Talk:Sheerness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Featured article star Sheerness is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do.
Main Page trophy This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on August 24, 2007.
This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:
WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia The spoken word version of this article is part of WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia, an attempt to produce recordings of Wikipedia articles. To participate, visit the project page.

Contents

[edit] older entries

I am surprised that naval historians have not made more of Sheerness as one of the most famous mutinies happened at The Nore, which unhappily if memory served me right, affected the freshly reprovisioned Captain Bligh as well.

The mutiny by the Royal Navy at this point led to the question of establishing the basic charter of sailor's rights in the Royal Navy. Also somewhere was a reference where the Navy broke its word to the mutineers and hung the ringleaders despite promises not to.

Also the new Queensferry Bridge was a source of much merriment in the 1970's wwhen BBC TV's Frank Spencer was raised on that bridge for the long reigning comedy show "Some mother's do have 'em".

A mention of the long gone light railway between Sheerness and Leysdown may be useful.

[edit] Good Article pass

I have passed this article and am surprised it hasn't been done already - IMO this is a very well written article and my only concern is that there ought to be some more representative "typical street" type photos of the town. I haven't signed off on "stable" purely because there have been so many recent changes, but from the edit history I've no concerns since there's no sign of edit warring. I think the "History" section could usefully be broken into subsections, and the transport section could do with serious expansion (this is a major port, after all) but these are relatively minor concerns — iridescent (talk to me!) 16:20, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

GA review (see here for criteria)
  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose): b (MoS):
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects): b (focused):
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    a (fair representation): b (all significant views):
  5. It is stable.
  6. It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic.
    a (tagged and captioned): b (lack of images does not in itself exclude GA): c (non-free images have fair use rationales):
  7. Overall:
    a Pass/Fail:

[edit] Suggestions for improvement

Will be giving this a copyedit as well; these are broader suggestions for fleshing out the actual content.

  • The claim 'world's first multi-storey building with an iron frame' and 'the Sheerness Boat Store was the world's first multi-storey building with a rigid metal frame' should be cited.
  • I would suggest replacing one of the two beach images with an image of the above referenced 'first multi-storey building' if available. The two beach images are very similar to one another.
  • The phrase 'In 1863, mains water was installed in the town' is nonsensical to me as an American english speaker, as we would say 'water mains'. Is this a common British convention with which I am not familiar, or a mistake?
  • Units of measurement should be standardized in their order of presentation across the article. There is inconsistency in presentation of the following units: "2 miles (3.2km)", "28 inches (711 mm)", "24.2 persons per hectare".

Maralia 19:04, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

  • Thanks for your comments. I have added a citation for 'the Sheerness Boat Store was the world's first multi-storey building with a rigid metal frame'. I don't actually live in Sheerness so it might be difficult for me to get a free picture of the 'first multi-storey building'. 'Mains water' is an British English term. I'm not sure where the inconsistency is with the units of measurement. Epbr123 19:35, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Regarding units of measurement: In the values I listed, you gave primary place to miles, inches, and hectares. In an article about England, I would expect to see km, mm, and hectares, with the conversion values in parentheses. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course; I've had far too little sleep and too much coffee today.Maralia 19:57, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
The consensus among English editors is that imperial measurements should come first. England may officially now be a metric country, but most English people still prefer to use imperial. Epbr123 21:29, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
  • The text of this article refers to it as having little rain and a sunny climate, which is not supported by the many photos, which show a rather gloomy and cloudy atmosphere. Perhaps the text should be adjusted to reflect reality? Or are these descriptions by comparison with nearby places that are slightly more gloomy? --72.75.40.134 18:22, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Copyedit

Had a first look at this and it reads very well. References are excellent. Would be inclined to agree with Maralia about beach pictures, but I've had a look around and haven't seen an appropriate alternative yet. Will go back over again for CE. Sorry about the delay. Kateshortforbob 22:13, 15 July 2007 (UTC)kateshortforbob 2312, 15 July 2007 (GMT)

[edit] Samuel Pepys

In the introduction, it indicates that "...after a Dutch attack in 1692, Samuel Pepys, the Secretary to the Admiralty..." According to the S. Pepys Wikipedia entry, Pepys left government in 1688, lost his seat in Parliament in 1689, was imprisoned in 1690, and when released, retired from public life. So he could not have been Secretary to the Admiralty in 1692 or later.

The date of the Dutch attack mentioned in the introduction, 1692, does not agree with the first paragraph of the "History" section, which mentions a "1667 Dutch raid". Were there two attacks?

The History section says that after the 1667 Dutch raid, "the Secretary of the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys, subsequently ordered the construction of a naval dockyard..." I took this to mean that S. Pepys was the Secretary of the Admiralty when the raid took place, although I think it could mean that years later, when he became Sec. of the Admiralty (it was 1673) he so ordered the construction. In any case, he was not Sec. of the Admiralty in 1667--he was Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board.

This is the first comment I have ever made. Thank you.A2taggart 17:10, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

  • A vandal changed the date fron 1669 to 1692. According to the S. Pepys Wikipedia entry, he became Secretary of the Admiralty Commision in 1673; before which he was Secretary of the Admiralty. Epbr123 17:21, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Map and text do not agree

a) The map shows a penninsula, not an island. b) If the map is oriented North, then the dot is on the north east, not north west coast. Please clarify. Shir-El too 12:41, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

a) Sheerness is a town on the isle of Sheppy, i suppose its a peninsular at the end of the isle of Sheppy, but its an island.
b) See the Kent article about where the division between east and west Kent is, specifically Sheerness is in the diocese of Canterbury and the traditional division of east Kent, etc, etc **BUT** the "east coast" of Kent is considered to be the English channel (ie Thannet down to dungerness) rather than the north coast along the Thames estuary.
160.5.247.8 10:59, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
Sheerness is on the northwest of the Isle of Sheppey. Sheppey is an island but the red dot is covering up the sea between the Isle and the Hoo Peninsula. Epbr123 17:00, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Car and fresh produce importer?

I didn't know what wiki links to put in the clause, "Sheerness is one of the United Kingdom's leading car and fresh produce importers" — is that "car" = automobile, or maybe "car produce" is a UK equivalent of US truck farm, which redirects to market gardening, or something else? D.Z. Dean 15:00, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

  • It's car as in automobile. Epbr123 18:03, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spoken version added

I have added a spoken version of this article; see the link above. Hassocks5489 (talk) 14:37, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox image

Is there any chance of a static image being put into the infobox, akin to say Runcorn, Bath, Somerset, Wormshill or most of the other FA UK settlements? I don't see why the photo of the clock tower couldn't go in, but as it's an FA, I thought I best ask first! -- Jza84 · (talk) 21:28, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Looks great! Thanks! -- Jza84 · (talk) 01:56, 12 February 2008 (UTC)