Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Olm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 promoted 18:00, 19 June 2007.

[edit] Olm

This article was translated and modified from Slovenian version, where it already has the FA status. The article is comprehensive, cites sources and is equiped with wonderful photos that were released to GFDL by a promiment photographer. I think it meets all the criteria. --Tone 12:38, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

If it's a translation from the slov. Wiki then: was the history imported (to comply with the GFDL)? Matthew 12:40, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
No problems with that. The older versions can be seen, for example here. --Tone 12:47, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
  • Comment Lissamphibia is a subclass of Amphibia class. Infobox template states it as a class. Check that. DSachan 12:44, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
    • I think the IPA pronunciation key of the word 'olm' should also be provided. DSachan 14:14, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
  • Support -- Good article, pictures illustrate very well. Matthew 12:48, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
  • Oppose I really like this article, but I cannot say that the prose is "well written" (criteria 1a). It still reads like non-native English. A few examples below but the problem is throughout.
    • they live in the surface waters in eastern United States.
    • The mouth is small, with tiny teeth forming a sieve which keeps larger particles inside the mouth.
    • Being unable to use sight for orientation
    • Today we know that the olm is oviparous.
    • The olms from different cave system differ substantially in body measurements, color and some microscopic characters
    • The enthusiasm of scientists and broader public about this inhabitant of Slovenian caves is still strong 200 years after its discovery.
  • Nuetral This is much improved, but I still feel the writing is short of professional. Maybe I have read this too many times to be objective anymore, so I will not oppose. I do have a few minor issues outside of the level of writing:
    • with a reduced number of digits; instead of the normal five, the front legs have three digits, the rear only two Normal five, normal for what?
    • The nasal epithelium is thicker than in other amphibians, present on the inner surface of the nasal cavity and in the Jacobson's organ That is not grammatical.
    • In other amphibians, the metamorphosis is regulated by the hormone thyroxine, excreted by the thyroid gland. The thyroid is normally developed and functioning in the Olm, so the lack of metamorphosis is due to the unresponsiveness of key tissues to thyroxine. This needs more explanation
    • The Olm is resistant to long-term starvation, an adaptation to its underground habitat & This is a behavioral adaptation to life underground I cannot read Slovenian but I doubt such bold assertions can be proven.
    • These features suggest that the Black Proteus is not as heavily adaptated to cave habitats as the type subspecies. & The black proteus' biology is largely unknown as it was only recently discovered. Unclear in meaning. Whnat subspecies, and what is an animal's biology?
    • The history of research This sub-section has no references until the Darwin quote. Were they lost somehow? I should have noticed it in peer review if there were none.--BirgitteSB 01:05, 19 June 2007 (UTC)


Comment: I expanded the intro, and fixed the infobox & some minor style issues. Unfortunately, I don't know how to write the IPA pronunciation key. As the anonymous commenter above already observed, I'm not a native English speaker, so if anyone is willing to through the article, he would be most welcome. Yerpo 17:49, 13 June 2007 (UTC) (the original author)
  • Oppose. It still needs language related cleanup and could use some more English citations. Good-article status, definitely, but FA, I'm not so sure. bibliomaniac15 Join or die! 19:28, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
  • Support - I removed the sentence "The other six species of the family, found in freshwater streams, lakes, and marshes in the eastern half of North America, belong to the genus Necturus." from the lead... I could see this somewhere in the body of the article, but not in the lead. The article is about Proteus, not Necturus. I also capitalized Olm everywhere I saw it, as I believe common names of amphibians (unlike mammals) are supposed to be proper nouns. I could be wrong but I checked a few other good herp articles to make sure. Also the article was mixed between American and British spelling, so I standardized it to American since "color" seemed to be more prevalent than "colour". Otherwise I just went through and cleaned up a little bit of the grammar... your English is better than my Slovenian though! Sheep81 09:36, 15 June 2007 (UTC)
  • Support - Tone nominated my rewrite of this article before I had the chance to implement suggestions about grammar & style. But after the Sheep81's copyedit I don't see why it couldn't be FA. --Yerpo 09:39, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
  • Change to support. However, I would like to see more English citations. I will comb through my books and see whether I have any other mentions of the Olm I can cite. bibliomaniac15 BUY NOW! 16:55, 18 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.