Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of heads of state of the Central African Republic and Central African Empire

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

The list was promoted by User:Scorpion0422 06:14, 22 June 2008 [1].

List of heads of state of the Central African Republic and Central African Empire edit

I recently expanded, referenced and fixed the inaccuracies in this list. This page is similar in format to List of Presidents of the Philippines and List of Presidents of Portugal. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 01:31, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

Why does "# Marsden, Hilary, ed. (1988), Whitaker's Almanack, 1988, London: J Whitaker and Sons, ISBN 0850211786 ." have the year listed twice?
- The actual title is "Whitaker's Almanack, YEAR". At least, that's how it shows up in Google Books and book product searches. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"approximately $20 " → "approximately US$20 "
- Fixed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"on December 31, 1965–January 1, 1966. After" → "on December 31, 1965 – January 1, 1966. After"
- Fixed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"on 20–September 21, 1979 and" → "on September 20–21, 1979 and"
- That would conflict with my date format. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"office.[11][6]" → "office.[6][11]"
- fixed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There are other similar MOS issues, also, but these are the obvious ones that I picked up on.
- Well, could you highlight these MoS problems? Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Gary King (talk) 01:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I'm not sure I like having the entire table coloured. Would it be possible to just have colour coding in the political affiliations column? And why is the Democratic Evolution Movement of Central Africa included in the key when none of the heads of state have been affiliated with it? -- 01:52, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Removed MEDAC link. I forgot that Abel Goumba (who served only as Prime Minister) was from MEDAC. As for the coloring, I don't see why it's a problem. I could do it, but I'm just curious as to why you think the color coding should be limited. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's really more of a personal opinion than anything. I've always thought that tables where every row is a different colour are awkward to look at it and don't always look professional. -- Scorpion⁰⁴²² 21:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support, nice list! A few comments.

The "C" of "Centrafricaine" should not be capitalised.
- Fixed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Actually, what's the reason for this? It seems the "C" is capitalized in Central African Republic and Central African Empire. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 21:29, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - See the French article on the country, République centrafricaine or google it. Baldrick90 (talk) 22:46, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"de facto" should be wikilinked.
- Done. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Wikilink the accessdates of references 7, 13, 15 and 25.
- Done. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Since the country has two official languages, it would not be fair to include the French name and not the Sango name, "Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka".
- Added. I don't know the Sango name of the Central African Empire, though. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Don't think it's necessary, since the Central African Empire had only one official language, French. It might be an idea though to add links to the respective languages: (French:Empire centrafricain) and (French:République centrafricaine) and (Sango:Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka) Baldrick90 (talk) 15:40, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - Added. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 17:17, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Shouldn't there be an additional "the" after "and" in the title?
- Don't think it's needed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestions:

Some info on how the country was reigned by the French.
- It seems out of the list's scope, but I might include a line or two about Boganda's efforts for independence. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
External links?
- Added. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Include photos of all five presidents. Baldrick90
- I uploaded a fair use image of Bokassa a few days ago. I'll see if I can obtain fair use images (maybe free) of the other guys. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Include (create) a template similar to Template:Philippine presidents or Template:BangladeshPresidents Baldrick90 (talk) 14:44, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Template exists: Template:CAR Presidents. Added to article. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:10, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support: I really like your list!!! You did a really good job. I just have a few comments, however:

Bokassa, Dacko, and Kolingba each had two political affiliations listed at some point in their terms as heads of state (Military/MESAN, MESAN/UDC, and Military/RDC, respectively). How did you choose the political affiliation that would come first? (Why Military/MESAN instead of MESAN/Military?) Does the order in which they appear matter? Please make this more clear on the key.
- Sorry for the confusion, the order is relevant. I thought I had made it clear in my notes (Bokassa staged a military coup, but then took control of the MESAN party; Dacko was originally from the MESAN party, but then formed the UDC party; Kolingba staged a military coup and then formed the RDC). I'll clarify these points. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 13:49, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Furthermore, the entries with two political affiliations as listed above have only one background color. Why is this? If the first affiliation listed is "Military," then would you color it pink, as you did for Bokassa? Or would you use the second affiliation listed, as you did when you colored Dacko's entry green for UDC or Kolingba's entry salmon-colored for RDC? Please remain consistent in the way you choose your background colors.
- Do you think it's better if I use both colors in the same row? See this. Or should I just split political affiliations into two rows for the multi-affiliated leaders? I can just highlight each box accordingly (don't know how to do this yet). Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 13:49, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - I would split the parties into two rows, like what the editors did at List of Presidents of the Philippines. If you look at the row for Ferdinand Marcos, you would see that the party cell is split into two separate cells. The coloring next to Marcos's name also reflects the two parties. I really don't have any experience in background coloring, so I can't help you there.--Dem393 (talk) 14:54, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - This is the best I can do. I want to get rid of the two rows in "Notes", but I don't know how. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 15:44, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      - I fixed it for you.--Dem393 (talk) 16:04, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
        Thank you! Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 16:47, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Finally, the heading "Heads of state" should be changed to "Head of state" for the Central African Empire, since only one Head of State of the Central African Empire existed.
- Fixed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 13:49, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I wish you the best of luck on your FAC nomination.--Dem393 (talk) 03:15, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comment

In the table I read "André Kolingba, President and Head of State". Why "and Head of State"? And why are "Head" and "State" capitalised? The column is called "Head of state", so it seems to be redundant.
- That was his official title. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 17:17, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Could you add the exact date of establishment of the UDC and RDC party to the note section of the David Dacko and Kolingba row? Baldrick90 (talk) 15:58, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I couldn't find an exact date of establishment for either party, so I just included the month-year (that's as far as my sources go). Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 17:17, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comment You may want to put a {{clr}} after the legend and before the first table's section, so that the table clears the infobox and doesn't get squished. Drewcifer (talk) 22:52, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, then there's a whole lot of white space between the legend and the table. I've removed the template along the side of the article. That resolves this issue. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 00:30, 12 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from The Rambling Man (talk · contribs)

Opening sentence is somewhat bland, a verbatim copy of the title of the list.
- What did you have in mind? Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Remove the full stop in the image caption as it's a sentence fragment.
"10 years " - ten years.
- 0–9 spelled out, 10 to ∞ written as figures. I believe that's acceptable in the MoS. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Acceptable I guess so, although the MOS also says that numbers 10+ "may be rendered in words if they are expressed in one or two words". No great shakes. The Rambling Man (talk) 09:32, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
" six year term " - "six-year term"
- Fixed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"by Patassé. Patassé served " and then "chief of staff, Bozizé. Bozizé currently " - reads uncomfortably for me, I think avoiding repetition by improving the flow would work.
- Yeah, I was wondering how I could reword that. I only included the repetition to avoid ambiguity regarding pronouns. Any suggestions? Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No Sango translation for the Empire?

This has been addressed. The empire had only one official language (French). It might be an idea though to add a footnote to explain it. Baldrick90 (talk) 18:07, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Since 1979" in heading should be "since 1979".
- Fixed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not sure you really need Central African Republic and Central African Empire as see also's since they're linked a couple of times already in the lead and tables.
- Alright, removed. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"a few years later" a little non-encyclopaedic.
- Removed. I've looked into this, and it appears that it wasn't a few years later, but more like a few months. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd put the General references first so the specific references make sense.

The Rambling Man (talk) 11:01, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

- Alright. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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