Talk:Olaf the Peacock

Latest comment: 14 years ago by MWLittleGuy in topic Historical accuracy
Good articleOlaf the Peacock has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
September 24, 2008Good article nomineeListed
October 7, 2008Peer reviewReviewed
Did You Know
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on August 28, 2008.
The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that tenth-century Icelandic chieftain Olaf the Peacock was known for his extravagant clothes?
Current status: Good article


GA Review

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Olaf the Peacock/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria


This article is in decent shape, but it needs more work before it becomes a Good Article.

  1. Is it well written?
    A. The prose is clear and concise, and the spelling and grammar are correct:  
    In the Birth and upbringing section, this sentence ---> "According to Laxdaela Saga, Hoskuld purchased a mute thrall-woman from a Rus' merchant on Brännö while on a trading expedition to Norway, and made her his concubine while away from his wife Jorunn Bjarnadottir.[3].", it would be best if only one period is shown and it should come before the reference.
    Check. --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 16:17, 12 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
    B. It complies with the manual of style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation:  
    The article tends to have "red links", if they don't have articles, it would be best to un-link them, per here.
    That link says that redlinks should not be created to articles that will never exist. I am working on articles for all of the names marked in redlink. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 13:22, 12 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
    Check. --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 16:17, 12 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
  2. Is it verifiable with no original research, as shown by a source spot-check?
    A. It contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline:  
    It would be best if the book sources use {{cite book}} template.
    The article is using book sources, thus needing to use the cite book template. --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 16:17, 12 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
    B. Reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose):  
    Does Reference 9 cover all this ---> "At the age of seven, over his mother's objections, Olaf became the foster son and heir of a wealthy but childless goði named Thord, who was at the time engaged in complex litigation with the kinsmen of his ex-wife Vigdis Ingjaldsdottir (another descendent of Thorstein the Red). Olaf's adoption complicated the issues in the suit and threatened to lead to a blood feud, but Hoskuld arranged a settlement and compensated Vigdis' kinsmen with gifts. By fostering Olaf Thord gained the protection of the powerful Hoskuld, and Hoskuld secured an inheritance for his illegitimate son beyond the limited amount he was permitted to leave to Olaf under Icelandic law"?
    -This has been clarified. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 23:21, 11 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
    Does Reference 17 cover all this ---> "As luck would have it, the local king arrived on the scene, and proved to be Olaf's alleged grandfather Myrkjartan. Olaf remained with Myrkjartan for a time, and the king, according to Laxdaela Saga, even offered to make Olaf his heir. Olaf, however, ultimately returned to Norway, afraid of provoking Myrkjartan's sons"?
    -Yes. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 23:21, 11 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
    Double check. --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 16:17, 12 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
    C. It contains no original research:  
    D. It contains no copyright violations nor plagiarism:  
  3. Is it broad in its coverage?
    A. It addresses the main aspects of the topic:  
    B. It stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style):  
  4. Is it neutral?
    It represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each:  
  5. Is it stable?
    It does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute:  
  6. Is it illustrated, if possible, by images?
    A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content:  
    B. Images are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:  
    It would be best if Image:Egil Skallagrimsson 17c manuscript.jpg is placed on the right, per here.
    --Per the MOS, images should be staggered with the first image being right-aligned. Both the previous and the subsequent images are right aligned, so Egil should be left-. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 23:25, 11 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
    Well, it also says, "It is often preferable to place images of faces so that the face or eyes look toward the text." I'm just saying. Check. --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 16:17, 12 September 2008 (UTC)Reply
  7. Overall:
    Pass or Fail:  
    If the statements above can be answered, I will pass the article. Good luck with improving this article!

--  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 22:24, 9 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Well, after reading the article, I have gone off and passed the article. Congratulations. If you feel that this review is in error, feel free to take it to a GA review. Thank you to all who worked hard to bring it to this status. --  ThinkBlue  (Hit BLUE) 20:34, 24 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Historical accuracy

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The article is very good as far as it goes. But it seems to be heavily dependent on the sagas, and it is my understanding that the sagas, as essentially literary productions, used history as a basis for the story rather than attempting to achieve historical accuracy. The article just accepts the saga version as fact. --MWLittleGuy (talk) 21:12, 13 February 2010 (UTC)Reply