Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Tillson Harrison/archive2

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 not promoted by SandyGeorgia 13:44, 15 February 2011 [1].

Tillson Harrison edit

Nominator(s): Arctic Night 18:35, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am nominating this for featured article because, well, put simply, I feel that it meets the featured article criteria. This article has been at FAC before - once before, in fact - but the nomination was closed. The article has gone through countless copy-editing hoops to get to this stage, and I'm proud to present it for your consideration. Arctic Night 18:35, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

FA Criterion 3 met Fasach Nua (talk) 12:04, 29 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sources comments:

~~Ref 5: the link to this source appears to be dead~~
Ref 7: the source says: "The article you requested exists, but the particular variant you requested (abstract, full text, etc.) does not." It then provides a link to an abstract but not to the full article. Is it possible to reach the complete article online? If not, perhaps the link is not worth keeping.
~~Ref 10: China Tours Affordable - can this be considered as a high-quality, reliable encyclopedic source?~~
~~For consistency and clarity, source titles should be given before publishers (see refs 6 and 8)~~
Spotchecking:
- ~~I'm not sure where the phrase "tell-all account" comes from. It's a colloquialism, and unless it occurs in the source and can be quoted, it should not be used.~~
- ~~"for a brief period to help put down the Boxer Rebellion in China" Where is this supported in the source?~~
- ~~"he quickly crossed to Wales to treat the coal miners there for silicosis" Cited source does not mention treatment for silicosis.~~

I am a little concerned that three of my five spotchecks threw up problems and would urge some careful checking to ensure that information in the article is consistent with the sources. Brianboulton (talk) 12:57, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Response to source comments

Ref 5: Thank you for pointing this out. I checked this link about a week ago and it was working - clearly the webmaster decided to do a bit of a structure change! I've replaced the link with a new one that works. Arctic Night 14:38, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the link works, but "Tourism Oxford"? There are reliability issues here - how can this anonymous text be considered as a high quality encyclopedic source? There is quite a lot of dependency on this site (8 citations), so it needs to be unquestionable. Other sources issues resolved. Brianboulton (talk) 09:32, 6 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This source is definitely unquestionable, as it is a site owned, operated and maintained by the Municipal Corporation of the County of Oxford, Ontario (Oxford County, Ontario). As this is a government source, I wouldn't say it is unreliable. As a side note, Ealdgyth raised this same issue at the article's last FAC nom. I responded here, and Ealdgyth expressed her opinion that the source was reliable here. Arctic Night 23:00, 6 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I always accept Ealdgyth's judgements on these matters, so that's fine. Brianboulton (talk) 23:10, 6 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ref 7: Same with this one. The link worked when I checked it not too long ago - looks like a site design threw it off. I've fixed the link. Arctic Night 14:40, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Ref 10: Good call. I've removed the source, as I'm pretty sure it's unreliable. Arctic Night 14:41, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Spot-checking

"Tell-all account" -> "an account".
This fact is supported by Source 2. For your convenience, I have included an inline citation directly after the statement in question. The source reads, "Harrison saw action in the... Chinese Boxer Rebellion".
This fact is supported by Source 4. For your convenience, I have included an inline citation directly after the statement in question. The source reads, "Harrison left the Irish Army to work among Welsh coal miners suffering from silicosis...".

While there were a couple of referencing errors regarding dead links, these have been fixed now. The 'spot-checking' of the article did not yield any errors in which the statement was not backed up by a source. I hope this satisfies your concerns. Arctic Night 14:52, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Confirm: all my sources queries satisfied. Brianboulton (talk) 23:10, 6 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Disambig/External Link check - no dabs or dead external links. --Pres N 01:49, 1 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Leaning oppose

"While serving with the US Army, Harrison contracted cholera and returned to Canada" - presumably he was discharged from the army when he returned to Canada?
Journal of the American Medical Association should be italicized
WP:OVERLINK
"After World War I, he traveled throughout the Middle East, treating venereal disease and operating an X-ray facility in Lod, Israel." - it's not clear here whether he treated VDs throughout the Middle East or only in Lod
"the newlyweds could not find escape from the adventure that had followed Harrison all his life" is a bit too colloquial. The article's tone in general could be a bit less narrative and more encyclopedic
"a band of Syrians disillusioned with a group of politicians" is a bit vague - what group of politicians, and why did that disillusionment lead them to attack the train?
"While being deported to Canada, Harrison escaped while his ship was docked in Morocco" - phrasing
Several long sentences and short paragraphs - edit for flow
"The town of Tillsonburg, Ontario (named for Harrison's great-grandfather)" - you already explained this earlier. In general, try to avoid needless repetition
Page number(s) for Harrison's JAMA article?
There are multiple instances of close paraphrasing. Examples: "he ran away to join the 22nd Oxford Rifles militia, headquartered in Oxford County, but was returned home when it was discovered that he was underage" vs "Harrison ran away to join the Twenty-second Oxford Rifles militia, but was returned home when it was discovered that he was underage"; "he used his connections to influence General Adna Chaffee into issuing a general order for the recall of Harrison" vs "E.D. used his connections to prevail upon General Adna Chaffee to issue a general order for the recall of young Harrison"; "set off with her on an adventure in the Caribbean. It is thought that Harrison deserted her sometime in the mid-1920s" vs "carried her off to adventure in the Caribbean. He deserted her at some point in the mid-1920s"; "but had to falsify his records by subtracting seven years off his age to qualify for service" vs "but had to falsify his records to subtract seven years from his date of birth in order to qualify for service." Nikkimaria (talk) 04:41, 11 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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