Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Emanuel Swedenborg/archive1

Emanuel Swedenborg

The article was on Peer Review, no major flaws detected. Some requests for more photos, which were provided. The article has a very delicate POV perspetive that seems to suit everyone. A year ago the article was subject of POV pushing, but now people on the talk page express how impressed they are of the POV balance.

Everything is referenced and important isses taken into account. I, being one of the main contributors, can't think of much more to add to the article.

Fred-Chess 11:25, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

• Object To start, the Lead needs to be expanded to two paragraphs per WP:LEAD and no inline citations. Thanks Jaranda ^{wat's sup} 22:48, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
• Object Lacks proper referencing (footnotes), and the lists need converting to prose. Also, as mentioned already, the lead does need to be 2 paragraphs. — Wackymacs 11:25, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
• Object per 2(a). Here's some examples:
  • A clunker in the lead: "He said that the Lord, God, Jesus Christ directed his theological explanation..." Big comma problems.
  • "Then at age fifty-six he claimed that he entered into a new spiritual phase of his life, experiencing first dreams, and later visions..." At first glance, the phrase "experiencing first dreams" makes no sense; I had to read this sentence twice to understand it.
  • "Jesper also held the belief that angels and spirits were among us all the time." - Informal, and I'm not sure about the tense. Angels were among us? Mostly, though, it's the use of the word "us."
  • "Swedenborg proposed 150 years earlier than any other scientist, that the activity..." more comma problems.
  • "But a profound change was coming over him..." Why the sudden switch to the past progressive tense?
  • "Neither by geometrical, nor physical, nor metaphysical principles had he succeeded in fully understanding the soul, the brain or their functions, but he had nonetheless learned much which would now guide him into the new phase he was about to enter." - Awkward, overly-wordy, and a bit POV(?).

And so forth. Also, inline citations are needed, the lead needs to be expanded, etc. Good luck! The Disco King 13:15, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you everyone for your comments! And especially to Disco King who appeared to have read through some parts of the article.

With the lead section I will, for now, persist in my view that one paragraph is sufficient for this article for the reason that 90% of readers wouldn't want (or need?) to know more about this topic, and that Wikipedia:Lead section is after all just a guide.

In regards to the language there I will consider adding {{copyedit}} to the article and perhaps ask some people to copyedit. With my English Level 3 (as per Wikipedia:Babel) I can write decent, but not brilliant, prose and I am aware of that.

(Incidentally, many of the formulations that were objected upon above originally came from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition -- e.g.: Up to middle age Swedenborg's position was that of a scholar, a scientist, a practical administrator, a legislator, and a man of affairs. But a profound change was coming over him, which led him to leave the domain of physical research for that of psychical and spiritual inquiry. Neither by geometrical, nor physical, nor metaphysical principles had he succeeded in reaching and grasping the infinite and the spiritual, or in elucidating their relation to man and man's organism, though he had caught glimpses of facts and methods which he thought only required confirmation and development. [1].)

Lastly, there have been queries about inline citations before, but noone has yet said what they want cited. I feel awkward to just add some randomly. I'd say most of the article mass is generally agreed on by the standard literature that is listed in the article's reference section.

Again, I'm grateful for your comments, and welcome further discussions -- here, on talk:emanuel Swedenborg or elsewhere.

Fred-Chess 16:08, 7 June 2006 (UTC)