Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Jonathan Mitchell/archive3


 * The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was archived by Ian Rose via FACBot (talk) 06:32, 9 February 2016.

Jonathan Mitchell

 * Nominator(s): Ylevental (talk) 13:47, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

This article is about Jonathan Mitchell, an American autistic author and blogger who advocates for a cure for autism. He is a controversial figure among autistic bloggers because of his opposition to the neurodiversity movement, his view of autism as a disability, and his desire for a cure. His viewpoint is notably unique in the online world of autism. The article is well-organized, comprehensive and well-researched, drawing from a variety of sources. The article length is appropriate, and all images are free works. There were some editing conflicts concerning neutrality, but they have been resolved. Ylevental (talk) 13:47, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Oppose and suggest withdrawal. While there has been improvement, I suggest that this article is still some way short of FA status. There is some very clumsy writing (eg: "his parents record player spin", "He has stated that compared to the experiences of other disadvantaged groups, his deficits are social in nature, and that he has attempted to join support groups but always ended up lonely", "having written three novels, 25 short stories, and runs a blog called Autism's Gadfly", "He was interviewed on Studio 360 on one of his novels, The School of Hard Knocks,[2] and another novel of his is The Mu Rhythm Bluff, about an autistic man that undergoes Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation", "having taken neuroscience classes in the past and has also volunteered for MRI research studies") and much of the article is underdeveloped (eg: "He claims to have worked in the past doing jobs such as data entry but was fired too many times for being too loud and making too many mistakes. Mitchell resides in Los Angeles and has a degree in psychology", "He also has written that parents' expectation of savant abilities legitimizes aid workers' fees and encourages false hope."). "He is one of the most controversial voices in the autism blogosphere for wanting a cure, discussing the need to consider the long-term effects of autism" is simultaneously a strong claim with unclear sourcing and a little weaselly. The sources are fairly good (I'm not sold on the "MassLive" blog post...) but I wonder if there are more out there- right now, the subject only seems to be borderline notable. Again, I suggest that PR and GAC would be a better route; without some more in-depth sources, I think you're going to have a real up-hill battle to get this to FA status. Josh Milburn (talk) 14:56, 6 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Also, perhaps you could try looking a little further into the academic literature- I'm seeing a lot of potentially relevant hits on Google Scholar. Josh Milburn (talk) 14:59, 6 February 2016 (UTC)
 * That is some really good advice; however, I have too many things to take care of to work on it now. Thank you though.  Ylevental (talk) 18:03, 6 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Happy to help. For future reference, it may be best to hold off nominating something at FAC for when it's forseeable that you'll have a little free time- responding to comments can be time-consuming, and if you don't respond to comments, that sometimes leaves reviewers feeling that they have wasted their time, which is bad for everyone. Josh Milburn (talk) 09:36, 7 February 2016 (UTC)

Ian Rose (talk) 06:32, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.