Talk:Minnie Island State Park/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Ritchie333 (talk · contribs) 14:50, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

Hi. This is similar to Farm River State Park down the road, so I'm happy to give this one a go as well.

The first problem I have is that the article is quite short - only 3K of readable prose. Now, in all fairness, it is (as described) the smallest state park in CT, and a search for sources (including books) does bring up very little, so I think it is possible for this to meet the "broad in coverage" GA criteria. Hopefully I can ferret out some other sources to expand the article as I go.

Specific comments follow :

Lead

 * "the smallest state park in Connecticut, it is located" - this could be a split sentence here instead of a comma.
 * " in New London County, Connecticut, United States" - we've already established the park is in Connecticut. If you want to specify that Connecticut is in the United States, the first sentence would be the place to do that.
 * "Boat speeds on the lake are limited to 6 miles per hour from sunset to 8:00 a.m." - is this important enough to mention in the lead?

History

 * "The island is a pine grown-knoll that is located in the deepest portion of the Gardner Lake" - this sentence can probably be merged with the first
 * "Minnie Island acquired" - go with "The island acquired"
 * "because a local man referred to it is by that name" - this doesn't appear to be gramatically correct
 * "an "enterprising fellow" - why the quotes here? Perhaps it would be simpler just to say "local entrepreneur" (without quotes)
 * "tried to lay claim to the island .... to establish title to the island" - to avoid repetition, could one of the "island"s be reworded?
 * "Gardner lake" - as before, "the lake" will do here

Activities

 * "Minnie Island State Park" - just "The park" will do here
 * "offers opportunities for picnicking and fishing" - instead of "offers opportunities", "allows" is more neutral and shorter
 * "which is redundant because the island is accessible by boat" - the source does not say that
 * "Gardner Lake has been stocked with walleye since 1993, walleye populations" - this isn't grammatically correct - should be another sentence starting with the second "walleye". Also, to avoid repetition, of the "walleye"s could be reworded.
 * "Smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, yellow perch are also found in the pond" - is it a lake or a pond?
 * "but have been reported as "fair" reports and also good reports for trout" - I don't understand what this means.
 * "Boat speeds on the lake are limited to 6 miles per hour from sunset to 8:00 a.m" - this is an exact paraphrase from the source, and just over the edge of what I would consider to be a copyright violation. This needs rewording.
 * What makes ohranger.com a reliable source?

More later Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  18:04, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

Length
I've got a problem with this article - it really isn't long enough. I know this has been a recurring theme (see Above All State Park and Farm River State Park), but in this case it's particularly prevalent. What's worse is its parent article, Gardner Lake State Park, is little more than a two sentence stub. There is enough in the article to avoid an AfD, I can guarantee that, but to be perfectly honest, if I were you I would merge this article into the Garder Lake one, expand that, and put that up for GA when it's ready. How does that sound? Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  15:40, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
 * I think I will likely have to do that, this tiny little area probably doesn't have enough on its own. N and GNG don't always make sense if it can be part of a larger article, but I'll think about it for a bit. I was stretching Minnie pretty far and well... its just a really inaccessible, really obscure and totally natural area. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 20:45, 21 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Okay, we'll close it for now. Hopefully Gardner Lake can pass GA and include all or some of this article instead. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  09:48, 25 November 2014 (UTC)