Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/House demolition/archive1

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 21:04, 31 July 2007.

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House demolition

Self-nomination. I "adopted" this article exactly a month ago after it had been the subject of extensive edit-warring between other users. I rewrote it from scratch to provide an exhaustively referenced overview of this controversial practice, including its uses in war and peacetime, its means of commission and legal aspects. The article provides a convenient jumping-off point into a number of related articles and brings together a number of previously disconnected themes, covering a period ranging from ancient Greece to the present day. It's illustrated with a reasonable number of good quality on-topic images. It has now been stable for two weeks, following the successful resolution of another bout of edit-warring (on a subject which has been decanted off into another article, so the edit-warring shouldn't recur). I've brought it here at Raul's recommendation and look forward to seeing what the rest of you think of it. :-) -- ChrisO 22:35, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

This article is good, but it has to gome to grips with the definition and history of a "house" (i.e. the historical use of the tactic was carried out against homes which had a vastly different social and economic purpose than modern homes). The present division of the article further obscures a historical view of this issue by organizing it by purpose. If someone wanted to know when the first known instance of house demolition was, the current organization would keep them guessing. Savidan 05:52, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

• Comment I have a bit of an organisational gripe as well - House demolition goes on everyday in the civil context and yet the lead tells me it's primarily a military tactic - I didn't realise compulsory purchase orders were administered by the military! - joking aside I think a. because, on a global scale, civil house demolition is more common, you need to rename the article to differentiate. House demolition (military tactic), House demolition by the military or similar will be fine by me or b. Make the distinction in the lead and talk about civil demolition first. There also seems little historical context. When was the first documented example? - did the greeks/romans/persians/aztecs do this sort of thing? regards --Joopercoopers 09:21, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

• The scope and name of the article have been discussed extensively on the talk page. This article talks exclusively about military demolition of houses (the purposes for which can vary). It's quite evident that in popular use "house demolition" (or house razing, as was originally in the first paragraph) refers almost exclusively to the intentional demolition of houses for military purposes. (Google for it and 8 of the top 10 refer to the military tactic, particularly in the middle east.) A Compulsory purchase order (or its US equivalent, Eminent domain) is a civil use, may not necessarily refer to houses but to any land, and is covered by the demolition article. Raul654 16:55, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

• "This article talks exclusively about military demolition of houses ..." No it doesn't. It has an entire section on civil government "punishment" demolitions. Rmhermen 19:04, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

• The article intro says that house demolition is primarily used for military purposes. In practice, it's not so easy to draw a clear line between civil and military uses - house demolitions have often been carried out by military authorities for ostensibly civilian purposes (such as the so-called "administrative" house demolitions in the West Bank). There is, however, a clear distinction between what one might call involuntary house demolitions in the context of armed conflicts and punishments, and the ordinary run-of-the-mill civil demolitions that take place every day when old buildings are torn down and replaced. -- ChrisO 02:27, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree that this page should be retitled. I jumped straight to the page from this one and was expecting info about how houses are demolished in everyday circumstances. To me, "house demolition" does not necessarily mean what you discuss. The google test seems flawed, since controversial topics that are often linked to (e.g. middle east razing) will rise to the top, whereas dull things that only construction workers care about don't get so much attention and won't necessarily be at the top of the ghits. I think "Involuntary house demolition" would be an apt title. Calliopejen1 09:04, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose I'm finding it hard to accept that if you approach someone on the street and told them they were about to read an article about 'house demolition' that they'd instantly think of the military tactic (despite what google might imply). It's a great credit to its authors to see it at FAC particularly in light of the hard fought compromises won on the talk page, and I have no other gripes about the article other than the name - the talk page discussion has reached the wrong conclusion IMHO. I came to the article expecting to maybe read something about the UK gov's controversial Pathfinder programme which has demolished 10,000 dwellings in Merseyside [1] and more in other UK cities as part of a regeneration programme. --Joopercoopers 13:29, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. 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.