Wikipedia:Portal peer review/Cumbria/archive1

Portal:Cumbria
Completely reworked this over the last week, and think it's looking pretty cool now. I have kept and reworked some of what was there before, but removed most of it. I hope to take this to FPOC soon, so any and all comments are welcome and appreciated. J Milburn (talk) 18:14, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Comment Some of the images in the selected articles need to be shrunk. At the moment, the one for Norman Birkett is pixelated and the one for Andrew Johnston is just poor quality (making it smaller will hide that). I like that there's a selected mountain and selected lake section, it makes the portal stand out from the usual type. Does the portal have to feature only decent articles? Because it seems bizarre that Carlisle isn't one of them. I realise it's nice to showcase the areas best articles, but some of the FAs and Gas just don't really have a Cumbrian "feel". It depends what you want the portal to do. Is it supposed to show off the best articles, or provide an engaging introduction to Cumbria? I'd prefer the latter, although it means showcasing poorer quality articles. That's partly because the Lancs and Cumbria project is still finding its feet. There are some fantastic buildings in Cumbria, such as Brough Castle and Brougham Castle (some of the best in the north west) which will be far more interesting than a species of sheep. I see you've tried to make do with what are limited resources, but it's a decent start.. Nev1 (talk) 18:40, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your thoughts. I'll see what I can do about the images- I agree with you there. The selected articles have been chosen based on the quality of the article, as is done on the main page- I'd love to see some more recognised articles on Cumbria topics. I'd say the balance is about right- the "overview of Cumbria" feel is given in the introduction and the topics section, as well as the categories. We then have the selected article, recognised content and selected picture sections showing off higher quality content. The selected mountain and selected lake sections are also very Cumbrian, I would say. (Additionally, I really do think Herdwicks are of high importance with regards to Cumbria, but, as I say, that's not why it was chosen. I do feel a list of historical sites, perhaps along with some of the museums, could well have a place in the topics section- any ideas?) J Milburn (talk) 19:08, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Fair enough, most of the portal has a definitely Cumbrian feel to it, but the selected article bit feels a bit out of place. A list of historic sites would be tricky. Taking the example of castles, off the top of my head I think there are about 50 in Cumbria, and that's discounting the tower houses which are characteristic of the area and very common. I don't know figures for Scheduled Monuments, but I'd be surprised if Cumbria wasn't on a similar level with Cheshire which has about 200 I think (there are so many there are three lists on Wikipedia). As for Grade I listed buildings (the most important listed buildings), you're probably looking at the same order of figure. Cheshire and Greater Manchester have decent lists as a result of having an active project, but Cumbria very much lags behind here, so again there's the problem of show casing content that isn't of the best standard. What it really comes down to is we need better articles on Cumbria. Nev1 (talk) 20:11, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Absolutely. Three of the good articles were written by me, but, naturally, I only know my end of Cumbria well, and the Lake District fairly well. As such, I know nothing of Carlisle and the north. I'd argue that the majority have a Cumbria feel (the sheep and the mountain are obviously very Cumbria, the ship and Askam are very Furness (which is my neck of Cumbria...) and the two events were things that happened in Cumbria; I admit the biographies are less Cumbrian) but I would like to work on more Cumbrian articles soon. J Milburn (talk) 22:05, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Comment. I love the idea of including selected mountain & selected lake (just wish Cheshire had a few mountains to select!). I agree with Nev1 that until the Cumbrian project gets going, it would be better to select interesting B class articles than to stick just to Good & Featured content. I wondered why Lake District wasn't included, though I see it's deteriorated since I last read it. If you want some Cumbrian biographies, what about A.W. Wainwright, Arthur Ransome & Wordsworth or others of the Lake Poets? I'd suggest starting a DYK section with facts that have been featured on the main page -- and if you're short of those, you can always cheat & write some yourself! You could start a quotations section -- there must be lots of famous poetry, if nothing else. You could also rename the current selected images section as selected panorama, and start a separate selected images box -- there must be lots of beautiful images. Now I'm feeling guilty that my sole Cumbrian article is a stub... Hope this is of use, Espresso Addict (talk) 09:02, 12 May 2010 (UTC)