Wikipedia:Peer review/Flag of Tajikistan/archive1

Flag of Tajikistan

I've listed this article for peer review because I'd like third party input on where the article needs improvement in order to satisfy the B-class criteria. I have made a number of edits to this article over the last year in an effort to promote it from a short, bad article into a more substantial and useful article (before) (after) to expand it with any sources I could find, but I doubt that it can be graded as a B, much less a good article.

Thanks, Brendon the Wizard ✉️ ✨ 19:55, 9 October 2018 (UTC)

A few sentences stood out to me as needing rewriting/clarification.

1: The tricolor preserves the choice of colors in the former Tajik Soviet flag due to their Iranian influence as an ethno-linguistically Iranian people. Who or what has the influence? Is this supposed to mean that the people of Tajikistan are ethno-linguistically Iranian, and that they thus were happy that their flag had the same colours as the Iranian flag/the colours traditionally associated with Iran? Do you have a source for the relation between the Soviet-era flag and the Iranian heritage?

2: The flag of Tajikistan features seven stars due to the significance of the number seven in Tajik traditional legends, representing perfection and happiness while alluding to a traditional belief that the heavens feature seven mountains and seven orchard gardens with a star shining above each mountain. This is a run-on sentence — perhaps consider making the traditional belief its own sentence.

The presidential standard also includes four stars in each corner representing the four regions of Tajikistan while simultaneously utilizing Sassanid symbolism. Again, this sentence tries to do too much. The symbolism part seems tacked onto the end. Would it be accurate to say instead ...four stars in each corner, a Sassanid symbol used to represent the four regions...? If not, then try two sentences: The presidential standard also includes four stars in each corner representing the four regions of Tajikistan. In Sassanid symbolism, the four stars also represent <insert information here>.

3: Prior to independence, this design was also the backside of the Soviet-era flag. This makes it sound like the backside of the Soviet-era flag changed after independence.

4: Figure caption: Constructed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of independence, and constructed on the national flag day, the Dushanbe Flagpole was the world's largest flagpole from its completion in 2011 until 2014 when it was surpassed by the Jeddah Flagpole. Why is 'constructed' used twice?

If all of the construction happened on the flag day, then say Constructed on the national flag day in 2011 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of independence, the Dushanbe Flagpole was the world's largest flagpole until 2014, when it was surpassed by the Jeddah Flagpole.

If the construction happened over a greater stretch of time in 2011, say Constructed in 2011 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of independence, and completed on the national flag day, the Dushanbe Flagpole was the world's largest flagpole until 2014,....

If the construction took longer than a year, say instead Constructed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of independence, and completed on the national flag day in 2011,.....

Cheers, Genericusername57 (talk) 13:40, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

I can't thank you enough for how detailed that reply was; I'll go through the article and do what I can based off of your input. Brendon the Wizard ✉️ ✨ 02:37, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

I've made the following changes per your reply:

1  Done

I've separated the relationship between the Tajik and Iranian flag from the relationship between the Tajik and Soviet Tajik flag.

2.1 (Significance of the number 7)  Not done

Admittedly it is a long sentence, but grammatically it's not actually a run-on sentence because it does not contain two complete thoughts separable by a semicolon or period. I tried seeing how it would look if I split it into 2+ sentences, but that seemed to make the wording more awkward and less straightforward. I'll see if I can go back to this later.

2.2 (Presidential standard)  Done

I moved the part about how the design alludes to the Sassanids and slightly reworded it.

3  Done

That whole paragraph needed some work. It was awkward that the "prior to independence" sentence came after information regarding the first post-independence flag. I decided to instead explain how the design was the backside of the Soviet flag before mentioning that it was adopted as the national flag. I'm honestly not sure if I like how it turned out, because the "prior to independence ..." sentence explained in 13 words what is now being explained in a few sentences. I think the wording might sound a little too redundant now, but at least it's not very confusing.

4  Done

I've reworded it to be less redundant, less ambiguous, and more informative without making the caption too lengthy.

Thank you again for taking the time to go through the article and compile a list of sentences that needed attention. If there's anything else that stands out, please let me know. Brendon the Wizard ✉️ ✨ 06:21, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi, I like all of those changes very much.

2.1: the significance of the number 7: It seemed to me that the words 'while alluding to' were being used to tack on extra content to the end of the sentence. Would it be appropriate to say instead something like The flag of Tajikistan features seven stars due to the significance of the number seven in Tajik traditional legends, representing perfection and happiness. According to traditional belief, the heavens feature seven mountains and seven orchard gardens with a star shining above each mountain.? Otherwise, I think the sentence is acceptable as is.

2.2: Presidential standard: Sorry, I missed this on the first look-through: four stars in each corner makes it sound like there are sixteen stars total on the flag. Could you edit to clarify that there are four stars total, one in each corner?

3: The backside of the soviet-era flag: I don't know a thing about vexillology, so I can't tell you whether the clarification is too simplistic for people already in the know—but now it makes perfect sense to me as a complete novice.

Cheers, Genericusername57 (talk) 19:48, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

Thank you very much, that was very helpful!

2.1  Done

The reword you offered is both accurate and easier to read.

2.2  Done

I missed that too, you're right that it made it sound like there were 16 stars total. This has been fixed.

Brendon the Wizard ✉️ ✨ 20:13, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

In the event that this peer review receives any more attention, I am particularly interested in if this article meets the following criteria:

1. Is the article suitably referenced with in-line citations?
2. Does the article reasonably cover the topic without obvious omissions or inaccuracies?
3. Does the article have a defined structure?
4. Is the article reasonably well-written?
5. Does the article contain supporting materials where appropriate?
6. Does the article present its content in an understandable way?

If there are any areas where the article can be improved to make the answer to all of these questions "yes" (or if a third party believes that the article does in fact meet these criteria) please do let me know! :) Brendon the Wizard ✉️ ✨ 17:26, 24 October 2018 (UTC)