Wikipedia:Featured article review/Benjamin Morrell/archive1


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

The article was kept by DrKiernan via FACBot (talk) 9:25, 15 April 2015 (UTC).

Benjamin Morrell

 * Notified: User:Brianboulton, WikiProject Biography

I am nominating this featured article for review because... Fails 1.B 1.C and 1.D -- There is a new biography published in February 2015 by Yale University Press that contains substantial new information and re-assessment of Benjamin Morrell based on new research from archival sources. The current article contains important omissions, too much emphasis on certain things and not enough on others. I would certainly like to improve the article but it really needs a top to bottom sentence by sentence audit, new sections etc.. and it's probably beyond my current time budget. In any case it is no longer an accurate reflection of Benjamin Morrell according to the latest research and shouldn't be featured as the best of Wikipedia. I left some notes on the talk page. Green C  02:27, 24 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Hi Green Cardamom, I see you only posted to the article's talk page a few days ago - per the instructions at the top of WP:FAR, we'd like to have discussion on the talk page for a week or two before starting a formal FAR. Thus, I'm placing this review on hold for now. I'd encourage you to keep an eye out for any response on the talk page and discuss potential improvements for a while longer, and if after that period significant issues remain we can reopen the review. Nikkimaria (talk) 03:28, 24 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for putting this on hold. The new source, obviously not available five years ago when the article was written, appears from its blurb to focus on a particular phase of Morell's career, rather than on his whole life. Until I've seen the book I can't judge how its content should be reflected in the article, but I have to say that  the claim that the article  needs "a top to bottom sentence by sentence audit" seems like ridiculous hyperbole, asserting the unreliability of every other source.   The book is not easily available in the UK, so I may need some time before I can  get to grips with it. Brianboulton (talk) 11:55, 24 March 2015 (UTC)
 * No offense intended with any of my comments. I would recommend reading the book as most of the article could be updated with information therein (and it's a ripping good book). The author is a professional historian (ie academic), used primary source unpublished sources no one has before (unpublished diaries etc), found information no one else has before. It's a modern academic book-length treatment of Morrell. Nothing else like it exists. If you like feel free to borrow my digital copy - send me a Wiki email. --  Green  C  13:01, 24 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I will do so. Brianboulton (talk) 13:27, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

In relation to the "sentence by sentence audit" comment above, I would add this: the article was prepared in 2010 on the basis of the best sources that were then available. The publication of a new source, which happens many times in the case of many articles, does not of itself invalidate all earlier sources or render the article useless. It is right that an article should be modified and updated with regard to any new information; this is the normal process of article maintenance, with which I'm sure we all agree. Why is that process not being followed here? I see no justification at all for making a single new source the occasion of a FAR – this looks to me like a misuse of the process. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Brianboulton (talk • contribs)

Brian, the FAR was initiated because talk page concerns went unanswered (though I was supposed to wait a little longer). So long as there is progress being made to address the issues there is no reason to worry about the FAR. You said you could not read the book I sent you via an email attachment because it was too big and garbled (it was a 6MB epub). I offered to send the book via another method (web page download). You did not respond. Are you still interested in reading the source? -- Green  C  16:29, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * User:Green Cardamom: Well, you posted on the talk page on 20 March, did not ping me as principal author, then brought the matter to FAR three days later. I don't think that's reasonable – I call that trigger-happy.  I'm not worried about the outcome of an FAR once I've had the chance to see the book, though  I am angry at your unjustifiable rubbishing of the article. However, my feelings will not stand in the way of updating the article. I had not replied to your last email because I have been struggling to load the necessary software on the basis of the link you provided. Unfortunately I can't make that work either.  If you are prepared to send the book via web page download, that would be useful. I am not even sure that the book is yet available in book form in the UK, so I'd probably have to get the print version from the US which would mean a further delay. Brianboulton (talk) 21:44, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I just sent the book via email as a web link to a PDF. It's a conversion from epub to pdf so lost the professional layout but is usable.  --  Green  C  02:37, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
 * User:Green Cardamom: Book received, thank you. In the pdf format the pagination is different - this version runs to 645 pages, so I will need help in adjusting page ranges to the printed version. Brianboulton (talk) 10:25, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

FAR co-ordinators: I will need a little time to read this rather long book and make the necessary adjustments to the article, in the midst of other work, so please bear with me if progress is not immediately apparent. I will be working on it. Brianboulton (talk) 10:25, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

This FAR is on hold, yet discussion is continuing here ... could you all please use the article talk page? Sandy Georgia (Talk) 14:05, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Sandy, if you wish I will transfer the comments from 26 March onwards to the talkpage. Discussion on page numbering will continue there. Brianboulton (talk) 21:43, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

The new book, The Captain and the Cannibal by James Fairhead (2015) is a valuable source. It's not a biography – it skates over Morrell's earlier years and adventures, and deals almost exclusively with the fourth of his "Four Voyages", and with the events in the remaining years of his life. It provides much useful detail, enabling a substantial expansion of the latter part of the article. The following is a summary of work carried out:
 * Progress report
 * Expansion of the "Fourth voyage" section, with additional detail and correction of some chronological confusion in the earlier version
 * The "Later life" section has been expanded and is now presented in three subsections: "Money-making", summarising Morrells commercial activities following his return from his fourth voyage; "Return to the Pacific", providing a full account of this disastrous venture and its aftermath – early sources have glossed over this episode in a single line; "Final years and death", a fuller account of Morrell's last years, including Fairhead's novel theory of a staged death.
 * I have rewritten the lead, to reflect the revised and extended content.
 * I have checked every external link, and replaced several that were no longer working.
 * Finally, I have read through the whole text, and refreshed the prose where this appeared necessary (standards were a little less stringent in 2009).

I believe that I have done everything within reason to restore the article to the required FA standard. It would have been a lot easier to write the article had this been available six years ago. Brianboulton (talk) 21:35, 13 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you! I have no further issue concerning FA status. I have some other questions which I'll take to the talk page. -- Green  C  22:23, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

I intend to close this shortly as a keep, unless there are further comments or other FAR coordinators act sooner/object. So, if editors do have remaining concerns please raise them soon. DrKiernan (talk) 19:06, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

DrKiernan (talk) 19:25, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Keep w/o FARC. Sandy Georgia  (Talk) 19:16, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.