Template:Did you know nominations/Operation Phou Phiang III

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Zanhe (talk) 17:14, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

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Operation Phou Phiang III[edit]

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ALT1: ... that Aardvarks struck the communists during Operation Phou Phiang III?

Created by Georgejdorner (talk). Self-nominated at 17:07, 11 March 2016 (UTC).

  • This article is new enough (having been moved to mainspace the same day it was nominated); long enough (6285 B prose size); and free of copyright violations. No picture is used, and the hook has no formatting issues. The QPQ is complete (and thanks for providing a detailed and thorough review). Nonetheless, there are some issues that need fixing. The article is not quite up to NPOV. There are no flagrant violations, but the language used is similar to what one might expect from a Laotian Royalist newspaper. For example, phrases like "As if that were not worrisome enough," "punishing tactical air strikes," "gunners menaced the air bridge," are not quite appropriate. I will go over the article once, but the nominator might also want to take a look at this. A request at WP:GOCE might be appropriate. Additionally, there are a couple of things that need clarification. The operation is introduced as part of the civil war; but the Laotian communist force is only mentioned in the aftermath section; what was it doing before that? Finally, the hook needs to have some terms clarified. To a person without the necessary background, "sentinel lock" sounds like a human, and "aardvark" is a nocturnal African mammal. The fact used in the hook is accurate and cited inline, but a little more detail is needed. Vanamonde93 (talk) 18:26, 10 April 2016 (UTC)
  • Given that only American sources are available on this subject, evoking NPOV is a struggle. I have gone through the article again, and hope to have extirpated bias. If you see any more examples I missed, please call them to my attention.
  • As for the Pathet Lao.... The Vietnamese communists kept them around for political purposes. The Pathet Lao habitually allowed the Vietnamese invaders to fight their war for them; in this case, there is no reference to their participation in Phou Phiang III. This makes a farce of the concept of a Laotian Civil War, but there is a consensus to use the politically correct title instead of the common one of The Secret War or of The Secret War in Laos. That consensus discussion can be seen here [1].
  • The objection to Sentinel Lock is a good call (and many thanks for that). Revisiting that, I realize I bungled my planned link. I have rewritten the hook to eliminate Sentinel Lock. However, the purpose of the hook is to arouse reader curiosity so they will read the article, so I have retained the "Aardvark" link.Georgejdorner (talk) 15:57, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
  • Georgejdorner, we're nearly there. The only sentence I still take issue with is this one; "Spared the scourge of constant air strikes, Communist columns claimed additional territory and cried foul if hit by occasional paybacks. Air strikes were now discontinued, except for sporadic retribution for Communist violations." You can see how that sounds like a newspaper! As to the hook; honestly, it wasn't the use of "Sentinel Lock" that is a problem, but rather that a descriptor would have been useful. I prefer the wording of the first hook; so I would propose the following, if you are okay with this;
ALT3 ... that "Sentinel Lock" bombing systems directed Aardvark jets during Operation Phou Phiang III?
ALT4: ... that the "Sentinel Lock" bombing system directed Aardvark jets during Operation Phou Phiang III?
  • I rewrote the questionable sentences that reveal my journalistic background; here's hoping that's all that is needed. I did subject your ALT3 to a minimal edit, since there was only a single Sentinel Lock bombing system.
This is GTG, with ALT4. thanks for speedily addressing all concerns. Regards, Vanamonde93 (talk) 22:48, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
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