Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/Timeline of evolution

Timeline of evolution

A well referenced, linked and comprehensive list. Is it a list? Well we have this and this -- Ian ≡ talk 08:12, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Comment - excellent in many ways. Well-referenced, well-linked, and (crucially) well-written. My concern with it would be that it's veering too much, in places, towards being a "Timeline of anthropology". Most of the last 20 or so entries on the list have little to do with evolution. This has the knock-on effect of suggesting an old-fashioned "ladder" view of evolution, where everything has been leading up to humans at the "top". --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 10:02, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
- Good point. I removed a few but am reluctant to go too far. In evolutionary terms, obviously not much has happened in the last 5-10000 years, however landmark events relating to the expanding human population and exploration milestones are to some degree relevant and IMO worthy of keeping. Whether we like it or not, we are at the "top" (after dolphins of course) and its reasonable for at least some readers to be interested in evolution from the point of view of how did we (ie. humans) get here. -- Ian ≡ talk 12:49, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  - I love the timeline. However I also see the point above. So my suggestion would be not to delete, but expand: climate warming? melting ice? animal extintion rates? carbon dioside levels? and such. Renata 13:57, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    - Unfortunately the items you suggest have hardly anything to do with evolution. I think OpenToppedBus' concerns could be fixed somehow with a link to Sociocultural evolution (a Featured Article!). -- Run e Welsh | ταλκ 14:45, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    - I also added some comments in the article's talk page. Other than that I can only second OpenToppedBus praise for this list. -- Rune Welsh | ταλκ 15:01, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      - I looked at it again. Hm, very interesting mix. Most are about humans. But here I find "250 kYA The Polar Bear evolves from an isolated high latitude population of Brown Bears." Ok, that's evolution. Right above it "300 kYA Creation of 900 m wide Wolfe Creek Crater in Western Australia's Wolfe Creek Crater National Park." That's goeology. "900 MYA There are 481 18-hour days in a year. Spin of the Earth slows down ever since." That's astronomy. "25 kYA Throwing sticks for hunting animals made from mammoth tusk (Poland)." That's archeology and history of civilisation. Renata 15:11, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Most non-evolution events now removed. -- Ian ≡ talk 02:28, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I never said to remove anything (sorry for confussion). I just pointed out that it is not strictly about evolution so melting ice or deforestation could also fit in. Another topics to think about is cloning & gene engineering when people are creating new species. I like what you did at the end mentioning new mass extintion (with proper sources!) However, revisiting it again, it might need a clearer focus. Anyways, I love this timeline. Renata 04:53, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That's OK. I much prefer the new, more focussed version. -- Ian ≡ talk 05:25, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Support the more focused version. Good work. I might have been tempted to leave in the formation of the moon, given its impact on tides and therefore tidal lifeforms, but that's maybe a bit tenuous and certainly hard to write succinctly. --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 09:59, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It's time for me to Support. :) Renata 12:41, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support. A model featured list. Excellent work! -- Run e Welsh | ταλκ 13:06, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Object: no illustrative images, even though it would be remarkably easy to provide some in a table like this. Compare to Timeline of human evolution, which seems to be in much better shape than this timeline due to doing a great job of selecting occasional images to ground the text better and make the whole page more aesthetically appealing and compelling, not to mention informative. A good start, but there's too much more to expand. -Silence 09:53, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
- Comment: Wikipedia:What is a featured list?: a list does not have to have a picture to be featured. They are certainly desirable though. -- Rune Welsh | ταλκ 10:01, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  - And a Featured Article doesn't need to have a picture either. Just because it's not a requirement for all articles/lists to be Featured doesn't mean it's not a requirement for this specific article/list to be Featured, if this specific article/list would benefit significantly from illustrative images and it would be perfectly possible to get such images. -Silence 10:05, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    - To put it bluntly, I'd promote this list without an image if there are no objections over content. So far the objections over content have been addressed to the satisfaction of many editors here, myself included. Your objection is highly subjective and therefore not easily actionable, while objections over content tend to be objective. In any case, now that I've said this I will not promote the list myself in case it reaches featured status. -- Run e Welsh | ταλκ 11:10, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Tentative support - but I want to review in more detail. -- ALoan (Talk) 11:54, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
~~Object~~ Abstain The quality of writing is somewhat patchy. For example, There are 481 18-hour days in a year. Spin of the Earth slows down ever since. and Cnidaria and Ctenophora are some of the earliest creatures to have neurons, in the form a simple net - no brain or nervous system. and so it's referred to as a living fossil. and It was a stark and hostile place.. The use of AD 2006 in a time line seems a little dodgy - will it need to be updated to AD2007 next year? Andjam 03:42, 3 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
- I've given it a major copyedit, sorting out those and numerous other issues. I've also removed two dubious entries that I spotted with a close reading. AD 2006 won't need updating, as it uses the {{CURRENTYEAR}} tag. --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 10:57, 3 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  - Thanks. Andjam 07:52, 5 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose until a definite rationale can be provided for why everything after 10ya belongs on this list and not on Timeline of human evolution and whether the focus on primates and Homo is appropriate. Much of the first issue has been dealt with but I still think this page focuses too much on us and not enough on evolution as such.
Also, I'm concerned about the "if this, why not that?" problem with some of the over-specified entries. Marskell 12:40, 6 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support. Firstly, I agree that the focus could be clarified, but find the current list quite elegant. No list of this nature can be complete. Secondly, why does Talk:Timeline of evolution carry a FLCfailed notice? -- Ec5618 13:43, 6 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]