to see this Wrad, as I did think that we shared many of the same views about lots of things on wikipedia. You seem to have got the wind under your feathers because you believe that the quality of this article is being questioned. Speaking only for myself, nothing could be further from the truth. If the article was entitled something like "Effect of Hamnet Shakespeare's death on his father's writing" I'd be applauding it as a clear. concise summary of academic speculation. However it's masquerading as a biography of Hamnet Shakespeare, and that's my problem. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 01:25, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


In [[Wikipedia:Good articles/Engineering and technology#Transport]], we have 208 articles classified under "rail transport" and a whopping 243 articles under "Rail bridges, tunnels, and stations: United States". I think we should discuss breaking these into subcategories. Some ideas I have for breaking down the general rail transport category are "rail lines", "rail accidents and incidents", "rail companies", and "rapid transit/tram systems". Rail bridges, tunnels, and stations: United States could be divided into rapid transit stations and heavy rail stations, while we could add a "bridges, tunnels, and facilities" section to hold pretty much everything else, including freight facilities (I think the only one is [[Northup Avenue Yard]], my nomination). [[User:Trainsandotherthings|Trainsandotherthings]] ([[User talk:Trainsandotherthings|talk]]) 22:48, 25 June 2024 (UTC)
:::That makes no sense at all to me. Nowhere does the article claim to be a biography. It only claims, by the title, to be an article about Hamnet Shakespeare, and that is all that it discusses. I fail to see anything wrong with that. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 01:35, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


:Note the general rail transport category is basically an "others" group for all rail-related pages that don't fall within a subcategory. The proposed subcats make sense in the abstract, at a glance I can see a lot of incidents. Unsure if I'd cleanly split rail lines and rail systems, something encompassing systems and lines like it could pick up related articles like [[Northern line extension to Battersea]] too? Can't at a glance figure out how many company article there are. Splitting stations from bridges, tunnels, and facilities also sounds sensible, to the point it raises the question of whether to split them entirely rather than just in the United States, but that doesn't mean the smaller action won't work. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 01:13, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Ah well. It makes sense to me. The article hardly discusses Hamnet Shakespeare at all, as so little is known about him. Even you must surely admit that's true. The article is about the speculated effects of his death on his father. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 01:40, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::My thinking was I'd throw out some ideas and we as a community evaluate which make sense. A separate rail accidents and incidents section seems like a no-brainer to me, as does one for bridges, tunnels, and facilities. A lot of the U.S. articles on railroads cover both a company and the line(s) it operated in a single article, making them hard to split between lines vs. companies. We can always make more changes in the future. [[User:Trainsandotherthings|Trainsandotherthings]] ([[User talk:Trainsandotherthings|talk]]) 14:11, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:::I've split the facilities etc. from the United States, a heavy/rapid station split will require more time and/or a subject matter expert. I looked at accidents and incidents quickly and only found 9 so left those alone for now. If splitting lines/companies/systems becomes a bit complex, perhaps splitting off just the United States here as well would be helpful. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 10:30, 30 June 2024 (UTC)


== Biology and medicine reviews ==
:::::Malleus, if I follow that logic, then half of [[RMS Lusitania]] has to go because it isn't really "about" Lusitania at all, it's about its influence after its "death". Don't you see how silly that is? An article about Hamnet has to include any of his influence that is notable to the sources, otherwise it won't meet the breadth requirement. People are applying a double standard to this article and that needs to stop if GA is going to have any integrity. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 04:53, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


I was looking over the GAN's in the Biology and medicine category and noticed that 11 of these were started by [[User:Wolverine XI|Wolverine XI]], all within the span of five days (June 10th through 15th). I thought to bring this up here because I'm concerned that the quality of these reviews will suffer from the quantity that this user has taken on, which I think is more than evident in the fact that 8 of them haven't even been started yet. Some of these reviews have received no comments for two whole weeks since their inception.
:::::::They failed my [[Silver Age of Comics]]. At least I think they did. I'm still trying to decide what to do. - [[User:Peregrine Fisher|Peregrine Fisher]] ([[User talk:Peregrine Fisher|talk]]) ([[Special:Contributions/Peregrine_Fisher|contribs]]) 19:59, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::::Perhaps a procedural GAR nomination is the best way to go then, if only to put this to rest. I won't have time to do that this evening, but I'll be happy to do the business tomorrow (if no-one else wants the job!) Thanks for bringing up those other reviews, Wrad - that hadn't occurred to me, but in the light of your article and Peregrine Fisher's comment, you're right that they need looking into. Thank you too to Xover; we really do want the best for all articles that come through GAN, and your understanding and forbearance is likewise much appreciated. [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 20:21, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::::I agree that a procedural community GAR would be a good approach, because the original GAN review was not ideal. There is no rush, though. It is good to see improvements to the article occurring in response to this suboptimal story. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 22:50, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
*These are the other reviews by the same reviewer, [[User:ShaShaJackson|ShaShaJackson]]: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Metzengerstein&diff=prev&oldid=267757847 Metzengerstein ], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:The_Gold-Bug/GA1 The Gold-Bug], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Silver_Age_of_Comic_Books/GA1 Silver Age of Comic Books]. To remove all question, probably all of these should be reviewed again. &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 01:39, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::Should we just put them back on the list? I just put another GAN template at the top of Silver Age of Comics. It was never removed from [[WP:GAN]], so I just left it. - [[User:Peregrine Fisher|Peregrine Fisher]] ([[User talk:Peregrine Fisher|talk]]) ([[Special:Contributions/Peregrine_Fisher|contribs]]) 02:01, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:::Oh dear. My suggestion would be to reinstate the GANs as they were before these "reviews" were started and to start again. I know full well though how frustrating it is to have to go back in the queue, so I promise that if nobody else picks the articles up within a week then I will. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 02:13, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
===Break===
I absolutely must copy the enlightening discussion on my talk page to this page. Here it is:
<beginning of copy>
::I hope you don't mind if I throw in my 2p worth as well. I appreciate your frustration, especially when it appears to you that you've done all the right things to get attention for a substandard review and, from your perspective, unfairly ended up in the stocks yourself. ''I'' don't believe that really is the case, but I can understand why it may look that way to you. It might help to clarify for you why events followed the sequence they did.
::'''Reason for AfD:''' The poor review for Hamnet was rightly highlighted by both you and Peregrine Fisher; but before this could be tackled questions were raised about the scope of the article - the argument was essentially that title implies that it's a biography, but much of the content relates not to Hamnet himself but to his possible influence on his father. This again is understandable; how much can one write about a boy who lived over 400 years ago and died when he was eleven? Frankly I'm impressed that you found as much as you did. However the balance of the article is, perhaps unavoidably, skewed by the additional content, leaving the impression that Hamnet's only real 'claim to fame' is not who he was and what he did, but the effect of his death on his father. As such, we asked "does the article meet [[WP:BIO]]?" As a more fundamental issue than the GA review, the article's right to exist ''in it's current form'' needed to be tested first - hence the AfD. In retrospect this turned out to be a poor decision, partly I think because the issues were too nuanced for that forum and have been misunderstood, and partly because the (incorrect IMO) SNOW closure killed the debate prematurely. I should add that there was no chance the article content was ever going to be deleted, and quite rightly - it's all good, verifiable, sourced stuff - but we were hoping to clarify if content + title = notable, stand-alone article. Much unfortunate confusion resulted on all sides.
::'''Reason for GAR:''' Even with the AfD something of a cock-up, we've still any outstanding GA assessment issues to address. This seemed to be something you were open to, so I suggested GAR as a place where we can get more eyes on the article and give it the detailed treatment it should have had from it's original review. I was in no way suggesting you nominate it yourself, but under the circumstances wanted to get your approval for the nomination. GAR's aim, first and foremost, is to improve the articles that arrive there so we don't need to delist them, but without your willing input on Hamnet that would be a fairly pointless exercise.
::Rather more than 2p worth, but I hope I've been able to explain why we took the steps we did, and hope you can appreciate that it's only ever been about doing the best we can for the article. You're right that there are other reviews that need revisiting, but as G'guy says until we're told about them or someone happens to notice them, we can't do much about it. It's a weakness of the single-reviewer system that we are well aware of, but is thankfully becoming less common as we tighten up procedures and look at ways we can improve review consistency and quality (not that it's much comfort to you at the moment!) All the best, [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 12:11, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:::(apologies it this comment is a bit awkward; posting from iPhone is... not optimal)
:::Who said [[Hamnet Shakespeare]] is a biography? Were you under the impression that, say, [[William Shakespeare]] is a biography? [[User:Xover|Xover]] ([[User talk:Xover|talk]]) 15:50, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::::Seriously. The article never claimed to be a biography. It only claimed to be about Hamnet. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad#top|talk]]) 16:23, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::In what way is [[William Shakespeare]] not a biographical article, Xover? It covers his life from birth to death, with analysis and commentary, in as much detail as can be sourced within the limits of the article's focus. I'm slightly confused why you'd contest that, or are we just quibbling over semantics (a biography is different from a [[WP:BIO]] article)?
:::::In my experience it's standard practice on Wikipedia to regard articles titled after a specific person as bio articles. At GA, the article title affects its assessment under criterion 3 (broadness of coverage), and specifically 3b (focus). If you look further up [[WT:GAN]], you'll notice we've been discussing this very subject with regards to sportspeople, whose articles often concentrate in minute detail on their sporting career but omit even a minimal level of the sort of biographical information we'd expect to see in an article with their name at the top of it. The clear consensus is that such articles fail GA, as they are not sufficiently broad ''in relation to their stated intent'' as defined by their title. For example, if an article is entitled "Joe Bloggs (footballer)", I'd expect to see information about his birth, education, family, marriage, children, charity work, etc as well as what clubs he's played for and how many goals he's scored. If it's entitled "Joe Bloggs's football career", the focus of the article changes and I wouldn't expect (or want) the same level of biographical information. [[Hamnet Shakespeare]] is, by its title, defining itself as a bio article - if that wasn't the intent, then perhaps the title should be changed? [[User:EyeSerene|<span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#4B0082">EyeSerene</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:EyeSerene|<span style="color:#6B8E23">talk</span>]]</sup> 18:00, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::If by "same level as other bios" you mean that it contains everything that the available sources have to say, I don't see the problem. [[William Shakespeare]] doesn't meet the descriptions at [[WP:BIO]]. Most of it is about his writing, not his life. That's just the nature of the beast. That's what most people talk about when they talk about Shakespeare. Similarly, when people talk about Hamnet, they talk mostly about his influence on his father's writing. The article reflects what the sources say. You can't apply one rigid [[WP:BIO]] standard to the lives of all of the millions of people in the world. Everyone is different. WP:BIO is just a guideline, meaning that it recognizes this and respects that there will be unforeseen exceptions. Please, then, stop applying a double standard to this article. The title is [[Hamnet Shakespeare]] because that is the subject of the article. There is no better title. The article is part of a series of articles on Shakespeare's family, so changing the title would also disturb the incredibly logical pattern of having each article in the set have the same name as the person it is talking about (what an idea!) If you think the article is violating 3b, let me ask you this: would you fail [[RMS Lusitania]] on 3b for getting on a tangent about the influence it had ''after'' it "died"? Would you demand the article be renamed [[Speculation on the influence of the Lusitania]]? If not, why then do you demand that Hamnet be failed because it talks about his influence after his death? How is that off the subject? [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad#top|talk]]) 18:24, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::Another flaw in your argument is the connection to sports articles. Yes, people are agreed that if an article talk only about a person's career, and not about the rest of his life, then it fails (actually, your claim of consensus on this is very debatable, but I give it to you just for kicks). However, this article leaves no stone unturned biographically. It talks about Hamnet's entire life. It omits no portion of it. It has information about his birth, education, parentage, godparent, dwelling-place, etc. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad#top|talk]]) 18:37, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::::The more I read that discussion, the more clear it is to me that a double-standard is being applied. Look at this quote from Geo guy: "Why do we have to describe people only in biography format? Why can't we have GAs that discuss the contribution of person X to Y?" and Philcha says "Chess promotion apart, Geometry guy is right - "it addresses the main aspects of the topic" makes influences on and influences of the subject more important than private lives, unless these became causes celebres (to put it politely) or influenced the career that made the subject notable." I particularly like one of your own quotes: "That's broadly true, of course, but we're in a bit of a grey area. I think part of the problem is that while many things are of note, they aren't documented in the highest-quality sources because they aren't of note to those sources. We wouldn't, for example, expect to find personal information about a footballer in a peer-reviewed academic journal or even necessarily a quality broadsheet - the audience for that information, by and large, is the readership of the tabloid newspaper, so that's where we'd look. I completely agree that such sources must be handled carefully, but that doesn't mean they have no value at all." So... why are you attacking an article that actually ''does'' have academic sources? Why don't you go back to attacking tabloids, where you're really needed? [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad#top|talk]]) 18:47, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
(unind)Oooooo. Here's another good one from Peanut4: "You have to take each article on its own merits; however, the good article criteria particular 3a says
"Broad in its coverage:
(a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic;[3] and
(b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail"
Where the note states: "This requirement is significantly weaker than the "comprehensiveness" required by WP:FAC; it allows shorter articles, articles that do not necessarily outline every part of the topic, and broad overviews of large topics."
To me, that does not say a biography of someone who is very rarely in the public eye outside of his/her main field, needs to go into much detail at all. Some detail is certainly preferable and not to be discouraged, but I wouldn't be demanding much more than that." Am I reading the same discussion you are? Where is the "clear consensus ... that such articles fail GA" that you mentioned? I'm not finding it. I'm finding the opposite. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad#top|talk]]) 18:56, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


While I commend their ambition, I don't think this practise is conducive to the standard of quality that the Good Article system should uphold. Perhaps something can be done about it? [[User:The Morrison Man|The Morrison Man]] ([[User talk:The Morrison Man|talk]]) 13:54, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
*<small>(outdent and bullet point for clarity)</small> [[William Shakespeare]] is an article with biographical material, but it is deliberately and specifically, by consensus, ''not'' a biographical article. [[Shakespeare's life]] is the biographical article on ''William Shakespeare'' (ignore the fact that that article isn't very ''good'' yet, [[WP:BARD]] plans to remedy that when time allows). Additions of biographical material to ''William Shakespeare'' are usually reverted and moved to ''Shakespeare's life'' instead. Much like further detail on the plays are moved to [[Shakespeare's plays]], &c.. If the GA process—and the folks who hang out there—has evolved some kind of rule that says an article located at ''First Last'' must ipso facto always be a biographical article (and more specifically, must always be ''a biography'' and nothing else!) then the GA process has taken a wrong turn somewhere. Both ''William Shakespeare'' and ''Hamnet Shakespeare'' are instances of a ''main article''; the only difference is that there is not enough material on Hamnet to warrant actual sub-articles. In any case, if all the people arguing enthusiastically for merger or rename have somehow made the assumption that ''First Last'' equals ''Biography'' then I begin to understand why they're taking the (previously incomprehensible to me) positions they have been. Don't get me wrong, it's a fair rule of thumb for the daily grind of working through the GAN backlog, but it cannot ever be a hard rule (and, for that matter, [[WP:IAR]]).<br/> Also, your example of the sports articles is apt, but does not lead to the conclusion you draw: the biographical information that was missing is important because the life of the person in question is ''one'' important aspect and as such should be covered; along with the material related to their sporting career (which is what makes them notable). If one were to apply the arguments made regarding ''Hamnet Shakespeare'' to these articles, once the biographical material was added one could as well say they should be renamed to ''Biography of John Doe (cricketer)''.<br/> To me this seems like an uncommonly apt example of lacking [[WP:COMMON|common sense]] and an overabundance of bureaucratic enthusiasm (bikeshedding and wikilawyering, to apply the [[WP:SPADE]]). Where else would one expect to find information about Hamnet Shakespeare than at ''Hamnet Shakespeare''? What possible gain could be had from renaming it when all that would be left behind is a redirect (as opposed to, say, two articles on different aspects of the same subject, or a dab page, or... pretty much anything at all except a redirect)? While I'm sure there's some truth to the assumption that both I and Wrad have some kind of emotional investiture in this article (as Wikipedia editors often do, and that is a sign of health; pride in your work) and would probably benefit from taking a step back and considering the question in a more clinical light (not more objectively, just more clinically); I rather think it's the rest of you who are in dire need of taking a big step back from the abyss of Wikipedia process (not just GAN) and consider ''where would a random Wikipedia visitor expect to find the article about Hamnet Shakespeare''! --[[User:Xover|Xover]] ([[User talk:Xover|talk]]) 19:26, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::Clearly. I would have thought you would have all woken up when your attempt at AfD failed so miserably. Most Wikipedians apparently do not think like you folks do. Get your heads out of the clouds. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad#top|talk]]) 19:39, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:::Wrad you make very good points, but they would come across better without the "us-and-them" approach of "double standard" and "your attempt at AfD". Our aim is to improve the encyclopedia, not win or lose battles and arguments. The AfD was literally a procedural nomination (by SarcasticIdealist, who !voted "keep"): there was no concerted attempt to delete the article. My own contributions were aimed at clarifying the issue and exploring the boundaries: indeed, one could say I blew some of the arguments for merger or rename out of the water.
:::I think the arguments over whether the article on X is a biography are primarily definition disagreements, which are meaningless: you just have to find the right correspondence between editors' definitions. In my view any article whose title is a person's name is in some sense automatically a biography: it should cover the life, work and influence of the person, as described by, and in balance with, reliable secondary sources. This is why I argue that in articles on sports people whose private life is unreported and not notable, it is reasonable to focus on their professional life, with little mention of their private life. In the case of [[William Shakespeare]] noted above, his work and influence is obviously far more important than other aspects of his life, and it is reasonable that most of the coverage concerns that. [[Shakespeare's life]] is ''not'' a biography, in my view: it wouldn't even make a reasonable obituary, because of the inadequate coverage of his work. But others use the term "biography" to mean "life-story".
:::In terms of my quote above, a longer version is "''I don't have a problem with [editor irrelevant]'s nominations of articles which refer to a person's contribution to a particular event. What is unencylopedic about that? Why do we have to describe people only in biography format? Why can't we have GAs that discuss the contribution of person X to Y?''" in a thread where I previously noted "''I would encourage the option of page moves (renaming the article) rather than failing as a biography.''" In other words, I'm not arguing that biographies should be unbiographical, but that renaming is always an option and other types of articles on individuals can be GAs too.
:::In a case where the ''only'' notable aspect of an individual is their possible influence on another, one has to ask whether biography (in my sense) is the best format. An article with title "Hamnet Shakespeare" and lead sentence "Hamnet Shakespeare (baptised 2 February 1585 – buried 11 August 1596) was the only son of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, and the fraternal twin of Judith Shakespeare." is a biography. The biographical structure does not even draw the reader's attention to the main point in the first sentence. Good arguments have been made for keeping it as a biography, but I think it would be so much easier to write a cast-iron GA, using the material available, with a different slant and, probably, a different title. ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 20:41, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::::I'm at a loss. Please explain ''exactly'' how this article should be split/renamed/mangled and why that would be better. All I'm seeing is the creation of some nonsense side article fork about speculation with a redirect in the actual Hamnet space, which makes no sense, since '''anyone''' looking for info on Hamnet Shakespeare is most likely to type in "Hamnet Shakespeare". Again, get your head out of the sand, please. This is a double standard, if we're going to follow [[WP:SPADE]]. I'm merely calling a spade a spade. Stop trying to force this article to fit your otherworldly idea of what an article about a person should be. This is reality. You an I are bound by what the sources give us. We can say no more and no less. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad#top|talk]]) 21:06, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
<end of copy>
:::::It's evident that you're too emotional to think clearly about this. Geometry guy has made some very pertinent observations and a few good suggestions. I don't entirely agree with everything he says, but wikipedia is all about reaching reasonable compromises. I fail to see how remarks like "get your head out of the sand" are likely to aid in that process, and I would encourage you to moderate your tone. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 21:16, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::I'm saying get your head out of the sand because many of you are apparently too stuck on non-existent policy wording to have any common sense any more. Xover agrees with me on this. I'm not just being emotional. This is the biggest case of wikilawyering and nit-picking I've ever seen. It's crazy and it needs to stop. If moderating my tone means that I should stop calling this what it is, then I refuse to do it. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 21:29, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::(ec) Please see (and use) [[User talk:Wrad]] for personal discussion. Concerning non-personal statements, I have not stated that I think the article should be merged or renamed, only that serious thought is needed about it. What for instance, should the first sentence of this article say, whatever is its title? ''[[User talk:Geometry guy|Geometry guy]]'' 21:30, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::It is clear that this discussion has become unproductive, and I have no intention of listening to any more of Wrad's emotional hyperbole. I will say no more until this article is taken to GAR, where in my opinion it ought to be now, for not meeting criterion 3. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 21:36, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


:I'm busy with another project (at the moment). I should have all these articles reviewed by Saturday. After that, I'm retiring from reviewing GANs. Reviews can take some time, so people should be patient. [[User:Wolverine XI|<span style="color:#000080;">'''''Wolverine'''''</span> <span style="color:#8A307F;">'''''XI'''''</span>]] <sup>([[User talk:Wolverine XI|<span style="color:#2C5F2D;">talk to me</span>]])</sup> 14:10, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
== A record? ==
::If you haven't really gotten started on some of those, you may want to CSD them so that another reviewer can pick them up. You don't need to rush yourself to get through them all this week. You can call this a learning experience and toss some back into the queue. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:43, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:::It is Saturday (at least where I am): I can see that [[User:Wolverine XI|Wolverine XI]] has managed to make comments on two of the open reviews, but the remainder appear to be blank. Wolverine XI, I would echo the concerns here that you may have taken on too much here: the reviews you have done (see e.g. [[Talk:Enchylium polycarpon/GA2]]) are really a short list of isolated prose and content points rather than full reviews. In particular, we need some evidence of source checking, image review, copyvio checks and so on. In other places, the comments are so brief as to be of little help: writing "please write a proper measurement" against {{green|that are 5–7 x 1-1.5 μm}} doesn't really tell the nominator what is wrong or how to fix it. Similarly, I don't think the review on [[Talk:Charles De Geer/GA1]] really gave the nominator a fair go: the article looks very close to GA standard to me and I would have thought it an excellent candidate to get up to that status in the course of the review.
:::As the other commenters here have said, reviewing is a learning process and we always have to go through practice to get good at it, but it would be polite to delete those review pages so that others can take them on, or return to them once you have finished your active reviews more fully, if they are still un-taken. ''[[User:UndercoverClassicist|<b style="color:#7F007F">UndercoverClassicist</b>]]'' <sup>[[User talk:UndercoverClassicist|T]]·[[Special:Contributions/UndercoverClassicist|C]]</sup> 16:13, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
:I'll add that I [[User talk:Wolverine XI#GA nomination of Charles De Geer|brought this up]] on their talk page, and I was not reassured by their response. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 17:14, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
::Having read it, neither am I honestly. [[User:The Morrison Man|The Morrison Man]] ([[User talk:The Morrison Man|talk]]) 18:38, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
:Since Wolverine XI seems not to understand the issue and is still editing without addressing the concerns here, I suggest the blank reviews be deleted. We may also wish to go over their completed reviews, as the ones they've worked on indicate that they don't totally understand how the review process works. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 02:26, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::You can delete them; I have other projects—both on wiki and in RL—to complete. [[User:Wolverine XI|<span style="color:#000080;">'''''Wolverine'''''</span> <span style="color:#8A307F;">'''''XI'''''</span>]] <sup>([[User talk:Wolverine XI|<span style="color:#2C5F2D;">talk to me</span>]])</sup> 08:42, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:::I have tagged the empty ones for deletion. Regarding [[Talk:Enchylium limosum/GA1]], [[Talk:Katablepharid/GA1]], and [[Talk:Enchylium polycarpon/GA2]], Wolverine XI left comments indicating some improvements needed on 15 June which have not been responded to, so my preference is to close those as failed. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 09:50, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::::That seems like a good solution. ''[[User:UndercoverClassicist|<b style="color:#7F007F">UndercoverClassicist</b>]]'' <sup>[[User talk:UndercoverClassicist|T]]·[[Special:Contributions/UndercoverClassicist|C]]</sup> 10:30, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::::That would seem like the best course of action, yes. [[User:The Morrison Man|The Morrison Man]] ([[User talk:The Morrison Man|talk]]) 14:32, 30 June 2024 (UTC)


== Discussion at ANI ==
The five oldest unreviewed articles are all by the same author/nom (me). A new record? '''[[User:YellowMonkey|<font color="GoldenRod">YellowMonkey</font>]]''' (''[[User_talk:YellowMonkey#Straw_poll_for_selecting_photos_of_cyclists_at_the_2009_Tour_Down_Under|<font color="#FA8605">click here to vote for world cycling's #1 model!</font>]]'') 05:35, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:There's probably a pattern. Are they boring (just kidding)? All in the same category? You're just that badass? - [[User:Peregrine Fisher|Peregrine Fisher]] ([[User talk:Peregrine Fisher|talk]]) ([[Special:Contributions/Peregrine_Fisher|contribs]]) 05:44, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::Well the cricket folks have a bit of a policy of not GARing other cricket articles, and non-cricket people don't understand the sport, especially US people so it seems, so it never gets picked up. Same for swimming and VN, probably because the stuff I Write about, the WikiProjects are usualy dead...'''[[User:YellowMonkey|<font color="GoldenRod">YellowMonkey</font>]]''' (''[[User_talk:YellowMonkey#Straw_poll_for_selecting_photos_of_cyclists_at_the_2009_Tour_Down_Under|<font color="#FA8605">click here to vote for world cycling's #1 model!</font>]]'') 05:48, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::I do feel your pain a bit. I've done a few noms in various categories lately, and the time-to-review varies widely. I'm finding Literature moves quickly, not so much for Theatre, TV, Movies stuff. I want to set up some sort of quid pro quo system that makes the whole thing faster, but it cannot be straight across, for conflict of interest reasons. Otherwise I'd offer to review one of your cricket players, in exchange for reviewing my Xena episode. - [[User:Peregrine Fisher|Peregrine Fisher]] ([[User talk:Peregrine Fisher|talk]]) ([[Special:Contributions/Peregrine_Fisher|contribs]]) 06:00, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::I am sorry. I have done three of your articles (a swimmer and two crickets - or maybe it was two swimmers and one cricket - and I have tried to do more of yours. It would help if, like the pro-wrestling articles, you had the obscure cricket terms wikilinked to explanatory articles. My first pro-wrestling review was hell, but since the editors back up everything with wikilinks, I am actually learning about pro-wrestling. Same with baseball and videogames. They have great links to all their obscure terminology. Regards, &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 12:35, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::Talking about wiki projects, WP Tasmania has slumbered to it's death a long time ago, and there isn't any action on any of the articles really, which is a shame =( '''[[user:Aaroncrick|<span style="font-family:Rockwell;color:#E49B0F">Aaroncrick</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:Aaroncrick|<span style="font-family:Rockwell;color:#FE2712">(Tassie talk)</span>]]</sup>''' 23:22, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::::::Cricket's very simple. You just have to push to the off and on sides until your batters have amassed enough runs to declare, then hit the wicket hard and hope you get leg before wicket to take the batman's wicket (or when they run between the wickets), avoiding no-balls and dead-balls, get them all out and see if you can enforce the follow-on. Very simple. <font face="Impact">[[User:Apterygial|<font color="#006400">Aptery</font>]][[User talk:Apterygial|<font color="#006400">gial</font>]]</font> 23:25, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::::::Well that's one way at looking at it. Made the game sound very simple =) '''[[user:Aaroncrick|<span style="font-family:Rockwell;color:#E49B0F">Aaroncrick</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:Aaroncrick|<span style="font-family:Rockwell;color:#FE2712">(Tassie talk)</span>]]</sup>''' 23:44, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


[[File:Information icon4.svg|link=|25px|alt=Information icon]] There is currently a discussion at [[Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#GA-banned user violating topic ban]] which you may be interested in. Thank you.<!--Template:Discussion notice--><!--Template:ANI-notice--> [[User:AirshipJungleman29|&#126;~ AirshipJungleman29]] ([[User talk:AirshipJungleman29|talk]]) 14:47, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
== Biography question ==


== Rule of thumb for blank review CSDing ==
I have seen statements on talk pages about what biographies should contain. However, I just looked through the [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]] and also at the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography]] and do not see any guidelines as to the structure of a biography, nor much guideline about content. My current question is about [[PJ Haarsma]] which is a good article in my view, but seems to concentrate more on the author's work than on his life. The editor has cut some of the work-related material out to spin into another article. But still, I wonder if the article has enough about his life to be a "biography". Are there rules about this? &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 15:11, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
::I brought this up above in relation to sports persons, and I have to say that this article has substantially more personal life (even if his charitable and educational work is excluded) than any of the articles I was concerned about there. I don't think it is inappropriate for an article to focus predominately on a person's notable achievements as long as it is not to the exclusion of every thing else in their life. At first glance the proportion of content in this article seems appropriate for GA (not speaking on other criteria however).--[[User:Jackyd101|Jackyd101]] ([[User talk:Jackyd101|talk]]) 16:27, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
:::OK, thanks for the opinion. I needed some confirmation and I appreciate your giving it to me. Thanks! &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 17:36, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


There are some long-outstanding review pages that don't have any real activity on them at all. Normally, another editor will come in and check up on them, and eventually they get CSD'd when there's no response from the reviewer. [[Talk:Twilight Sparkle/GA1|Here]] is one where {{u|Thebiguglyalien}} just came through to do just that. But in the interests of not dragging out this procedure unnecessarily, could we perhaps institute a general guideline for when we should simply nominate these for CSD without further discussion? How about one month? To be clear, I'm talking only about reviews that have not been started at all, beyond the usual "I'll take this review" opening comment. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 00:47, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::I don't do GA reviews, but I do review [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Composers|composer biographies]]. My opinion is that biographies should always contain personal details (formative family history, early home, marriage, children, death), assuming they are available (maybe not for public figures that keep their personal lives private). Friendships and other relationships that are relevant to the subject's notability should also be documented (e.g. [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]'s relationship with [[Nadezhda von Meck]]). A good bio will show whether or not such relationships exist; if there is no sign of any relationships, you should probably engage the article's editors on the subject.


:I took a page from {{u|BlueMoonset}}'s book (as it's mostly just them doing it) and nudged some of the inactive reviews, but I didn't give more specific instructions specifically because we don't have an agreed upon procedure like this. Anything like this should also apply where the reviewer has set up a template or headings but didn't fill them in with a review. For the ones where there was activity, we might also consider talking about second opinions, because right now the second opinion system is kind of useless. [[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#324717">The</span><span style="color:#45631f">big</span><span style="color:#547826">ugly</span><span style="color:#68942f">alien</span>]] ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:sienna">talk</span>]]) 01:01, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::I almost always rate down bios of living composers because they lack personal details and critical commentary (they're often basic promotional bios). My brief read of the Haarsma page indicates no critical commentary on his work (but it is definitely more than just a promotional bio). Where are the critical reviews and popularity indicators of his work?
::Yes, I didn't mean to imply you'd done anything out of the ordinary, I just grabbed that one as a good example of what I mean by a blank review. I'm just suggesting that we make a guideline to cut down on this extra "are you still here" "[silence]" "nominator, what do you want to do?" in the process. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:13, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:I think having a general procedure to point to is a great idea. I'd suggest a week. If you open a review but make no comment in a week, the review can be closed and the nomination returned to the queue. No penalty or particular shame, it's just a politeness to the nominator, so that the nomination has the chance to be picked up by a reviewer who has the time to dedicate to the review at the moment. [[User:Ajpolino|Ajpolino]] ([[User talk:Ajpolino|talk]]) 01:15, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::My initial thought was that a week was much too short, but on reflection, automatically clearing out reviews that are still blank a week after they were opened would probably cut down on the number of reviews that get stretched out over several months. == [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:19, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:I'm hesitant to recommend deleting without nudging, and also feel a week after opening is a bit short. Reviews can take time, and that time might only be possible on weekends or similar. That said, a week after ''nudging'' seems pretty harmless. If there is a consensus that nudging is not required, I would recommend multiple weeks, maybe 3-4, for CSD. There should be no prejudice of course to the same reviewer restarting the review page if they come back to it. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 01:18, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::What do you think about "nudge at one week, CSD after a week of no response"? -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:20, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:::I suppose I could be convinced so long as the response can just be a brief "I am working on this", although it still feels a short timeframe for a nudge. As a general thought, the same principles being discussed here should not only apply to empty reviews but to partial ones, just with a different resulting process (CSD for empty, archiving and resetting for partial except in the few circumstances 2O may be useful). [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 01:23, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Hm, I deliberately restricted this thought to blank reviews only, since I think partial reviews should be handled on a more case-by-case basis. There are lots of reasons why a review might have stalled out. Reviews that are simply blank, however, are all basically the same "case". -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 01:27, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::Fair enough, I was thinking of past nudging of months-old reviews, but appreciate the value of maintaining a narrow proposal here. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 01:30, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::::I like the idea of applying this to stalled reviews of any stripe (of course, as CMD said, we would archive rather than delete stalled partial reviews). The reviewer could always start the review again at any time. No one is being penalized. Asilvering's suggestion of one week til nudge, another week til close, sounds good to me. If the reviewer responds in any way that would reset the clock. The idea is just to return nominations to the queue if the reviewer truly doesn't have time to complete the review. [[User:Ajpolino|Ajpolino]] ([[User talk:Ajpolino|talk]]) 12:59, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::Is there anything the bot could do that would help? E.g. a "stalled review" section at the end of the GAN page, listing open reviews with no edits for more than N days? [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 13:09, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::Yes, that would be excellent. In a perfect world, I assume we would want a blank review that gets removed (possibly even an incomplete "stalled review"?) to also be removed from the bot's count of an editor's GA reviews. Not a huge deal either way, of course. [[User:Ajpolino|Ajpolino]] ([[User talk:Ajpolino|talk]]) 21:07, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::If a review is deleted and another review is later done with the same page number, the prior review is no longer included in an editor's GA review count, though if the later review never happens the earlier one won't get removed from the stats. If the review is just marked as failed and the page number is incremented, the reviewer does get credit. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 21:17, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::Yes, no edits for more than n days would be helpful. If it could check "no edits to article OR to GA review page" that would probably be the most helpful way to list them. N = 7? No one's suggested a time shorter than 7 days for any of the hypotheticals we've been discussing. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 06:03, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::I'll have a look at this some time this weekend if I get time. I think what you're asking for should be possible. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 10:25, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::Thinking about this some more, I'd like to get agreement on exactly what we'd want to see in a section called "Stalled reviews". Suppose the reviewer opens the review by posting a full review with their first edit -- that's not a stalled review, so is there a way to avoid including those? Some reviewers post an empty reviewing template as their first review; if they never edit it again that counts as stalled, but how could the bot tell those apart? [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 17:27, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::Aren't they both "stalled" if there's no motion after n days? -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 02:49, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::Yes, but I think an automatic list is only going to be helpful if the entries mean that someone needs to look at the review. If the review were to be deleted, it would disappear from the list, but if the list includes reviews that aren't blank and aren't going to be deleted then it won't be possible to tell if someone has already taken action. I could remove anything from the list if someone else posts to that page -- i.e. someone not the nominator or reviewer. Would that work? {{u|Chipmunkdavis|CMD}}, any thoughts? Since you were dubious below about the process to deal with non-blank stalled reviews. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 15:31, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::::My first idea for the bot would be to place a talkpage reminders for reviews which were opened but have had ''no'' edits since. This would miss say a review where someone writes "Will get to this soon" and doesn't, but on the other hand it would have no false positives. I would not put a section on the GAN page itself, that feels a very public sort of reprimand. We already have [[Wikipedia:Good article nominations/Report]], which gives an indicator of what is stalled even if it doesn't state the time of last edit. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 16:02, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::::Oh, I don't think we should have automated talk page reminders for this! I thought we were talking about a line on the Report page you mention here. Reading back up, I see I misunderstood Mike Christie's initial comment, where he said "at the end of the GAN page". I don't think that's a good idea either - I was thinking about the Report page. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 17:57, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::::::Actually I did mean on the main GAN page, in a section at the end, but if it would be perceived as a reprimand I agree that might be a bad idea. The way the FAC nominations viewer does it is to have "Inactive for N days/weeks" after each entry. Something like that might be possible; it doesn't single anyone out. That would not be easy to convert into "I need to go look at this particular review", though. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 18:29, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::::::I do think it could be perceived as a reprimand. The Report page, less so, I think, since barely anyone uses it. I've gone through the longest-running open reviews before both this backlog drive and the last one, and found in most of the cases that no other uninvolved editor had popped in to check on the reviews. For that reason, I don't think it would lead to significantly more people being hassled if there was a "no edits for n days" listing on the report page. I ''do'' think that having that list on the report page would allow stalled reviews to be noticed much earlier than they are now, which seems to be a timeframe of at least a couple of months. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 18:36, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:It's worth noting that the speedy deletion of incomplete reviews is rather controversial whenever it gets brought up at MfD. [[User:AirshipJungleman29|&#126;~ AirshipJungleman29]] ([[User talk:AirshipJungleman29|talk]]) 15:42, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::Sure. No need to CSD incomplete "stalled" reviews. They can just be closed and the nom returned to the queue. The same could be said of blank reviews of course. I don't have a strong preference on CSD vs. close-and-ignore for truly blank review pages. [[User:Ajpolino|Ajpolino]] ([[User talk:Ajpolino|talk]]) 21:04, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::Yes, no intention of applying a CSD rule-of-thumb to incompletes, just the ones with no review whatsoever. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 05:55, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Yes, that is what I was referring to {{ping|Ajpolino|Asilvering}} see [[Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Talk:Blackpink/GA1]]. [[User:AirshipJungleman29|&#126;~ AirshipJungleman29]] ([[User talk:AirshipJungleman29|talk]]) 13:11, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
::::Yes, I'm not talking about this kind of review. That's a complete review. It's a poor one, but it's complete, not blank. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 02:45, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::The current [[Talk:Blackpink/GA1]] was not the one that was the subject of a MfD, the MfD was about the previous version which was essentially blank. That said, it was an MfD complicated by a new user engaging in procedurally questionable actions rather that added to the page history, so that particular case is an outlier. (The current [[Talk:Blackpink/GA1]], being as you note poor but not empty, was invalidated and the counter incremented.) [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 15:00, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::I and the MfD were discussing the original review [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&logid=161908704 which was deleted] {{u|Asilvering}}. [[User:AirshipJungleman29|&#126;~ AirshipJungleman29]] ([[User talk:AirshipJungleman29|talk]]) 18:11, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
::::::Ah, I see. I suppose my confusion here is an argument in favour of ''not'' CSDing these pages... but I do strongly agree with you and jpxg in that discussion. -- [[User:Asilvering|asilvering]] ([[User talk:Asilvering|talk]]) 18:18, 30 June 2024 (UTC)


== Withdraw ==
::- ''[[User:Magicpiano|<span style="background-color:khaki;color:firebrick;">Magic</span>]]''[[User_talk:Magicpiano|♪piano]] 21:43, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


I would like to withdraw ''[[Afraid of Tomorrows]]'' for GAN consideration. The article will certainly not pass as is, and I'd rather expand it first myself than wait for a review to tell me what I already know. [[User:QuietHere|QuietHere]] ([[User talk:QuietHere|talk]] &#124; [[Special:Contributions/QuietHere|contributions]]) 16:46, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
:::We need to face the fact that personal details are sometimes unavailable or scanty, and often irrelevant. Some subjects take great care to keep their personal lives private, and the press don't intrude if they are not front-page celebs (mainly politicians, sports stars and movie stars). Some aspects of personal lives are relevant to the activities that make people notable, like [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]'s relationship with [[Nadezhda von Meck]]. Others are not, for example [[Adolf Anderssen]] had no personal life to speak of and the details of Wilhelm Steintiz first family are sad but relevant only to the extent that they illustrate the poverty in which he lived all his life. [[Rafael Nadal]]'s uncle Tony is imprtant (Rafa's coach) but no sports article I've seen has mentioned his parents or any siblings. OTOH much of the family life of [[Venus Williams]] and [[Serena Williams]] is obviously relevant. Friends may be more important than family, as in the case of [[Johannes Brahms]]' friendship with [[Robert Schumann]] and [[Clara Schumann]], and his support of the music of [[Antonin Dvorak]]. The real test is the impact on the career(s) that made the subject notable. --[[User:Philcha|Philcha]] ([[User talk:Philcha|talk]]) 21:42, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:I see you've deleted the GA nomination template from the talk page; that's all you need to do if the review has not started. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 17:12, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
::Alright, good to know. Wasn't sure if it would be removed automatically but I see that it has been. Thanks. [[User:QuietHere|QuietHere]] ([[User talk:QuietHere|talk]] &#124; [[Special:Contributions/QuietHere|contributions]]) 15:52, 29 June 2024 (UTC)


== Is a reviewer allowed to contribute to an article during the review? ==
::::Isn't there a confusion here between good articles and Good Articles? Surely an article can be "good" without meeting the GA criteria? Doesn't make it a "bad" article though. The job of a reviewer is simply to come to a decision about whether or not the article meets the GA criteria. Not whether it's any good or not. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 21:49, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


While looking at a certain GAN nominee that needs a review (I have not decided yet whether to review it or not), I noticed that some of the statements in the article had dubious sourcing. I was able to find some sources that I felt were more reliable + had valuable information. I also noticed some translation errors; as the original language is a language I speak, I would be able to correct these translations. Would I as a reviewer be allowed to recommend these sources to the nominator + offer translation corrections? I understand that reviewers are not allowed to significantly contribute to the article before review. [[User:Jaguarnik|Jaguarnik]] ([[User talk:Jaguarnik|talk]]) 19:22, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
== This process is broken ==


:@[[User:Jaguarnik|Jaguarnik]], recommending sources is absolutely fine. It is always great when a GA reviewer's suggestions make an article substantially better. A problem only arises when you end up contributing so much to an article that you would have to review your own work; in such cases, best to ask for a second opinion. —[[User:Kusma|Kusma]] ([[User talk:Kusma|talk]]) 19:31, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
It is apparent to me that this project is broken. It has been hijacked by a bunch of bureaucrats who, rogue-admin-like wield their powers in order to change the 'pedia as they see fit. Meanwhile, reviews are not only lacking in quantity, they are lacking in quality. Many an editor is forced to wait a month or more for a review, only to have joeshmolamereviewer come along and give them a (as I have heard it called) "suboptimal" review. Any schmuck can take on the role of reviewer and hold an article hostage for up to seven days until it bends to his will, even if he has barely an edit to his name. Take a look at the reviews of one such reviewer in [[The Gold Bug]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:The_Gold-Bug/GA1 which is passed] with little comment, or [[Hamnet Shakespeare]], were he refuses to recuse himself despite [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Hamnet_Shakespeare/GA1&diff=prev&oldid=267933179 a request] from an outside editor. And beyond that, how about [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Osteitis_fibrosa_cystica/GA1&oldid=266837749 this review] of an article written by a kid as an experiment at a public school where students were given an assignment to make a GA out of a science article. Read what the teacher had to say [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Featured_articles/FA-Team/Mission_6&diff=267986065&oldid=266946384 here]. Pretty sad. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 22:04, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
:(ec)You can certainly make suggestions to the nominator, and to be honest for minor corrections (punctuation and typos for example) I would recommend making the changes yourself, since it takes longer to type out "you have mispelt 'supersede'" than it does to correct it. However, do be sure you're right when you make such changes. I have frequently made more extensive copy edits than that when I am confident that the nominator won't mind -- e.g. when the author clearly has English as their second language, but the article is well-researched and close to GA standard, I'll do some clean up editing. This is more of a judgement call. For the translation corrections you're suggesting, you might ask the nominator if they would mind if you just did the fixes yourself, in case they disagree with your translation. Few nominators will object. One circumstance in which I will not make changes myself is if the point at issue is something I suspect the nominator is unfamiliar with -- I'd rather they made the fix so they understand the issue. None of the above is required, and many reviewers won't change a single comma on the article they're reviewing, and that's fine too -- it's your call. [[User:Mike Christie|Mike Christie]] ([[User_talk:Mike Christie|talk]] - [[Special:Contributions/Mike_Christie|contribs]] - [[User:Mike Christie/Reference library|library]]) 19:37, 28 June 2024 (UTC)


== Request Help with Abrupt GA Delist at Florida State University (Main article) ==
:The essence of what that teacher had to say was that it was a mistake to delegate his marking responsibilities to a wikipedia review process. Seems like a very sensible observation, not sad at all. --[[User:Malleus Fatuorum|Malleus]] [[User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum|Fatuorum]] 22:13, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


We are 3 days within the 7 days to contest an abrupt GA delist, so I am requesting additional editors and assistance today to resolve this delist while I simultaneously try to persuade the delisting editor to reverse their action. Another editor and I were in the middle of an appropriate GAR of the Florida State University main article. The cooperating editor and I were waiting for a subject matter expert to weigh into non-free materials assessment. All other matters were style and minor. A third editor enters and without establishing collaboration or consenus and abrupting delists the article, which has had GA status for years. Kindly help me resolve this matter. [[User:Sirberus|Sirberus]] ([[User talk:Sirberus|talk]]) 17:32, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
== Question about lists and GA ==


:[[Florida State University]], [[Wikipedia:Good article reassessment/Florida State University/1]]. [[User:Chipmunkdavis|CMD]] ([[User talk:Chipmunkdavis|talk]]) 01:05, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
I am not very familiar with lists. The article [[Septimus Heap]] seems to be a serious of lists more than a fully realized artice. Is the a Good List Nomination and Good List Criteria? I am not sure what to recomment to the article's author as the best way to procede. Or should it be failed because so much of it is a list? Thanks, &mdash;[[User:Mattisse|<font color="navy">'''Mattisse'''</font>]] ([[User talk:Mattisse|Talk]]) 22:11, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
::The GAR was closed after two weeks of no activity on the reassessment page, and a week of no edits to the article, with copyright issues still unresolved. Closing the reassessment as delist in this situation does not seem problematic to me. That said, the reassessment has now been reopened – is there anything else that needs to be done here? [[User:Caeciliusinhorto|Caeciliusinhorto]] ([[User talk:Caeciliusinhorto|talk]]) 18:25, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
:::I agree—I have left comments at the reassessment, and will close it myself if there aren't arguments against. [[User:AirshipJungleman29|&#126;~ AirshipJungleman29]] ([[User talk:AirshipJungleman29|talk]]) 18:29, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 18:36, 30 June 2024

MainCriteriaInstructionsNominationsJuly Backlog DriveMentorshipDiscussionReassessmentReport
Good article nominations
Good article nominations

This is the discussion page for good article nominations (GAN) and the good articles process in general. To ask a question or start a discussion about the good article nomination process, click the Add topic link above. Please check and see if your question may already be answered; click the link to the Frequently asked questions below or search the Archives below. If you are here to discuss concerns with a specific review, please consider discussing things with the reviewer first before posting here.

I've changed my mind about hard caps on open nominations[edit]

In the past, I've objected to hard caps on how many nominations someone can have open at once. My reasoning was that it's unfair punishment to our most active content creators and that it only masks the problem. After running the numbers, I believe these arguments are outweighed by other factors.

As of the most recent GAN report, there are 677 nominations under review or awaiting a reviewer. There are 58 nominators with at least three nominations, making up 340 noms in total. We make up almost exactly half of the backlog. If we emptied the "Nominators with multiple nominations" section by reducing everyone down to two noms, the backlog would instantly decrease by 224 nominations, bringing us down to 453. That's one third of the total backlog just made of those extra nominations. If we limit it to a more generous five noms, that's still 95 extra nominations beyond that limit.

To the argument that limiting noms only hides the full backlog, it's about how the noms are weighted. Right now, these "power users" make up half the backlog despite being a minority of the total nominators. This is unfair to the people who wait months longer in line just so we can double, triple, quadruple dip. To the argument that it makes it harder for efficient nominators to nominate, there's a way to make your nom a higher priority: review! Review the noms above yours in that category, or just review in general to lower the backlog. Even if new noms instantly take their place, those will have a more recent nom date. This way, there won't be one person who still has eight other nominations ahead of you after you review one of theirs. Or you could review for people who only have one nom and won't immediately replace it, which is often a new nominator who should get priority anyway. Alternatively, there's Wikipedia:Good article review circles where you can get a reviewer much more quickly.

Once my current nominations are done, I'm going to voluntarily limit myself to no more than five at a time. But these limits only have significant effect if we adhere to them collectively, and I'm switching to a support !vote on such a measure. I'm also going to ping the few people who have more open noms than I do in case they'd be interested in a similar voluntary limitation: Magentic Manifestations, Chiswick Chap, Aszx5000, Gonzo fan2007, Ippantekina, Aintabli, Epicgenius. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 02:22, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Frankly, I think this is not a very good idea. The "power users" are often our most experienced and dedicated contributors - so notably, they tend to have articles that are high quality to begin with and thus easier to review. Reviewing a newer editor's GAN is often far more difficult, because they aren't used to all the inns and outs yet - this takes an entirely separate skillset from reviewing an Epicgenius or Chiswick GAN (namely, that only an experienced reviewer would be as good at it!) I really don't looking at reducing the backlog as a numbers game is beneficial; what's important is getting articles reviewed in timely manner, which I don't think the "power users"' GAs are contributing to. Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 02:46, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oh dear, this old chestnut again. I'll just say that it's bound to have something like the Poisson distribution, that's just how nature is. Chiswick Chap (talk) 03:39, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, generally an experienced editor's work is easier to review, given that the length and complexity of the article are the same. But by sheer volume, one experienced editor with lots of noms, myself included, is going to squeeze out those newer nominators who need the most attention. And like I said above, reviewing those nominations would be incentivized relative to an experienced nominator, as newer nominators wouldn't immediately have another nom ready to go. It's not a numbers game, it's about weight, and it would be fewer articles at a time being reviewed more quickly than a whole block of them being reviewed slowly.
And to approach from the other angle, I believe we should more readily (quick)fail nominations that aren't ready for GAN. It shouldn't just be "is it far from the criteria" but whether it fails the criteria in a way that puts an undue burden on a reviewer. These are ones that probably shouldn't have been nominated anyway, but they take up a disproportionate amount of reviewer time. When nominations aren't ready, we can direct editors to peer review, GOCE, the Teahouse, help pages, or wherever depending on where its weaknesses are. I'd say a limit on max noms plus holding nominators accountable for making sure nominations are ready is the best combo. We could get nominations in and out much more quickly that way while using GAN as a lightweight quality assurance/verification process instead of as Peer Review 2. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 03:44, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately, the trend has been to increase GA standards rather than to accept that GAs aren't expected to be perfect (and that no article is, honestly). I doubt we'll secure any kind of consensus for returning GA to the lightweight process it was written as. ♠PMC(talk) 04:29, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Given how little oversight there is, there's really nothing stopping individual reviewers from deciding how strict or lenient they want to be with the criteria, with failing, or with how they think the process should work. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 04:37, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Generally I'd agree, except that people who are "caught" doing reviews that others find inadequate are regularly dragged here and castigated. And when mistakes are caught in a GA that passed, reviewers catch flak for it.
On the other hand, people don't like being the "bad guy" and failing articles that aren't ready, so we give infinite time and chances for articles that frankly aren't up to snuff. Some noms will get upset that you failed their article, and nobody likes being on the other end of that conflict.
Basically, there's a competing social pressure to be incredibly thorough yet infinitely forgiving. Reviewers can't win, they get discouraged, and difficult articles sit around for ages. We need to change the culture around GA reviewing if we ever want to make a meaningful change in the backlog. ♠PMC(talk) 04:54, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Honestly, I'd be willing to strike out everything I said above and go in the opposite direction. We could just as easily say it's a free for all on nominating but then be more firm with reviewing and quickfailing so weak noms don't bog us down. I'm actually more inclined toward that than a hard cap, except right now there's no consistency in reviews, and of course many nominators feel entitled to a pass. I personally am willing to be the one to say "this isn't ready for nomination" (and I have been trying to look for those nominations lately), but like you said, it needs to be part of a broader cultural change.
I'm going off on a slight tangent now, but I believe there are more sub-standard reviews that slip through the cracks than ones that get "caught". I watch many of them go by feeling like my hands are tied because there's also a stigma against accusing people of doing bad reviews, and it's gotten to the point where I just ignore them unless they start reviewing one of mine, in which case I ask them to return it. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 12:34, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I prefer to review the new nominators, starting with the ones who have done reviews, which usually means a higher failure rate and slower reviews for the passes because they are learning. I do this because I believe in encouraging a good review/nomination ratio, but another benefit is that it is an opportunity to teach those nominators how a good review should look. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 13:12, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I strongly disagree there is a stigma against accusing people of doing bad reviews. People do it on this talk page regularly, and the prospect of being publicly shamed creates a chilling effect for new reviewers.
I do want to point out the contradiction between suggesting that we use "GAN as a lightweight quality assurance/verification process" and saying reviewers should basically review how they want, but then bringing up "sub-standard reviews". We can't have speed and perfection. Either we accept that the process is supposed to be lightweight and allow reviews to be lightweight, or we keep tightening the screws and watch the backlog climb. ♠PMC(talk) 14:12, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm probably part of the problem -- I can't really do "lightweight" reviews. I personally want peer reviews and suggestions to improve my articles much more than I care about another green plus, and so my reviews tend to be in depth and address more than the GA criteria. And nobody calls me out on this, even for monstrosities like Talk:Chinese characters/GA1. I am not sure whether dedicated coordinators who look at every review for some quality assurance would help or harm, but this might be worth brainstorming about. —Kusma (talk) 09:49, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect coordination would start off at what we are de facto doing now in a haphazard and likely arbitrary manner, which is checking that reviews are 1) not checklists, 2) do source checks. I doubt it would crack down too much on being over-picky, especially as there is a lot of grey zone in the criteria. CMD (talk) 11:02, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's OK to point out issues that go beyond the GA criteria, so long as the nominator is clear that those comments don't need to be addressed to get the article to GA, and so long as there are not too many -- some nominators don't want to bring the article up to FA standards and shouldn't be asked to. But letting them know that a link is dead or MoS issues that are not in the GA criteria is fine, so long as they understand what's a GA comment and what is not. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 11:31, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Reducing the backlog by artificially throttling nominations does nothing to increase the rate of promotions of GAs. It is hiding the problem (we aren't getting enough GA reviews done and enough GAs promoted) by addressing the symptom of the problem rather than doing anything to improve the unwillingness of editors to do more reviews. We could decrease the backlog to zero by shutting down the whole GA process and cancelling all current nominations; do you think that would be an improvement? —David Eppstein (talk) 04:35, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
To the argument that limiting noms only hides the full backlog, it's about how the noms are weighted. Right now, these "power users" make up half the backlog despite being a minority of the total nominators. This is unfair to the people who wait months longer in line just so we can double, triple, quadruple dip. – Right there in the original post you're replying to. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 04:38, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There is no line. Nobody requires review be done chronologically. Nobody will yell at your reviewer and you if your nomination attracts enough interest to get reviewed quickly. And we tried prioritizing frequent reviewers and new participants instead of listing nominations chronologically; it didn't help. —David Eppstein (talk) 04:55, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm inclined to agree with David Eppstein here. When we tried to push first-time nominators and frequent reviewers to the front of the line, it just increased the number of GANs that had been sitting in the queue for six months or longer.
I think the issue here is that the review process is still fairly daunting. No one wants to be yelled at for looking at an article, determining that there are no (or very few) problems, and then quick-passing the article. Conversely, no one wants to be yelled at for looking at an article, seeing that it's riddled with problems, and then quick-failing the article. Quick-passing and quick-failing articles are both seen as problematic, even though there's nothing wrong with the latter.
Therefore, many reviewers find themselves having to conduct intensive reviews, which means that fairly long articles are often skipped over by all except the most experienced reviewers. Many of these long articles come from power editors, which may be why it seems like the power editors are dominating the GAN queue. – Epicgenius (talk) 14:26, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not going to suggest a return to the old sort order (though I did prefer it), but I think it's wrong to say that "all it did was increase the age of the oldest GANs". That's exactly what you would expect from reducing the importance of age in the GAN sort order. It doesn't mean the old sort order achieved anything else, but neither is it evidence that it didn't make a difference. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 14:30, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I meant to say that the change in sort order increased wait times for nominators near the bottom of the list. Currently, the newest nominations are near the bottom of each section, and the oldest nominations are near the top. Back when we were using the other sort order, we were grouping the nominations by username, so users near the bottom of the list saw their wait times increase. Granted, the other sort order did help decrease wait times for first-time nominators, but I think that came at the expense of everyone else, which is what I was getting at. – Epicgenius (talk) 14:39, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Wasn't that the point? If the sort order was causing those with better review ratios to have their wait times decreased (new submitters having a perfect ratio), then the system was achieving what it was meant to do. CMD (talk) 17:39, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, in that respect, it was working as intended (i.e. people with better review-to-nomination ratios didn't have to wait as long).
I was trying to make the point that reviewers' limited time was diverted to people who have a lot of reviews and relatively few or no GAs. If someone was a prolific reviewer but an even more prolific nominator, they would be disadvantaged; e.g. if they had 100 reviews and 200 nominations, they were pushed further down the review queue than someone with 100 reviews and 10 nominations. Power users are more likely to have dozens or hundreds of GAs, so under the old sort order, they would be inherently disadvantaged because of the raw numbers of GAs that they had (unless they conducted even more reviews to make up for this).
Perhaps it may be a good idea to consider formatting the GAN lists as sortable tables. That way, reviewers could decide on whether to review nominations by people with better review-to-nomination ratios. – Epicgenius (talk) 18:23, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Epicgenius We could make User:ChristieBot/SortableGANoms more prominent somehow. Right now it's just a link above the nominations. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 18:37, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the link. That is exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't even realize it already existed. – Epicgenius (talk) 18:59, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I was also unaware of this page until now, and second Epicgenius' comment immediately above. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 19:08, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thebiguglyalien, Epicgenius, Trainsandotherthings: this would be easy to do, and I agree it might be beneficial. That part of the layout is hardcoded in ChristieBot at the moment. If someone mocks up a GAN page header they think would be preferable, I can change the bot to hardcode that text, or possibly to transclude it. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 11:38, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Quickfails are not problematic in the slightest, as long as the reasoning is there. The difficulty is merely in the length of the average review. When people say "I'm not good at reviewing", what they actually mean is "I find reviewing tediously boring and don't want to do it", which is perfectly understandable.
To prevent WP:DCGAR happening again, we have decided that quality reviews must be directly enforced through the GA criteria. Now, each review must go over the prose, images, sourcing, and do a source spotcheck. At FAC, this is handled by multiple people, and the source spotcheck is not needed after the first successful nomination. We have got ourselves into a situation where the "lightweight review process" is multiple times more onerous than the heavyweight process.
Is there a better way? After DCGAR, I remember that SandyGeorgia was encouraging the institution of GAN coordinators who would check reviews, as the FAC coordinators do. I think that option, in combination with lowering GACR standards, could help encourage reviewing—but only, of course, if editors with high nomination/review ratios want to pick up their own slack. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 15:05, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, quickfails should not be problematic if done correctly. However, I noticed that nominators sometimes challenge GAN quickfails even if the reviewer has done everything correctly, e.g. this thread from a few days ago. I was trying to make the point that some reviewers may be afraid to quickfail articles because they fear being confronted by the nominator; sorry if that isn't clear. – Epicgenius (talk) 15:32, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed, and not even just quick fails, but any fail that takes less than a day or two. There are a couple of noms I've had on my mind for awhile that have been submitted with eg. unsourced sections, but the idea of pulling them out and failing them feels like more effort than it is worth. CMD (talk) 17:41, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Some thoughts generally agree with the above discussion that throttling noms doesn't solve the problem, that being stricter on reviews (i.e. quick failing) may push people to improve the quality more before nomming and that having a backlog in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. My own reflections on the challenges of WP:GAN come down to a lack of incentive for reviewing articles. When I started nomination articles at WP:GAN, I told myself that I would keep a 2-to-1 ratio of reviews versus my own GAs. I did that mostly out of fear of being ostracized by the community for not reciprocating. WP:DYK and WP:FLC provide good examples of the extremes (where WP:GAN is in the middle). DYK requires QPQ, increasing the QPQ requirements for frequent DYK users during backlogs. WP:FLC on the other hand, limits you to one active nomination at a time (allowing for a second nom after your first has substantial support). I would argue that neither process is running very well, with backlogs or lack of reviews still being a challenge.
I think the most important thing to remember is that the purpose of recognition is to incentivize and encourage content creation. So long as WP:GA encourages me and others to create fairly well-written articles, it's doing its job. To conclude on that point, I wouldn't support any changes that would limit the incentive for users (especially users who create a lot of good content) to keep writing. That little green icon will get up there at some point, it really doesn't matter when though. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 15:07, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
After reading the replies, I can say that I'm back in the "I don't know" camp, but at least we got a discussion going! I'm sympathetic to PMC's point above, and others that have expressed similar thoughts, that it's more of a cultural issue than anything that can be directly solved by fiddling with how we organize nominations. But it just happens that most of the people close to GA's "culture" monitor and participate in this talk page, so this is where any concentrated change would happen. Personally I've been trying to be more open to failing nominations that weren't ready to be nominated. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 18:36, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Replying to myself so I can think aloud and express general thoughts. My takeaway here is that consensus is against limiting our own nominations as a means to reduce the backlog, and instead we should be more willing to fail nominations if they're not ready for a GAN review. Maybe we should be a little more firm with nominators who make a scene about reviewers who fail a nom, in the same way that we're being more firm with nominators who make a scene about inadequate reviews. I still don't love that the most active content writers have such a disproportionate number of nominations, but good points have been raised about other factors at play there. At the end of the day, like SusunW said, there's really no way to incentivize reviewing for someone whose focus on Wikipedia isn't reviewing and trying to do this can be counterproductive. And like I've said before, GAN reviewing is harder than other reviews because all of the pressure is on the one reviewer, even if they're better at reviewing some aspects than others (looking at you, source reviews). Thebiguglyalien (talk) 01:40, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My answer to this problem has been the same for a while now: I don't review nominations of those who refuse to meaningfully contribute to reviewing (and have a decent number of GAs, I'm not punishing people doing their first ever nomination). But when I see someone with 50 GAs and 0 reviews, I cannot in good conscience ever take up one of their nominations. I work hard to keep my review/GA ratio close to 1, so I'm not expecting anyone to do something I wouldn't do myself. We need a cultural shift towards this mindset, in my opinion (and some will disagree with me, which is their right). We also have the age-old problem of how to incentivize reviewers, which many brighter than I have tried to solve.
I think large numbers of open nominations are in part a symptom of these known issues, excluding the (thankfully rare) bad actor nominating crappy articles en masse (and I'm sure some of you know exactly who I am referring to). Bottom line - when I see people argue so strongly against any reform yet refuse to do any reviews themselves, I really have no sympathy for them. If you don't want to do reviews, fine, but don't expect others to prioritize your nominations. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 18:52, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
been watching this conversation quietly - completely agree with the above that this is a cultural problem that really needs a broader informal shift rather than acute reforms addressing only the symptoms. ... sawyer * he/they * talk 01:08, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment – Every time these discussions come up I am less inclined to participate in the GA process, if I am being honest. I find the pressure to review more articles disheartening. Encouraging reviews is fine, reforming the processes is good too, but discouraging writing and limiting collaboration for improving articles is counter-productive. The entire point of GA, IMO, is improving article quality, but if all we are to do is focus on pushing reviews through, the processes begins to focus more on quantity, which to my mind is how we end up with so many poorly written articles to begin with. We are a very diverse community of volunteers. Not everyone's skill-sets are the same and assuming that we can all do the same tasks equally well fails to recognize our diversity. The constant chastisement of people who don't review more doesn't encourage people to participate, but in fact does the opposite, at least for me. (For the record, I have nominated only 1 GA all year (at the request of the reviewer). Although I have written articles that would benefit from collaboration, I have not nominated them, but forced myself instead to review other's work. I spent over a month helping an editor at peer review prepare their first FA nomination, reviewed 5 FA/GA nominations. Not big numbers to some people's standards, but that required a huge amount of effort for me, as my reviews are meticulous, and I am incapable of making them less so. I see no value in holding anyone to my standards, but rather think that all contributions which lead to a better encyclopedia are valuable.) SusunW (talk) 20:59, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My comment was not directed at you, I specifically pointed the finger at people who refuse to review at all. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:36, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Trainsandotherthings, I didn't mean to imply that it was. If I did, I apologize. Communication is sometimes quite challenging SusunW (talk) 21:41, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Generally I think we should try to be more positive about all contributors here. Perhaps we should celebrate reviewers more (COI alert: I tend to review more than I write) instead of looking down at non-reviewers (although it is a very human thing to do). I like reviewing SusunW's biographies (and I really enjoy working with her) so I am sad there have been so few of them here recently.
I am very interested in seeing whether the review circles idea can work as a (completely voluntary) way where people who are OK with doing some reviewing get their own nomination reviewed faster. If this becomes popular, people will have a choice: do a review to get your own nom reviewed very soon/put your nom on the pile with no questions asked about reviewing (and that means you may have to wait until the next backlog drive). —Kusma (talk) 09:32, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you Kusma I enjoy working with you too a lot. I am going to rip a bandaid off here and be vulnerable for a minute, but maybe it will help some people understand that reviewing is not simple for everyone. When I review I file, I tell myself, this time I am just going to read it, make comments, do a spot check and move on. But that never happens, ever. I read through the article. I start a 2nd read through and when I get to the first citation, I check it. I tell myself at the second citation to just accept it, but my brain says, what if it doesn't verify the information or has a copyvio? You have to sign-off that it's okay, so I check it. And this continues through every single citation. If I find an inconsistency, instead of just asking the question do you have a source that supports this?, I must know if there is a source. Or, I encounter something that the context is unclear. If a source is off-line do I AGF? Totally depends on whether other checks have had no problems. So I research (sometimes for hours) to find a reference that supports the data, provides context, or is accessible. Only if I cannot find a source do I just ask the question.
By this time, an entire day has passed and I am probably only 1/3 to 1/2 way through the article, so I post what I have from my notes to WP. I rewrite each query to make sure that what I am asking is clear and a suggestion, not a demand. I preview it and rewrite it again before I finally save it and move on. Day 2 and Day 3 are more of the same until I finally reach the end of the article, drained and exhausted. I hope that the nominator will take at least a day to respond to give me time to regroup. I review the responses as meticulously as I did the queries and finally make a decision on the outcome. Instead of feeling successful, my feeling is relief that it's over. And then I see a post on this page, admonishing people about not doing enough reviews and I force myself to do it again. The struggle is real, and it is hard. Howie Mandel once said I know my approach is not logical, but in spite of that I am compelled to do the illogical. That's me. We cannot assume we know why people don't do reviews, but we can change our approach to one which encourages people to do what they can. (And yes, I rewrote this 5 times.) SusunW (talk) 16:04, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for taking the time to write this out Susun. The work you have done over the years to improve articles on here has been amazing and very inspiring, it has always been a pleasure to read what you have written and to work with you not only on reviews but other projects too. It's heartbreaking to hear you have been so discouraged by these periodic discussions on reviews, and I apologise profusely if I have contributed to that discouragement. Discouraging others from doing such good work should never be what we aim to accomplish here, and it is not a good sign if we are going in that direction. I agree completely that we need to reevaluate how to encourage more reviews without discouraging nominations, and to be more holistically positive towards each other. --Grnrchst (talk) 19:40, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So—to be direct—you find GA reviewing difficult because you don't actually do GA reviews. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 20:15, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Grnrchst we're all good. I honestly just wanted to offer a different perspective to remind everyone that we don't all have the same access and abilities. The internet has been a great bridge but its anonymous nature can also make us forget that there is a real human on the other side. I don't often speak of my struggles, but perhaps it can help us be more "holistically positive towards each other". AirshipJungleman29 I am uncertain what you are saying, I do and have done GA reviews. SusunW (talk) 20:26, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My two centimes: Since my foray into good article nominations, I have tried to maintain at least 2 reviews for each nomination. Not only do I enjoy reviewing articles, because it gives me a way to read in-depth on subjects that I normally wouldn't have spent more time on, but I also try to be a net contributor to cutting down the backlog. My frustrations with the ever-growing backlog has, at least in part, come from a selfishness on my part.
Off the top of my head, there are at least a couple dozen or so articles that I have written to (I think) a GA standard, but which I haven't nominated due to the length of time it takes for nominations to get reviewed. Often I'll end up finishing an article, having polished off its prose and gone through every source I have in a number of languages, but then I just don't end up nominating it because I already had a number of months-old pending nominations that I was anxious to get reviewed. I think the only time I have exceeded five open nominations is during the ongoing WiG edit-a-thon.
I seriously regret that I have let my frustration at this process bubble over into support for certain restrictions, so I can't rightly support TBUA's proposal, despite understanding where he's coming from. The reason I want the backlog to be reduced is so that we can get more articles nominated, not restrict incoming nominations and punish some of our best writers. I would like applaud GMH Melbourne's recent review circles initiative, which I think could be an excellent way forward with encouraging more reviews. Let's consider making more positive projects like this, rather than imposing negative restrictions. --Grnrchst (talk) 20:12, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I have only seen the ping for me by the op of this thread. I am new to GA, so if I have made too many nominations, I can certainly take some off, and don't want to be disruptive. Given my nominations are in the niche area of climbing, I felt that I needed to give a range of noms to attract/tempt some interest from reviewers. Two of them have been given GA status (and a third is almost there), but I never considered that I would be able to do the reviewing, is that something that I am meant to be considering at this stage? thanks. Aszx5000 (talk) 21:50, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Aszx5000, reviewing is entirely up to you, and I was just trying to open another discussion on how to get articles reviewed more quickly. Based on the discussion above, it seems that we're largely okay with lots of nominations at once (and personally I'm glad to see more niches showing up). If you're interested in reviewing other people's nominations but not sure where to start, you can make a post at the mentorship page so someone can help you with your first review. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 22:07, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks @Thebiguglyalien. I though I would have to have more GAs under my belt before doing reviews. Let me get through a few more as I am still learning new things, but would love to give it a try later, and will follow your steps. thanks. Aszx5000 (talk) 10:32, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

July backlog drive[edit]

Yes, it's happening! I'd apologize for the short notice, but a July backlog drive has been on the backlog page since April, so instead I'll apologize for disappearing for most of May-June and not getting to this earlier.

The aim this time around is to encourage participation by people who haven't done many GA reviews before. Experienced reviewers are encouraged to assist newbie reviewers with their reviews - but if you want to ignore the theme and just bang out a bunch of GA reviews as usual, go right ahead. This format is obviously somewhat experimental, so if anyone has suggestions, please do suggest away. And if anyone else would like to volunteer as co-ordinator, so far it's just me by my lonesome and I'd love to have you. -- asilvering (talk) 05:42, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Mike Christie, is it possible to get a list of all editors who have reviewed 1-4 GANs? A list of editors who have GAs but have never reviewed would also be really helpful. I have no idea how to generate either of these. -- asilvering (talk) 01:25, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
For the first question, does User:GA bot/Stats give you what you need? For the second, yes; do you want it restricted to editors who have a GA in the last N years, for some value of N? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:29, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, for the first one, that's fine. Though if there's some way to restrict the list to only active accounts, that would be even more useful. For the second, yes, a restriction like that would be useful, though I'm not sure exactly where I'd draw the line. The last two years maybe? Or if there's a way to only get active accounts, that would be useful too. Define "active" however seems workable. My aim is to come up with a list of people who might be interested in participating in the backlog drive as a newbie reviewer. -- asilvering (talk) 01:38, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
OK -- it'll be a few days, as I'm traveling, but I should be able to get you the data by some time this weekend. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 02:06, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Asilvering: I've never been a co-ordinator of a GAN backlog before, but I have participated in previous ones, so I'm interested. What and where could I help? Vacant0 (talk) 15:12, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Glad to have you! I'll add your name to the backlog drive page. While I'm at it, pinging @Ganesha811 and @Vaticidalprophet, who were also co-ords of the last one - are you folks interested?
The main part of the job is checking off reviews as editors post them as finished on the drive page - checking to make sure the reviews aren't seriously inadequate, and double-checking what additional points for length might be given, or if you think the review is so good you ought to give it a discretionary bonus point. Since this drive is specifically encouraging collaboration between newbie reviewers and more experienced reviewers, this will be a little (but only a little, I hope) more complicated than usual, since you'll also have to award a point to the assistant reviewer. I anticipate also that there will be more questions than usual and that we may need to assist with matching newbie reviewers with experienced ones.
Also, if you'd like to revise the barnstar awards list, that would be great! I just copied the one from the March backlog drive. But I think it would be nice to tailor it a bit - for example, we could have a barnstar for the editor who assisted with the highest number of reviews, some kind of special "thanks for joining" barnstar for newbies (I think there's a "promising newbie" barnstar somewhere?), or so on. I haven't put any further thought into it than that, so if you want to go ahead and rework the list, it's much appreciated, and all yours! -- asilvering (talk) 18:33, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Considering that assistant reviewers will get one point per review, I could create a couple of barnstars (e.g. a 5 point one, a 10/12 point one, and the one that reviewed the highest amount of GANs). Or we could only stick with one barnstar for assistant reviewers.
The only barnstar that I could have found similar to "promising newbie" is {{The New Editor's Barnstar}}.
Also, do we want to include qualifying old articles, like for previous GAN backlog drives? Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 19:08, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hm too bad re: promising newbie. Since I imagine most GAN newbies will not actually be new editors. Whatever you find that you like, go for it.
This drive deliberately doesn't have points for reviewing really old articles, to keep the focus on bringing new people into GA reviewing. Earlier, when we discussed having multiple backlog drives as part of the broader discussions about what to do with the backlog, there were concerns about reviewer burn-out or reviewers holding off on doing reviews when there aren't backlog drives (since another one will be around the corner). So the idea is that the January drive is the "main" drive, the mid-year one is focused on recruitment, and the fall one addresses a specific portion of the backlog, to be determined closer to the date, depending on what looks like it needs the most help. -- asilvering (talk) 19:46, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Before uploading anything, I'll send it first on Discord in case of possible corrections . I'll be busy tomorrow so expect barnstars to come during the weekend. Cheers, Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 13:51, 27 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm happy to assist as a co-ordinator, but I do have some work travel in July which means I'd have to take on more of a background role - checking a few reviews where I can, not making any big decisions. If that's ok, feel free to add my name! —Ganesha811 (talk) 21:20, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good to me! Thanks. -- asilvering (talk) 02:50, 27 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

BlueMoonset, are you available to update the progress tracker for this drive? If you are, that would be great! If not, no worries of course. —Ganesha811 (talk) 17:44, 27 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ganesha811, thanks for asking. I'm going to be away the first week; though I might be able to log on at night, it won't be as timely as usual. Another difficulty is that I would be required to make the second column the number of old nominations (90 days or more) rather than the number of unreviewed nominations (which we have always done before), per the general RfC that was held earlier in the year, so rather than just taking the number from the Reports page and adjusting back the hour), I'd have to do a more manual calculation. I'm not sure I'll have the time to deal with the extra work involved. BlueMoonset (talk) 00:10, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hm, good point. And since we aren't targetting old noms specifically this time around, maybe we should rethink the progress list, at least for this drive. A running total of reviews opened/ended might be the way to go this time. I'm happy to do that one, since I tend to be around when a new day starts on UTC time. -- asilvering (talk) 00:23, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
asilvering, I'm not sure how that would work with the current {{GAN changes}} template in terms of display. You may need to create your own table. But I would keep the total number of nominations as the first column, since that tracks how many are outstanding at the beginning of the drive, and all the way through to the end. Good luck! I'll sit this one out, then, unless you change your mind on how you want it to work. BlueMoonset (talk) 00:33, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is this a list or an article[edit]

I nominated Grade (climbing) into the GA queue, which I overhauled and expanded, but given what happened with my GA nomination of Rock-climbing equipment, I wonder if it is really a list, and therefore maybe an FLC? thanks. Aszx5000 (talk) 13:45, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like an article (with some incorporated list-like material) to me, without any obvious flaws of a type that would lead me to quickfail it. —David Eppstein (talk) 17:28, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for that - I will leave it in the GA queue. Feedback is much appreciated! Aszx5000 (talk) 18:53, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Category organisation[edit]

Grouping these here, if no further comments or consensus is reached I plan to implement these at the end of the month, before the backlog drive starts. CMD (talk) 01:02, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Video games[edit]

Wikipedia:Good articles/Video games is one of two long lv2 categories with no lv3 split (the other is Lang & Lit), and one that feels it has a very obvious split: between the Video Games (and series) themselves, and everything else (provisionally I propose "Context and content"). Regarding the lower splits, the video games are currently divided into five-year blocks, some of which are getting very large. There's no clean split there, but if there is a desire to maintain the chronological split it could transition into two-year chunks for at least the 21st century, imitating Music. The other large sections is "Video game characters", currently at 200. This seems a simple candidate from pulling out series, with the two obvious candidates being Pokémon (26) and Final Fantasy (at least 34, I think, it's a complicated series). 13:45, 24 June 2024 (UTC) CMD (talk) 13:45, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe break out some entire series into their own subcat? Eg you could put all Final Fantasy, Mario, Pokemon, etc grouped together (both games and game-adjacent articles). That seems more helpful to me than these huge by-half-decade chunks. -- asilvering (talk) 01:23, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Well that would invalidate my lv3 split, but I'm not in opposition. I have pulled out just the characters for now, which can be a start for pulling relevant articles out from the other subsections too. Pokémon is easy enough, the games all include the word Pokémon, Final Fantasy has a list at Wikipedia:WikiProject Square Enix. CMD (talk) 14:31, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I would go the other way on this - games should be listed strictly chronologically. Having some sorted by series, and some sorted by chronology, seems strange and "surprising" (in the bad sense) to me. SnowFire (talk) 17:37, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Do you have a better idea for how to separate them? The issue at hand here is that when the categories get super long, they should be subdivided. But the chronology sections are already divided in 5-year blocks. We could make the categories shorter by shortening that to 2-year blocks, I suppose, but I don't think that's likely to be helpful to anyone. -- asilvering (talk) 02:53, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
An alternate lvl3 split could be "by date" and "by series", in that case. I do agree that your originally proposed lvl3 split is better than no lvl3 split at all. -- asilvering (talk) 02:54, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Rail transport - time for some splitting?[edit]

In Wikipedia:Good articles/Engineering and technology#Transport, we have 208 articles classified under "rail transport" and a whopping 243 articles under "Rail bridges, tunnels, and stations: United States". I think we should discuss breaking these into subcategories. Some ideas I have for breaking down the general rail transport category are "rail lines", "rail accidents and incidents", "rail companies", and "rapid transit/tram systems". Rail bridges, tunnels, and stations: United States could be divided into rapid transit stations and heavy rail stations, while we could add a "bridges, tunnels, and facilities" section to hold pretty much everything else, including freight facilities (I think the only one is Northup Avenue Yard, my nomination). Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:48, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Note the general rail transport category is basically an "others" group for all rail-related pages that don't fall within a subcategory. The proposed subcats make sense in the abstract, at a glance I can see a lot of incidents. Unsure if I'd cleanly split rail lines and rail systems, something encompassing systems and lines like it could pick up related articles like Northern line extension to Battersea too? Can't at a glance figure out how many company article there are. Splitting stations from bridges, tunnels, and facilities also sounds sensible, to the point it raises the question of whether to split them entirely rather than just in the United States, but that doesn't mean the smaller action won't work. CMD (talk) 01:13, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My thinking was I'd throw out some ideas and we as a community evaluate which make sense. A separate rail accidents and incidents section seems like a no-brainer to me, as does one for bridges, tunnels, and facilities. A lot of the U.S. articles on railroads cover both a company and the line(s) it operated in a single article, making them hard to split between lines vs. companies. We can always make more changes in the future. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 14:11, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I've split the facilities etc. from the United States, a heavy/rapid station split will require more time and/or a subject matter expert. I looked at accidents and incidents quickly and only found 9 so left those alone for now. If splitting lines/companies/systems becomes a bit complex, perhaps splitting off just the United States here as well would be helpful. CMD (talk) 10:30, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Biology and medicine reviews[edit]

I was looking over the GAN's in the Biology and medicine category and noticed that 11 of these were started by Wolverine XI, all within the span of five days (June 10th through 15th). I thought to bring this up here because I'm concerned that the quality of these reviews will suffer from the quantity that this user has taken on, which I think is more than evident in the fact that 8 of them haven't even been started yet. Some of these reviews have received no comments for two whole weeks since their inception.

While I commend their ambition, I don't think this practise is conducive to the standard of quality that the Good Article system should uphold. Perhaps something can be done about it? The Morrison Man (talk) 13:54, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm busy with another project (at the moment). I should have all these articles reviewed by Saturday. After that, I'm retiring from reviewing GANs. Reviews can take some time, so people should be patient. Wolverine XI (talk to me) 14:10, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If you haven't really gotten started on some of those, you may want to CSD them so that another reviewer can pick them up. You don't need to rush yourself to get through them all this week. You can call this a learning experience and toss some back into the queue. -- asilvering (talk) 01:43, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It is Saturday (at least where I am): I can see that Wolverine XI has managed to make comments on two of the open reviews, but the remainder appear to be blank. Wolverine XI, I would echo the concerns here that you may have taken on too much here: the reviews you have done (see e.g. Talk:Enchylium polycarpon/GA2) are really a short list of isolated prose and content points rather than full reviews. In particular, we need some evidence of source checking, image review, copyvio checks and so on. In other places, the comments are so brief as to be of little help: writing "please write a proper measurement" against that are 5–7 x 1-1.5 μm doesn't really tell the nominator what is wrong or how to fix it. Similarly, I don't think the review on Talk:Charles De Geer/GA1 really gave the nominator a fair go: the article looks very close to GA standard to me and I would have thought it an excellent candidate to get up to that status in the course of the review.
As the other commenters here have said, reviewing is a learning process and we always have to go through practice to get good at it, but it would be polite to delete those review pages so that others can take them on, or return to them once you have finished your active reviews more fully, if they are still un-taken. UndercoverClassicist T·C 16:13, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'll add that I brought this up on their talk page, and I was not reassured by their response. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 17:14, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Having read it, neither am I honestly. The Morrison Man (talk) 18:38, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Since Wolverine XI seems not to understand the issue and is still editing without addressing the concerns here, I suggest the blank reviews be deleted. We may also wish to go over their completed reviews, as the ones they've worked on indicate that they don't totally understand how the review process works. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 02:26, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You can delete them; I have other projects—both on wiki and in RL—to complete. Wolverine XI (talk to me) 08:42, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have tagged the empty ones for deletion. Regarding Talk:Enchylium limosum/GA1, Talk:Katablepharid/GA1, and Talk:Enchylium polycarpon/GA2, Wolverine XI left comments indicating some improvements needed on 15 June which have not been responded to, so my preference is to close those as failed. CMD (talk) 09:50, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That seems like a good solution. UndercoverClassicist T·C 10:30, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That would seem like the best course of action, yes. The Morrison Man (talk) 14:32, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion at ANI[edit]

Information icon There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#GA-banned user violating topic ban which you may be interested in. Thank you. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 14:47, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Rule of thumb for blank review CSDing[edit]

There are some long-outstanding review pages that don't have any real activity on them at all. Normally, another editor will come in and check up on them, and eventually they get CSD'd when there's no response from the reviewer. Here is one where Thebiguglyalien just came through to do just that. But in the interests of not dragging out this procedure unnecessarily, could we perhaps institute a general guideline for when we should simply nominate these for CSD without further discussion? How about one month? To be clear, I'm talking only about reviews that have not been started at all, beyond the usual "I'll take this review" opening comment. -- asilvering (talk) 00:47, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I took a page from BlueMoonset's book (as it's mostly just them doing it) and nudged some of the inactive reviews, but I didn't give more specific instructions specifically because we don't have an agreed upon procedure like this. Anything like this should also apply where the reviewer has set up a template or headings but didn't fill them in with a review. For the ones where there was activity, we might also consider talking about second opinions, because right now the second opinion system is kind of useless. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 01:01, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I didn't mean to imply you'd done anything out of the ordinary, I just grabbed that one as a good example of what I mean by a blank review. I'm just suggesting that we make a guideline to cut down on this extra "are you still here" "[silence]" "nominator, what do you want to do?" in the process. -- asilvering (talk) 01:13, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think having a general procedure to point to is a great idea. I'd suggest a week. If you open a review but make no comment in a week, the review can be closed and the nomination returned to the queue. No penalty or particular shame, it's just a politeness to the nominator, so that the nomination has the chance to be picked up by a reviewer who has the time to dedicate to the review at the moment. Ajpolino (talk) 01:15, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My initial thought was that a week was much too short, but on reflection, automatically clearing out reviews that are still blank a week after they were opened would probably cut down on the number of reviews that get stretched out over several months. == asilvering (talk) 01:19, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm hesitant to recommend deleting without nudging, and also feel a week after opening is a bit short. Reviews can take time, and that time might only be possible on weekends or similar. That said, a week after nudging seems pretty harmless. If there is a consensus that nudging is not required, I would recommend multiple weeks, maybe 3-4, for CSD. There should be no prejudice of course to the same reviewer restarting the review page if they come back to it. CMD (talk) 01:18, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What do you think about "nudge at one week, CSD after a week of no response"? -- asilvering (talk) 01:20, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I suppose I could be convinced so long as the response can just be a brief "I am working on this", although it still feels a short timeframe for a nudge. As a general thought, the same principles being discussed here should not only apply to empty reviews but to partial ones, just with a different resulting process (CSD for empty, archiving and resetting for partial except in the few circumstances 2O may be useful). CMD (talk) 01:23, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hm, I deliberately restricted this thought to blank reviews only, since I think partial reviews should be handled on a more case-by-case basis. There are lots of reasons why a review might have stalled out. Reviews that are simply blank, however, are all basically the same "case". -- asilvering (talk) 01:27, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Fair enough, I was thinking of past nudging of months-old reviews, but appreciate the value of maintaining a narrow proposal here. CMD (talk) 01:30, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I like the idea of applying this to stalled reviews of any stripe (of course, as CMD said, we would archive rather than delete stalled partial reviews). The reviewer could always start the review again at any time. No one is being penalized. Asilvering's suggestion of one week til nudge, another week til close, sounds good to me. If the reviewer responds in any way that would reset the clock. The idea is just to return nominations to the queue if the reviewer truly doesn't have time to complete the review. Ajpolino (talk) 12:59, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is there anything the bot could do that would help? E.g. a "stalled review" section at the end of the GAN page, listing open reviews with no edits for more than N days? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 13:09, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that would be excellent. In a perfect world, I assume we would want a blank review that gets removed (possibly even an incomplete "stalled review"?) to also be removed from the bot's count of an editor's GA reviews. Not a huge deal either way, of course. Ajpolino (talk) 21:07, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If a review is deleted and another review is later done with the same page number, the prior review is no longer included in an editor's GA review count, though if the later review never happens the earlier one won't get removed from the stats. If the review is just marked as failed and the page number is incremented, the reviewer does get credit. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 21:17, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, no edits for more than n days would be helpful. If it could check "no edits to article OR to GA review page" that would probably be the most helpful way to list them. N = 7? No one's suggested a time shorter than 7 days for any of the hypotheticals we've been discussing. -- asilvering (talk) 06:03, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'll have a look at this some time this weekend if I get time. I think what you're asking for should be possible. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 10:25, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thinking about this some more, I'd like to get agreement on exactly what we'd want to see in a section called "Stalled reviews". Suppose the reviewer opens the review by posting a full review with their first edit -- that's not a stalled review, so is there a way to avoid including those? Some reviewers post an empty reviewing template as their first review; if they never edit it again that counts as stalled, but how could the bot tell those apart? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 17:27, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Aren't they both "stalled" if there's no motion after n days? -- asilvering (talk) 02:49, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but I think an automatic list is only going to be helpful if the entries mean that someone needs to look at the review. If the review were to be deleted, it would disappear from the list, but if the list includes reviews that aren't blank and aren't going to be deleted then it won't be possible to tell if someone has already taken action. I could remove anything from the list if someone else posts to that page -- i.e. someone not the nominator or reviewer. Would that work? CMD, any thoughts? Since you were dubious below about the process to deal with non-blank stalled reviews. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 15:31, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My first idea for the bot would be to place a talkpage reminders for reviews which were opened but have had no edits since. This would miss say a review where someone writes "Will get to this soon" and doesn't, but on the other hand it would have no false positives. I would not put a section on the GAN page itself, that feels a very public sort of reprimand. We already have Wikipedia:Good article nominations/Report, which gives an indicator of what is stalled even if it doesn't state the time of last edit. CMD (talk) 16:02, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, I don't think we should have automated talk page reminders for this! I thought we were talking about a line on the Report page you mention here. Reading back up, I see I misunderstood Mike Christie's initial comment, where he said "at the end of the GAN page". I don't think that's a good idea either - I was thinking about the Report page. -- asilvering (talk) 17:57, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Actually I did mean on the main GAN page, in a section at the end, but if it would be perceived as a reprimand I agree that might be a bad idea. The way the FAC nominations viewer does it is to have "Inactive for N days/weeks" after each entry. Something like that might be possible; it doesn't single anyone out. That would not be easy to convert into "I need to go look at this particular review", though. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 18:29, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I do think it could be perceived as a reprimand. The Report page, less so, I think, since barely anyone uses it. I've gone through the longest-running open reviews before both this backlog drive and the last one, and found in most of the cases that no other uninvolved editor had popped in to check on the reviews. For that reason, I don't think it would lead to significantly more people being hassled if there was a "no edits for n days" listing on the report page. I do think that having that list on the report page would allow stalled reviews to be noticed much earlier than they are now, which seems to be a timeframe of at least a couple of months. -- asilvering (talk) 18:36, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's worth noting that the speedy deletion of incomplete reviews is rather controversial whenever it gets brought up at MfD. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 15:42, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sure. No need to CSD incomplete "stalled" reviews. They can just be closed and the nom returned to the queue. The same could be said of blank reviews of course. I don't have a strong preference on CSD vs. close-and-ignore for truly blank review pages. Ajpolino (talk) 21:04, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, no intention of applying a CSD rule-of-thumb to incompletes, just the ones with no review whatsoever. -- asilvering (talk) 05:55, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that is what I was referring to @Ajpolino and Asilvering: see Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Talk:Blackpink/GA1. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 13:11, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I'm not talking about this kind of review. That's a complete review. It's a poor one, but it's complete, not blank. -- asilvering (talk) 02:45, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The current Talk:Blackpink/GA1 was not the one that was the subject of a MfD, the MfD was about the previous version which was essentially blank. That said, it was an MfD complicated by a new user engaging in procedurally questionable actions rather that added to the page history, so that particular case is an outlier. (The current Talk:Blackpink/GA1, being as you note poor but not empty, was invalidated and the counter incremented.) CMD (talk) 15:00, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I and the MfD were discussing the original review which was deleted Asilvering. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 18:11, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, I see. I suppose my confusion here is an argument in favour of not CSDing these pages... but I do strongly agree with you and jpxg in that discussion. -- asilvering (talk) 18:18, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Withdraw[edit]

I would like to withdraw Afraid of Tomorrows for GAN consideration. The article will certainly not pass as is, and I'd rather expand it first myself than wait for a review to tell me what I already know. QuietHere (talk | contributions) 16:46, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I see you've deleted the GA nomination template from the talk page; that's all you need to do if the review has not started. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 17:12, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Alright, good to know. Wasn't sure if it would be removed automatically but I see that it has been. Thanks. QuietHere (talk | contributions) 15:52, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is a reviewer allowed to contribute to an article during the review?[edit]

While looking at a certain GAN nominee that needs a review (I have not decided yet whether to review it or not), I noticed that some of the statements in the article had dubious sourcing. I was able to find some sources that I felt were more reliable + had valuable information. I also noticed some translation errors; as the original language is a language I speak, I would be able to correct these translations. Would I as a reviewer be allowed to recommend these sources to the nominator + offer translation corrections? I understand that reviewers are not allowed to significantly contribute to the article before review. Jaguarnik (talk) 19:22, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Jaguarnik, recommending sources is absolutely fine. It is always great when a GA reviewer's suggestions make an article substantially better. A problem only arises when you end up contributing so much to an article that you would have to review your own work; in such cases, best to ask for a second opinion. —Kusma (talk) 19:31, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
(ec)You can certainly make suggestions to the nominator, and to be honest for minor corrections (punctuation and typos for example) I would recommend making the changes yourself, since it takes longer to type out "you have mispelt 'supersede'" than it does to correct it. However, do be sure you're right when you make such changes. I have frequently made more extensive copy edits than that when I am confident that the nominator won't mind -- e.g. when the author clearly has English as their second language, but the article is well-researched and close to GA standard, I'll do some clean up editing. This is more of a judgement call. For the translation corrections you're suggesting, you might ask the nominator if they would mind if you just did the fixes yourself, in case they disagree with your translation. Few nominators will object. One circumstance in which I will not make changes myself is if the point at issue is something I suspect the nominator is unfamiliar with -- I'd rather they made the fix so they understand the issue. None of the above is required, and many reviewers won't change a single comma on the article they're reviewing, and that's fine too -- it's your call. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 19:37, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Request Help with Abrupt GA Delist at Florida State University (Main article)[edit]

We are 3 days within the 7 days to contest an abrupt GA delist, so I am requesting additional editors and assistance today to resolve this delist while I simultaneously try to persuade the delisting editor to reverse their action. Another editor and I were in the middle of an appropriate GAR of the Florida State University main article. The cooperating editor and I were waiting for a subject matter expert to weigh into non-free materials assessment. All other matters were style and minor. A third editor enters and without establishing collaboration or consenus and abrupting delists the article, which has had GA status for years. Kindly help me resolve this matter. Sirberus (talk) 17:32, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Florida State University, Wikipedia:Good article reassessment/Florida State University/1. CMD (talk) 01:05, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The GAR was closed after two weeks of no activity on the reassessment page, and a week of no edits to the article, with copyright issues still unresolved. Closing the reassessment as delist in this situation does not seem problematic to me. That said, the reassessment has now been reopened – is there anything else that needs to be done here? Caeciliusinhorto (talk) 18:25, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree—I have left comments at the reassessment, and will close it myself if there aren't arguments against. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 18:29, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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