Jump to content

Template:Did you know nominations/William West (botanist)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following 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 SL93 (talk) 23:25, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

DYK toolbox

William West (botanist), William West Jr, George Stephen West

( Back to T:TDYK )
( Article history links:
)

5x expanded by Storye book (talk). Self-nominated at 17:38, 19 April 2022 (UTC).

  • (not a review) I have added the third article to this nomination. DanCherek (talk) 22:26, 6 May 2022 (UTC)
  • I love a good multi-article nomination! I don't love the use of "Who's Who" as a source, though. Herbaria is good for establishing that West Jr assisted with fieldwork, and the articles for G.S. and his father make clear that they worked together on scientific publications. Here are some outstanding points that need to be addressed for DYK eligibility:
    • The lede of William West (botanist) says that West Jr assisted with fieldwork, but I can't find support for that in the article body.
    • If another source can't be found for "over twenty" in the hook and in George Stephen West, that detail should be removed from both, unless there's something I'm missing that makes "Who's Who" reliable for this purpose.
  • Outstanding work overall, and will be ready for DYK with minimal changes! Articles are sourced, neutral, and meet DYK-relevant policies; hook is sourced and neutral (both with the exceptions above). {{subst:DYKmaybe}} Pending action, pinging nom Storye book! ezlev (user/tlk/ctrbs) 19:32, 24 May 2022 (UTC)
  • @Ezlev: Thank you for the review.
(1) I have added a sentence and citation into the body of the William West (botanist) article to confirm that he and his son did fieldwork together (diff).
(2) I have corrected the error in ALT1 - not sure how that happened. It's 20 publications. Storye book (talk) 20:34, 24 May 2022 (UTC)
(3) Please would you kindly explain what is your problem with the British publication, Who's Who? I don't know what the US version is like (is it a trashy book - or online spam? - or a trashy TV programme?), but the UK version is published by the Oxford University Press, which is a department of the University of Oxford and is an academic publisher. It is an authoritative and recognised reference book, used in a formal manner in schools, libraries and universities as a first-stop resource.
  • I'm pretty sure I've seen other sources which give the same information, but please let's sort this out first. Storye book (talk) 20:34, 24 May 2022 (UTC)
  • Thanks for those tweaks, Storye book! My objection to Who's Who is based on its listing at WP:RSP as "generally unreliable due to its poor editorial standards and history of publishing false or inaccurate information" per this RfC from earlier this year. If you don't already use CiteUnseen and/or UPSD, I highly recommend them for finding links/citations to problematic sourced! So we'll need another source for "over twenty", and then this will be good to go. ezlev (user/tlk/ctrbs) 22:02, 24 May 2022 (UTC)
  • Ah, I see, the problem is about the Who's Who section about living people. Neither the Rfc discussion nor the publisher's statement admitting that autobiographees are writing their own entries mentions Who Was Who, which is online together with Who's Who. The Wests have all three been well and truly dead since 1919, so I can reassure you that they did not write their own autobiographies. Those Who Was Who entries will have been taken from their newspaper obituaries or from obituaries published in the journals that the Wests contributed to. I'll correct the citations in the article to Who Was Who, and also see if I can find the obits online. Storye book (talk) 08:39, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
  • ALT2: ... that botanist William West's elder son William West Jr assisted him with fieldwork and his younger son George Stephen West collaborated with him on numerous scientific publications? (Source: Journal of Botany 1919 pp.283-284) Storye book (talk) 09:47, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
  • I can't find the number 20 written in any of the obits for either of them, although I would be surprised if it were untrue. I have tracked down 17 journal articles and books that they co-authored, and no doubt there are more. The obits are just too vague. So I've compromised with an ALT2. Storye book (talk) 09:47, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Did_you_know_nominations/William_West_(botanist)&oldid=1090181418"