Template:Did you know nominations/George Simon (artist and archaeologist)

The following discussion 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 Allen3 ^talk 12:15, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

George Simon (artist and archaeologist)

(

)

... that in 2009, Lokono Arawak artist and archaeologist, George Simon (pictured), began work on an archaeology project that might cause history books about the pre-Columbian past of the Americas to be radically rewritten?

ALT1: ... that Arawak artist and archaeologist, George Simon (pictured) is the founder and mentor of the Lokono Artists Group in Guyana?

ALT2: ... in 2009, the Arawak artist and archaeologist, George Simon (pictured), and a team of researchers uncovered evidence of human settlements in Guyana that date back to 3,000 BCE?

Comment: It would be great if this could be used on September 1st (beginning of Amerindian Heritage Month (Guyana) - see also Special Holding Area) or on September 10th (Heritage Day)

Created/expanded by Lorelei (talk). Self nom at 12:26, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Review: Length and date ok.

I think a different hook is needed. It is too long, but more importantly it is somewhat WP:WEASELy. First of all, Wikipedia, per WP:CRYSTAL cannot say that he will cause history to be radically rewritten. We could only say that Mansoor thinks that. Secondly, extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence. When I looked up the source, I expected it to be from at least a professional archaeologist or historian, if not an exceptionally eminent one with specialist knowledge in this subject. Mansoor turns out to be just the chairman of an awards committee. Spinning Spark 18:27, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Question: I'm happy for an alternative hook to be used, though I can't think of one for now. I have proposed a slightly shortened version of this hook though. Re. the information itself: Mansoor is really just articulating in a more 'attention-grabbing' form what Neil L Whitehead (who is an eminent anthropologist and specialist on Guyana and Amazonia more generally) says in the articles cited in the rest of the text. I used this because I thought it was attention-grabbing (but backed up by a reference) and therefore well-suited to DYK. If I've got this wrong though, please say, and I will put some thought to more alternatives... Lorelei (talk) 19:29, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Basically, the hook should be a fact, and this is not a fact. Spinning Spark 21:01, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Understood - my apologies. I have proposed two alternatives above. Lorelei (talk) 02:30, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

I like ALT2, I would go with that. Spinning Spark 12:20, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Nearly all of the images (including the one slated for the front page) are awaiting OTRS review. It would be a good idea to chase up OTRS for ticket numbers before this goes live. I am not comfortable with so many pending images being linked from the front page. Some of the images are collages of other images. These should be (but are not) marked as derivative works. It is conventional to wikilink to the source images. The authors field of the template should show the author of the original works listed against the original file names (again wikilinked). See File:Royal Observatory Edinburgh East Tower 2010 cropped.jpg for instance. Spinning Spark 18:27, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Done I have amended the source and author information for the derivative works as suggested. Thank you for the advice on this. Though I am getting up to speed on Wiki, I still find image policy a bit confusing, so this was very helpful. I have also written to OTRS to chase permissions (see here). Lorelei (talk) 19:29, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

An OTRS volunteer has now marked the images as providing insufficient verification in the e-mail submitted. Spinning Spark 21:01, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

OTRS have sent an email to the author of the pictures to request confirmation of permission. I imagine this will take a few days at least, but will update as soon as possible. Lorelei (talk) 02:30, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Done OTRS have now confirmed the permissions for all of these photographs - see here.

Good to go with ALT2 hook. Spinning Spark 13:29, 4 September 2012 (UTC)