Template:Did you know nominations/Hermann Alfred Tanner

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by PrimalMustelid talk 02:18, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

Hermann Alfred Tanner

  • ... that Major Hermann Alfred Tanner tried to get the the Romansh to speak Occidental, a constructed language? Source: Künzli, Andreas. "Das Jahrhundert des Esperanto: Internationale Sprache Esperanto im 20. Jahrhundert im Spannungsfeld von Politik, Gesellschaft und Wissenschaft" [A Century of Esperanto: The International Language Esperanto in the 20th Century in Areas of Tension of Politics, Society, and Science] (PDF) (in German). p. 5. Retrieved 10 September 2023. Auch Hermann Alfred Tanner (1873-1961), Pionier auf dem Gebiet der Farbennormierung, verbreitete Occidental unter den Rätoromanen [Also Hermann Alfred Tanner (1873-1961), Pioneer in the field of colour standardisation, spread Occidental among the Romansh]

Improved to Good Article status by Frzzl (talk). Self-nominated at 23:08, 3 November 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/Hermann Alfred Tanner; consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.

General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems

Hook eligibility:

  • Cited: Yes - Offline/paywalled citation accepted in good faith
  • Interesting: No - See below
  • Other problems: No - See below
QPQ: Done.

Overall: I think the hook needs work. Too much here is confusing and difficult to understand. Why is it relevant that he's a major? The average reader won't know what Romansch are and probably don't understand what a constructed language is either. Overall, I'm not sure that this hook is engaging and helpful for a main page audience. (t · c) buidhe 23:54, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

    • Hi, thanks for the review. I completely agree with removing "Major", it's unnessesary and complicates the hook. I checked the hook with some other editors, and I'm honestly not sure that we an ethnic group and one of the major classifications of languages is too niche - they're both wikilinked, nontechnical, and isn't the point of DYK to learn new things? I can understand removing the mention of Occidental, as that will simplify it. What about an alt0a, "... that Hermann Alfred Tanner tried to get the Romansh to speak a constructed language?"
    • If you're firmly against this, I'll be putting a hook about his confrontationalism on Portal:Constructed languages, but I can see that that's definitely not suitable. Otherwise, I could try one about the colour compass, but it isn't really that interesting. What do you think? Frzzltalk;contribs 21:02, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
    • Hey @Buidhe:, are you still interested in reviewing this DYK? - Frzzltalk;contribs 15:08, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

I already reviewed it. I'm still not convinced that the alternative hook is suitable but if someone else sees fit to approve it I won't interfere. (t · c) buidhe 15:27, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

This isn't a review but I'm looking at the article. ALT0 and ALT0a both talk about him "trying to speak" a constructed language, but the article merely said that he spread the language among the Romansh people without saying he "tried" to do so. As for the hook, I think there's potential for ALT0a, but I would suggest adding additional context of both the Romansh people or Occidental in order to at least not leave unfamiliar readers in the dark. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 14:31, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
Thanks for your feedback. For any future reviewer:
ALT0b: that the Swiss commandant Hermann Alfred Tanner promoted an artificial language to the Romansh minority? Source: same as above; Romansh are <1% of Swiss population per "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Hauptsprachen in der Schweiz" (XLS) (official site) (in German, French, and Italian). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Federal Statistical Office. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
AlT1: ...that the Swiss mountaineer Hermann Alfred Tanner invented a compass to navigate colour harmony? Source: Bruckner, Albert (1938). Neue Schweizer Biographie [New Swiss Biography] (in German). Basel: Buchdruckerei zum Basler Berichthaus. p. 529. LCCN 38020112. OCLC 12852017.
ALT2: ...that the Swiss commandant Hermann Alfred Tanner spent most of the First World War as a journalist in Italy? Source: ibid.
If none of the alts seem passable, or there any any issues, please ping me Frzzltalk;contribs 18:12, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
All the new hook sound okay to me, though I'll leave the final decision to the reviewer. I've struck the other hooks to show they're no longer for consideration. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 00:06, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
All three hooks are short enough, AGF sourced, and interesting; my personal preference is ALT1. Good to go.--Launchballer 00:48, 27 December 2023 (UTC)