- The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 00:40, 4 November 2020 (UTC)
St Mark's Campanile
St Mark's Campanile in Venice
... that St Mark's Campanile in Venice (pictured) was initially built as a watchtower to sight approaching ships and protect the entry to the city? Source: "Agazzi, Michela, Platea Sancti Marci: I luoghi marciani dall'XI al XIII secolo e la formazione della piazza (Venezia: Comune di Venezia, Assessorato agli affari istituzionali, Assessorato alla cultura and Università degli studi, Dipartimento di storia e critica delle arti, 1991), p. 16"
Improved to Good Article status by Venicescapes (talk). Self-nominated at 09:53, 2 October 2020 (UTC).
The GA review is being reopened due to a problematic review, so while this article was nominated for DYK in good faith, the nomination needs to wait until the GA promotion has been confirmed or undone. Putting this nomination on hold until the process has been completed. Thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 23:01, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
| General: Article is new enough and long enough
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| Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
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| Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
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| Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
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Overall: 
AGF on sourcing --evrik (talk) 19:00, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
- Hi, I came by to promote this, but am hesitant about using the image because it is far away and darkish. I see you have other, sharper images in the article which might work better at thumbnail size. I also find the hook dependent on the image, and not very hooky at that. Perhaps you could add a little more detail, like that it was later gilded so it could be seen from even farther away? Or something else? Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 14:40, 20 October 2020 (UTC)
- I changed the image. I could alternatively use the close-up of the spire from the article, but I think it gives less of a sense of the strategic function of the tower. As to the hook, what about: ... that St Mark's Campanile in Venice was initially built as a watchtower to sight approaching ships and protect the entry to the city and that its spire, once gilded, made it a lighthouse?Venicescapes (talk) 17:04, 20 October 2020 (UTC)
@Venicescapes: Thank you, that's nice. But where does it say "lighthouse" in the article?- I'm formatting and shortening your hook a bit:
- ALT1a:
... that St Mark's Campanile (pictured) in Venice was initially built as a watchtower to sight approaching ships, and its spire, once gilded, made it a lighthouse? Yoninah (talk) 17:27, 20 October 2020 (UTC)
- It's only implied. I was trying to stay inside the 200-character limit. What about:
- ALT2:
... that St Mark's Campanile (pictured) in Venice was initially built as a watchtower to sight approaching ships, and its spire, once gilded, made it a beacon to guide ships safely into port?
- @Venicescapes: well, if so, that last part needs to be specifically stated in the article with an inline cite. Yoninah (talk) 21:20, 20 October 2020 (UTC)
- I appreciate your help with this. It's difficult to be accurate with only 200 characters. The citation would be reference 25 in the article which is based in turn on Sabellico's guide to the city. I think part of the difficulty stems from our general assumption that a lighthouse is for nocturnal navigation (or at least foul weather). In this case, the sun would have reflected off the spire, helping to orient distant ships during the day. Perhaps landmark would be better than beacon. Also, orient instead of guide. We might also eliminate safely. Another idea could be:
- ALT3:
... that St Mark's Campanile (pictured) in Venice was initially built as a watchtower to sight approaching ships, and its spire, once gilded, glistened under the sun, making it a landmark to orient distant ships?
- What would you recommend?Venicescapes (talk) 07:18, 21 October 2020 (UTC)
- @Venicescapes: I think what's happening here is you are concentrating too much on writing an "accurate" hook and not a "hooky" hook. The latter is going to be a hook fact or wording that "reels in" the reader to want to click on the article and learn more. In your effort to say something interesting in the hook, you making up facts rather than relying on the sourced material in your article. The last clause in ALT3 does not appear in the article, nor do the ALT2 or ALT1a hook facts. The first thing to do is add all the detail you can, with citations, to the article. Then you use what you have to create a hook. I will try to suggest an alt tomorrow when I'm less tired. Yoninah (talk) 19:22, 21 October 2020 (UTC)
- Thank you again for your help. Yes, I am trying to be accurate. I added the reference to Sabellico who specifically mentions the tower as a diurnal beacon for mariners.Venicescapes (talk) 08:06, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
- @Venicescapes: Perhaps I'm not making myself clear. At DYK your goal is to write a hooky hook. If you state everything there is to say in the hook, the reader has no reason to click on the article and read more. Shorter is better, a little mysterious is better. How can you rewrite ALT3 in a hooky way? (By the way, if "diurnal beacon" is a translation from your source, please put it in quotes. Then you might want to use that phrase in your hook, because it is hooky.) Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 18:39, 24 October 2020 (UTC)
- ALT4:
... that St Mark's Campanile (pictured) in Venice was initially built as a watchtower to sight approaching ships, and its spire, once gilded, made it a diurnal beacon for navigators?
- @Venicescapes: OK, but you put
diurnal beacon
in quotes in the article. Is it a direct translation? Then it needs to be in quotes in the hook. Yoninah (talk) 21:43, 25 October 2020 (UTC)
- Direct quoteVenicescapes (talk) 05:43, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
Thank you. Offline ALT4 ref AGF and cited inline. Rest of review per evrik. This could run with or without the image. ALT4 good to go. Yoninah (talk) 07:59, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
- I want to check the original text to see if Gattinoni is paraphrasing Sabellico. I'll be back shortly.Venicescapes (talk) 14:31, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
- I checked the original quote. Sabellico actually says "welcoming star" (see full quote in article). I deleted the quotation marks around diurnal beacon.Venicescapes (talk) 15:03, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
- OK. Thanks for checking. Yoninah (talk) 16:16, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
- @Venicescapes: So now that "diurnal beacon" doesn't appear in the article anymore, the hook should be changed. Per WP:DYK#Cited hook, the hook fact must appear with an inline citation in the article. I suggest:
- ALT5:... that St Mark's Campanile (pictured) in Venice was initially built as a watchtower to sight approaching ships, and its spire, once gilded, became a "welcoming star" for navigators? Yoninah (talk) 16:19, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
- That works. Thank you for your patience.Venicescapes (talk) 16:40, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
- Thanks. Offline ALT5 ref AGF and cited inline. Rest of review per evrik. ALT5 good to go. Yoninah (talk) 17:13, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
AGF on sourcing --evrik (talk) 19:00, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
