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To archive an article from the disputes page, check over the dispute, and see if any enforcement is necessary. For instance, if a discussion results in 5 editors for delisting an article and 1 against, then delist the article as you archive it. If a dispute is close, for instance, an approximately even amount of editors taking a side, try to make a new comment rather than archiving, to see whether the dispute should continue. Make sure not to archive active discussions, a good rule is to not archive anything that has a comment less than a week old, unless a resolution has been posted to the discussion. An exception to this rule involves disputes which have a clear outcome in these ways: There is at least an 80 percent majority to do something with an article, there are at least 6 votes, and at least three days have passed since the article was nominated for review.

Archived Disussions

Illinois Institute of Technology

Result: 1 to delist, 3 to speedy delist

The newly created WP:WPChi assessment department is just getting a hold of its inventory. As part of the process all WP:GAs are getting a cursory review of whether they uphold current standards. Basically, substandard citation such as this article exhibits will cause me to nominate an article here. I am nominating solely based on inadequate referencing. It is likely to be substandard for several other reasons. I am hoping it can get the attention deserves in this process. TonyTheTiger (talk/cont/bio/tcfkaWCDbwincowtchatlotpsoplrttaDCLaM) 16:35, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. I hope that during the GA/R process someone could take the time to add an ((ArticleHistory)) template to the talk page to help clarify the progress of the article. TonyTheTiger (talk/cont/bio/tcfkaWCDbwincowtchatlotpsoplrttaDCLaM) 16:52, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Trent Valley Line

Result: Delist 7-0

Nominate to delist for the following reasons:

Unless these fixes can be made in short order, the article should be delisted.--Jayron32|talk|contribs 04:28, 23 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't mention that Homestarmy since I wish to avoid dispute following recent spats I've had, though I'm with you on the issue and would like to hear his rationale also. LuciferMorgan 14:02, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

International Phonetic Alphabet

Result: 4-1 Keep (Strong Keep 2, Keep 2, Weak Delist 1)

The article is jargon-ridden. Many people coming to the page are probably trying to get a little help quickly. This is not possible. In addition, there are all sorts of dumb squares that show up on some computers (It is NOT the encyclopedia reader's responsibility to set her/his computer (which in fact might belong to a school, PC room, or library) so that these squares get converted to some-thing presumably meaningful. The "View this table as an image." produced only a small part of the table. Kdammers 11:42, 18 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Rapping

Result: Delist 6-0

One general cleanup tag, fact tags, lack of inline citations all over article and unprofessional writing in "Regional Variations." Delist (would have tried writing this rationale in rap, but couldn't be bothered). --Lenin and McCarthy | (Complain here) 16:33, 21 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

King Kong (1933 film)

Result: 6 to 0, Delist

A severe lack of inline citations, with a complete absence in "Significance", "Censorship", "Theatrical Re-Releases", "Famous and deleted scenes", "Dinosaurs and reptiles" and "Video releases". Also a misplaced quote section and an existent Trivia section. Reccomend delist if nothing can be done. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lenin and McCarthy (talkcontribs)

Never mind, Lara's vote is stamped on the 21st, so more than three days have to of passed Homestarmy 19:54, 27 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Scelidosaurus

Result: Keep 3-0

Recently, two articles from the Wikipedia:WikiProject Dinosaurs team were promoted to Good Articles based on review from members of the team who hadn't worked on either article. I think feedback from the community is important here, and would prefer to have no Conflict of Interest (or appearance of Conflict of Interest) issues.

Both articles were reviewed by good faith editors who did not feel there was any conflict of interest. Neither one had contributed to either article, but as our GA and FA passes are feathers in the WP:DINO team's cap, I am listing them here for review. Things such as clarity, etc, might be issues with someone who has never read or worked on a WP:Dinosaurs article. I'd like a second look at these two articles, and make sure they truly represent GA material. I think they do: I nominated both of them, but would prefer community feedback. I am only looking to legitimize the promotions. If the reviewers missed minor issues, please list those and give the article editors a chance to address them. Scelidosaurus passed February 22nd. Firsfron of Ronchester 17:22, 19 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lambeosaurus

See nomination comments for Scelidosaurus above. Result: Keep 3-0

Lambeosaurus passed on May 13th. Firsfron of Ronchester 17:22, 19 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Star Wars

Result: 6-0 Delist

Delist recommendation based on WP:MOS/style issues, misplaced info box, main image is copyrighted, substandard lead, multiple fact tags throughout article, many book references lack page specification, incorrectly formatted references, unstable (edit wars). Promoted Jan 2006 without review. --LaraLoveT/C 05:49, 21 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Reply. Agreed, that is absolutely not a criteria for GA or anything else. (Lack of rationales, on the other hand...) --tjstrf talk 23:52, 30 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Battle of Red Cliffs

Result: Restored open status on GAN

Georg Cantor

Result: Keep 6-0 (1 neutral)

Warned by Agne in September 2006 regarding lack of citations, and only has 4 citations at present. Delist. LuciferMorgan 16:42, 20 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Now the article has been cited in order to achieve verifiability, I'm withdrawing my vote. LuciferMorgan 23:45, 30 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
What citations are you referring to? There seems to be an enormous bibliography in the end. Arcfrk 07:27, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm referring to citations which aren't present. LuciferMorgan 14:10, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Can you, please, elaborate on perceived violation of neutrality policy? Arcfrk 07:27, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If this is the case then the Maths Project needs to reconsider its rating since that is a wholly inaccurate assessment. LuciferMorgan 14:10, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment I just had a look at this article through the eyes of a mathematician, and I have to say that this is definitely not a case of the non-mathematical community misunderstanding high-quality but technical mathematical writing. The article is devoid of inline references, to the point that when it emphasizes an interesting fact or development in Cantor's life, I instinctively look for the footnote and feel cheated when it's not there. It's wonderful that people have made the effort to build so large a bibliography, but there are no actual references in the article. Actually tracking down any of the claims would be tantamount to rewriting the article from the sources. That being the case, I guess I support the position that this article needs a "rewrite". I don't think the set theory section is particularly POV, though. Ryan Reich 14:15, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I said each para should have at least one citation, not each para should have at least one quote. Quadzilla99 04:31, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You are right, I'm sorry. I misread your words. However my request for a stay of execution still stands.--Cronholm144 04:39, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
There are some minor differences in the wording because the guidelines were written by different editors; but substantively they require the same thing. <rant>Please don't treat GA as a place where failed FA's go for validation; like GA is some kind of dumping ground for substandard articles to feel better about themselves. The GA standards are REAL, even if they are different in some places than FA standards. It is expected that editors that apply GA status to an article do so by strict adhearence to the standards as outlined in [[WP:WIAGA]]; these standards are different than FA but we should not let stuff slide simply because "It is only GA."</rant>
All that having been said, the article needs to be Delisted for the following concrete reasons that are in clear violation of WP:WIAGA:
  • There are numerous [citation needed] tags in the article. If statements are being challenged, they need inline citations to support them. I would endorse that most of these need citations; the statements they follow make interpretations of peoples motives and actions; they express opinions about why someone did something or how someone felt. Who else besides wikipedia has published these feelings?
  • his exceptional skills in mathematics, trigonometry in particular, were noted. - Really? Who noted it? Needs a reference.
  • In 1862, following his father's wishes, Cantor entered the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, today the ETH Zurich and began studying mathematics. - Who says it was his father's wishes? Who is psychoanalyzing his father that we know what he wanted? We need a reference here.
  • Cantor was promoted to Extraordinary Professor in 1872, and made full Professor in 1879. To attain the latter rank at the age of 34 was a notable accomplishment, but Cantor very much desired a chair at a more prestigious university, in particular at Berlin, then the leading German university. Where is it noted that 32 was a young age to aquire such a rank? How do we know what Cantor desired? Where are such statements referenced to?
  • However, Kronecker, who headed mathematics at Berlin until his death in 1891, and his colleague Hermann Schwarz were not agreeable to having Cantor as a colleague - How do we know this was Kronecker's and Schwarz's motive?
  • Kronecker, now seen as one of the founders of the constructive viewpoint in mathematics, - According to whom? This is a superlative claim; someone besides the author of this Wikipedia article MUST have siad this earlier? WHO?
  • In 1884, Cantor suffered his first known bout of depression.[citation needed] This emotional crisis led him to apply to lecture on philosophy rather than on mathematics. Every one of the 52 letters Cantor wrote to Gösta Mittag-Leffler that year attacked Kronecker. Cantor soon recovered, but a passage from one of these letters is revealing of the damage to his self-confidence: "... I don't know when I shall return to the continuation of my scientific work. At the moment I can do absolutely nothing with it, and limit myself to the most necessary duty of my lectures; how much happier I would be to be scientifically active, if only I had the necessary mental freshness." - COntains a direct quote; that needs a specific reference. COntains psychoanalysis of Cantor; that needs a reference as well.
  • Cantor believed that Francis Bacon wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare. During his 1884 illness, he began an intense study of Elizabethan literature in an attempt to prove his Bacon authorship thesis. He eventually published two pamphlets, in 1896 and 1897, setting out his thinking about Bacon and Shakespeare. Really? Where can I find this information? reference needed.
  • The entire "Late Years" section, filled with further psychoanalysis and claims about his health, state of mind, and financial situation is unreferenced.
  • Most importantly, Cantor was the originator of set theory, 1874-84. According to whom? Superlative claims need citations. Also, this sentance is fantastically awkward. What is with the random dates tacked on the end?
  • Cantor was also the first to appreciate the value of one-to-one correspondences (hereinafter denoted "1-to-1") for set theory. Another superlative claim without reference.
  • The rest of the "Work" section is ENTRIRELY unreferenced. It reports on analysis of his work; importance of his work, effects and causes of his work. We need references for each instance where such connections, analysis, and interpretations are made.
That should give you a start to improve the article. Honestly, I don't know why the custodians of this article are so dead set against making it better. --Jayron32|talk|contribs 16:14, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Finally, I would just like to mention the scientific citation guidelines, just in case any reviewers here are not familiar with them, as it appears to be in some cases. Geometry guy 16:55, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You mention in #5 that the GA we are trying to meet FA in some areas and not in others. To the contrary, the reason that GA and FA are identical in there stance on citing articles has to do with verifiability; a cornerstone Wikipedia policy. Wikipedia is unique in its place as a reference work as it is freely editable. When the encyclopedia presents a piece of scholarship, it must be transparent in the way that it arrives at that scholarship. Look, if I take a magic marker and add nonsense, even well written nonsense, to a print encyclopedia, susch nonsense can be ignored; it is plainly wrong. However, anyone can add a piece of information to a wikipedia article. If all information added can be checked against a source, wrong information can be countered and corrected easily. Without such assurances, an article lacks specific verifiability that makes it trustworthy. To sacrifice this transparency for any other reason is unacceptable. This isn't a GA issue. This isn't an FA issue. It's a wikipedia issue. ALL articles should be held to these standards of referencing. The fact that many articles are not there does not excuse the rest.--Jayron32|talk|contribs 17:05, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
WP:WIAGA and WP:WIAFA are not identical in their stance on citing articles: see #1. WP:V states that there should be a reliable source for any material which is challenged or likely to be challenged. It does not specify that the source must be provided by an inline citation. Furthermore likely to be challenged is a subjective criterion: common sense would suggest that it be applied less stringently at the GA level than the FA level. I am disappointed with the rest of your comment: WP:V is not in dispute, only its misuse to support inline citation of every nontrivial statement, so a rhetorical lecture on its purpose is unnecessary at this point. Geometry guy 17:39, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
What is the objection to improving the article? That is all I want to know.--Jayron32|talk|contribs 17:46, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Er, in case you haven't noticed, it is being improved. I even made half a dozen edits myself, even though I am not usually interested in working on biographical maths articles. Geometry guy 17:57, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If you firmly believe in the validity of scientific citation guidelines, I feel you'd be better served in requesting via the GA criteria page that this info regarding these particular guidelines be added to criterion 2. b. (the GA citation guideline). At least then if consensus is on your side, it will give your argument more footing. Up to you though. LuciferMorgan 22:06, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I think you will find that footnote [2] of WP:WIAGA (which is cited under criterion 2. b.) already addresses this point. (Note also that WP:SCG is as much a guideline as WP:CITE; neither is a policy.) Geometry guy 23:18, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since there's been so much hubbub over this article, i'll be more specific in my criticism of errors in the Set Theory section:

Thank you for a serious effort to comment on this article, which is worthy of some specific comments interleaved below. Geometry guy 01:10, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Do I need to go on here? I didn't even finish the Set Theory section. Homestarmy 23:55, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Neither did you find a substantial objection. I appreciate that you made an effort to make complaints that went beyond a lack a citations and this motivated me to respond in some detail. But why can't editors devote more energy trying to fix problems with articles instead of trying to delist them?
My problem here is not about this article, which has plenty of flaws, but about this process. I can just about understand the complaining approach for an FAC, because there is usually then a dedicated nominator and other editors who fix the complaints of reviewers, but this methodology just doesn't work for GAR. If you have a problem with the article, try to fix it before you complain about it. I don't have a particular attachment to this article and do not have time or a strong desire to improve it. I have other things to do. I ask you to consider whether this process is making the best use of your time as well. Geometry guy 01:10, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Would you like me to go even farther in my critique? A whole bunch of small problems in articles add up to one big problem of not meeting GA standards, (I have done this style of review three times before now, the American Civil War GA/R which is in a recent archive, Abortion-Breast Cancer hypothesis, and recently LGAT, and all of the articles had similar wording problems multiple times like what i've highlighted here, yet all of these articles seem better from my critiques) and i'm sure if I spent even more time on this article, it would simply become more and more evident that this is not a Good Article at all. It's never the one thing that does it unless its a Fair Use problem or BLP violation, (bad writing is one thing, but an article literally breaking the law is pretty terrible no matter how many times its done) but when the problems in articles start stacking upwards and outwards, I start becoming more and more skeptical of saying that an article does indeed meet GA standards overall. Homestarmy 01:51, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It appears that a user who has access to the appropriate literature has decided to fix the problems that you have outlined here, so I recommend holding off until he is done with his edits. It is good that he has the time and energy left to do so. I am sorry to say that I leave this process jaded, drained, and unhappy with the current state of affairs. For many others within the mathematics community, these recent events (Bertrand Russell on notice for 1 hour and 19 minutes before demotion and of course this GA/R) have only confirmed the serious doubts they had about this process. It seems GA and FA are rapidly becoming the same thing in terms of requirements. However, the two ratings systems will never be the same in terms of prestige, leading one to wonder if the GA process isn't simply an exercise in futility.--Cronholm144 03:45, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If somebody actually goes and fixes at least most of the problems i've listed here, i'll keep reviewing the article more if someone wants it. Homestarmy 05:00, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sinply unbothered by the mathematics community since recent events seem to indicate it thinks it's special and exempt from the citation criteria, when in fact all the other Projects have had to cite their articles in order to become GA. While the mathematics community has doubts about GAR, I have doubts about their desire to improve the quality of maths articles on Wikipedia at large. Every GA/R or FAR they become involved in usually descends into a citation dispute. LuciferMorgan 22:26, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Hey, uh.. I'm kinda working on it a little. I dunno when I can get that book from the library; perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the next day (?).. Will try to do some ce tonight. Have already fixed several of the issues Homey brought up. later Ling.Nut 04:05, 30 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Meant to say 2b. Basically, I meant citations are still needed the early life section is unreferenced and there a lot of other passages that are unreferenced. Aaron Bowen 03:05, 1 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • The article now had 13 inlines and all of the MoS and NPOV issues have been addressed by Ling.Nut. Ling will get the book soon and finish soon, but even as it stands now the issues that caused this review have been addressed so I see no reason to continue seeking to delist it.--Cronholm144 06:00, 30 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Instead I came here because of a widespread perception that GA/R is broken, at least for technical articles, and I wanted to see what was going on for myself. The goal of the GA system is to set a minimum standard of content and form for good articles. However, the perception among many editors is that:
  • those who regularly participate in GA/R are not qualified to judge content, particularly for technical articles, and so the focus is on form;
  • standards for form (particularly inline citation) are now being set unrealistically high, whereas bad content is being passed.
Editors here must surely be aware that because of these concerns there are pressures on this project to change its name to something more neutral, such as Wikipedia:Well sourced and presented articles (many alternatives have been suggested, but you get the idea). At the same time, editors who have formulated the criteria for Good Articles are frustrated that reviewers are not applying them, but are instead treating GA as mini-FA and applying similar standards (but only for form, not content) to GA articles as they do to FA articles.
I would not be against moving this project to a more appropriate title. I think it deserves a chance to retain its role as a Wikipedia-wide quality assurance benchmark, and I would be sorry to see WikiProjects withdrawing from the process because it is currently failing them. But I also wanted to know if the Good Article procedures had something to offer for articles like this.
In studying this process and also related talk pages, it seems to me that GA/R is currently overloaded, so that reviewers are not in general able to take sufficient time to look at articles and point out concrete deficiencies. I have tried to suggest concrete ways to reduce the burden on this process, and make the procedures more lightweight. In brief, I think that GA/R should be a last resort, and should be a purely procedural forum: delisting, like listing, should be in the hands of individuals. To compensate, some requirements of competency should be place on these individuals.
Anyway, this is just one attempt to save this process from being abandoned by many parts of the project.
Returning now to this article (please ignore my aside if you are not interested), the initial discussion was rather disappointing. Yes, this article needed improvement, but it is not going to happen if it is delisted "per 1c and MoS". Instead, the few editors who were once interested in the article will abandon it, and it will ever remain inadequate.
Consequently, I did not say "keep", but asked the editors to make more concrete suggestions. When they did, I made a few corrections myself, but was delighted when another editor, Ling.Nut, decided to improve the article. Thanks largely to the efforts of this editor, the article now cites sources in appropriate places. Most of these cites are, not surprisingly, to Dauben, but nevermind, these improvements make it easier for the reader to find the source. As a result of these improvements, I am now prepared to say Keep.
I urge those delisting editors to look again at the article, but even more to look again at the criteria for good articles, and reconsider your position. In particular those who believe that citation requirements for GA and FA are identical, please read WP:SCG, and also look at WP:GVF, which states
Featured articles are usually subject to greater scrutiny in regard to factual accuracy and verifiability.
Thank you. I'm just trying to make this process work better for technical articles. Geometry guy 22:18, 30 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Found and fixed the last fly in the Cantorian ointment (see immediately above). Thanks! Ling.Nut 03:33, 31 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Consensus check

In light of the length of this discussion, all the recent changes, and the many vote retractions, below this header, we need to simply focus the discussion to the salient point at hand. What is your response to this question: Does the article Georg Cantor, in the state it is currently in, meet all the criteria as spelled out in WP:WIAGA? If you wish to answer this question, please do so below. If you wish to leave other comments, please do so in the above section. (Note: There is no GA criteria 1c, so please don't use that as part of the basis for your vote.)