Wikipedia:Featured portal candidates/Portal:Somerset

The following is an archived discussion of a featured portal candidate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the portal's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured portal candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The portal was promoted by Cirt 03:38, 11 February 2011 [1].

Portal:Somerset

Peer review: here, with no outstanding issues (as far as I can see).

Statistics for the {{Random portal component with nominate}} sections: NB I have been adding further articles whilst this nomination has been running as new GAs have been written; the original totals are in brackets)

36 (was 34) Selected articles, all FA or GA
13 (was 12) Selected biographies, all FA, GA or B
9 Selected pictures
96 (was 89) DYK hooks, most with free-use images, all from the DYK archives
22 Selected Settlements all FA or GA

I believe this portal meets the FP criteria and am therefore nominating it, but would welcome comments on areas to be improved as there was little discussion at peer review.— Rod ^talk 11:38, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Looking very good, and most of my suggestions were implemented before peer review, of course. Just a couple of suggestions:

Articles 27 and 30 on the history and geology of Somerset - perhaps tweak the blurb to make it clearer that the articles are about the history or geology, rather than include basic material about the county that will already have been stated at the top of the portal page for readers.
The blurb lengths are a little uneven e.g. Portal:Somerset/Selected article/11 (94 words) compared to Portal:Somerset/Selected article/9 (over 500). The criteria say that "Article and biography summaries should not significantly exceed 200 words in length", but consistency is probably more important than word counts
The John Cleese bio Portal:Somerset/Selected biography/5 - seems odd to mention his father's original surname and his expulsion from school, but nothing else.
Get rid of the DYK list - whilst it's handy to have it when generating "possibles" for the DYK section, they're not quality articles or "recognized" in the same way as FA/FL/GA are.
In the Wikimedia box, linking to a Wikinews search page for "Somerset" would be good (not so useful for Wikiquote where "Somerset" is mainly followed by "Maugham"...)
Is the "Related Portals" subheading there for ACCESS reasons? Looks odd otherwise. Perhaps stick to either "Related portals" or "Related Portals" but not both(!)
No more relevant Wikiprojects? Perhaps include a "What are WikiProjects?" link anyway.
You win a prize for including my photo of Yeovil County Court!

Minor nitpicks, really - an excellent piece of work overall. Bencherlite ^Talk 12:08, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Response Thanks for the helpful comments. I have tried to address most of them. I revised several selected articles as suggested shortening some & expanding others for more consistency of length. Should the selected settlements also be shortened? The one outstanding issue is about wikinews. A quick search there does find some relevant articles (although it does find Bristol news related to Avon and Somerset Constabulary), but I have no idea how to create the relevant category & or page and link to it.— Rod ^talk 22:20, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A pleasure to assist. I have created Category:Somerset at Wikinews, added some {{editprotected}} requests to add the category to Somerset-related stories, and linked to the category from this portal. The length of the settlement blurbs wasn't so much of an issue for me, but if you now thought any were a bit long or a bit short, I wouldn't complain if you tweaked them. All looks good now, so I can say:

Support. Bencherlite ^Talk 12:01, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I've added a few more cat requests, but there doesn't seem to be that much on wikinews which is relevant.— Rod ^talk 12:15, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure that the content of this portal is engaging and expansive enough to warrant featured status. We expect our featured portals to be a useful resource that will further our readers' exploration of Wikipedia; but, with respect to the editors who have worked hard on it, I don't think this one is quite there. That might be because the subject of the portal is arguable more narrow than most; but on balance I remain underwhelmed. AGK 20:57, 3 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry you are underwhelmed, but perhaps you could expand on what you are looking for in a portal? I've just taken a look at some of the geography portals which have already got featured status & several have less that the 2,000+ articles within Somerset or are smaller in terms of area or population. Examples include: Portal:Gibraltar, Portal:Iceland & there are also several US states included. I would hope it would encourage readers' exploration of the county on Wikipedia - do you have any ideas about how I could change it to make you overwhelmed?— Rod ^talk 22:01, 3 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Agree with Rod and John Carter about the range here. Somerset is a natural portal choice, as a significant sub-national area with centuries of history. Portals are meant to serve as introductions to Wikipedia's best content, and a look at the variety let alone the number of featured/good material used on this portal shows how well it does that. John Carter makes a good point about portals for cities with more limited geographical scope. I'd add my own comparison: if Portal:The Simpsons, about one TV show, can be featured and isn't too narrow in scope, why can't this one? Bencherlite ^Talk 08:18, 7 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Support - I see at least four portals for cities are already included as featured portals, and don't see how it fails to meet the requirements in any way. I might not ever really look at the portal myself, but I probably am not likely to actively seek out the Featured Portals for Indianapolis, Chicago, Louisville, or Houston anytime soon for the same reasons. It does seem to meet the requirements for those who would have use for such a portal, and that is probably the main thing. John Carter (talk) 22:12, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Support - This portal may be the best for an English county. It deserves to be much imitated by the others, most of which are far, far behind. Moonraker2 (talk) 23:18, 16 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: It appears this portal has support as featured quality from three editors, above, with no significant oppose. Will likely close as promote, after a little while longer. Cheers, -- Cirt (talk) 21:39, 18 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Support - Per Moonraker, this may as well have been one of the best portals I have ever seen. It looks more than eligable for a Featured Portal canditade. Jaguar (talk) 20:01, 25 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I will close as promote, in one week. -- Cirt (talk) 13:30, 2 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.