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[edit] Dweller, on Featured Article Candidates

Contents 1 Dweller, on Featured Article Candidates 1.1 Policy and guideline knowledge 1.2 Preparation 1.3 Once you've listed at FAC 1.4 Interaction at FAC

This article, begun as a Virtual Classroom project for User:The Transhumanist, is an attempt to give advice. It is a supplement to the guidelines and rules at WP:FA and WP:FAC.

[edit] Policy and guideline knowledge

• You need to read and understand WP:DASH. It's a bore, but you'll get opposed otherwise.
• Similarly for WP:MOS and WP:LEAD

[edit] Preparation

• Start the process by adding {{cn}} tags to every single claim in the article. Then go back and replace them with proper inline citations - the "citeweb" methodology is preferred, it would seem. Position your references at the end of sentences/parags, after the full-stop per WP:CITE.
• Get the photos assessed by a photos specialist before going to FAC, to make sure all aspects of their licensing are OK. The shenanigans over the Main Page article Cricket World Cup losing all of its images on the very day it was featured was a good example of the embarrassment that can otherwise befall an article.
• Images help make an FA, but they can be hard to find, with the right licenses. Charts and other graphics, on the other hand, are much easier and if you can't do them yourself, ask for help from someone who's made one on another article.
• Start a Peer Review and respond to it positively and constructively.
• Don't take an article to FAC until it's really, really good. A bunch of serious opposes begin to fill the page and make it look like a bad nomination. A good long time at Peer Review is best.

[edit] Once you've listed at FAC

• End the Peer Review. Politely. You want all feedback in one place.
• Ask expert editors on the topic to come to the FAC and comment. Also, ask total novice editors on the topic. A cricket article must be satisfying to cricket lovers and half way understandable for everyone else. A brilliant recent Main Page FA that I (surprisingly) really enjoyed was 0.999.... I don't "get" maths, yet the article was challengingly digestible.

[edit] Interaction at FAC

• Work on detailed responses to detailed objects/comments at the article talk page; it will help keep the FAC page uncluttered. Appearing to be a controversial / difficult to support article will make your task more difficult.
• Deal with every comment and criticism without rancour. Remember that the purpose is to get the best possible article, not to bulldoze an almost-ready piece through. For that reason, thank your critics - they're doing you a favour.
• The previous piece of advice does not mean that you need agree with every criticism. But have a very good reason for disagreeing. And don't do it often.
• Respond promptly to comments/criticisms, even with a placeholder "Good point - I'll look into it"#
• Be prepared to delete things (or comment them out) if they're POV or unsourcable. Even if they're (to your mind) important or really good bits of prose
• Be persistent. You'll get there.