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 by Ian Rose 10:01, 19 November 2013 (UTC) [1].[reply]


Homer Davenport[edit]

Homer Davenport (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Nominator(s): Montanabw (talk), Wehwalt (talk) 13:42, 3 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We are nominating this for featured article because… we think it meets the criteria. Homer Davenport's cartoons in the 1896, 1900, and 1904 presidential races played were influential, affecting how people perceived the candidates. But that was just one facet of his life, as his interest in animals, especially his importation of Arabian horses in 1906 following an epic journey in the Middle East, may be an even greater legacy. He died young after a life not entirely happy, but his name lives on in political cartooning and the world of horses. Enjoy. Wehwalt (talk) 13:42, 3 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from Quadell[edit]

Comments from Quadell

Preliminary impressions:

  • We'll start taking a whack at that, also have no objection if you want to dive in. Personally, my eyesight is poor and it is extremely difficult for me to spot spacing issues, so anyone who can help there is most welcome to do so! --Montanabw
  • Quadell, I did a run through of the p and pp issue, I THINK I got them all, but if not, can you possibly either just tweak those or point me to the problem ones? I found only one spacing issue... like I say, my eyesight sucks and I rely heavily on word searches... --Montanabw
  • On the & issue, I think the only place I see this is Huot & Powers in the citations?? Are there others?? If only that source, I shall defer to Wehwalt, as that's his book. --Montanabw
Yes, I can help with reference formatting. I actually enjoy that sort of thing, but I don't usually make such edits to FACs unless I'm invited to do so. I'll go through it in the next few days. – Quadell (talk) 20:52, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Consider yourself invited! Wikignoming is always helpful from my end! Thanks! Montanabw(talk) 21:49, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, cool. I've standardized the references as well as I can. There are only two possible issues left. (I did not fix them, since I wasn't sure how you wanted them handled.) First, the "Huot & Powers" reference uses an asterisk [late edit: ampersand! Doh!] for multiple authors, while the "Carver, Charles and Jeanne" references spells out the word "and". Second, different references format years and dates differently. (Compare "Wells, November 1905, p. 416" with "Fowler, J.A. (May, 1905)...", or "Retrieved 2013-10-13" with "Retrieved September 7, 2012".) – Quadell (talk) 21:56, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'll clean up the access date formatting. I'll just put "and" with Huot and Powers. On the other, I don't think we really have to fix that IMHO, as the differences there is one uses a template at the cite and presents a full citation, while the other references a book listed down in the sources section and is thus a short form citation. But if that is still an issue we can discuss? --Montanabw
In my opinion, all reference-formatting issues have been resolved. (Some FAC reviewers may be more picky, however.) – Quadell (talk) 20:13, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I hope to fully review the article later on. – Quadell (talk) 16:27, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for reviewing, Quadell, I have a few comments and replies above. We are glad to discuss any issues with you. Montanabw(talk) 20:13, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you also. I think most of what is being seen is fallout from having two people working on different parts of the article. I looked at the p. and pp. I think we are OK. I agree also on the galleries with Montanabw.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:16, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed, two people, one of whom (moi) refuses to get bifocals and has depended heavily on wikignomes for every FAC I've ever had! (#busted!) Montanabw(talk) 19:34, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

All the necessary, actionable items above have been addressed. A full review follows.

This article is quite a strong candidate. The lead is excellent, and the prose is quite vivid. I've identified the following issues. – Quadell (talk) 20:13, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's a matter of historical fact. The Panic had started in 1893, Cleveland's response (repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act) was deemed inadequate, and the Democrats lost both houses of Congress in the 1894 elections. There were even Republican congressmen in Kentucky and North Carolina, and Populist ones further South. There was popular prejudice against the Democrats. People were starving, and they were blamed.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:17, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not comfortable calling opposition to a political party "prejudice" here. To give a parallel example from just this week, I am a tad disheartened that my favorite candidate was not elected to city council, and I may honestly believe that my fellow citizens are prejudiced against third-party candidates. I might say so to my friends. But I wouldn't expect such a statement to be considered NPOV in a featured article. – Quadell (talk) 15:10, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Rephrased by a couple of people.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:45, 10 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I look forward to your replies. – Quadell (talk) 20:13, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Everything is now resolved, except for "prejudice", "sketching on stage", and perhaps "crossed on". – Quadell (talk) 15:10, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I have rephrased the "prejudice" angle.--Wehwalt (talk) 18:36, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(End of comments by Quadell)

Support. This article is truly among the best Wikipedia has to offer, and it fulfills all our FA criteria. – Quadell (talk) 21:43, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your patient work with us.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:45, 10 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from Brianboulton[edit]

SupportLeaning to support: My prose concerns were largely addressed in the peer review. I haven't read the article through at FAC yet, though I will do so. In the meantime, here are a few non-prose concerns:

Brianboulton (talk) 20:04, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Several state abbreviations (Oh, Wash, Cal) are still there, and should be fixed. I'm just doing my final readthrough before the expected upgrade to support. Brianboulton (talk) 10:11, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I think I've fixed that now. I've delinked New York, Boston, Baltimore, and done the standard postal abbreviations for the others.--Wehwalt (talk) 10:43, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Brian, other than the gallery sizing problem (which is some sort of bug, I think, and I've pinged Ruhrfisch about it), have we now addressed all of your other concerns? Montanabw(talk) 22:05, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
You have indeed addressed my concerns (the image size problem is a separate matter unrelated to the issue of support). I am about two-thirds-way through a final reading of the article, and hope to finish before I go to bed tonight (it's 11.30 pm here as I write). Brianboulton (talk) 23:30, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Great. Looking forward to the rest. Montanabw(talk) 23:57, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
OK, I have upgraded to support, with a few final quibbles:
The apartment. I will clarify. I wonder if she saw it coming?--Wehwalt (talk) 16:22, 8 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

And so to bed. Brianboulton (talk) 00:18, 8 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your most kind support. I think we've addressed all the comments now.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:45, 10 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Image review from Cirt[edit]

There are a lot of images and all check out except for two. And those two are fine as far as licensing, just some minor points. Therefore I won't list all the images in the article here, just those two:

  • File:Hcd02.jpg - this one could be moved to Wikimedia Commons and standardized with commons:Template:Information.
    I flagged it as OK to go, but the tool wouldn't move it. I'm not sure if there is a simple way to do this or if the bot will move it now? --MTBW Follow up: I got it moved, manually, and renamed the file to something more descriptive. Anything else needed there? --MTBW
  • File:HomerDavenportCaricatureHearst.jpg - this one could be standardized with commons:Template:Information.
    Not sure what you mean by "standardized": What is missing or wrong? (Glad to fix, but not sure what you are trying to tell us here). --MTBW Follow up: Never mind, I figured out the template. Maybe next time, instead of "standardize with" just say "add template foo to the image," eh?  ;-) --MTBW

Otherwise, rest of image review checks out okay. Please comment, below, after above two minor issues are addressed, and I'll revisit. Cheers, — Cirt (talk) 16:35, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OK Cirt, I think I got it. Check it out, feel free to make any minor tweaks if needed. Montanabw(talk) 19:31, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Looks much better, thanks for being so responsive. :) Image review complete. Everything checks out alright now. — Cirt (talk) 21:07, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sources review from Cirt[edit]

Gallery formatting issues[edit]

I checked the page on a PC running Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 10 (1st gallery was 307 pixels tall, 2nd gallery 327 px tall, and the 3rd was 250 px tall), Google Chrome (all images the same height), Mozilla Firefox (304 px, 324 px, and 250 px tall). I also looked at the page with Apple Safari on an iPad and, while all the images appeared to be the same height, the first two galleries wrapped (3 images across, with the 4th below). I tried pasting the code for the 1st line of the third gallery as the first line for the 1st and 2nd galleries, and also tried making sure the spacing and caption lengths were consistent, but nothing worked. The next thing I would try is Template:Gallery instead of <gallery> Ruhrfisch ><>°° 04:05, 8 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That seems to have done it, although please feel free to play with it. Thank you for your expert help..--Wehwalt (talk) 13:34, 8 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Great! I just did a quick check with Firefox, Chrome and IE and all three galleries are now the same height. One thing that is often an issue is the need to bypass your cache, as the old version (especially with images) is often stored and re-loaded by browsers to reduce server calls. The one image has a caption in it - , which is illegible at resolutions used in the article and is redundant to the caption used in the article. If that caption were cropped out, the image itself would display a bit larger. I am really not an expert, but glad my feeble efforts worked. Ruhrfisch ><>°° 13:39, 8 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'm delighted to say that the solution works for me, too – all galleries showing at the same reasonable size. So the Ruhrfisch touch still has the power. Brianboulton (talk) 16:49, 8 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yay Ruhrfisch! You rock, man! Montanabw(talk) 21:27, 8 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I tried tweaking the first gallery, making the first image narrower and the third image wider, but it did not work (on my monitor at least). Ruhrfisch ><>°° 18:24, 9 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from Cirt[edit]

Threaded discussion about pull-quotes moved to talk page by Cirt. — Cirt (talk) 02:53, 9 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Belated comments from TRM[edit]

Really nice article, some things:

Tweaked.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:02, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
OK.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:02, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Rephrased.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:02, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Piped.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:19, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Both papers done.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:19, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Developmental. Clarified.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:40, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I read it, but I don't think it's universally, or even that widely followed. Thoughts?--Wehwalt (talk) 04:26, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Wehwalt's I'm staying out of that one, youse guyz can sort that out. That said, just personally I'm not fond of "1870-71" as an alternative in a heading title, but I won't quibble. JMO. But what did you have in mind? Unclear if your concern is the four-digit dates only, or other things? Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, I should have been clearer, and per User:Eric Corbett's recent episode, while you're not fond of reducing the range in characters, that's what our MOS says. The Rambling Man (talk) 18:49, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Far be it for us to question the great one! (snark) I'll tweak to remove the hyphens and replace them with "to" in the section headers, tweak the photo caption per MOS--MTBW
Love to know where that snuck into the MOS as every TFA blurb on a bio is noncompliant.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:33, 12 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed. Maybe we need to edit the MOS (/snark) --MTBW
Split and somewhat rephrased.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:37, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Initialized.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:37, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Linked "linseed oil." Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It's paraphrasing a letter from Davenport to one of the Geer relatives and is not a quote but I am away from home until Saturday.--Wehwalt (talk) 04:37, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'll defer to Wehwalt on this one unless I'm struck with inspiration, he has the source material--Montanabw Reworded, OK with both TRM and Wehwalt?? Montanabw(talk) 06:27, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Ok! The Rambling Man (talk) 18:49, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Reworded. Better? Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Took that out, reworded, different punctuation. Better? Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, rephrased to "for the wedding" (Wehwalt: your source - is that correct?) Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
There's a definite implication that she went there to woo and win him, so to speak. I've rephrased.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:40, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
FIXED. Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Rephrased. Better? Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed the emdash. Better? Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Rephrased, "The resultant caricature of Hanna ..." Better? Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
FIXED Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's half-way, if it's helpful I'll continue once I get the chance, please let me know. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:24, 10 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's helpful, thanks, look forward to your additional comments! Montanabw(talk) 05:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, agree, thanks.--Wehwalt (talk) 06:28, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Part deux:

I think the word "few" is sufficiently formal.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:15, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I can tolerate it, it's still vague and non-encyclopedic however. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:18, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Not sure source material allows more specificity, or, sometimes the opposite problem is TMI to be useful. But Wehwalt may be able to explain reasons, it's his sources, I did some minor rephrasing, though --MTBW
I'll check against sources when I'm home Sunday. The despair thing too.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:33, 12 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Used in two prior FA's I've done.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:15, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Reads like a tabloid. Sorry. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:18, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Hearst's newspapers did read like tabloids at times, actually. And Wehwalt really likes that phrase. Can't we just keep it, please? --MTBW
I should add that this is what they were doing, not an exaggeration. While the famous "you supply the photographs, I'll supply the war" telegram is a bit dubious, Hearst was using his newspapers to push for public and political pressure for war with Spain. In other words, they were pounding a drumbeat for war with Spain. What is unclear to the reader here? And the reason why they read like tabloids is because they were. This is one of those times you just run with it.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:26, 12 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The English language is very rich, and phrases like that are appropriate English. Better than spending twice the number of words expressing the thought half as well.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:18, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I get that, but how does this translate into all versions of English? It's not plain English. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:21, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Hm. To me it is. In colloquial terms, we might now say "got his shit together," but that's even less encyclopedic! (LOL!) Wehwalt has the source material, and I am not sure we can say he was "cured of depression" or anything like that without venturing into OR or SYNTH land; but clearly, Davenport became severely depressed during the divorce, went to California, stopped making any money for a while, then managed to "pull it together" enough to start cartooning again. I truly cannot think of a better way to phrase it, but I'm open to ideas. --MTBW
Outside comment. I do understand why TRM might see the idiom as less formal than the surrounding text. But I can't think of a good substitute. ("Recover" doesn't quite suffice.) It does seem like a very minor issue to me. – Quadell (talk) 12:04, 12 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'll look at the source, though I don't expect much of a revelation (when I get home and over jet lag) but again, this is one of those circumstances where you just go with the English language. I am inclined to let it stand.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:39, 12 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'm all good with going with the English language but some phrasing just seems to be non-encyclopedic to me. I just can't imagine the Encyclopedia Britannica using the term "pull his life together", instead I would have expected a rephrase into more formal language. But as above, it's not something I'm going to insist upon (nor could I), it's just something that sticks out as odd to me. The Rambling Man (talk) 17:46, 12 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
US English is odd, I suppose. If you have any ideas for "more formal" English that doesn't go into SYNTH territory and conveys the proper nuance, feel free to propose. Montanabw(talk) 22:28, 12 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Rambling Man (talk) 20:05, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I've been a 5-star pedant here, and while I'm still mildly bothered by the odd prose issue (as noted above), I also accept that less is more, many times I've read dull prose and thought "ok, it's encyclopaedic, but yawn", and in this case I'm reading it as "ok, it's great prose, but not encyclopaedic". I'd prefer the latter to the former, so I haven't really a leg to stand on. Support a nice article, well written, nicely illustrated, and actually nice to work with nominators who are accommodating to pedantic review comments. Good work. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:45, 15 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I look for people to be picky. That's what reviewers are for, and you've done your job well. Thank you.--Wehwalt (talk) 22:23, 16 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, thank you TRM. Your vote of confidence is much appreciated. Montanabw(talk) 02:14, 18 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Notes

Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 00:21, 17 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OK. Anything we need to do? Thanks for looking at it.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:01, 17 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Well probably not, I was more curious as to whether you had any thoughts on this phantom dablink -- have you seen it before (or have I missed something obvious)? Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 05:18, 17 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It looks "phantom" to me and I don't want to change the language right there as I'm not expert on Arabian horses. Let me see if I can ping Montanabw.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:20, 17 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Not suggesting you should change anything, was just interested in a reality check as I've never seen this tool make an error. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 05:29, 17 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Nor I, actually.--Wehwalt (talk) 06:04, 17 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, sorry to be late to the party here. Asil was originally linked to the dab page which contains the simple definition (means "pure"), and when the dab issue came up somewhere in our FAC prep, I changed that and directed it to an article that explains what the word means in better context, Al Khamsa. Davenport actually used the word "chubby" in his book, but I have never seen that word used by anyone other than Davenport. May be that the dablinkchecker has a long memory. Montanabw(talk) 02:14, 18 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps that's it... Anyway, not something to hold up promotion -- now you've got this one out of the way, hope to see you chaps tackling Thomas Nast some time... Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 06:26, 18 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.