Talk:Basankusu/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Arctic Night 18:03, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I'll be reviewing this one. I will provide some general comments as well as provide a general adjudication at the end. Arctic Night 18:03, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

There's not much to say about the lead, other than that the two paragraphs need to be written a little bit longer. This article is very long, so a short two-paragraph lead isn't really going to cut it when it comes to serving as a brief overview of everything in the article. Check out this page for some help.
What is this: "(CICM Missionaries)"? It seems to be just hanging there - what does it relate to?
I wouldn't recommend using 'here' in the article. Try 'Basankusu' instead.

Commerce

For starters, I don't think this section should come first. In nearly all the town articles I've seen, 'History' is the first section.
'Notable' is a peacock term. Use something else.
"Although CCP is one of the successful businesses in the area, it is in dispute with village chiefs regarding land acquisition " - this needs to be copy-edited. "Successful" is peacock-y, and should be replaced with something else. The sentence needs a full stop.
The words "the capital" seem to 'hang' just under the picture of the nun on the motorbike. The image should be resized so it's not just 'hanging' there - make it bigger or smaller.
"Mlle Jeanne-Marie Abanda, in December 2009, Director of Caritas Basankusu," -> "Mlle Jeanne-Marie Abanda, Director of Caritas Basankusu, in December 2009,"
"Jef Dupain, an African Wildlife Foundation [11]" - why is the reference there? It doesn't need to be, and should be moved to the end of the statement the source is supporting.
"Because of this..." - sentences should not begin with the word 'because'.
"You can't just tell the local people not to eat bushmeat. You're not taken seriously." - this is a direct quote and needs to be referenced.

Geography

"conservation efforts for the Bonobo[15]," - this reference needs to be moved somewhere else, unless I am misunderstanding this sentence (let me know if I am - honestly, there is a high chance I am!!).
"although throughout the day a high of 37°C is frequently seen" - this should be reworded for clarity. I'm not entirely sure what it means, although I think I do.
In July, 2010, the town was affected by flooding[19] - the comma needs to be removed after 'July' and the reference moved to the end of the sentence.
"Such frequent effects of harsh weather conditions have an effect on the quality of life for local people. Waterborne disease can become more prevalent and the transport of goods, such as food, medicine and trade goods, becomes more difficult." - this needs to be referenced.

Communication

"quite a challenge" - that is not a phrase constituting encyclopedic tone.
The first two paragraphs of this section are completely unreferenced. They both need to be, as per the GA criteria, material likely to be challenged should be referenced. I'm also more partial to passing a GA nomination with all statements referenced.
"(ONATRA)[20]." - references go after the last punctuation mark in a statement that needs to be supported - in this case, the reference needs to go after the period (full stop).
"They are victim to..." - that doesn't sound very encyclopedic...
"harsh realities..." - again, encyclopedic tone. The reference needs to go after the period here also.
"passengers tend to be people working for NGOs or businesses in Kinshasa." - this needs to be referenced.
"The signal stops as you leave Basankusu." - Use of the second-person pronoun you is discouraged.

History

"local language[22]." - the reference needs to go after the period.
Entire sections under the 'History' header are unreferenced. This needs to change, whether this article passes GA nomination or not.
This section needs a copy-edit - I spotted a few punctuation errors.

Local food

The first three paragraphs of this section have no citations at all. This needs to change, whether this article passes GA nomination or not.

Languages spoken

This section should probably be replaced with a similar one named 'Demographics' including more information about Basankusu's demography.

Housing

This entire section only has two citations. This needs to change, whether this article passes GA nomination or not.
The first two paragraphs appear to apply to the region in general, not just this town. It could be gotten rid of.
"Habitat for Humanity [29]" - remember what I said about reference placement...

Basenji dogs

There is only one reference in this whole section, and even that one is wrongly placed. This needs to change, whether this article passes GA nomination or not.
"it's worth knowing" - contractions are discouraged, and so are un-encyclopedic tonal phrases.
"quieteness" -> 'quietness'.

Quality of life

"Since the 1960s, that is to say, since independence" - reword this to "Since independence in 19xx,"
"there has been an increasing deterioration in the quality of life for people of Basankusu and the Democratic Republic of Congo generally." - this needs referencing, since it is an incredibly controversial statement.
"The results have been catastrophic nationally:..." - we don't need to know about the national figures, just Basankusu's. Get rid of the dot point list.
The bit about the MLC takeover is unsourced, and needs to be referenced quickly.

Conservation

"probably the highest in the country." - sounds like original research. There is no source given for this, and 'probably' makes me think somebody's just guessed this.

General comments

The article's images, especially in the Communication section, need to be better placed so as not to disrupt the text's flow. Two images should not be placed together one on top of the other.
References need to go like this: "The town is located north of Kinshasa.[23]" - not "The town is located north of Kinshasa[23]."
The article needs a thorough copy-editing for both flow and spelling/grammar mistakes.
When the article mentions an organisation (for example, this one), a reference does not need to appear after the organisation's name. A wikilink may be in order, but not an external one.
This article has a few NPOV issues. Editors should be careful to balance criticism of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with other perspectives.
The page has a number of links to disambiguation pages.

GA review (see here for criteria)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

For these reasons, I do not feel that I will be able to pass this article at this time. You are welcome to nominate this article again here once you feel that you have addressed these concerns. Kind regards, Arctic Night 19:16, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]