Template:Did you know nominations/List of fictional characters on stamps of the United States


 * 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 Hawkeye7 (talk) 04:05, 9 August 2014 (UTC)

Not enough "readable text".

List of fictional characters on stamps of the United States

 * ... that dolls, puppets, wizards, robots and a bounty hunter have appeared on postage stamps of the United States?
 * ALT 1 ... that a headless horseman, natural rock formation and a Roman god have appeared on postage stamps of the United States?

Created by Slambo (talk). Self nominated at 17:12, 30 June 2014 (UTC).


 * I will select and QPQ review another article later tonight. Slambo (Speak)  17:15, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * QPQ checked and commented on Émilie Fortin Tremblay nomination. Slambo  (Speak)  23:00, 30 June 2014 (UTC)


 * I don't doubt the factual accuracy of the statement but you don't go to any of the stamps, as far as I can see, if you click on the links; either the main link or the subsidiary links. In its current form this hook is a little disappointing. Could it be narrowed to point directly to a relevant stamp? Philafrenzy (talk) 17:38, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * It would be cool to link to articles about the stamps, but they haven't been written yet with the exception of the Celebrate the Century series (in which the Barbie stamp was issued on the pane for the 1960s). For the article, I followed the example of the list for real people on stamps, where each entry links to articles about the subjects themselves. Slambo  (Speak)  22:03, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I understand but for me it falls a little flat. I think people will expect to see Barbie or Harry Potter on a stamp when they click, in fact those articles are light on images, probably because everything is still in copyright. It could be narrowed so that the subsidiary links go to images of similar characters on out of copyright stamps if any, it wouldn't be Harry Potter obviously. In the US that's everything up to the end of 1977. There may not be any of course. The main link also has very few images. Philafrenzy (talk) 22:14, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I tried to find as many images that we have available so far to illustrate the list, but only found those that are there now. Looking through my own collection, I don't see too many possibilities for additional scans from pre-1978 stamps.  Most of the fictional characters that have appeared on US stamps have been on issues after 1990. The hook could be amended to mention the headless horseman and others from earlier, but I thought the subjects I noted in the first hook would be more interesting to non-philatlists. Slambo  (Speak)  22:28, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't want to be a downer on it. I will leave it to others to give their views. Philafrenzy (talk) 22:32, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your input. I added an alt hook that points to articles showing stamp images that are in the public domain. Slambo  (Speak)  23:00, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Good work. That's much stronger in my view. Personally, I would go through the pre 1978 U.S. stamps and see if there are any subjects without an illustration in the article and if so put the stamps in the article right at the top. Philafrenzy (talk) 23:16, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Of course, they have to be fictional characters so I guess you are a bit restricted. The rock isn't? Philafrenzy (talk) 23:17, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The rock formation is known by a specific name and had a fictional persona created about him. Slambo (Speak)  23:24, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * OK, you could change the hook to read "the Old Man of the Mountains"? Also change the scan in the article. Philafrenzy (talk) 23:28, 30 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Symbol redirect vote 4.svg Full review still needed, including thoughts about the hooks. Suggesting ALT2 as a variant on ALT1 per Philafrenzy's request:
 * ALT2: ... that a headless horseman, the Old Man of the Mountain, and a Roman god have appeared on postage stamps of the United States? —BlueMoonset (talk) 20:36, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

Not enough "readable text". This should have been pointed out much earlier; lists do not count towards article size for the purposes of DYK. I would also take issue with several of the inclusions as "fictional characters", for example, some, like "Liberty" and "Victory" are personifications of abstract concepts; the Old Man of the Mountain is the name of a rock formation; the American bald eagle and Australian koala are real animals; The Sower is the title of a piece of art. Belle (talk) 16:20, 4 August 2014 (UTC)