Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Midshipman/archive1

The following discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Midshipman

Failed --Eurocopter (talk) 18:21, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nominator(s): Kirk (talk)

Midshipman is an important Naval rank, and this article recently passed its GA review. I think its close to A class, so I'm nominating this article for A-Class review. I appreciate your comments and suggestions. Kirk (talk) 03:57, 24 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

html tags can be removed int eh sources, as they are default
Many publisher details are missing from the citations
Citations need to be placed immediately after a punctuation, with not space. At the moment, there are a lot that are spaced, sometimes before or after.
You have included badges for Portugal and Spain but have not included any text on the status of this rank in those countires. Why is this? YellowMonkey (click here to vote for world cycling's #1 model!) 00:48, 25 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The current status of those ranks, Guarda-marina, Aspirant, etc are Naval Cadets, which most dictionaries will translate to 'Midshipman'. I wasn't sure how significant that was or how to reference it. What is more interesting is those ranks have historical meanings which differ slightly from Midshipmen and I didn't encounter much in my research other than translating Spanish, Portuguese and French Wikipedia. Kirk (talk) 04:23, 25 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify a point: the |format= component of {{cite web}} is meant for PDF files and the like; if none is specified, it is simply assumed that the web page is HTML.
Also, in addition to publishers, you need ISBN's where appropriate (i.e. books published prior to 1970 would not have one). —Ed 17 ^{(Talk / Contribs)} 03:02, 25 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the suggestions - I redid the references using templates, fixed the reference punctuation, removed the format=html components, added ISBN. Kirk (talk) 04:23, 25 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comments. 1) "in the navies of several English-speaking countries" - which ones? Or rather, whish ones it was not? It's not like there are that many they cannot be listed. 2) Needs more links per WP:BTW. In the lead, I spotted following terms that should be linked: sailing vessel, 17th century, 19th century, amidships, berth, lower deck, petty officer, Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, naval college, Royal Australian Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy. That's just the lead, the article needs many more ilinks in main body 3) The Midshipmen is also the name for sports teams fielded by the U.S. Naval Academy. - disambig note doesn't belong in the the lead 4) "Other Countries" - alphabetize section, and it should either be comprehensive, not present at all, or following some criteria. Currently it looks too much like a trivia section. 5) MOS issue - headings should not have the second and subsequent words capitalized. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 02:11, 1 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The centuries should not be linked, IMO, per WP:OVERLINK. the_ed17 : Chat 02:29, 1 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed 1) and 3). I can work on 2) and 5). Thank you for 4), which is similar to YellowMonkey's question. I can alphabetize the list, but I agree it needs something else - if you know of a template for this section, let me know. I'm a little stumped what else to do, so I appreciate additional comments. I also have some problems finding references for this information,for example, I can't find any reliable sources on Adelborst (Dutch). Kirk (talk) 18:05, 1 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed 5. Added a bunch more links for 2. Pondering #4. Kirk (talk) 20:36, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Updated page with information for other countries - please reassess. Thanks! Kirk (talk) 21:20, 8 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comment

"In 1794, this system was changed and a new rating was created called 'Volunteer Class 1', young gentlemen intended for the sea service provided they are not under the age of eleven years and were paid £6.[9]" Awkward, please rephrase, and six pounds per what?
Why are the Spanish and Portuguese translations near the beginning of the article, and then appear again with the translations in other languages?
Make sure refs are after punctuation, I've fixed some but there may be more.
The prose could use a bit of copy-editing work, especially in the Other Countries section.
Please move some images to the left for balance.

Please resolve these issues before I support. – Joe N 23:42, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I requested a copy edit, moved some images to the left, eliminated the duplicate translation and fixed all the refs that weren't after punctuation. Good catch on Volunteer Class 1 - I'll figure that out and clean it up, (I blame British Military historian's writing style...) Kirk (talk) 16:20, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page, such as the current discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.