Talk:Church of St John the Baptist, Asenovgrad/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Jimfbleak (talk · contribs) 07:23, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

I'll read through soon, and make my comments Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:23, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

• Check wikilinks, there are some links that are repeated, some where the link is not at the first occurrence, and some, such as ossuary, architecture and medieval, where a link would be helpful.
• How about a pushpin map and coordinates (the town has both in its article)?

I'm surprised you can't locate the Church on Google Earth, which is how I pinned my current church article. Give the town pushpin if necessary, on that scale the location would appear identical anyway on the map

• You have three exterior views, none interior. The latter would give some variety if available
• Surely should be a link to the church's saint somewhere?
• Any church furniture that should be mentioned such as a font, woodwork and the like?
• the terrain around its foundations had to be reinforced Why? And how was it reinforced?

I don't think that it's automatically the case that cliffs are unstable, many Spanish monasteries are in such sites. But if you don't have a source, that's fine

• For a Brit, the idea of fortified churches seems odd. Could you add a sentence indicating whether this was normal practice in Bulgaria at that time, or whether this is a one-off?

Well, it's not OR if you can find a source that says it's normal practice, but if you can't that's fine

• prothesis and a diaconicon, — why are these terms italicised here, and not in their own articles?

Diaconicon is listed in on-line Webster and Britannica, so definitely no italics, prothesis is more complicated because of its other meanings, but it's not italicised in its own article, so I'd change that too

• Any notable people or events associated with the church?
• "brigand" seems a bit pov if you don't actually know who attacked the church
• you've given translations of some of your ref titles but not all. For consistency, all or none

I may add more later, but that's enough for now Jimfbleak - talk to me? 10:42, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

Hi and thanks a lot for the review!

• I've removed any duplicate wikilinks that I found and linked all the terms you listed plus a fe more.
• I could add a brief version of {{infobox church}} to the article, but I'm afraid I was unable to find the church's exact coordinates anywhere. I know the approximate location and I've been looking at Google Maps, but I can't say for sure that I've spotted it. Should I add an infobox with only the city coordinates on it?
• The church is open only for two hours a week (Saturday 14–16h) and it's a bit hard to access (I had to hike through some pretty bad bushes and up a short but steep path just to reach it), so I couldn't take any interior photos. The external link I've included in the article has some rare images of the frescoes and the interior, though.
• I've linked John the Baptist.
• I haven't heard of any notable furniture. Judging by the pics in the external link above, there doesn't seem to be any either.
• Well, the church is positioned atop a cliff, so obviously the terrain was not solid enough to support it. As for the way it was reinforced, the source does not include any more details than what's in the article on this one.
• I don't think I have heard of any other Bulgarian churches that feature arrowslits or were specifically constructed with any other defensive features in mind, but that would be original research.
• I'm not sure whether to italicize prothesis and diaconicon. Do they count as standard English vocabulary or not? If they do, I should probably deitalicize them.
• I'm pretty sure the church hasn't been directly mentioned in any contemporary sources, nor does it have any known relation to notable people.
• As for 'brigand', the people who probably damaged the church in the 18th or 19th century are definitely referred to as 'brigands' in the source, and they were not Ottoman Army regulars or anything. What would be a more neutral term? 'Outlaws'? 'Raiders'?
• Can you please list the reference titles that I've failed to give a translation for? I looked through them all and found there's an English title for every one of them.

Looking forward to any further comments so I can improve the article to GA level! Best, — Toдor Boжinov — 13:56, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

I've struck or further commented above. I suspected that you wouldn't be able to add much in terms of content, but obviously I needed to ask the questions. I think that the map and italics are the only issues from the list above, but I'll have another read later. I'll be away for a couple of days over the weekend Jimfbleak - talk to me? 06:34, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

I've added an infobox with the town's coordinates and some basic info, and I've deitalicized diaconicon and prothesis. I do not have the sources to provide more details regarding the reinforcement or defensive purpose of the church, so I guess this is it for now. If you have any further comments, I'll be expecting them. Have a great weekend! Best, — Toдor Boжinov — 08:07, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

Comment and review

Entirely up to you, but if you wanted to shorten the legend on the map, you could the first userbox name parameter to St John's, and add a line | fullname = Church of St John the Baptist

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.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

Thank you and have a great weekend! Best, — Toдor Boжinov — 10:42, 7 October 2011 (UTC)