Template:Did you know nominations/International Juridical Association


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: rejected by BlueMoonset (talk) 01:41, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Withdrawn by nominator

International Juridical Association

 * ... despite accusations by future US president Richard Nixon's HUAC of being communist front that the International Juridical Association (IJA) had members ranging from alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss to non-violence champion Mahatma Gandhi – and SCOTUS Abe Fortas?
 * Reviewed: National Lawyers Guild
 * Comment: This nomination was not originally transcluded at time of nomination, but is being reactivated now. Yoninah (talk) 00:26, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Created by Aboudaqn (talk). Self-nominated at 13:49, 2 December 2016 (UTC). Transcluded on 3 February 2017.


 * Reformatting hook correctly; removing bold links to articles that are not part of this nomination, and removing citations:
 * ALT0a: ... that despite accusations by future US president Richard Nixon's House Un-American Activities Committee of being a communist front, the International Juridical Association had members ranging from alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss to non-violence champion Mahatma Gandhi – and SCOTUS Abe Fortas? Yoninah (talk) 00:26, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Comment: reformatted hook ALT0a is almost 300 characters. I've trimmed some bits to come up with ALT0b, but it's still about 20 characters too long. Mind  matrix  02:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * ALT0b: ... that despite accusations by the House Un-American Activities Committee of being a communist front, the International Juridical Association membership included alleged spy Alger Hiss, pacifist Gandhi and judge Abe Fortas?
 * Comment: reading through the article in the hopes of finding a hook shorter than the 200 character maximum, it strikes me that the article has major neutrality problems, since it seems to be primarily cast as HUAC's views of, or reports of, the IJA. Without independent reliable sources detailing what the organization did and stood for, this won't be able to meet DYK's neutrality requirement. There's also issues with hook accuracy, since the IJA had gone out of existence more than two decades before Fortas became an Associate Justice on SCOTUS. I'm also not sure why "despite" is used when Hiss was later accused of being a Soviet spy. BlueMoonset (talk) 04:02, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Reply to (BlueMoonset talk):
 * Regarding neutrality, I have expanded the article greatly, particularly with a whole news section on its activities
 * Revised blurb by removing mention of Fortas (which deleted more than 20 characters):  despite accusations by future US president Richard Nixon's HUAC of being a communist front, the International Juridical Association (IJA) had members ranging from alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss to non-violence champion Mahatma Gandhi? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aboudaqn (talk • contribs) 18:04, 20 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Aboudaqn, thanks for the article expansion. The hook is still far too long at 237 prose characters (spaces are included, as is the initial "that" you omitted), and the only bold links should be to the expanded articles (in this case, just International Juridical Association should be bolded). However, the hook has a basic accuracy problem: the IJA was in existence from 1931 to 1942, and Richard Nixon did not serve in the House or on HUAC until 1947. Further, Nixon is not mentioned at all in the IJA article, so he cannot be named in a hook.
 * There's also a major problem with the article: it seems to conflate the international organization as led by Alfred Apfel, whom King met in 1931, with the American branch of the international organization founded by King later that year. The thing is, while Hiss may have been a member of the American organization, which is what this article concentrates on, there's no indication that Gandhi was affiliated with the Americans, or even which branch he was with; the sources given antedate the formation of the American IJA. I rather doubt that the international components of the IJA folded into the American NLG, yet there's nothing here about what happened to the full IJA. I would also like someone else to take a look at this article to see whether it is sufficiently neutral—the HUAC's assessments still seem to be a primary source.
 * I have proposed a shorter hook below, but I think the article still needs more work. For the record, it is:
 * ALT1: ... that the International Juridical Association membership, over time, included Alger Hiss, Mahatma Gandhi, and Abe Fortas? (120 characters) —BlueMoonset (talk) 21:29, 20 February 2017 (UTC)
 * BlueMoonset: Your latest comments nailed the issues for me:  I hereby withdraw my DYK request, with apologies for inconvenience.  However, you have also inspired me to have resolved the issues you raise.  Thank you!