Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Shapinsay

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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 promoted 16:41, 17 December 2007.

Shapinsay[edit]

I'm nominating this article for featured article because it is a comprehensive article concerning the Scottish island of Shapinsay. It is well-referenced, using several sources, many of them print books and newspapers. The article's style and length are appropriate and covers a variety of aspects of the island's history, economy and geography. It has passed as a Good Article, and has been further improved since. As I am one of the article's editors, this is a self-nomination. Lurker (said · done) 15:32, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support This article is well written and reflects extensive work by Lurker, Derek cashman, Ben MacDui, MacRusgail and others. The volume of content in this article is sufficient to qualify as exhaustive coverage for a subject without as much recorded history as most of mainland Scotland. The extant biology literature is correspondingly much more sparse than for England and the main of Scotland. Even though I have done some editing on this page, my contributions are quite minor and consist primarily of copy editing and adding a tidbit or two of information; therefore, as such a minor editor, I feel that I can weigh in with support of this article. Hadrianheugh 16:25, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. What an interesting article! I would very much like to see this featured although I do have some suggestions that would improve the article for me. Perhaps the article is already up to FA status anyway: it has made me want to know much more.
How many of the inhabitants were born on Shapinsay (I would relegate the detailed country of origin figures to a footnote)? The information on the excavation of the broch would be easier to understand if it were in date order. Are there significant cultural ties with Norway or was the school’s Christmas show rather a technological show-off? Was it a terrible blow when the secondary school closed or could it not really provide a good enough education? What has been the local reaction to a wind turbine and a tunnel?
As someone whose knowledge of the Scottish islands is too much influenced by Whisky Galore!, I’d like a clearer feeling for what it is like to live on the island (in a “Community” section?). The article speaks of “commuting” and Haswell-Smith refers to “a suburban sort of island”.
Why have people gone to live there: for cheap houses, a close, friendly community or for solitude? Is the island idyllic or bleakly agricultural? Does nearly everyone live in Balfour or is the population dispersed? How many shops in Balfour? Only those mentioned? Are the businesses there? Is there still a post office? Do most inhabitants shop in Kirkwall? Could there be a photo giving a feel for the village? Does the ferry carry vehicles? What are the roads like? The scattered buildings on the OS map, are they derelict, holiday cottages, second homes, couthy sandstone cottages or modern bungalows? Did the gas works serve just the castle or the whole community? Now, do you simply ring up and order heating oil?
All this might make the article too long. For me the history could be reduced and the detail spun off into a “History of Shapinsay” article. Image such a small community having two articles! Thincat 14:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose—I hope this is promoted, but first it needs loving copy-editing attention by someone who's not familiar with the text. Know how to locate and ask the right kind of WPians? Need to do it actively, esp. since this has been here for a while.

  • What is the "also" doing in the lead? It doesn't really also from the statement on tourism, does it? Just remove it, and weed out other redundant alsos in the article.
  • This is now fixed by copy editing and removal of the gratuitous "also" Hadrianheugh (talk) 17:34, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • War against reader-friendly commas? Needs an audit throughout. Take this, for example: "Unlike most of the larger Orkney islands the derivation of the name 'Shapinsay' is not clear cut. The final 'ay' is simply from the Old Norse for 'island' but the first two syllables are harder to evaluate." Two commas here almost mandatory. BTW, upper-case I? Hyphenate "clear cut"?:
  • Comma work on referenced sentence is done. "Clear cut" fixed by copy editing and choosing a more formal term. Hadrianheugh
  • Hyphens are not used as interrupters. See MOS on em dashes.
  • Good comment. I have sought out all the hyphen punctuation crutches and destroyed them :). Hadrianheugh (talk) 17:34, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • a reference to 'Scalpandisay',—See MOS on "Words as words", here and elsewhere.
  • MOS issues fixed throughout re: "words as words" Hadrianheugh (talk) 18:28, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • no-one—no hyphen.

Tony (talk) 12:15, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Does "fixed" mean that the whole article has been spruced up? Should I bother to go there yet? Tony (talk) 12:59, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Well, I have definitely sought out the MOS issues and (I hope) cured those throughout the article. I have also copy edited throughout, but wouldn't want to give a guarantee that it's perfect. Hopefully you will revisit, since your eye is good, and whatever you conclude will advance things. Cheers. Hadrianheugh (talk) 20:51, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • I've also done a wee bit more copyediting. Lurker (said · done) 12:26, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • I've also filed a request with the League of Copyeditors. Lurker (said · done) 12:43, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support (I commented above so I hope I am allowed to but in again). Since I last looked at this article a great deal of useful work has been done so that I now think this should become featured. Again, many thanks for an excellent article on an interesting subject. Thincat (talk) 11:48, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Very interesting article, well-referenced and well-organized. My one suggestion would be that there are a few one-line paragraphs in the 19th century section (as well as one in the 20th century) that could perhaps be merged with surrounding text. henrik•talk 21:48, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • These single sentences have been merged per suggestion. Hadrianheugh (talk) 23:44, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Still needs sprucing. For example (not the whole thing):

  • Read MOS on hyphens: "environmentally-friendly". Two things wrong with "From 1893-1964"; and elsewhere.
I'm not sure what the other issue you have with this is, other than the hyphen (I've actually replaced the phrase, but I'm curious) 15:41, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • Clumsy: "Of the 300 inhabitants, 283 were born in the United Kingdom, with 227 born in Scotland and 56 born in England." --> "Of the 300 inhabitants, 283 were born in the United Kingdom (227 in Scotland and 56 in England).
  • "According to the development trust, the turbine could earn over £5 million during the 25 years the turbine will operate." Funny that the reference says nothing about the basic problem that connecting a significant wind farm to the grid will f... the stability of the grid (voltage, unbalance, phase, etc). This is the elephant in the corner. Tony (talk) 15:09, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I don't see this as a problem, as the wind farm is a single turbine. And connecting wind farms to the grids doesn't usually mess it up anyway, so it's not a basic problem (but may be a problem with some setups in some areas) Lurker (said · done) 15:19, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Comment from article contributor. If you don't get a grid connection confirmed you don't get planning permission. You may recall Renewable energy in Scotland Tony. This now includes a brief reference to the implementation of a 'Regional Power Zone' in the Orkney archipelago. This scheme (that may be the first of it's kind in the world) involves 'active network management' that will make better use of the existing infrastructure and allow a further 15MW of new output from renewables onto the network. Besides, its only a single turbine they are talking about, not a wind farm. Ben MacDuiTalk/Walk 18:47, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Withdrawing oppose: but can you stop the table in Demography from jamming up against the text? Also, perhaps either centre the second and forth colums or abbreviate the titles to "pop.". Tony (talk) 04:25, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Note: Please see WP:CITE/ES and complete the references. Examples:
    • Missing publication date: "Isle tunnel plans under spotlight" BBC news website Retrieved October 18, 2007.
    • Missing publisher info, and doesn't verify text: "Ordnance Survey" Retrieved October 10, 2007. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:01, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - A nice article which I think meets all the criteria. My only change would be to use {{reflist|2}} to make the refs into 2 columns - but that is personal preference.— Rod talk 15:17, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
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.
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