Talk:Dundalk/GA1

GA Review
The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.''

Reviewer: Kncny11 (talk · contribs) 22:02, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

I think this article has been waiting long enough to get its review! Any section that I marked with a tag means that I haven't finished combing through it yet, but feel free to start making changes as soon as you see them listed!  Kncny11  (shoot) 22:02, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

Infobox and lede

 * I will look through this more closely later, but anything written in the lede must also appear in the body

Early history

 * "Following the end of the last Ice Age" should go after "archaeological studies at Rockmarshall indicate that", because otherwise the sentence structure implies that the studies were carried out after the Ice Age (which is technically true, I guess)
 * "A wedge-shaped gallery grave known as the 'Giant's Grave' is nearby."
 * Comma after "The legends of Cú Chulainn"
 * "Clochafarmore (a menhir), which is the stone Cú Chulainn" "Clochafarmore, the menhir that Cú Chulainn"
 * Annals of the Four Masters should be italicized
 * Faughart is introduced in the third para but not formally linked and explained until the fifth
 * "unhistorical" "ahistorical"
 * "Evidence of early Christian settlements are to be found in the high concentration of souterrains in north Louth, which date from early Christian Ireland." "Evidence of settlements from early Christian Ireland..." to reduce repetition of "early Christian"
 * Pipe raid to Raid (military)
 * WL the first instances of County Down and County Antrim
 * "separate to" "separate from"
 * WL Moyry Pass
 * WL relic
 * This section should really be titled Early history and legend
 * All changes made - thank you for taking on the review User:Sexitoni 23:260, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

Middle Ages

 * Pipe Norman to Normans
 * Italicize both Annals of the Four Masters and Annals of Tigernach
 * "which were both written hundreds of years after"

21st century

 * WL peace dividend
 * "and in the first decade of the new millennium the remaining shoe factory, the two Diageo-owned breweries, and the Carroll's tobacco factory were among a number of factories to close—finally severing the links to the town's industrial past." "and, within years, a number of factories began to close, severing the town's links to its industrial past."
 * "By 2012, the town was being painted as one of Ireland's "most deprived areas" after the global downturn following the Financial crisis of 2007–2008." "Following the global economic downturn caused by the financial crisis of 2007–2008, a 2012 report from economist Pat McArdle named Dundalk "the most deprived Border town in the Republic"."

Public spaces

 * use convert to automatically show both hectares and acres

Tourism

 * "The border region has not seen the same level of tourism as Dublin or the Atlantic coast regions historically, primarily as a result of the Troubles and an associated lack of marketing." "Historically, Dundalk has not seen the same level of tourism as Dublin or the Atlantic coast regions of Ireland, which is primarily the results of the Troubles and an associated lack of marketing."
 * Expand on why this changed in the mid-1990s
 * I'd like some specification on what "Ireland's Ancient East" means (see here
 * Same with "Land of Legends", what exactly is the marketing campaign?
 * Beyond the fact that it's not a proper inline citation, and that Tripadvisor isn't exactly a reliable source, the information on airports belongs in "transport".
 * Edits made (reference to airport and hotels removed) User:Sexitoni 23:260, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

Transport

 * I'm not sure I trust irishships.com, but even if I did, it says nothing about a lack of passenger traffic.

Sport

 * The subheadings here can be taken out, seeing how many of them have only a couple sentences (see Taunton for an example of how a GA handles sports like this)
 * "The first cycling club in Dundalk was founded in 1874" needs a citation.
 * "was voted by the country's national governing body Cycling Ireland Club of the Year in 2010 and 2012" is not only hard to understand, but is close to copyvio
 * The club caters for all disciplines of the sport including road, off-road and BMX. This sentence reads as promotional.
 * replace em dash with comma
 * The entire association football paragraph needs to be redone with a reliable source (see WP:SELFPUB -- I also couldn't find much information about the author from a quick Google search, which makes me doubt his credentials)
 * All of the Gaelic football clubs need a citation
 * Knockbridge GAA having 11 titles needs a citation
 * The hurling paragraph feels disjointed in its current state
 * The provided reference says nothing about Cú Chulainn traveling over the Cooley Mountains
 * Combine first two sentences about Dundalk R.F.C.
 * Rugby paragraph also feels very disjointed (almost every sentence starts with "The club")
 * Comma after "reopened as Dundalk Stadium"
 * 1889 is never mentioned in the Dundalk Stadium ref
 * Greyhound racing link gives me a 404
 * No idea what the Proleek Dolmen is, and it's not mentioned in the citation
 * Pipe athletics clubs to sports club
 * Not sure why 'ban' is in quotes
 * Statement on the GAA ban on foreign games is uncited
 * Nothing about the Cricket Union division championships is cited
 * Dundalk Ice Dome & Dundalk Bulls needs a citation
 * WL American football
 * That last sentence is a hell of a run-on
 * This whole section contains a lot of trivial (and uncited) information.
 * All suggested Edits made and section stripped back User:Sexitoni 00:46, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Media

 * References are needed for the Dundalk Democrat and The Argus
 * Similarly, the Leader mainpage doesn't say that it's a freesheet, but this Irish Times article does
 * It says "freely distributed newspaper", wording changed. User:Sexitoni 01:00, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
 * References are needed for LMFM and iRadio.
 * All references added User:Sexitoni 01:00, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Final comments and verdict
I apologize for how long you've been waiting. Unfortunately, I am going to have to ❌ this article. It's always hard to decide whether to put an article on hold or fail it, but I like 's unofficial criteria (as can be seen here that, if it would take longer than a week to improve the article, then it's too far away to be put on hold.

My primary concerns are in order:
 * 1. Original research. On the sections I did comb through, there are lots of statements that need citations, or citations that don't match up with the article text.
 * 2. Focus. Strong Wiki articles are written in summary style, and the back half of the article goes into far too much trivial detail, with lists of exact businesses that went out of business, or specific seasons of sports.
 * 3. Independent sources. The back half of the article uses almost entirely websites from the businesses, clubs, etc. that they're talking about, which isn't a mortal sin, but could definitely be improved.
 * 4. Prose. I'm not being a stickler for every individual comma, in part because I default to American English, but some sentences are very hard to read, and there are lots of stilted paragraphs where the same phrase is repeated in every sentence. Asking for a comb-through at the WP:GOCE should help with that.

I'm sorry that you were waiting so long with what ended up a disappointing result. I hope that my rationale makes sense to you, and that you can return later with an even better article! My main recommendation (besides GOCE) would be to look at the current geography and places good articles, to see the level of detail and the types of sources that usually go into a city or town article.  Kncny11  (shoot) 23:40, 19 March 2021 (UTC)