Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/The Boat Races 2015/archive1


 * 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 promoted by Laser brain via FACBot (talk) 12:16, 29 August 2015.

The Boat Races 2015

 * Nominator(s): The Rambling Man (talk) 13:22, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

The 2015 running of The Boat Race was an epoch-marking moment – the three "senior" races were held, back-to-back, on the Tideway for the first time in the history of the event, which dates back to 1829. This article was one of the last of the entire set that I got to good article status, a day or two after the races themselves. I waited for a long time for a peer review and received some very brief comments, so I thought (no, I knew) if I brought it here, it'd receive a much more critical examination. Thanks in advance to everyone who spends any time or energy in the process. The Rambling Man (talk) 13:22, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Support Comments by Cas Liber
I'll jot some notes as I go.....


 * In para 2 of the lead, you've mentioned the result of the Osiris/Blondie race but not the Isis/Goldie one...(should put the Isis/Goldie stuff together somehow)
 * Oopsie, added now. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:15, 25 July 2015 (UTC)


 *  Prior to this year, the women's race was usually held at the Henley Boat Races along the 2,000-metre (2,200 yd) course, although on at least two occasions, in the interwar period, the women competed on the Thames between Chiswick and Kew. - I think this sentence flows better if split in the middle...
 * Split. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:22, 25 July 2015 (UTC)


 * They were inadvertently discovered stranded during an RNLI exercise - presume you mean, "They were discovered inadvertently stranded during an RNLI exercise"...?
 * I guess that depends on the inadvertedness, the RNLI discovered them by chance (according to the sources) and of course any stranding would have been inadvertent, so I'm not sure if the rephrasing is strictly necessary. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:22, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Aaah, ok you're right/my bad...Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 21:10, 25 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Over 250,000 spectators lined the Thames to watch the three races - is this alot/about average for this...?
 * Anecdotally I'd say it's just a little over average, but I'll need to see if I can find some sources to make some comparisons. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:27, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * OK - I am sure if you find it you'll add it and if you can't then you can't. Minor issue in the scheme of things so I am at a stage where i can't see any obvious improvements then....Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 10:05, 26 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks, it's one of those things that's notoriously difficult, to estimate the number of people lining the four-and-a-bit miles length of the Thames... I'll keep digging, but thatnks for your comments and support.  The Rambling Man (talk) 10:14, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Otherwise little to fault really...looks comprehensive and prose is ok. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 15:32, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your comments Cas. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:27, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

Image review
 * File:Phil_Hughes_cropped.jpg: this is tagged as a temp upload so is liable to be deleted
 * In the meantime, using the main image. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:05, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * File:Oxford-University-Circlet.svg: uploader is not the author (if they were, the licensing would not be valid). Nikkimaria (talk) 15:43, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Replaced author with the University. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:05, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the comments Nikkimaria. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:06, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

Comments by Brustopher
Haven't really commented on an FA review before, just saw this pop up on my watchlist and thought I'd give my two cents. Apologies if I'm doing this wrong.
 * In the second paragraph of the lede the women's boat race is brought up without really explaining what it is and where it's come from.
 * Well it's linked there to the main article and is explained in more detail in the Background section. Is there something more specific that you're looking for?  I didn't want to make the intro too awkward, particularly with regard to the various start years, regularity, courses etc... The Rambling Man (talk) 09:55, 26 July 2015 (UTC)
 * In the background section it's not explained when the women's boat race began. This could read as implying it began in 1829 with the men's event.
 * I've added the year of the first women's race, 1927. The Rambling Man (talk) 09:51, 26 July 2015 (UTC)


 * The Eleanor Oldroyd quote in the background section could mislead people into thinking the Boat Race has prize money. Perhaps a template:sic and a clarifying note could work here?Brustopher (talk) 16:47, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Yeah, odd one that, I guess Oldroyd was meaning to refer to the financial sponsorship given to both crews rather than money for winning the race. I've done as you suggested.  The Rambling Man (talk) 09:55, 26 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks Brustopher, I am just about to do family stuff, so I'll get back to your comments as soon as I can. The Rambling Man (talk) 16:53, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Ok, I've responded to the comments above, thanks again. The Rambling Man (talk) 09:55, 26 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Support I'm pretty happy with this. Thanks for the changes, and writing the article in the first place. Brustopher (talk) 19:01, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

Support – my usual whinge about tabloidese false titles ("umpired by six-time Blue Boris Rankov" etc) but that's a matter of personal taste. Otherwise nothing but praise for this article, which I suspect may well be the best of all the fine Boat Race articles written by the Rambling Man. Clearly meets the FA criteria in my view. –  Tim riley  talk    11:32, 30 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you Tim, I've had a trawl through to remove the falsies where I saw them. Cheers for the support. The Rambling Man (talk) 14:30, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

Support I already reviewed this one at GA. I made some very minor copy editing changes here. Revert anything you don't like. Favourite line: "Most televised sport is a carnival of misogyny so it is great news that the Boat Race is leading the way in ensuring that women take their rightful place alongside men." It really tickled my Australian sense of humour with its taste for hyperbole. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:38, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

Source review by Cas Liber

 * Dates all formatted consistently, titles in sentence case consistently, authors formatted consistently. all looks in order referencing-wise....


 * Spot checks....
 * Passes muster with Earwig's tool
 * material is faithful to refs 1 and 2.
 * material is faithful to ref 10 except that ref does not mention reserve races.
 * I've addressed that, thanks. The Rambling Man (talk) 07:41, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

-- Laser brain  (talk)  12:16, 29 August 2015 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.