Talk:Charles Boycott/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Malleus Fatuorum (talk · contribs) 00:57, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Lead

• Charles Cunningham Boycott (12 March 1832 – 19 June 1897) was a British land agent whose ostracism by his local community in Ireland as part of a campaign for agrarian tenants' rights in 1880 gave the English language the verb to boycott, meaning "to ostracise". I don't believe that "boycott" and "ostracise" are synonymous. The sentence also seems rather meandering to me, taking too long to get to the point. Why not drop the "as part of a campaign for agrarian tenants' rights in 1880"? And why the different formatting for "to boycott" and "to ostracize"?
  • I've dropped the "as part of a campaign for agrarian tenants' rights in 1880" part, per your suggestion. Also, I've completely removed "to ostracise" from the sentence as it doesn't capture the full meaning of the word "boycott" and the exact purpose of the wikilink is to give more information about the word. The first sentence now sounds much better to me. I've put "to boycott" in italics per the use–mention distinction. Graham87 05:49, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
• "In 1880, as part of its campaign for the "Three Fs" ...". Why is the Three Fs in scare quotes?
  • I don't know; I didn't write the article. But they don't seem to be needed as they don't cover any of the uses described in the scare quote article, so I've removed them. Graham87 05:49, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
• "... withdrew the local labour required to save the harvest on Lord Erne's estate". Save the harvest from what?
  • The rats, perhaps? :-) Changed to "harvest the crops". Graham87 05:49, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
• "Boycott left Ireland on 1 December of the same year." What year was that?
  • I think you've fixed it. Graham87 05:49, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

In popular culture

• Do you really feel comfortable with that one sentence section? What does it tell us about Charles Boycott?
  • Pretty much nothing. I've removed it. Graham87 05:49, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Early life and family

• "In 1852 Boycott married Anne Dunne ...". The ODNB says they were married in 1853.
  • this article says 1952, as does the source cited, I'll check some other sources. Quasihuman (talk • contribs) 21:59, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
  • This genealogy record confirms 5 June 1852; ODNB is not always correct. ww2censor (talk) 22:24, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

    I never said it was, I simply pointed out the discrepancy. Malleus Fatuorum 22:35, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

    • Sorry, I didn't think I was suggesting you had said 1853 was correct, I just looked for a reasonably reliable source that would confirm the correct date. ww2censor (talk) 03:06, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Life on Achill Island

• "After receiving another inheritance, and due to his success in farming the land, he built a large house near Dooagh." That doesn't really make sense.
  • He did it with the money gained from both the inheritance and profits from farming, presumably. I've fixed this, but it needs a better temporal reference than "eventually". Graham87 01:36, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
    • Thanks Graham, I'll be in the library tomorrow, I'll see if I can pin down the year. Quasihuman (talk • contribs) 09:19, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

      While it would be nice to have a year, I've simply removed the "eventually" for now, as I don't think the additional detail is necessary to meet the GA criteria. Malleus Fatuorum 12:51, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Newspaper coverage

• "On 24 October, he wrote a dispatch from Westport with an interview with Boycott." What does "with an interview with Boycott mean"?
  • That it contained an interview with Boycott, I believe. Fixed. Graham87 01:36, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

The word "boycott"

• Section titles ought not to include the word "the".
  • It feels a little empty without the word "the" to me. What would you suggest as a replacement? Graham87 01:36, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

    I'd probably call the section "to boycott", but it's entirely your choice and obviously won't affect the outcome of this review. Malleus Fatuorum 01:57, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

References

• Where is the "The people of Ballinrobe and its neighbourhood..." used in the article? Should that be an external link?
  • Is it tied to note 20? Does it contain the text "how is it that this Government do not consider it necessary to prosecute ..."? I don't know because I can't read it with my screen reader. Graham87 01:36, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

    It is, you're right, so I've pulled it into the Notes section.

I believe this article now meets the GA criteria. Malleus Fatuorum 12:51, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.