Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Bristol

Bristol

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page unless you are renominating the article at TFAR. For renominations, please add   to the top of the discussion and   at the bottom, then complete a new nomination underneath. To do this, see the instructions at TFAR nom/doc.

The result was: not scheduled by — Chris Woodrich (talk) 09:01, 23 January 2016 (UTC)



Bristol is a city, unitary authority and county in South West England with an estimated population of 442,500 in 2015. It is England's sixth and the United Kingdom's eighth most populous city, and the most populous city in Southern England after London. People from the city are known as Bristolians. Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built in the area around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, and it became known as Brycgstow (Old English "the place at the bridge") around the beginning of the 11th century. Bristol received a royal charter in 1155. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities after London (with York and Norwich) in tax receipts. Bristol was eclipsed by the rapid rise of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham during the Industrial Revolution. Its prosperity linked with the sea since its earliest days, Bristol was the base for the early voyages of exploration to the New World. The Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock. Bristol's modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries, and the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as centres of heritage and culture. It is one of the UK's most popular tourist destinations. The Sunday Times named Bristol the best city to live in Britain in 2014, and it won the EU's European Green Capital Award in 2015.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Last city - Kent, Ohio on 27 December 2015. Last UK town/village Birchington-on-Sea on 29 August 2015.
 * Main editors:, ,
 * Promoted: 31 December 2015
 * Reasons for nomination: No specific date, but after many years (started 2002 & 4,565 edits by 1,637 editors) this article has finally made it to FA. It was on the vital articles list (but I can't find it now) and is linked to over 50 versions in other languages. It receives approx 500,000 page views per year.
 * Support as nominator. &mdash; Rod talk 10:11, 1 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Support. I was quite happy with the finished product at FAC. - Dank (push to talk) 14:30, 1 January 2016 (UTC)
 * That collage of images doesn't work at main page size, unfortunately. If you ask the TFA schedulers nicely, they might set up a rotating selection of images for TFA day, otherwise I suggest you pick just one subject. Also, should it be "the best city to live in in Britain", rather than "to live in Britain"? BencherliteTalk 23:45, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I did wonder about the collage of pics at a small size. Rotating images could be good (but I have no idea how to achieve this). The single image or rotating images could be:
 * File:Clifton.bridge.arp.750pix.jpg
 * File:Castle.park.bristol.arp.jpg
 * File:Balloonsoversuspensionbridge.JPG
 * But i'd be happy for someone else to select an image. Again I'm not sure about "to live in in Britain" v "to live in Britain" and would welcome advice.&mdash; Rod talk 07:40, 5 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Support. Finally this article gets its well-deserved star. Can't see why not. sst ✈  05:22, 6 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Comment: The lead section is six paragraphs long, as against WP:LEAD's recommended four. It contains information that is barely leadworthy, e.g. "The city has a short coastline on the Severn Estuary (which flows into the Bristol Channel)", and unnecessary detailing of venues and transport connections. The final lead sentence is seriously ungrammatical: "The Sunday Times named Bristol the best city to live in Britain in 2014, and won the EU's European Green Capital Award in 2015" – I'm surprised no one noticed that at the recent FAC. Before this is scheduled as TFA, someone should look at the grammar (there could be  other instances), and perhaps the overdetailing issues, too. Brianboulton (talk) 13:17, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Questions What are the flags for? Does the pronunciation guide add anything? I share Brian's qualms. Leaning oppose. --John (talk) 20:36, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I have removed the flags & reduced the number of paragraphs in the lead. The grammar mangling "to live in Britain" has been reworded by another editor.&mdash; Rod talk 08:04, 15 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks for gettting rid of the flags. I haven't got out of the lead yet and I still keep finding infelicitous writing. What do we think of a sentence like this one: "Its prosperity linked with the sea since its earliest days, Bristol was the base for the early voyages of exploration to the New World: on a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, was the first European since the Vikings to land in North America, and in 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America."? Do we need to mention the M32 or the factoid about the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel in the lead? Why are there citations in the lead? --John (talk) 09:13, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Coordinator's note: I appreciate that much work has gone into this article. However, the issues raised by John, and in my own rather superficial investigations, lead me to think that despite the article's recent promotion, to run it now as TFA would be premature. Apart from the points raised above, I have other issues. For example, "The Diocese of Bristol was founded in 1542..." – this is true, but does not refer to the current diocese, a much later re-creation with different geographical boundaries from the original. This important detail is not apparent from the article. That same sentence continues "with the former Abbey of St. Augustine (founded by Robert Fitzharding in 1140) becoming Bristol Cathedral", which is an awkward misuse of the "with" preposition. The next sentence reads: "Bristol also became a city and county that year"; it didn't just "become" these things – perhaps it was "awarded the status of" – and "that year" is ambiguous. At another point I read: "Bristol's educational system was boosted in 1909 by the formation of the University of Bristol". This is misleading; apart from the fact that Bristol does not have an "educational system", universities in the UK are national, centrally-funded institutions which serve far beyond local needs. Until the article has undergone a significant revision, resolving these and other points, I do not think it should run as TFA. There is, after all, no date deadline that we are trying to meet. It can run more safely later. Brianboulton (talk) 14:43, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your note and I accept your comment about there not being a deadline (I just nominated it soon after promotion thinking there would be too much linkrot or updating needed). It would have been great if some of these issues had come up during the FAC. If anyone is able to make edits to improve the issues identified that would be great.&mdash; Rod talk 15:28, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * You indeed have my sympathy that these issues were not raised at FAC, so that they could be resolved there. Brianboulton (talk) 20:32, 17 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Oppose. From the evidence of the lead, I agree with others that the article is not of the standard one expects from featured articles. Espresso Addict (talk) 11:08, 19 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment. Corinne is now copyediting this one for WP:GOCE. - Dank (push to talk) 03:03, 23 January 2016 (UTC)


 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/March 7, 2016 by Brianboulton (talk) 00:19, 18 February 2016 (UTC)



Bristol is a city, unitary authority and county in South West England with an estimated population of 442,500 in 2015. It is England's sixth and the United Kingdom's eighth most populous city, and the most populous city in Southern England after London. Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, and around the beginning of the 11th century the settlement was known as Brycgstow (Old English "the place at the bridge"). Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was in Gloucestershire until 1373, when it became a county. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities after London (with York and Norwich) in tax receipts. Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, became the first European since the Vikings to land in North America. In 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. Bristol's modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries, and the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as centres of heritage and culture. In 2014 The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live, and Bristol also won the EU's European Green Capital Award in 2015.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Last city - Kent, Ohio on 27 December 2015. Last UK town/village Birchington-on-Sea on 29 August 2015.
 * Main editors:, ,
 * Promoted: 31 December 2015
 * Reasons for nomination: Since the previous nomination, which was archived (largely on prose grounds), the article has been copyedited by User:Corinne on behalf of the GOCE and has received edits or comments (which have been acted on) by, , , , , and others.
 * Support as nominator. &mdash; Rod talk 18:43, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Support. Sure, why not. sst ✈(conjugate) 05:17, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Support. Danrok (talk) 10:56, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Support. yes please. big city - broad interest. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 02:20, 17 February 2016 (UTC)