Talk:Marlborough, Massachusetts

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[edit] Feedback on article

In general, I like this article a lot. I am a bit of a history buff and I thought the section about Marlborough's history was particularly well written. However, there are a couple of minor suggestions that I would make:

  • 'one Mrs. Elizabeth Snyder' sounds affected. I would suggest removing the 'one'
  • 'rarely being pronounced as the four syllable word one might expect to hear'. Perhaps I am being dense but I only hear three syllables when it is full pronounced? Marl - bo - row ??
  • 'Within the city limits of Marlborough are two large lakes, known as Lake Williams and Fort Meadow Reservoir.' again just some minor wordsmithing - this sounds cleaner as 'There are two large lakes in Marlborough: Lake Williams and Fort Meadow Reservoir'. the 'known as' is a little awkward.
  • 'The construction of Interstates 495 and 290 and the Massachusetts Turnpike has enabled Marlborough to begin its third century on the cutting edge of a new industry: high technology and specialized electronics. Today, thousands flock here to work at Fidelity Investments, Raytheon, Compaq, and the many other electronics and computer firms that provide the strong business community in the city. Because of the city's central location with easy access to major highways and the pro-business, pro-development policies of the city government, the population of Marlborough has more than doubled in the last 25 years to over 32,000 at the time of the last census.' This section is a little 'booster-ish' for an encyclopedia. The content is good - just tone down the wording a little.

But having said all of that, I like this article. It gives me, as a non-resident, a sense of the place and a nice snapshot of some interesting history.

I would like to see more sections - perhaps similar to the ones that are laid out in the 'Boston' article which is a featured article. And, yes, some pictures would be good. :-) --LWV Roadrunner 22:01, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Kind of late to reply to that, but:
  • "one Mrs. Elizabeth Snyder" indicates that Mrs. E.S. was not otherwise notable.
  • I can hardly imagine anyone saying "Marrulboro" with a straight face, but I suppose it could happen. Locally, it's pronounced in three or rarely two syllables.
  • The "known as" can be read as alluding to the multiplicity of names for single features in New England. Lake Williams could just as easily be known as Lake William, for example.
  • Boosterish but not over the top so, in my opinion.
__Just plain Bill 16:26, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Historical Society link(s)

I just restored the two sub-links added earlier with the edit summary: "Added deeper links to content based on our log files of what people are looking for".

Here's the diff of that. The anon editor did the job neatly, and apparently with some knowledge of what they were doing and why. I can respect that, and anything that gets the reader more easily where they want to go is worth keeping, IMO. __Just plain Bill (talk) 01:37, 1 February 2008 (UTC)