Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/John Kourkouas


 * The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page.  No further edits should be made to this discussion.


 * Promoted -MBK004 05:38, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

John Kourkouas

 * Nominator(s): Constantine  ✍ 

Hello! This is the second nomination of this article (the first one can be found here). The major outstanding issue in the previous nomination was prose quality, which I believe to have been rectified, with the invaluable help of Auntieruth55... Constantine  ✍  06:17, 3 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment—A1 citation presentation quality: Treadgold, Warren T. (1997), surely doesn't require the location information, and the UP contains the location and is sufficiently known not to require one in any case. Harvard CMES, unless given on the bibliographic page of the work as such, might deserve to be spelled out in full, to indicate that it is a unit of the University taking publication responsibility, not the UP or the University as a whole?  fn59 needs to indicate which of the two cited works provided the translation?  Did you (or another editor) actually visibly site Niebuhr (1838) or was Niebuhr quoted in Holmes (2005)?  ie: Translation Niebuhr (1838) as cited in Holmes (2005) if you didn't view Niebuhr and Niebuhr produced the translation. Fifelfoo (talk) 02:55, 8 September 2010 (UTC)


 * On the locations, some reviewers require them even when it is self-evident, others don't, so I usually leave them. I spelled out the CMES, a good point. On the translated part, it is translated straight from Niebuhr's edition of the text (i.e. from the original Greek), since Holmes' version is incomplete (the quote she provides begins after "became..."). There exists no translation of Theophanes Continuatus in English, do I translated it myself, and added Holmes as a sort of "verification". I am not sure what the proper procedure is here, though... Constantine  ✍  05:21, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Happy with this explanation! Fifelfoo (talk) 13:41, 12 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Support Comments :
 * no dab links, ext links all work (no action required);
 * some images have alt text, but others don't (not required, but suggestion only);
 * some of the ISBNs appear to hyphenated differently to the others, could these be standardised please?
 * File:Melitene by the Byzantines in 934 from the Chronicle of John Skylitzes.jpg needs some sourcing information, I think;
 * the Advisor script reports that a few of the ISBNs may not be correct (e.g Jenkins, Treadgold 1997, Treadgold 1998, and Whittow), could you please investigate and adjust if necessary?
 * in some places you appear to have used a space endash (e.g. in the Early life and career section) but then elsewhere an unspaced emdash (e.g. in the Campaigns in Mesopotamia section). Either is fine per the MOS, but they should be consistent. AustralianRupert (talk) 04:12, 10 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I fixed the ISBNs, writing them as they are written on the books themselves. On those that might be wrong, I copied them straight from the books, but for some reason, the 978 seems to confuse the script. If you remove it, it presents no problems. I also added info on the image. I don't know where the original uploader got it from, but it is PD either way. I'll fix the dash problems next... Constantine  ✍  16:38, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
 * OK, I fixed the endash issue, it was only this instance. BTW, alt text exists in every image. Only for some reason someone had removed the "alt=" parameter from it. Constantine  ✍  10:07, 11 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Very good prose. I have never imagined that he did all this. Villick (talk) 15:57, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you :) Indeed, Kourkouas is one of the least known of history's great generals. I hope that this article will contribute to rectifying this... Constantine  ✍  16:38, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Support Nicely done.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 17:32, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Support Very well written/sourced/illustrated, shows careful attention to detail. Given this is A-Class, there might be a small quibble with Nothing further is known about him. not actually being cited -- does no source say that explicitly? In any case, very well done. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 00:05, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you. As to the quibble, unfortunately, all sources either end their account with his dismissal in 944 (ODB, Runciman), or go on to mention his rehabilitation under Constantine VII and the 946 embassy (Guilland), but then fall into silence. It is evident that nothing more is known, but I cannot find an explicit statement to cite from. Constantine  ✍  11:16, 17 September 2010 (UTC)


 * The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page, such as the current discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.