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Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Terry Fox/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 Karanacs 15:55, 4 May 2010 [1].

Terry Fox

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Terry Fox (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): Resolute 20:43, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

When I checked to see if an article for the Terry Fox Award had been created yet during the Olympics, I came across Fox's main article and found it quite lacking. Given his status as one of Canada's most famous heros, and with the 30th anniversary of his Marathon this year and the 30th annual Terry Fox Run coming up in September, I felt it important to bring the article to the highest standard possible. Between Nikkimaria's amazing GA assessment and the spontaneous copyediting from a couple other users, I believe this article is ready to face the scrutiny of the FAC process. Regards, Resolute 20:43, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This is a WikiCup nomination. To the nominator: if you do not intend to submit this article at the WikiCup, feel free to remove this notice. Ucucha 22:52, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Images - Can we get an WP:OTRS on File:TerryFoxToronto19800712.JPG, but looking good otherwise! Fasach Nua (talk) 20:50, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I value WP:AGF myself, but I can certainly ask Canada Jack to do this. Resolute 20:54, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And he has done so. Resolute 03:14, 22 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. No dab links or dead external links. Ucucha 22:54, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong support per my comments at the GA review. I will note that the caption of the Milan run has a typo, and could use a slight crop. Otherwise, great article, fully deserving of the FA star. Nikkimaria (talk) 03:06, 19 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • What are you talking about? "Particpants" is the Canadian spelling..... or not.  ;) Fixed. Thanks! Resolute 13:57, 19 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Source has been added. Resolute 00:47, 21 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. I have this important article (for Canadians especially perhaps!) on my watchlist and have been delighted to see how much it has been improved in the last few months. Congratulations on all your work, Resolute. I have a few comments and suggestions.
  • Lead: second paragraph. The word "leg" is repeated many times. Is "after losing his leg" really necessary?
  • Lead: third paragraph. "...he attempted to run across" sounds weak; maybe "developed a plan" or something similar. Is it worth specifying the length of a "full Marathon" in the text?
  • Early life and cancer . What did his mother do as a job? Worth specifying I think. It seems like the Fox's competitive streak should go after info about the sports he played rather than before. Many paragraphs start with "He/he". Consider replacing with "Fox". Do we know why the coach suggested cross country running? Inquiring minds want to know. What does "last player on the team" mean? I presume he played with his team "for the national championship". It sounds a bit odd currently.
  • Marathon of Hope- was it just the participants who cheered at the end of his first marathon?; the "respectively" quote about how he solicited the various corporations doesn't make sense. Probably the original had a list of companies? Consider rewording and getting rid of the quote.
  • Trek across Canada: "where he was heralded in Nathan Phillips Square". There is something odd about this sentence; "The physical demands of running a marathon" would benefit from some reorganization to put the "problems" and his refusals of help etc together.
  • Terry Fox Run. "offered Fox and his companions free accommodation at his hotels where he could". What does this mean? Were there places he couldn't? Or just that he didn't have hotels in the right place for Fox?
  • Honours. Was he named Newsmaker of the year twice in 1981?
  • Prose generally: there are very short sentences that could probably bear combining, and some grammatical issues (e.g. use of "while"). I will have a go at this myself rather than detailing here.
  • References. Sources look good, but there are some inconsistencies in the citation formats used for newspapers (and perhaps others too). Is it because you've used web citation formats for some of the newspapers? There are some typos too. St Petersburg is spelt wrong in one place for one thing.
All of the preceding should be fairly straightforward to work on, I would think and hope. What may take more time is that I think this article is missing a more scholarly discussion of his status as a "hero" and as a "disabled hero". For example, why did Fox strike the chord he did, despite his flaws? The facts of his life and run and the practical legacy are all here, but to be truly comprehensive it needs to cover these more esoteric aspects too. This book [2] provides a start, and so might [3][4][5]. Perhaps the bios have some discussion on this too?
I realize this is probably a bit frustrating. Sorry. However, I am committed to helping out here, since I too would love to see this article up to snuff for the 30th anniversary run in September. I have access to Factiva and Lexis-Nexis and will do some searches to see if there are any articles that can help. I had been meaning to work on the article already, and will certainly prioritize this since it is at FAC. Unfortunately I am currently on vacation, so access to physical libraries won't be possible till I get home. --Slp1 (talk) 16:11, 20 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Not frustrating at all. This is an interesting thought, and something certainly worth addressing. I'll investigate the availability of the books you are suggesting. Resolute 16:18, 20 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Your comments should all be addressed, and thanks for some of the prose corrections if you get the chance. I've been over the text so often it's hard to see some of the issues anymore. Programing Reality is a book I can get from the Calgary Central Library on the weekend. Images that Injure does not seem to be available from the library system, so I'll be restricted to what's in the google books link. Resolute 00:47, 21 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Glad you feel that way! Here's some more references that will help give more comprehensive coverage to the topic. [6][7][8]. I've also done a journal search and if you send me an email, I will forward the articles I found.--Slp1 (talk) 02:25, 21 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Additions made per several of the sources you've provided. Thanks! Resolute 22:48, 27 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I've seen, thanks. Offline I have been looking through the sources and working on some further changes/additions, but it isn't quite ready yet (and I have to do my taxes too). I'll try to do it soon, but in the meantime, let's hope that others comment.--Slp1 (talk) 00:14, 28 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, I've done my best or worst, depending on which way you look at it. I've added more details from the more scholarly perspective and also some of the darker aspects of the Marathon which I think are important for balance. There may be more that could/should be included, but I don't have access to the bios so don't really know. My final issue is with the Canadian Cancer Society Letter. I think it is very long to quote in its entirety in the middle of the article and not terribly encyclopedic in form. What would you think of replacing it with a short summary of the text, and putting a shortened version of the original letter in a quote box on the side? --Slp1 (talk) 01:59, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I was contemplating that as well. I'll give it a go tomorrow. Resolute 03:59, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And done. Resolute 00:20, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Looks good. Support--Slp1 (talk) 02:34, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support as a Canadian - well written, well sourced, and an overall great portrayal of a Canadian and international icon. Great job in bringing the article up to this level of quality. MelicansMatkin (talk, contributions) 03:21, 29 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment – I was just about ready to throw out a Support prose for this article, since I think it's very good and I enjoyed reading it. But I decided to look at the link checker first, and it showed that reference 12 (from The Sports Network) was a problematic redirect; a manual check revealed that it was dead, at least for me. Giants2008 (27 and counting) 21:52, 29 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, looks like TSN removed that story within the last couple weeks. I've replaced it with a live reference. Resolute 22:06, 29 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]


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