Wikipedia:Peer review/Dali (goddess)/archive1

Dali (goddess)

This article passed GA back in January and I've been steadily improving and expanding it ever since. I've finally reached the stage where I'm 99% certain I've exhausted every available reliable resource in English, so I'm presenting the article for peer review before a possible run at my first FA. I don't have any specific concerns, but I definitely feel like I'm a little too close to it to evaluate it objectively.

I have copies of many of the cited sources and am happy to email PDFs if anyone wants to spot check them.

I know it's a big article but it's been a labor of love and I would be very grateful for some feedback. Thanks, ♠PMC♠ (talk) 01:55, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Comments by Kaiser matias

I'll take a look over it in the coming days, but an initial question I'd have is do you have any ability to read Georgian- or Russian-language sources? I realise both languages don't have decent articles on the subject, but seeing how several sources used here are Georgian authors, I would think they'd have something one, or both languages that may possibly be useful. Kaiser matias (talk) 23:58, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Not a whit of either, sadly. Fortunately, Elene Virsaladze's Georgian hunting myths and poetry, which is probably the most significant Georgian source IMO, was entirely translated into English by David Hunt just before his death, so at least I had access to that. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 05:58, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

All good, there may not be that much more to gain from those languages as is. I'll hopefully have it all looked through by the weeekend. Kaiser matias (talk) 23:05, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

No problem. Let me know if you want to check any of the sources; I have PDFs of a bunch of the non-free ones. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 23:24, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Alright, so apologies for not getting back to you with comments sooner; between the holidays and all that I got caught up and it slipped my mind. However I have some here for you:

• "In a story about Dali's Mingrelian equivalent..." The Mingrelian name is not brought up here, but is mentioned in the next section; I'd suggest adding the name to this part too, while keeping the fuller explanation where it is.

• Regarding the map of languages in the Caucasus, I notice it only includes the Northeast languages. As Dali is a Georgian goddess, particularly Svan, it seems logical to include the Kartvelian languages in the map as well. I don't know if there is a copy that shows that on Wikipedia already, or how difficult it would be to add, but just something extra to add.

• The image of the hunter captioned "A Svaneti hunter in traditional garb," I would slightly change to "Svan hunter." Svaneti refers to the region, Svan for the people, and you wouldn't refer to someone as "Svaneti."

• The villages of Mulakhi and Muzhali are written with the -i suffix in the image caption, but as Mulakh and Muzhal (without the -i) in the text. Georgian grammar requires the -i for the nominative ending, and while I can't say that about Svan, I think it's the same (conversely the Georgian Wikipedia for Mulakhi has the -i; there is no article for Muzhali). I realise that the source may not have done so, but I don't know if Tuite understands Georgian grammar, so I'd add the -i to the names in text of the article.

• Notice all the images are on the right. Not a critique by any means, just found that an interesting stylistic choice that works well.

Overall I don't see a lot. Most of what I noted is minor things related to the particularities of the Caucasus. It's really an interesting article, and very comprehensive, which is impressive. I knew the Georgian mythology was quite expansive, but have not really done any reading into it at all, but am glad I did here. I think it would do well at FAC, and if/when you bring it there I'll gladly take another look in view of supporting it. Kaiser matias (talk) 21:31, 6 January 2019 (UTC)

Kaiser matias, thank you so much for your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed reading the article! I had a lot of fun researching it - Georgian mythology is just crazy interesting, and once I got rolling I couldn't stop.

I've made the tweaks you've suggested. In terms of the language map, it looks like there isn't an existing image that has the Northern Caucasian languages and the Georgian languages in one. The reason I used the Nakh one rather than the Georgian language map was because the paragraph leans pretty heavily on the idea that her name came from a Nakh word, so to me it made sense to show that group. I see where you're coming from about showing a Georgian map though. I could maybe ask if someone at the Graphics Lab could make a combination Georgian/Northern Caucasian map, but GL doesn't look super active so not sure if that would go anywhere. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 23:16, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

Not a problem regarding the map, it was apparent while reading why it's there. While a bit more informative map would be nice, it wouldn't be the worst thing if it wasn't changed at all. And I hope you go through and expand some other articles related to the mythology, it was really neat reading this one and I'm sure others would be just as neat. Kaiser matias (talk) 02:21, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

Comments by evrik

• You might want to add a {{Sister project links}} template, and perhaps an infobox. --evrik ^(talk) 22:57, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

• evrik, I've reverted your addition of the infobox. The lack of one was an editorial decision; the one you placed added very little to the article and I do not see it being of much use. I'm not sure sister project links is a useful template given that there is no content about her on other projects. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 23:50, 23 January 2019 (UTC)