Talk:Sejm of Congress Poland/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Chris troutman (talk · contribs) 03:50, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose quality:

   The entire section about Composition and duration needs to be re-written. It's confusing and in some cases factually wrong. (No mention is made of franchise offered only to landowners and lease-holders. Jews were forbidden from voting, etc.) Also, the sentence about how often the Sejm met: "Bardach gives the dates of 1818, 1820, 1823 and 1830; Jędruch lists 1825 instead of 1823" needs to be rewritten. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

   I will rewrite that sentence, but would you have any sources for the other issues? Those topics were not mentioned in the literature I used, which I think does represent some rather significant works on that subject. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 18:39, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

I moved some of my criticism to 2B IAW with WP:WIAGA. Chris Troutman (talk) 21:16, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

1. B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

   The list of notable members could use some cleaning up, but it's passable. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. Has an appropriate reference section:

   I would recommend double-checking the page numbers for Jedruch. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

   I no longer have access to his work. If you do, could you do so? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

   B. Citation to reliable sources where necessary:

   The Composition and duration section contains a spurious sentence about voting rights that fails to mention franchise was offered only to landowners and lease-holders. Jews were also forbidden from voting. Jedruch specifies on p. 226 "The Electoral Ordinance" the exact qualifications. I don't speak or read Polish, so I can only AGF on the Polish sources. Chris Troutman (talk) 21:16, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

   If you have access to Jedruch, could you add the relevant fact and cite? This is not mentioned in Bardach, IIRC (to which I no longer have access, neither). --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

   I've since re-written it. Chris Troutman (talk) 02:14, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   In fact, there should be more mention of the policy differences between Alexander I and Nicholas I and their impact on the Congress. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

   This was not mentioned as an issue in the sources, IIRC. I do agree this is of some relevance, I am not sure it is needed for GA-level comprehensiveness. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

   When in doubt, write it out. I think the current version takes care of it. Chris Troutman (talk) 02:14, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

   B. Focused:

   Definetly not too long. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

   No POV evident to me. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

   The last flurry of movement came in March of 2012 with the DYK. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

   Only one image and it's far beyond copyright. It would be nice to have more and larger pictures but not necessary. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:35, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

   I added another image: the title page of a public domain publication from the Sejm. Chris Troutman (talk) 02:14, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

   B. Images are provided if possible and are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

   I'm traveling out of town at the moment in remote areas with limited Internet access, should be able to address above in a few days. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 18:34, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Some points that make this article confusing:

1. Need to be more clear that all the members of the Sejm were called "deputies." Typically, for someone to be a deputy implies that they are only a junior member to someone else, and this in not the case here.

   Not sure how to clarify this; it is pretty common in other articles I am familiar with, including GAs like Great Sejm. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

2. That this government in general is referred to as "Congress Poland" or "the Congress Kingdom." The article lede says as much, but if you skip over that, you miss out. Using the term 'sejm' both for the whole group and for the lower house specifically is confusing, too. I'm going to recommend later that this article be moved to a better title for those not in the know.

   Ditto. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

3. It seems key to explain that the reign of Alexander I ended and Czar Nicholas changed the functioning of the body. Everything this Sejm did was in response to the Russian overlords.Chris Troutman (talk) 21:27, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

   Replied to this above. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

4. I would also recommend adding Template:Infobox legislature, although it's not per se necessary. Chris Troutman (talk) 01:05, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

   Added.--_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

My apologies I am not able to address all of the issues raised, but I simply no longer have access to those books (I used them a year ago at a library on a different continent I am not going back to anytime soon). --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 10:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

In deference to your contributions, I'm devising how I can make these changes myself, rather than fail the GA review. It'll be on me from here. Chris Troutman (talk) 04:11, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

I've made all the changes I believe are necessary and I'm ready to promote this. Chris Troutman (talk) 02:14, 23 July 2013 (UTC)