Talk:Scotch bonnet (sea snail)/GA1

Latest comment: 14 years ago by Invertzoo in topic GA Review

GA Review edit

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Reviewer: Jimfbleak - talk to me? 15:06, 11 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

OK, first thoughts

  • Anyone who can't pronounce "Scotch Bonnet" isn't likely to make sense of the ipa characters, seems pointless to me.
  Done (It helped me.) IPA pronunciation is exactly what Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation) instructs us to do. But the question is whether it is needed. I think both scotch and bonnet are common English words. Yes, both return about 15 million hits by Google. --Ettrig (talk) 17:05, 11 December 2009 (UTC)Reply
  •   Done I don't like the structure, with lots of (mostly) one paragraph main headings. Why are "Snail's characteristics" and "Shell's development" not part of "Description"? Why is "Breeding and birth" not part of "Behavior". If you keep the third and fourth sections in some form, perhaps as lower level headings "Characteristics" and "Shell development" would be better
  • What is the status of the bibliography? If you have used it, should be under References, if not, under further reading or lose it (recommended since most are incorrectly formatted.
  •   Done
  • Images lack alternative text
Alternative text is required in a featured article. I don't think it is required in a good article. --Ettrig (talk) 17:05, 11 December 2009 (UTC)Reply
I agree, but it improves access, and is easy to do, so a generally good thing - your call though Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:42, 12 December 2009 (UTC)Reply
  • The text looks reasonable at first glance, more detailed comments soon Jimfbleak - talk to me? 15:06, 11 December 2009 (UTC)Reply
  • Tech check no dabs, although checklink gives one link as dead, in practice it's fine
  • images Appropriately licensed. I'd be inclined to amend the crab image captions so it's clear what the relevance is
  •   Done
  • Ref check What's the point of redlinking some authors and not others? Why is there a # before Swain? Odd and inconsistent date style, I'd stick with (2009) etc.
  • You don't need retrieval dates for online versions of real books and journals. You need a publisher for Mitchell ref
  •   DoneIf you keep the bibliography, there are formatting issues there, but I await your decision. You shouldn't have items under notes and biblioghraphy/further reading
  •   Donelead does not fully summarise the article. You have top level headings such as origin of name predators, after death, shell development, snail's characteristics, which do not figure in lead
  • family Cassidae not according to taxobox and no link to follow either
  •   DoneThis shell represents the abundance of Scottish settlers..." I don't understand how
  •   DoneDescription para 1. I'd describe the shell before discussing the processes that change it. What are the natural processes which imprint the squares and bands? Isn't this just a growth feature. How does a marine animal get bleached by the sun, I wouldn't have though the light would be strong enough under the sea
  •   Donenew shell materials What is the shell material? I assume calcium carbonate, but it doesn't say
  •   Done blue crab and hermit crab are lc in text, caps in caption

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaker42 (talkcontribs) 03:59, 18 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

I'll have another read when you have had a chance to think about the lead section and the structural issues. You should also check the text again for readability, flow and grammatical errors Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:18, 12 December 2009 (UTC)Reply


Some notes below are from an editor who is very active in WikiProject Gastropods. My comments are mostly about content, Invertzoo (talk) 15:40, 14 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

  • DONE In the intro, you start out by saying this species is in the subfamily Cassinae, as is shown in the taxobox, but then in the next paragraph you refer to the family Cassidae, which is part of an older classification. The new classification is that of Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005) and you will want to use the first citation there as a reference for this 2005 version of the taxonomy.
  • NOT DONE . In the intro you say that "The Scotch bonnet is the most abundant shell of its American family", this needs to be expressed as "the most common species in this subfamily in North America", or something similar, because it is not an "American family" but rather a world-wide subfamily.
  • NOT DONE In the intro, the second paragraph, all of it (except for that one sentence) is actually about the subfamily Cassinae rather than this species. That info needs to go into the article Cassinae and does not really belong in this article. The second paragraph of the intro should be a very condensed mention of the other info that is in this article.


  • DONE The hermit crab image is of a species that lives in Alaska, not the tropical Atlantic! This should at least be noted in the caption. There are numerous different species of hermit crabs all over the world, not just one species.

More notes to come. Best wishes and good luck with this, Invertzoo (talk) 15:40, 14 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

I have many more points to make about numerous errors in the text, but I am waiting to see that some of the previous points are addressed before I add more suggestions. Invertzoo (talk) 15:51, 17 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

A note to the team of editors from Croatan High School: If you have any difficulties understanding the biology etc of this subject, remember you have some snail experts on call here! Wikipedia is a collaboration, and that means you can ask us for help with things you do not understand. We are ready to help you! You can leave any questions either on the talk page at WikiProject Gastropods here [1] or ask individual WikiProject editors such as myself on my talk page or User:Snek01 on his talk page. Best wishes, Invertzoo (talk) 15:56, 14 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Warning: A great deal of work needs to be done to this article before it can be considered to have reached Good Article status. The "information" in the text is currently quite garbled in many of the sections. It is apparent that some of the writers simply did not understand the information they were attempting to rewrite from the sources they used. I know it is daunting to make your way through all of the reviewers' suggestions here, as there are quite a lot of them, but you can start anywhere and respond to the reviewer's points one by one. It is considered impolite to just leave the reviewers hanging without any responses after they have put in work and time on reviewing the article.


Notes (review) by --Snek01 (talk) 00:31, 15 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

  • DONE Explain distribution: does it live in Mexico? etc. The image of distribution shows line, (it is even no coastal line). The image should show an area.
  • There are not mentioned parasites of this species. [2]

==The Scotch bonnet referred to in the link that is mentioned here is in fact Scotch Bonnet Island, an island in Lake Erie. It has nothing to do whatsoever with the species semicassis granulata

  •   (not done yet) There is a standard to have apertural view of the shell of gastropod articles on wikipedia. (Other standard views of the gastropod shell would be fine.)
  • DONE There is inadequate comparison with garden snail. There are 60 000 species of gastropods and all could be similar to garden snail. This similarity is the same as lion is similar to cow.
  • NOT DONE Add what specific name granulata mean.
  • CORRECTED BY A REVIEWER "According to a study done by the Brazilian Journal of Biology..." Study is not done by a journal but by a researcher.
  • DONE There can be separate section "Feeding habits". There should be explained why they are "attracted by its abundant food".
  • Some informations from "General references" could be used as inline references, for example these two: Freire 1992 and D'Asaro 1969.
  • The sentence "The snail grows around a pillar inside the shell called the columella that is protected by a wall." is strange and it is not species specific. There can be only mentioned in "Shell description" that columella exist. --Snek01 (talk) 14:27, 16 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Tips for images: capsules of eggs; radula; damage at its prey. --Snek01 (talk) 00:31, 15 December 2009 (UTC)Reply


A suggestion:

Maybe the Good Article Kerry slug has inspiration for the editors of this article. --Ettrig (talk) 07:44, 15 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

The Kerry slug article is improved up above GA: It is sort of half way between GA and FA status. Maybe the Socorro springsnail article might be helpful, that one is right at GA status. Invertzoo (talk) 19:36, 15 December 2009 (UTC)Reply
Taxonomy

There are difficulties in the taxonomy. Additional taxonomically reliable sources are needed. For example a relatively new journal article can perhaps be found? The current taxonomy in the article is using the name Semicassis granulata based on "Malacolog Version 4.1.1." There is (probably?) a need to avoid sources from the Mediterranean (like this http://doris.ffessm.fr/fiche2.asp?fiche_numero=682) There is not enough infomation about genetics Tonnoidea on NCBI. So it is also necessary to write a stub article Semicassis undulata and add to this one the differences between these two species. Note that the actual images File:Semicassis granulata.jpg and File:Semicassis granulata 2.jpg (both uploaded by myself) are probably from the Mediterranean, and thus may be incorrect!--Snek01 (talk) 16:17, 16 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

More I notice that the book and journal references seem to give the pages for the whole document. While that may be acceptable for a short journal article on the specific topic, the point is to make your sources checkable, so you need to give the relevant page numbers, not the length of the publication. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:33, 18 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Following talk page discussion let's summarise. I accept that the textual issues have largely been addressed. I'm not too bothered about the details of taxonomy at GA, and you don't have to write a stub for the red link. However, the issues with the references haven't been sorted, still lacking actual page numbers, ref 16 is completely inadequate, as is the sixth EL. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:57, 27 December 2009 (UTC)Reply


As a specialist from WikiProject Gastropods, I feel that the article still needs a lot more work factually, although the quality of the prose has been improved.

  • DONE. Firstly the common name of the shell is rendered with and without capitals more or less at random throughout the article. This must be standardized and each occurrence checked carefully!
  • JUST REMOVED, NOT SOLVED IN ANY OTHER WAY. In the intro I think it is quite incorrect to say that the Scotch bonnet "has become extremely rare". Citation needed! This is a snail that lives offshore, not in the intertidal zone, and thus the shell will only rarely be found on the beach. No doubt the shell will be found more often after big storms with onshore winds. That does not however mean the the species "has become rare". It may still be quite common at 200 feet depth. And even if the species did become "rarer" in North Carolina this might mean almost nothing in terms of the species overall distribution. This article is after all about the species, not simply about its occurrence in North Carolina. I don't think we need the sentence "For the Tarheel Beachcomber, the Scotch Bonnet and its shell has become a treasure." if you do want to talk specifically about this species in North Carolina, that information can be in a separate subsection under Distribution, however you will need citations for the points you make.
  • DONE. The section on Shell description is significantly flawed, especially the second paragraph. In the first paragraph, whorls cannot be called "sections", that is quite misleading.
    • DONE. As for the second paragraph, the info about the "chalky white appearance" is incoherent. It is not ascribed to a source and appears to be talking about the appearance of long-dead shells, not the shell in the live animal. I have no idea what the sentence "Once dissolved...." is supposed to mean.
    • NOW THIS INFO IS DUPLICATED. The info about size needs to be joined with the first mention of size, at the beginning of that whole section.
  • DONE . Nothing has been done about the distribution map, which still shows only a red line instead of a shaded area. It completely fails to indicate that the species occurs in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean coast of Central America. As it currently stands the map is more misleading than helpful.
  • As a general point, it is not up to the students to decide that each point is "Done", that is to say, that each individual point raised by a reviewer has been adequately addressed. Whether or not the points have been corrected sufficiently is for the reviewers to decide.

Best wishes, Invertzoo (talk) 16:50, 28 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

OK, enough is enough GA review (see here for criteria)

  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose):   b (MoS):  
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references):   b (citations to reliable sources):   c (OR):  
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    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):   b (appropriate use with suitable captions):  
  7. Overall:
    Pass/Fail: