Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Hastings, Ontario/archive1

Hastings, Ontario

I am nominating Hastings, Ontario because I believe it is a very well written and interesting article. I have worked on it for the past few months, and I think it is ready to be nominated for a Featured Article. The article recently received Good Article recognition, and a lot of effort has gone into making it the full and informative article that it has become today. Writing a long and detailed article is relatively easy for a large city, but this article is written on a village with scarcely 1,000 people! Dhastings 01:02, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

First FAC.

Object Definitely a solid article, but a fair number of problems:

• Lead doesn't seem to cover the whole subject. If the marina is important enough to get its own paragraph, you should explain why that's so. Otherwise, the last paragraph should be turned into a general discussion of the most important geographical or social features of the town.
• I'm sure interesting things have happened after 1875.
• Socioeconomic data in the "demographics" section?
• Non-Internet references?
• Prose is far from brilliant. Example: "Hastings is served by Hastings Public School, for elementary education. For secondary education, Hastings residents would attend the Campbellford District High School. There is also a high school in nearby Norwood; the Norwood District High School. These schools are all part of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. Peterborough, the most populous city in the area, provides college and university education with Fleming College and Trent University."

I see at least four problems in that paragraph: an unnecessary comma between "School" and "for"; "would" isn't the right word for the second sentence; you need an independent clause after a semicolon; and it's inelegant to say that the city itself "provides" higher education. Stilgar135 05:05, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

• Object. A quick look shows several sections not having references. Hurricanehink (talk) 15:00, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

• Comment Actually, there are no sources available for information after 1875. There are no actual books published about the village, as far as I know. The Trent University Archives, which are available online, provide no history of the 20th century.

No, the comma is necessary after "school". If there was no comma, that would imply that "for elementary education" was part of the school's name. Also, the person who edited the section left a spelling error in the word "education".

My point was that the comma should not have been there because it was a poorly-written sentence. Much of the article contains similarly clunky prose. Stilgar135 18:16, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Incorrect. All sources are referenced. I suggest taking a wee bit more than a glance before saying that. Dhastings 15:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

• Object 1a not met. Where are your sources for Transportation? Reference 8 no longer works. Also, you really need to reword some of the sentences that are lifted almost verbatim from your sources.
  • "Hastings, on the Trent River, is the gateway to Rice Lake, the second largest lake in the Trent system." from http://www.hastingsvillage.ca/about.htm
  • "The first settlement, known as Crooks Rapids, began in 1810 and was named in 1820." from http://heydon.com/business/hastings/hastings.htm
  • "Henry Fowlds bought the land in 1851 and renamed the settlement Hastings in 1852, when the first post office was opened." from http://heydon.com/business/hastings/hastings.htm
  • "The locks were completed in 1844 and the waterways became part of the Trent-Severn passage." from http://heydon.com/business/hastings/hastings.htm
  • "Together they had ten children, (Eliza, John, James S., Robert H., Elizabeth, Henry M., Mary C., William J., Mary Anne, and Theresa) of which only five survived (James S., Elizabeth, Henry M., William J., and Theresa). The family came to North America in 1821, settling first in New York City, and then in Hartford in 1833. In 1834, they crossed the border and settled in Prince Edward County, Upper Canada. The Fowlds family settled in Asphodel Township in 1836, and then moved on to Westwood, where they set up a saw mill in conjunction with Dr. John Gilchrist in what was to become the village of Keene." from http://www.trentu.ca/admin/library/archives/72-001.htm
  • On September 27, 1851, Henry Fowlds purchased, from the Honourable James Crooks, the water rights, lands and buildings then known as Crooks Rapids, and later as Hastings. The Fowlds built upon this base, expanding their original saw mill to a corporate business of a saw mill, grist mill, general store and post office. The Fowlds were quite active in Hastings, occupying the seat of reeve, and the office of postmaster." from http://www.trentu.ca/admin/library/archives/72-001.htm
  • Gzkn 03:51, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

• Comment Would you like me to give you a link to MapQuest? I don't see how Transportation can be sourced.

Reference 8 now works, they had moved the page on the website.

Otherwise, I do agree. Some rewording will take place; that was a big mistake on my part. Dhastings 20:17, 11 December 2006 (UTC)