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Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Icelandic Phallological Museum/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Ian Rose 11:15, 27 June 2012 [1].

Icelandic Phallological Museum edit

Icelandic Phallological Museum (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): Prioryman (talk) 21:09, 28 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This article passed GA with flying colours a couple of months ago. It's been great fun writing it, and I hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The topic is unusual to say the least but I believe it meets the FA criteria – and I look forward to nominating it for today's featured article next Valentine's Day. ;-) Prioryman (talk) 21:09, 28 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment As a quick comment, the geographic coordinates in the article aren't correct - they take you to the British Museum in London at present! Nick-D (talk) 10:47, 29 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for spotting that - I've corrected it. I'm sure they do have phalluses in the BM, but only stone ones, so that doesn't really count... Prioryman (talk) 18:38, 29 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Source review - spotchecks not done. Nikkimaria (talk) 14:39, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • Why so many citations in the lead? Quotations need to be sourced, but other material usually doesn't
  • FN11: publisher?
  • Be consistent in when you provide retrieval dates
  • FN15: page(s)?
  • No page number, it's an online article. I've added the URL. Prioryman (talk) 15:11, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comments: Supported below very interesting article, glad that I got around to reviewing it. The prose is in good shape for the most part, only a few small comments thus far. Hopefully one of our readers will be inspired to make a donation :)
Thanks for your comments! I've made some changes as outlined below:
  • "55 penises taken from whales, 36 from seals and 118 from land mammals, including a wide variety of domestic, wild, terrestrial, and marine animals" The use of the serial comma is inconsistent here.
I've taken out the clause that begins "including" - I didn't actually add it in the first place, and it doesn't work well in the sentence as originally written. Prioryman (talk) 18:44, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "though, as Icelandic folklore portrays such creatures as being invisible, they cannot be seen at all" could probably remove "at all" here.
Done. Prioryman (talk) 18:44, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "One particularly large penis has been converted into a walking stick." Which type of animal was this from?
A bull. I've added this. Prioryman (talk) 18:44, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "and has a bow tie decorated with phalluses that he wears on special occasions." Images of phalluses or the actual thing?
Good point. :-) Images obviously, I've clarified this. Prioryman (talk) 18:44, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Sigurður has also carved wooden phalli, which can be found adorning various objects around the museum,[2] and has a bow tie decorated with phalluses" I'm curious about the use of "phalli" vs "phalluses" here.
I've standardised on "phalluses". Prioryman (talk) 18:44, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The donor tattooed his penis with the Stars and Stripes to make it more attractive.[20]" Maybe move this after the bit about Abe Lincoln, keep the patriotic stuff together. Mark Arsten (talk) 18:15, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Good idea, done. Prioryman (talk) 18:44, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, fixes look good thus far. Mark Arsten (talk) 18:55, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Looking at the independent article I see a couple things you might want to add: a. the season range here "the museum has drawn up to 11,000 visitors during its May-September season" b. that they had to wait so long "It was donated by 95-year-old Pall Arason, a friend Hjartarson described as a "a pioneer in Icelandic tourism and a famous womaniser" who died in January but had promised his organ to the museum in 1996."
  • The Reuters piece mentions that "more risque displays stay under wraps", would probably be worth a mention.
  • This Salon piece mentions that it broke even financially in 2010, might want to add that. That piece also has an interesting quote from an anthropologist about Icelandic culture at the end.
  • Here it says that he only got 3000 visitors in the first year and a half, might want to mention that as a contrast with later numbers.
  • Do you think the bit about the handball team is significant enough for a mention in the lead? I'd consider it.
  • Otherwise, it feels pretty complete, my brief searching didn't turn up any good sources that were neglected. Mark Arsten (talk) 19:42, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Alright, I've reviewed the article and read most of the sources and I'm now ready to support the article's promotion to featured article. It's always great to see an unusual article get polished to a high standard. (The only remaining issue I see is that some of the foreign language sources should have a translation of their titles in the reference.) Mark Arsten (talk) 17:55, 19 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Comments. As always, feel free to revert my copyediting. Please check the edit summaries. - Dank (push to talk)

  • Why don't we have more reviewers? This just screams "main page".
  • The second paragraph in Icelandic Phallological Museum#Human penis doesn't quite work for me. Even when the main value of the information is humor, you have to be able to read it with a straight face as well; it has to at least appear to have scientific value. The quirks of a crazy person don't quite rise to the right tone, IMO. It isn't enough to stop me from supporting, but I hope you'll have another look.
  • Support on prose per standard disclaimer. - Dank (push to talk) 19:16, 19 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I covered the two donors - the American and the Icelander - because their contributions are, if you'll forgive the expression, star turns at the museum and they are both the focus of the Canadian documentary described in the last section of the article. They each have a paragraph in the article. Prioryman (talk) 21:29, 19 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Note for delegates: the nom did make the most important edit I was asking for, by removing the "crazy" phrase. I still think that paragraph could be a little more professional, but my support stands. OTOH, if this is going to be our April Fool's Day article ... leave it :) - Dank (push to talk) 14:36, 25 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Comments While somewhat light hearted (which seems appropriate, and reflects the tone of the sources) this article is in very good shape. My comments are:

  • "By July 2011, it had acquired 276 penises from 46 species" - can this be updated?
I've added an updated figure from the museum's website. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "including a polar bear shot by fishermen who found it drifting on pack ice off the Westfjords." - too much detail for the lead (and this also isn't in the main part of the article)
I've moved this to the main part of the article. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "In July 2011, the museum obtained its first Homo sapiens penis" - replace 'Homo sapiens' with the more common 'Human' (which is the name of the article) give that this isn't an article on a scientific topic
Done. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The museum is open every day, all year round" - I can't see where this is in the source
It's actually from the museum's website. Referenced accordingly. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "It attracts up to 12,000 visitors annually" - ditto
Sorry, the figure should have been 11,000. Corrected. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "sixty percent of whom are women" - this is from a different source, which says that "We had 6,000 visitors last summer", so it's difficult to associate it directly with the 12,000 figure.
I've tried rewording this, see what you think of it now. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Sigurður was also able to obtain testicles and a foreskin from two separate donors" - this seems to pre-date the material on the first complete human penis being donated, and needs to be properly integrated with this.
I've reordered it to fit into the chronological sequence better. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • You should probably replace all mentions of 'Sigurdur' with the more formal 'Hjartarson' Nick-D (talk) 06:47, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Nope, it's correct as it is - "Hjartarson" isn't a surname, it's a patronymic. Most Icelanders don't have surnames; it's incorrect to use the patronymic as a surname and the proper style is to use the first name throughout. See the article on Iceland's Prime Minister for a comparison. Prioryman (talk) 21:32, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support My comments are now all addressed. I did vaguely remember something about Iceland having unusual naming conventions when making that comment, but I thought it was that children took their mother's last names for some reason. Nick-D (talk) 10:20, 26 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Support - I read through this while it was nominated for GA and was impressed, and it has only improved since then. I found nothing to complain about in a second reading, so am supporting the article without further comments. Can't wait to see this on the main page - possibly a good April Fools Day article? Dana boomer (talk) 14:10, 25 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Delegate note -- I can only assume that no-one's recorded an image check above because they were too intrigued by the pictures' subject matter to bother about the licensing... ;-) Never mind, it all appears to be in good order (the licensing I mean) so I think we can call 'time' on this one... Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 11:08, 27 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]


The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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