Talk:San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008/GA2

GA Reassessment edit

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I have decided to reassess this article as it it is so poorly written and sourced. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:44, 5 July 2009 (UTC)Reply


Checking against GA criteria edit

  In order to uphold the quality of Wikipedia:Good articles, all articles listed as Good articles are being reviewed against the GA criteria as part of the GA project quality task force. While all the hard work that has gone into this article is appreciated, unfortunately, as of July 5, 2009, this article fails to satisfy the criteria, as detailed below. For that reason, the article has been delisted from WP:GA. However, if improvements are made bringing the article up to standards, the article may be nominated at WP:GAN. If you feel this decision has been made in error, you may seek remediation at WP:GAR.


  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose):  
    • 1st sentence of Lead: San Marino participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, marking its debut in the long-running international contest. Completely ungrammatical.
    • last sentence, Lead: After participating for its first time, San Marino withdrew from the 2009 contest due to financial difficulties at SMRTV, having originally submitted its application for participation. Very poorly phrased, suggest Although San Marino applied to participate in the 2009 contest, they withdrew due to to financial difficulties at SMRTV.
    • 1st sentence of Background: 2008 was San Marino's debut at the Eurovision Song Contest. Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) announced in November 2007 that it was considering entering the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2008, all depending of the share holders of San Marino RTV. Ungrammatical.
    • 3rd sentence: SMRTV, however, officially announced its participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, held in Belgrade, Serbia How could they announce their participation at the contest? Surely several months beforehand?
    • Selection process: SMRTV announced that it would select the first Sammarinese entry through an internal selection process. This is a repeat of the last sentence of the previous section.
    • they stated that they are "a new way of thinking, born by anger and the will to react [to what] each individual carries in their ego". Clumsy, suggest replace they are with they have, they stand for, they embody. Also note that the cited source, ESCtoday, has the quote "a new way of thinking, born by anger and the will to react that each individual carries in their ego". Quotes should not be re-worded.
    • At Eurovision: Since San Marino debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, it was not guaranteed a spot in the final like those of the "Big Four" or the winner of the previous year. Clumsy, suggest something like As only the "Big Four" and the winner of the previous contest are guaranteed a place at the final, San Marino had to qualify through a semi-final.
    • So, on 28 January 2008, the European Broadcasting Union held a special draw to determine which semi-final San Marino would participate in. Suggest On 28 January 2008, the European Broadcasting Union held a special draw to determine in which semi-final San Marino would participate. Was thsi a special draw just for San Marino? If not, then suggest simply "Follwing the draw held by the European Broadcasting Union on 28 January 2008, San Marino was allocated a place in the first semi-final, held on 20 May 2008.
    • Semi-final: A blond female ballet dancer was also part of the performance and wore a long flowing white dress. Female blondes have an "e".
    • After Eurovision: It had been rumoured that SMRTV would withdraw from the 2009 contest due to poor results in their debut attempt, however, SMRTV rebuked that claim and confirmed its interest in the 2009 contest. In the end, SMRTV withdrew from the 2009 contest, having earlier applied to enter. This was not due to the poor results of the previous year, but to financial difficulties faced by SMRTV. These sentences need merging to produce a coherent paragraph.


  1. b (MoS):  
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references):  
    • Reference #1 ESCtoday, cited source = OGAE Italy, which is a fan site at {http://oage0.tripod.com/}. Not a reliable source. Does this support the statement that it was considering entering the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2008, all depending of the share holders of San Marino RTV? No it doesn't!
    • Reference #2 Oikiotimes, cites {http://www.sanmarinortv.sm/} and ESCtoday, so where is the San Marino TV article? (This is supposedly supporting the same statement as above)
    • Reference #3 ESCtoday: supporting Half of the stock of SMRTV at the time belonged to Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), the Italian broadcaster which withdrew from the contest in 1997. SMRTV, however, officially announced its participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, held in Belgrade, Serbia Source ESCtoday??? Best find original source at san marino TV or in the local media.
    • Reference #4 Oikiotimes, supporting the same statement - where is the San Marino TV article?
    • Reference #5 from the European Broadcasting Union (hurray). Statement supported is As the Sammarinese broadcaster of the event, it was SMRTV's job to organize a process to select the country's entrant. Where is this supported by {http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-country/country?country=53}?
    • Reference #6, supporting For its first Eurovision appearance, SMRTV sought to host an internal selection process and A jury, headed by singer Little Tony, was appointed to select the entry from a pool of songs submitted by those interested; the deadline for songs to be submitted was set at 25 February 2008.. ESCtoday cites STV, presumably meaning Sanmarinortv.sm and possibly this item: "Il 20, 22 e 24 Maggio, a Belgrado in Serbia si terrà la 53a edizione di Eurovision Song Contest. La Repubblica di San Marino partecipa per la prima volta, e a rappresentarla sono stati selezionati i Miodio con la canzone Complice. Alle selezioni sammarinesi hanno partecipato alcuni artisti della Repubblica. Li conosciamo meglio in queste interviste realizzate in studio da Lia Fiorio." No mention of the deadline or the appointment of the jury or "Little Tony".
    • Reference #7, Oikiotimes, but where is the San Marino TV news item? as it stands unverifiable.
    • Reference #8, oikiotimnes links to {http://www.eurovision-spain.com/}???
    • Reference #9, ESCtoday quotes ESCtoday???
    • Reference #10, ESCtoday quotes ESCtoday???
    • Reference #11, oikiotimes cites Wikipedia (Not an RS) and BIT{http://www.bit.fieramilanoexpocts.it/?id=OC02NDAtei1FTkcg} which soesn't have this information.
    • Reference #12 quotes ESCtoday and music23 which appears to be an Italian music agency. The information is not on their site at {http://www.23music.com/english/home_english.htm}
    • Reference #13 ESCtoday quotes ESCtoday
    • Reference #14 oikiotimes quotes ESCtoay, oikotimes and Michele Imberti at myspace which doesn't have this information.
    • Reference #15 ESCtoday quotes ESCtoday and fan site OGAE Italy (see note on reference #1
    • Reference #16 ESCtoday quotes ESCtoday and Eurovision tv, which is where you may find the information, so that should be used as the RS.
    • Reference #17 oikiotimes as above (reference #16)
    • Reference #18 ESCtoday cites ESCtoday but this information should be at the EBU site.
    • Reference #19 oikiotimes cites oiktotimes greece, but this information should be available at San Marino TV or the San Marino and Italian press.
    • Reference #20 appears to be a link to a broadcast in the past which is not verifiable, better to use the EBU site if the information is there.
    • Reference #21 ESCtoday cites ESCtoday. No mention of the long flowing white dress.
    • Reference #22 ESCtoday cites eurovision tv so that should be the citation
    • Reference #23 ESCtoday cites TVR (presumabl;y Romanain TV, so that should be the citation or perhaps the Romanian press.
    • Reference #24 oikiotimes cites Myspace which is a selfpublished blog
    • Reference #25 ESCtoday cites Blic, whatever that is. Perhaps the information may be found there.
    • Reference #26 oikiotimes cites Eurovisionary, another fan site
    • Reference #27 ESCtoday cites eurovision tv so that should be the reference.
    • Reference #28 ESCtoday cites Eurovision tv so the information should be there.
    • Reference #29 oikiotimes cites {http://www.whowillwinesc.com/} another fan site and Eurovision.tv which is where the material should be sourced.
    • Reference #30 oikotimes cites oikotimes
    • Reference #31 ESCtoday cites esctoday and san marino tv which is where the material should be sourced
    • Reference #32 oikiotimes cites oikotimes
    • Reference #33 ESCtoday cites ESCtoday
    • Reference #34 ESCtoday cites ESCtoday
    • Reference #35 ESCtoday cites ESCtoday
    • So the referencing is a mess. No RS, lots of fansites quoting each other. Yet the information should be available on the websites of broadcasters, the press and eurovision. Jezhotwells (talk) 15:07, 5 July 2009 (UTC)Reply
    b (citations to reliable sources):  
    • No, see above
    c (OR):  
    • Possibly unless RS are found
  3. It is broad in its scope.
    a (major aspects):  
    b (focused):  
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    Fair representation without bias:  
  5. It is stable.
    No edit wars etc.:  
  6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
    a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales):  
    • tagged and licensed
    b (appropriate use with suitable captions):  
    • captioned
  7. Overall:
    Pass/Fail:  
    • I consider the above concerns to be serious and am delisting the article as theer is so much that needs to be fixed. Jezhotwells (talk) 15:07, 5 July 2009 (UTC)Reply