Talk:Merv/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: TrangaBellam (talk · contribs) 21:02, 24 October 2021 (UTC)


 * This article is far from a GA with much of the content being dubious, unresolved tags, ample violations of core-policies, and most of the authoritative monographs not consulted.
 * I will pick out four particular examples —
 * (a) Denoting the Mongol campaign as one of the, in lead.
 * Of the used sources: Bonner is an art-historian, with expertise in geometries employed by Islamic artists. Goldstein is a professor of IR, with no training in any kind of history. Naimark is a professor of Eastern European Studies. None has any expertise in Mongols.
 * Notwithstanding the credibility of sources, the line runs afoul of WP:DUE - most of the sources (esp. standard textbooks) refrain from such extraordinary claims.
 * (b) peacefully took over Merv under the leadership of Tughril—the Ghaznavid sultan Mas'ud I was extremely unpopular in the city — an unsourced line.
 * Peacock (2015; EUP) writes,
 * The drafting of the history is too simplistic and reductive. We are not writing for a K-9 audience.
 * (c) However, starting from 1118, it served as the capital of the whole empire.
 * Ref 33 cites p. 33-47 but quotes from p. 74. Notwithstanding (what might be) a typo, this is a misrepresentation — did the Sultanate of Iraq (with all its complexities, as discussed in the following pages) obliviate into thin air or cease claiming themselves as the Seljuks?
 * (d) The city was notable as a home for immigrants from the Arab lands and those from Sogdia and elsewhere in Central Asia
 * What does the source write? You need to paraphrase the sources but only after understanding them so as to not rob them of their contexts.
 * (e) and great-grandson Ahmad Sanjar (sultan from 1118 to 1157) were buried at Merv, the latter at the Tomb of Ahmad Sanjar.
 * This is highly contested. See this website (which is not a RS) but is good enough.
 * Long paragraphs are sourced to websites like "Islam Story", "Tourstoturkmenistan", "Asthabharati". The history section is largely a cluster of factoids, most of which are either dubious or incorrect.
 * Tertius Chandler's demographic estimates are nonsensical and multiple historians have criticized his usage of sources.
 * The years from the fall of Sanjar to the Mongol invasion are not covered. As is the reconstruction after invasion.
 * As HistoryofIran said, there is almost nothing on pre-Islamic Merv.
 * There are bound volumes on the topic!
 * The entire section on "Uzbeks in Merv and its final destruction" is sourced to a >150 year old chronicle.
 * There are many better sources, compliant with WP:HISTRS.
 * The entire section on "Nineteenth century" is sourced to a news article, which says nothing relevant. The other one is supposedly a 2008 work by Martin Ewans - actually, it is a collection of century-old primary sources.
 * Rewrite with better sources - Ch. 9 of Alexander Morrison's The Russian Conquest of Central Asia provides some coverage and pointer to relevant sources.
 * Climate section is unsourced.
 * TrangaBellam (talk) 16:12, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * , I think the article needs radical improvements and as it currently stands, is far from GA standards. Would like to hear your opinion. TrangaBellam (talk) 14:09, 27 October 2021 (UTC)
 * ❌ - GA status is impossible without radical improvements. TrangaBellam (talk) 11:01, 20 November 2021 (UTC)
 * ❌ - GA status is impossible without radical improvements. TrangaBellam (talk) 11:01, 20 November 2021 (UTC)