Talk:Siege of St. John's

Siege of St. John's has been listed as one of the Warfare 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.
Review: February 19, 2016. (Reviewed version).

A fact from Siege of St. John's appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 11 April 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that one of the English leaders in the successful defense of the 1705 Siege of St. John's, Newfoundland, was a mason?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2010/April.

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GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Siege of St. John's/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Nick-D (talk · contribs) 10:24, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

I've never heard of this battle, so it was an interesting read. I have the following comments:

The lead should make it clear what war this formed part of
- Done. Magic♪piano 15:30, 8 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The first para of the Background section would benefit from a clearer explanation of the geography (for instance, that Plaisance was on Newfoundland, not far from St. Johns)
- Done. Magic♪piano 15:30, 8 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
"although his command was contested for a variety of reasons" - what were the reasons?
- I've reworked the material on the Moody/Latham feud. Magic♪piano 22:02, 18 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
"They first captured Bay Bulls and Ferryland" - where are these locations relative to St Johns?
- Fixed. Magic♪piano 21:06, 18 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Do we know what happened to the brigantine?
- I've not seen any sources that say what happened to it. Magic♪piano 22:02, 18 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Fryer says that the French didn't intend to capture St. Johns during this operation - this seems worth mentioning (eg, was this a raid rather than an attempt to conquer the settlement?)
- I actually think Fryer is wrong on this point, she makes it sound like they didn't even bother landing at St. John's (and it is somewhat outside the main topic of her piece). All the other sources are fairly clear (the Subercase DCB entry especially) that destruction of St. John's was a major objective. Magic♪piano 21:06, 18 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
"Subercase had wanted to surprise the English, but the opportunity was lost when his advance guard, unfamiliar with the area, approached within sight of the English defences, and was driven off by cannon fire" - the source doesn't quite support this: it says that the attack failed because only the advance guard arrived (eg, that the cause of the failure was that the rest of the force didn't move as fast as planned rather than the advance guard messing up)
- Fixed. Magic♪piano 22:02, 18 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
You could also note the ubstantial numbers of prisoners taken, boats destroyed and guns destroyed noted by Marley
- Done. Magic♪piano 22:02, 18 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Some of the images need their copyright tags fixed:
- File:AnnotatedChartOfStJohns1798.jpg - not a US work (presumably PD-UK or France)
- File:Newfoundland1744Annotated.jpg - ditto
- File:Jacques TestardditMontigny(1663-1737).png - ditto Nick-D (talk) 10:24, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  - I've updated the copyright of the first two, and removed the third, whose provenance is dubious. Magic♪piano 15:26, 8 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot for stepping in here Magicpiano. My comments are now all addressed, and I'm pleased to pass this review. Nick-D (talk) 10:14, 19 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

Is it reasonably well written?
A. Prose is "clear and concise", without spelling and grammar errors:

B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:
Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
A. Has an appropriate reference section:

B. Cites reliable sources, where necessary:

C. No original research:
No OR, but some minor errors and omissions as noted above

D. No copyright violations nor plagiarism:
Is it broad in its coverage?
A. Major aspects:

B. Focused (see summary style):
Is it neutral?
Fair representation without bias:
minor errors and omissions as noted above - the French seem to have done better than the article currently implies
Is it stable?
No edit wars, etc:
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:
All should be PD, but need their tags corrected

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