Wikipedia:Peer review/Mariah Carey/archive1

Mariah Carey

This article has gone through several edit wars and POV and factual accuracy disputes, two requests for comment, grew to almost 70kb in size, and was the subject of an article improvement drive last month. Several editors (including myself, User:Journalist, User:FuriousFreddy and others) have been trimming down and tidying the article, building up references (though some currently remain unformatted), and removing excess "fair use" images. We even managed to find a good public domain photo of Carey on the set of one of her music videos on the Wikimedia Commons. What would be extremely helpful and much appreciated, however, is the opinions of people here on what they think of the article in the state it is in now, and what they think could be done to improve it. Thank you in advance. Extraordinary Machine 22:44, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

It's a great article. I think it is practically perfect. Of course some people will continue to point picky flaws in it, but that is true of almost every article on Wikipedia. Featured articles are still open to editing, so there is no reason to wait until everyone approves every detail of this one (which isn't going to happen). I think it should be nominated already. I did make a comment on the talk page today about this statement: "The strain on the family led to the divorce of Carey's parents when she was three years old." I think it needs a source. Otherwise, it sounds like somebody speculating. Did Carey say it? Did one of her parents say it? Or is it a guess by a biographer or claim by an "inside source"?Logophile 07:48, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. The statement was confirmed in a CNN People in the News segment that aired last April, which I have included in the references section. You can read a transcript of it here. The specific quote is: "Her parents struggled tremendously with prejudice. They would move into a neighborhood and discover that their dogs were poisoned. That created a lot of tension between the parents so that they split by the time Mariah was three years old." Extraordinary Machine 00:56, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Logophile. It looks pretty solid, and it'll probably be a work in progress for as long as Mariah continues her career. — RJH 23:40, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

Thanks! Also, for the record, Image:Mariah Carey3 Edwards Dec 1998.jpg was present at the top of the article when I created this peer review request, but an anon IP replaced it with an album cover. I've since restored the public domain photo, though. Extraordinary Machine 00:56, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

The article is pretty sound. Two queries from the lead Noted for her distinctive singing style, Carey makes use of a five-octave vocal range and frequent use of melismas and other ornamentation. - there seems to be something missing in the sentence.

During the 1990s, she released numerous number-one hits on Columbia Records, run by then-husband Tommy Mottola, several of which broke chart records. - since this refers only to her time at Columbia, why not quote the actual numbers?

There is condiserable overlap between the Mariah Carey template and the list of see alsos, get rid of anything in the see alsos that is duplicated by the template.--nixie 13:08, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

I've tweaked the sentence in the lead about her voice, and mentioned the number of U.S. number-one singles she released under Columbia. I also removed {{Mariah Carey}} from the "See also" section of the article...you're right, it was superfluous when the links were already present in the text (and also the links in the template were less visible). Extraordinary Machine 00:56, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

It seems odd to have voice as the last section in the article- since it's what she's famous for. Otherwise, after the notes are finished, it should be good to go. It's probably a good idea to ask someone that hasn't worked on the article to proof read it user:Wayward is a good copyeditor that comes to mind.--nixie 13:15, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

Sorry for not replying sooner! I took this page off my watchlist by mistake after my last comment. Sorry! Anyway, I moved the "Voice" section up between "Acting career" and "Other activities", as I think you were right in saying that it was odd to have that last. I'll try and finish formatting the references soon, and I'll drop a request on User:Wayward's talk page asking if he/she could give it a look. Thanks! Extraordinary Machine 23:23, 3 December 2005 (UTC)