Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/No Easy Answers/archive1

No Easy Answers

 * Nominator(s): Vaticidalprophet 04:41, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

These days, I'm usually not surprised by redlinks. There are plenty of content gaps you could drive a truck through, and plenty more redirects made with overly high expectations or questionable AfDs from 2007. No Easy Answers was a surprising redlink. The memoirs of Brooks Brown, a friend of the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre, it's one of the earliest and best-known works on the shooting. No two analyses of Columbine quite agree; they vary on their proposed factors, their portrayals of the killers, the environment they believe they came up in. No Easy Answers is hard on the side of the bullying hypothesis, in a way that's a little less popular nowadays -- but then again, Brown was there.

This article was recently passed at GAN and has had the living daylights copyedited out of it by a high-viewed DYK. I've looked over it a few times, trying in particular to trim the synopsis as far as possible. I think it's okay now -- it's not too far off Dark Archives, length-wise, and the article itself is a couple hundred words longer. I don't think sitting on this one will get it any more ready at this point, so I'm willing to turn it over to FAC. Vaticidalprophet 04:41, 18 November 2023 (UTC)


 * SC
 * Putting down a marker. I have another review to do first, but I'll be back soon. - SchroCat (talk) 19:35, 20 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi Vat, Can you ping me when you renom and I'll review then. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 18:59, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

SN
Yeah, me too. Read it at the time and not since. This is hardcore. ——Serial 20:27, 20 November 2023 (UTC)

I hope some of this is useful! Great stuff! ——Serial 18:00, 25 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Would readers outside of the US instinctively understand what age elementary school represents? Perhaps mention an age, or anything that indicates how long a period had passed.
 * Bit nitpicky, but you've made no link between CHS and the JPSCD (save bees: lower bytes now!), so strictly it doesn't say that CHS itself had a good reputation. Know what I mean?
 * What's Normandy Elementary School, a catchment school?
 * "...in their first year of high school", same... esp. as your synopsis section repeats much of this material, different schools, etc, so dates/anchor points would be good.
 * When was Brown born?
 * "reportedly bottled up", reported by whom?
 * "a strict hierarchy" sounds rather official. Perhaps sth like "a strict, if unofficial, hierarchy". Possibly add "among the students", unless it was encouraged by officialdom. Although that would then mean that "students" was repeated. This would mean changing the end of the next sentence, e.g. "towards those seen as unpopular or nonconformist."
 * "He proffers... her arm". This longish sentence could be comfortably split at "Jewish student. Further, practice"
 * "In 1998". You see, first date from before the shooting mentioned so far :)
 * "in senior year", seems to be crying out for a definitive article, perhaps that's an AltEng thing.
 * ""responsible for creating..." Do you think the interpolations are necessary? I think that anyone who's got this far knows who is being referred to... unless the bracketed surnames are in the original? In which case, I'd suggest cutting the quote back to the three words.
 * The sentence re., Scott needs attention; Brown's discussion of CHS's pro-christian environment is good, but the quote only makes sense we are told that she was an near-maniacal evangelical. And as it stands the only way the reader can find that out is by clicking away from your article. ("Sad!")
 * Connected to the above, there's also possible confusion—possibly dichotomous, but not irresolvably so for certes—as to the connection between CHS (very Christian ethic), Brown (more Taoist than anything) and Scott (Christian to the extent of evangelism). How did Brown, who felt oppressed by the former, find such a good friend in the latter? Is that the basis of his quote ("defying expectations")?
 * "nothing short of horrific", inline citation. Also, at the last of Todd's quotes. What a nice bloke.
 * How did authorities participate in the bullying
 * Mahler has not been a PhD candidate for some time, passing her viva in Dec 2020.
 * "manage his anguish", inline cite.
 * Is there a source for a Parade magazine-offshoot being "nationally popular", or is this a way of subliminally suggesting that a source with 'Teen' in the title can still be an RS ;)
 * Vat, just a nudge on this one (Did you forget to watchlist this page?!). Once you've dealt with SN's comments, I'll do mine. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 08:59, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I have it watchlisted -- sorry that this has slipped down! I've edited a few of these, but have been insanely busy for a few days. I'll aim to get it all sorted tomorrow. Vaticidalprophet 11:26, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm very occupied off-wiki right now, so unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to address comments in a reasonable FAC timeframe. I'll hopefully be in a position to renominate just after the holiday season at latest. and Gog -- I'll work on these before the renom. Vaticidalprophet</b> 18:53, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * that's a real shame, considering you've got three guaranteed supports lined up ready for the picking :)  but hope all is well IRL, where "busy" = "turkey + wine"  :)    ——Serial  18:58, 4 December 2023 (UTC).

Gog the Mild
Recusing to review.

More to follow. (I am to the end of Synopsis.) Gog the Mild (talk) 15:15, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
 * "The book recounts Brown's experiences growing up as close friends with Klebold ... No Easy Answers tells Brown's personal story of growing up with Klebold". The start of these two consecutive sentences is very repetitive.
 * "Throughout the book, Brown portrays both himself and Klebold as the subjects of extreme bullying from other students, and this as a widespread phenomenon at Columbine ... No Easy Answers focuses on bullying as the proximate cause of Columbine ..." Again, although less obviously, but I think this needs tweaking to only stress the bullying once.
 * "those who were non-athletic". Non-athletic in appearance, in mental outlook, in participation in athletics as opposed to other sports? Could this be clarified.
 * "is a 2002 non-fiction book by Brooks Brown and Rob Merritt ... No Easy Answers was co-written by Brown and Rob Merritt".
 * "the subject of much of its critical analysis". The critical analysis in the book, or the critical analysis of the book?
 * "The Columbine shooting had significant effects on education, policy, copycat crime, and media and cultural portrayals of school violence. Columbine affected decision-making around school security, active shooter response protocols, anti-bullying policy, and religion in schools." Could it be specified whether this was just in the US or more generally.
 * "The book begins with the basics of the shooting". "basics" seems a little unencyclopedic. Perhaps 'basic facts'?
 * "which Brown posits". A postulate is "Something assumed without proof as being self-evident or generally accepted" (Wiktionary). Perhaps 'which Brown argues'?
 * "arguing that the former [media violence] represents an existing demand for such works rather than producing one". I don't understand what this is trying to say.
 * "worshipped the athlete". I suspect that "athlete" is being used to mean something wider than "A participant in a group of sporting activities which includes track and field", eg the US usage. It would be helpful to non-US readers explain what is meant at first use.
 * Link "freshmen". And "junior year" and "senior year".
 * "Brown stopped driving Harris to school." Is it known why this happened?
 * "the common focus on short-term warning signs." Who or what has this focus?
 * "distinguishes Scott as "def[ying] every expectation [he] ever had of a Christian"." Does Brown mean this as praise or condemnation?

That's it from me; a fine analysis. Gog the Mild (talk) 15:59, 3 December 2023 (UTC) FrB.TG (talk) 21:59, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * "Brown criticises frameworks where the attack was spurred by". This seems a little clumsy. Maybe 'Brown criticises frameworks which suggest [or "posit"] the attack was spurred by' or similar?
 * "They presented this focus as". I assume that "this focus" refers to Stone's accusation? If so, it may be clearer to say so.
 * "They presented this focus as an attempt by Brown to transfer his feelings about the shooting from Klebold to Stone." I am not at all sure what is being said here. Could it be unpacked a little?
 * A general comment: "focus" is used 16 times. Perhaps some synonyms?
 * "The version of Columbine High School depicted in No Easy Answers was described by two reviewers as "nothing short of horrific" ... Peterson and Hoover called the book's description of the school "nothing short of horrific"".
 * "Brown went on to work in the film and game industry as a visual effects artist." Is it known what he is currently doing?