Talk:Datchet Bridge/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Binksternet (talk) 16:14, 13 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I will be reviewing this article. I am likely going to have some questions about specific word choices which differ from American usage, since I am an American. My English English is not as keenly developed as yours. Binksternet (talk) 16:11, 13 January 2010 (UTC)}}[reply]

GA review (see here for criteria)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS):
How purposeful is the decision to have the heading "References" followed by the subheading "References"? Could the subheading be "Notes" or "Footnotes" or something?

Done You're right. Changed. Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The phrase "decision by the Queen Anne" is what you want? I would have written "decision by Queen Anne."

Done It used to say "the Crown" and the the got missed from the change Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The quote "for the better convenience of our passage from our Castle at Windsor" has the period following the quote. In the original, was the word Windsor the last word in the sentence? If so, the period should be inside the last quotation mark, per Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Quotation_marks. In fact, the only instance of this quote I could find online was one from Jane Roberts which places a few extra words within the quote! Other examples of the quotation mark punctuation concern may exist—please check each quote for your intention.

Have checked my notes and it is not clear as I only wrote down the actual quoted elements with no final punctuation - lesson learned for next bout of research, thank you! I will go to the library, hopefully tomorrow, and check back with the sources. With regard to the Roberts, I cannot preview that book in g-books - presume to do with being a different side of the pond? Can you tell how she quotes it re the extra words.
Jane Roberts writes "In 1706 Queen Anne decided to replace the ferry with a wooden bridge, 'for the better convenience of our passage to and from our Castle at Windsor'." Roberts puts her quote mark before the full stop.
Done I have checked the back to the original sources for all the quotes and have made changes to the punctuation as necessary. Also had to make a minor change to the text of one. Concerning the "better convenience" quote, the original source (Phillips 1981) does not have the additional words and does not have a full-stop. I also found the same quote in Kennish 1999, again without Robert's additional words & sans full-stop. My decision is to go with the majority and to add Kennish as a second cited source for the quote. Nancy ^talk 16:02, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do you want "all wood structure" or "all-wood structure"?

Done all-wood is better. Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Per MOS:DASH, please decide which dash you would like to replace the spaced hyphens which now serve (incorrectly) to indicate interruption in a sentence. Your choice is either spaced en dashes or unspaced em dashes.

Done Decided on neither & replaced with alternate punctuation or actual words. Use of dashes is an unfortunate tic of mine. cf my talk page. Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding "Mr John Richards, the Rector of Datchet", do we need the honorific Mr?

Done Source said Mr but that was a quote from an older more respectful time. Removal of honorific more appropriate for 2010 Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In "quickly became unsafe...", should the ellipsis be replaced with a colon?

Done Yes! And the other instance. Another of my tics. Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The flow here seems rather breathless, and may benefit from additional punctuation: "...the building of two new road bridges Victoria Bridge slightly upstream and Albert Bridge slightly downstream which both opened in 1851." Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Done Added a couple of commas and a full-stop. Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
The oxforddnb.com reference requires a journal subscription. According to WP:Access to sources, this does not ruin the reference, but I am wondering: is there a free source, or a peek preview available online? The article fact is sufficiently supported by the brief quote in the footnote.
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Extra credit given for having the featured article requirement of alt text. :-)
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

When there was a cantilevered section extending out to but not quite touching the Buckinghamshire pier, how large was the gap? An inch? A handspan?

I wish I knew! I'm pretty sure I've found every mention in the reference works at both Windsor and Maidenhead libraries but I'm going down tomorrow to check the quotes so I'll have another search then. Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly still unable to find any mention of exact distances. It was probably significantly more than an inch as Thacker talks about the "abrupt termination of each half" being "distinctly visible during its entire existence", but obviously my conclusion in that respect is WP:OR :) Nancy ^talk 16:02, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How can the bridge be a "back-door to Windsor Castle" when the castle is some distance away from the crossing? I can see how it would have been a convenient back door to the grounds, the estate, Home Park.

Back-door is I think direct from a source. Makes sense for me as I understand the context in relation to the distance to London but I can see why a reader not familiar with the topography might think the castle was hard by the ferry - it's actually about half a mile away. I've changed to "back-way" Nancy ^talk 20:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, that's my review—I will watch this space for comments and the article for improvements. Nice article, superb images. Too bad there isn't one of the Divided Bridge which shows its idiosyncrasies in greater detail. Binksternet (talk) 18:16, 13 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Got the note... Please take your time, and forget the "seven days" of the template's boilerplate. Binksternet (talk) 22:03, 13 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

<==Passed! Neatly done. About the bridge gap, my guess is that it was not very wide if no record is found of people worrying that a horse might lame itself. The difference between the two halves probably looked striking from the differing construction materials and styles, but the gap was probably narrower than a horse's hoof, in my opinion. Binksternet (talk) 16:50, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]