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Meridian, Mississippi

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This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because I believe that the article is on its way to GA or even FA status. I would like comments on the general layout of the article (aesthetically and informationally) and suggestions on what to do with the Historic Districts in Meridian section. As of now, the section seems lacking to me, but I have no idea what to do with it. Suggestions on other sections of the page are welcome as well. Also, the statement about Hurricane Katrina evacuees is unsourced, and I can't find anywhere to source it to. I've heard city officials and citizens of the city (I live here) talking about how much the population has risen, but I can't find anywhere on the internet. I'd love to find a source haha :)

Thanks, Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:17, 17 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Comments It's a nice article. As i mentioned in the Talk page of the article, not noticing this peer review was open, i very much liked the section on Historic Districts in the 13 May version of the article. That version had some discussion and description of each district, and I got the sense that the history and these districts are important to the city, which i liked.
Please do take seriously the suggestions of the automated peer review. Some of its suggestions, like using NBSP; character between numbers and units of measurement, and placing the footnotes right after punctuation commas or periods, are pretty easy to do. Perhaps an administrator will re-run that script to check again, once you believe that you have addressed all of those comments. Good luck! Hopefully others will have more substantial comments. doncram (talk) 20:31, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I fixed all the refs, but I don't get what it's saying about the units of measurement. All the measurements on the page (that I can find) are in {{convert}} tags or in the infobox, so I have no control over nbsp. I fixed the long image captions too; I believe only the one in the Civil Rights section would have triggered it. The main reason I shrunk the Historic Districts section to a list of the names and locations was to keep the TOC from being too long. Nine very similar headings looked tacky to me. If you can think of a way to include all the information without the headings, be my guest. I still would like a map of the districts, and I'm working on making one. I haven't done anything with summary style. The only section I think that would qualify for that is the History section, but I've done nothing to it. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 20:41, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ruhrfisch comment: Doncram asked me to stop by and comment on map making. I have a brief intro to how I make maps from free US Census sources here. Well, I just looked at the article and see you made a map - never mind. Ruhrfisch ><>°° 01:28, 21 May 2008 (UTC) PS I may have a solution to the TOC problem - you can limit the level of headers shown, see Joseph Priestley for an example, by using {{TOClimit|limit=2}} to show only the first two levels. Ruhrfisch ><>°° 01:32, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your comments. I made the map using OpenStreetMap.org, which releases all its maps under creative commons. I added the district boundaries in MS Paint. I think I fixed the TOC problem anyways, but thanks for that bit of information; I might use it in some other article(s).. The Historic Districts section is shaping up to be great, though. Now with a map and fewer subheadings, the section has definitely improved. Thanks for all the input! Keep it coming haha..--Dudemanfellabra (talk) 18:18, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The map showing historic districts, indexed and color coded, is very nice. I believe, though, that it is currently presented as being authoritative on what are the historic district boundaries, while in fact it shows rectangles that are the approximate locations of historic districts that are irregular. Note, a couple of the descriptions state "roughly bounded" by four streets... which suggests to me that some lots inside the rectangle are not included in the district, and perhaps some lots outside the rectangle are included. This would be consistent with irregularly shaped districts elsewhere. So, to the extent that you do not know for sure what are the exact boundaries, there needs to be some disclaimer, some indication that these are approximate boundaries, in my view. doncram (talk) 04:11, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
 Done
Image:Meridian, MS Historic Districts.PNG now includes a small note to indicate that boundaries are approximate. Thanks! --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 19:25, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've now shortened a few sections of the article according to WP:Summary Style; I have one question, though. I like the {{See also}} tag instead of the {{main}} one. Can I use it instead, or is it imperative that I use {{main}}? It seems OK to me to use {{seealso}} Ruhrfisch ><>°° 16:05, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, is there any way I can get someone to re-run that bot? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 20:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • I reran the script and pasted it in the article's talk page. Ruhrfisch ><>°° 15:47, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ruhrfisch comments: As promised, here are some suggestions for improvement. While it is obvious a lot of work has gone into this, it needs some more to get to GA status.

  • A model article is often useful for ideas on structure, style, refs, etc. There are a fair number of FA articles on cities: Cleveland, Ohio is one possible FA model.
  • The lead does a decent job, but may need to be a bit more inclusive. My rule of thumb is to include every header in the lead in some way - so famous Meridianites is not in the lead (one example). See WP:LEAD
 Done
  • Avoid needless repetition in sentences and within the article - for example, the word "Meridian" is repeated three times in the sentence In 2003 Mainstreet Meridian, an organization in Meridian, launched its "Vision 2003" program to restore downtown Meridian to its original prosperity by means of a new, modern economy.[6]
 Done
  • Similarly, while I like the Historic DIstricts section, it repeats much of the basic information. Why not combine the two, for example [Blue rectangle] The East End Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1987 and is roughly bounded by 18th St, 11th Ave, 14th St, 14th Ave, 5th St, and 17th Ave. The district's significance lies in its large collection of late 19th and early 20th century Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style cottages built during Meridian's "Golden Age."[25][26]
 Done
  • I like the map, but the colors are difficult to distinguish - could numbers or letters be added to the map and the descriptions? i.e. numbers 1-9 or letters A-I?
 Done
  • The article is generally well referenced, but a few more refs are needed. My rule of thumb is that every quote, every statistic, every extraordinary claim and every paragraph needs a ref - so Ball laid his streets parallel to the railroad, and Ragsdale chose to use true compass headings. This competition is evident today in the angles at which some streets meet in the city. needs a ref
 Done
I reffed that sentence and looked through the article for more things needing refs. I wound up reffing more in the lead section and several places throughout the article. I'm pretty sure that it's completely reffed now, but there's always room for more.
  • As for the ref for Katrina victims moving there, have there been any articles on this in the local newspaper(s)?
 Done
After 2 months of searching, I finally found an article run by The Meridian Star that mentions the population effect of Katrina on the area. It is found here :).
  • Something of a gap in History between Civil Rights (1964 or so) and 1997.
  • Refs need more complete information - for example Internet refs need URL, title, author if known, publisher and date accessed. {{cite web}} and other cite templates may be helpful. See WP:CITE and WP:V
 Done
  • If the article gets too long, per WP:Summary Style, you might want to make articles of the notable residents list and the Sites of Interest and leave brief summaries behind.

Hope this helps. If my comments are useful, please consider peer reviewing an article, especially one at Wikipedia:Peer review/backlog. Yours, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 16:24, 24 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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