Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Idi Amin/archive1

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was not promoted 16:57, 28 June 2007.

[edit] Idi Amin

Well written, well referenced GA status article. Very NPOV despite that the subject is contentious. Subject is interesting, and even more so after the recent movie The Last King of Scotland --Ezeu 03:59, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

• Comment There are inline citations that are missing accessdates. The {{cite web}} template can help you fix this problem.--Crzycheetah 06:23, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Will be dealth with. --Ezeu 15:21, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

• Object. There are paragraphs without any citations. The Death section is too short. The lead should state the period he was President of Uganda. Early life section is also short. — Wackymacs 16:21, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Early life section is short because that is what is known about Amin's early life. He grew up in Bombo, then he was recriuited to the the army, thats it. --Ezeu 05:08, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose Could you do another thorough copy-edit please. In the lead alone: "titulated" (?) and two full stops at the end of the second paragraph. Sorry, but even at a cursory glance I can still "Octtober" and a duplicated footnote (VC). Also, I'm a little uncomfortable with virtually all your sources coming from the internet, I would have expected more hard sources and perhaps some academic works cited for a figure as notable as this, who has been the subject of academic study. That isn't one of the criteria, I know, but I recommend that you at least add a "Further reading" section with some hard sources. Thanks. I'll revisit the article again to re-assess in a few days. DrKiernan 17:23, 13 June 2007 (UTC) DrKiernan 12:40, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

• Support Well cited and well written, only complaints are the Death section is incredibly short, and the Erratic Behaviour section seems thrown in and doesn't flow i.e. mentions Amin adding CBE to his title, then says the radio announced his full title,seems like a bit of a superfluous fact, other than that great article Elementalos 04:43, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

• I oppose for now, but I think the article could be featured with a little more work. I've gone ahead and copy edited the piece, and I did some restructuring to remove some excessive section-making and stubby paragraphs (I did this in two edits so the diffs will be easier to read). Here are my remaining concerns:
  • I don't think the list of Amin's titles belongs in the lead. Instead, I'd move this down to the main body of the article. At any rate, the information is not currently repeated in the body, and the lead should not include any new information not repeated later.
  • The lead shouldn't need any source citations because it is only a summary of the main article. Move the citations down to the body.
  • Please be sure that all full-form dates are wikified so that user-set date preferences will work. Also be sure that all dates are written in a consistent format so that non-logged-in users will see them the same way. Currently, the article mixes both the August 4, 2003, and 4 August 2003 formats.
  • Similarly, I noticed some mixed usage of Commonwealth English and American English. Considering Uganda's colonial history, Commonwealth English should be preferred for this article.
  • There are some weasely and passive constructions in the article. "Cheering crowds were reported" (who reported them?); "Lango and Alcholi soldiers were massacred" (who massacred them?); "who is considered by many" (red flag; who considers him such?); "and by others as a moderating presence" (what others?); "but that is also disputed" (disputed by whom?); "some sources say Amin claimed . . . " (which sources?).
  • It would be nice to see the "Portrayals in the media" section rewritten as prose.
  • References are not formatted consistently. All article titles should be in double quotation marks, for example. Each citation should probably end in a full stop.
  • As far as comprehensiveness, I question the article's lack of a "Legacy" section. For a man who had such an impact on Uganda, there should probably be some discussion of how Uganda dealt with that impact after his exile. The "in popular media" stuff could be merged into a larger "Legacy" section.
  • The "See also" section can be safely removed, and probably should be.
  • There is a Category:Idi Amin, so all other categories on this page should instead be applied to that category. For example, instead of placing the article in Category:Presidents of Uganda, Category:Idi Amin should be placed in Category:Presidents of Uganda. In short, when there is a category with the same name as an article, the article of that name should probably not belong to any category but its namesake category.
  • The article is overlinked. First of all, specific terms should generally not be linked more than once, at their first appearance (excluding the lead and picture captions). Secondly, only terms relevant to the article at hand should be linked. The reader is not going to learn too much to help him or her understand Amin by clicking links such as light heavyweight or football, for example. Take a long, hard look at each link and keep only the ones that are directly pertinent. This will enhance the value of these links rather than wash them out in a sea of blue.
• That's it. I know a lof of this is nitpicky, but this is FAC, where our best material is supposed to be identified. I think this article can very easily be made to be part of our best material with just a little more work. Let me know if I can do anything to help. — Brian (talk) 00:08, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose for now but great article nonetheless and, naturally, of paramount importance. I share Brian's concerns and there are other little things to fix. For instance, I'm no fair-use expert but not all of the fair use claims seem very solid and that should be carefully checked out. Pascal.Tesson 16:03, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.