Wikisource:Featured text candidates/Archives/2016

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Featured

The Kiss and its History

The following discussion is closed:

selected for February 2016

This is the current PotM, and although validation is still on-going, it is finishing up quickly. At least a couple of members have expressed the thought that it might make a good Featured Text for February, because of Valentine's Day, so I'm raising awareness of the work now to give people time to scrutinize it in advance. And we do desperately need more nominations. --EncycloPetey (talk) 06:37, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

It is now fully validated. I did a page by page run through for poetry formatting and uniformity of text, but did not check thoroughly for typos. Londonjackbooks (talk) 00:10, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
I've been (slowly) doing the same and also checking typos/punctuation, but I still have about 30 pages left to check. So between us and the other people I've seen making such corrections, it sounds like we'll have a pretty thorough check done. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:57, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
 Support I don't think we've ever had a Valentine's Day FT before? This looks like a good choice. —C. F. 05:59, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

The Descent of Man (Darwin)

The following discussion is closed:

selected for April 2016

The Descent of Man finally made it to validated status. This work--as well as its author--is quite an important work in so many fields (biology, philosophy, etc.). I don't think we've featured a work of such stature and fame as this one in many years that'd it'd be great to put something extremely famous on the front page.—Zhaladshar (Talk) 15:26, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Comment. We've featured Bertrand Russell's Problems of Philosophy and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland within the past year or two. Both of these are of tremendous stature. But I'd agree that we haven't featured a scientific treatise of such status in the time that I've been here. Haven't yet had time to look over the nominated copy yet, although I know many fine editors have been working to prepare it. --EncycloPetey (talk) 19:37, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
Issue: I'm finding this problem in multiple places. Perhaps someone can run a check for spaces around dashes (and be sure they are the correct sort of dash), removing the unwanted spaces. Besides this one, I find no other issues worth mentioning. --EncycloPetey (talk) 19:50, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
I subjected that same page (/171, and that alone) to pedantic scrutiny and subsequently found a small number of capitalisation quibbles in addition. Is an unreasonable standard being demanded of this work? Maybe after this burst of internal publicity consider it for FT after a short delay but just not quite yet? AuFCL (talk) 21:39, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
I have taken care of all of the spaces around em-dashes. If there are still any spaces around dashes, then the dashes would have to be the wrong kind. Are there any other recurring issues like that? BD2412 T 01:16, 20 September 2015 (UTC)
None that I've seen. AuFCL noticed capitalization issues on one page, but a random search hasn't turned up other examples of this problem. It may have been a tired editor just slipped for one page of editing. Thanks for taking care of the spaces issue so quickly. --EncycloPetey (talk) 17:19, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

 Support The stature of the work is such that featuring it will highlight the site itself before the readers. Hrishikes (talk) 02:11, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

 Support The "official" Darwin collection isn't as open as it could be, so .... ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:36, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

The Fables of Florian (tr. Phelps)

The following discussion is closed:

selected for June 2016

This is a collection of short fables for children, complete with illustrations and rhyme. It is different from what we have featured recently, and makes for an interesting browse.—Zhaladshar (Talk) 13:11, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

Support, CYGNIS INSIGNIS 14:55, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
 Support. It would help if someone familiar with this work could write a blurb for the Main Page. I'm always happy to help put selected works in place for FT, if the blurb is already written. --EncycloPetey (talk) 16:23, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
 Comment Seems I contributed some to this work back in my early days (poem tag is used)—so who knows what errors might be lurking under the transcluded surface. I'll give it a look-over for uniformity of formatting. Londonjackbooks (talk) 18:37, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
 Comment It was nominated in 2012; not enough support. Take a look at this list from User:Arjunaraoc — Top 100 downloads using wsexport tool. Many of those relatively popular downloads are far from Featured Text status, but at least it shows us what our down-loaders are interested in. On Liberty and Dictionary of spoken Spanish are not too far behind the Bible — so they're doing pretty well! :). And the Dictionary of spoken Spanish isn't even complete! I think it would help if we tried to upgrade the files that are being downloaded to Feature status, or upgrade something similar. Just my thoughts.... Outlier59 (talk) 01:02, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
Do we let current popular trends dictate Featured status? or do we offer something original to readers? Perhaps both. Londonjackbooks (talk) 01:36, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
I think both. Something exceptionally interesting from past publications or current public domain publications, with awareness of current seasons/trends. Like February's "Kiss" book. Just right for Valentine's Day. Do we have anything on Cinco de Mayo? Outlier59 (talk) 01:56, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
Agree, both. I was surprised to see the text here was the first result in a google search on 'fables on Florian'. Even if it not a featured 'featured text' (the consensus is that 'we' think this ideal, but it wasn't on the front page), it should be carefully checked for errors. @EP: I could cobble together a blurb if this gains some support. CYGNIS INSIGNIS 10:54, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
@Cygnis insignis: Thanks for offering to do the blurb. I don't think we have to worry about too many options. In the past year we've several times had to "repeat" a FT because there were not enough usable nominations. I'm also OK with a validated nomination sitting around for a time if people are actively working to improve any issues. The selection could always be featured at a later date. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:13, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
@Outlier59: On Liberty has yet to be proofread, much less validated, but would make a valuable addition. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:16, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
@EncycloPetey: It looks like On Liberty has been here for a decade or more; it's "incomplete" due to the change to proofing against a scanned copy — the text is available in mainspace, chapter 1 from the scanned text. The djvu has been flagged for Google watermarks. I think that means a match & split, which means reverting everything to not-proofed. I'm inclined to give it a pass right now, but might take it up with fewer complications down the road. Outlier59 (talk) 01:42, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
 Support I have gone through the text, corrected some template placement errors, and tweaked formatting some for standardization. I also checked MS pages for transclusion. I did not check for typos. Thank you, @Outlier59:, for offering a clean cover image for possible inclusion. Londonjackbooks (talk) 11:21, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
@Londonjackbooks: Sorry about that previous digression! :( The book cover was meant as a peace offering. Unfortunately, I have a very specific concern: all the pages have <references /> in the footer, nowhere applicable. I'm willing to do a bot-like early-morning-zombie minor edit to remove the <references /> in the footers during this coming week. @Zhaladshar: @EncycloPetey: and @Cygnis insignis: Can you please check for typos and any other concerns related to Wikisource:Featured texts? Outlier59 (talk) 01:45, 17 April 2016 (UTC)
I looked over pages 60–80. CYGNIS INSIGNIS 03:59, 17 April 2016 (UTC)
1-30, 41-59, 81-105 are checked. Londonjackbooks (talk) 13:45, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
I looked through 31-40.—Zhaladshar (Talk) 13:01, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
<references /> have been removed from footers Outlier59 (talk) 13:33, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
Remaining pages have been checked for typos, etc. Londonjackbooks (talk) 13:24, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 Support if this meets all the criteria. I don't know how many votes are needed, but as of today, last year's May "Featured Text" is showing up because there's no "Featured Text" for this month this year. I think we need a few more in the pipeline.... Outlier59 (talk) 01:34, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
No minimum number of votes is required, just a consensus and meeting the stated requirements. However, this text can't be featured without a blurb for the Main Page section. The lack of a blurb is often a stumbling block, as people wait until after the start of the month to write one. I'm beginning to think that submitting a "blurb" for the Main Page should be a requirement of FT nomination. --EncycloPetey (talk) 06:05, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
Suggested blurb:

The Fables of Florian is an eighteenth century book of fables authored by the French poet and romance writer Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian. Animals were employed symbolically to represent human foibles like pride, pretentiousness, greed and so on. Although inspired by earlier masters like Aesop and La Fontaine, this work has a lighter touch than the ancient classics, is similarly witty but less cruel, and the poetry is flavored with an earlier eighteenth century pastoral mode. This ancient regime mode of writing caused the author to be imprisoned in 1793 by the radical revolutionary government of the Terror. Among the best of his fables are reckoned The Monkey showing the Magic Lantern, The Blind Man and the Paralytic, and The Monkeys and the Leopard. Several aphorisms of colloquial French were derived from Florian's fables.

Hrishikes (talk) 09:35, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

I like that. Outlier59 (talk) 11:30, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Selected and posted, and I've protected its primary page. However, someone still needs to go through and protect the other 52 main namespace pages of the text, one by one, for the duration of the month. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:23, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

The Discovery of Radium

The following discussion is closed:

selected for July 2016

I like this so I'm nominating this. I'm not sure I'm doing this right. I don't know all the rules. Outlier59 (talk) 01:44, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

I just noticed that Marie Curie doesn't have very many publications listed on her author page here in English Wikisource. I see two volumes published in French at archives.org[1][2], but I don't see any English translations. I can't read French. Does anyone know of any English translations? Outlier59 (talk) 02:29, 27 February 2016 (UTC)
Radio-active substances "Reprinted from the Chemical News, 1903, vol. 88, p. 85."

Selected. --EncycloPetey (talk) 20:25, 20 June 2016 (UTC)

The Adventures Of A Revolutionary Soldier

The following discussion is closed:

selected for September 2016

primary source for Revolutionary War (colonial perspective). first edition, not on gutenberg. Slowking4 ‽ RAN's revenge 16:17, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

 Comment I'm slotting this in as the September 2016 FT. However, we still need someone to write the blurb for the main page what explains what this work is, who wrote it, and its significance. --EncycloPetey (talk) 14:21, 1 August 2016 (UTC)

We're four days from the end of the month and still no blurb. This selection can't be loaded onto the Main page without a blurb. --EncycloPetey (talk) 03:32, 28 August 2016 (UTC)
OK, suggesting the following blurb, most of the info sourced from the author's wiki page (fascinating: recommended reading).
The Adventures of a Revolutionary Soldier is a first-person account of a soldier in the Continental Army of the United States during the Revolutionary War against Great Britain. Originally published anonymously in 1830, it was the work of Joseph Plumb Martin (1760-1850), and is considered to be one of the most important primary sources about the American Revolution. After its initial publication, the work was reprinted numerous times with various embellishments. The original text was considered lost until the mid-1950s, when a first edition printing was found; this is the text of the 1830 first edition.
I actually don't know how long a blurb is supposed to be. If need be, it can be fleshed out to talk about how Martin was a private during the Revolutionary War, and that scholars believe that it is based on a diary he kept during that time that he later embellished and dramatized, though it is still considered to be "remarkably accurate" (per Wikipedia, citation needed.) --Mukkakukaku (talk) 17:42, 28 August 2016 (UTC)
It is always easier for someone like me to trim down a blurb that is too long than it is to lengthen a blurb that is too short. Blurb length can vary depending on the length of the leading text that is included. --EncycloPetey (talk) 22:29, 28 August 2016 (UTC)
I'm glad this was chosen. Here is my stab at a blurb:
First published in 1830, scarcely noticed at the time, and long considered to have been lost, The Adventures of a Revolutionary Soldier is an eyewitness account of the American War of Independence as seen by a common soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin, who participated from his initial enlistment in the spring of 1776, through the bitter struggle for survival at Valley Forge, and on to the decisive victory at Yorktown in 1783. The text includes harrowing accounts of a number of battles and skirmishes, but is perhaps more notable for the great variety of incidents that mark a soldier's life during wartime: inoculation for smallpox (a perilous undertaking in those days); bouts of illnesses such as dysentery and yellow fever; marching and hauling equipment; tracking down deserters; sudden outbreaks of mischief and encounters with strange phenomena; but above all, by the constantly recurring fight to ward off hunger, which at one point brought his company to the verge of mutiny. Martin expresses with equal eloquence his pride in serving the country he loved, and his indignation at the neglect from which he and his fellows suffered.
If there's room for a quote, this is an attractive bit from near the beginning, describing the process of recruiting soldiers:
... I sat off to see what the cause of the commotion was. I found most of the male kind of the people together; soldiers for Boston were in requisition. A dollar deposited upon the drum head was taken up by some one as soon as placed there, and the holder's name taken, and he enrolled, with orders to equip himself as quick as possible. My spirits began to revive at the sight of the money offered; the seeds of courage began to sprout; for, contrary to my knowledge, there was a scattering of them sowed, but they had not as yet germinated; I felt a strong inclination, when I found I had them, to cultivate them. ...
Hope this is of some use. Mudbringer (talk) 03:01, 29 August 2016 (UTC)

Not passed

Usable Nominations for Featured Text

There are some great texts here on Wikisource, but the change from using "available texts" to djvu sourcing with direct text-scan comparison is making many older works problematic (no supporting scan). I think Tarzan of the Apes is a good example. A popular story which would make a good Featured Text these days -- but doesn't meet Featured Text requirements. Tarzan of the Apes might not be considered high-literature (I think it was classified "pulp fiction"), but it's a fun story, very much a product of its time in history, and also very much a reminder that history repeats itself.

Another text that I might nominate ... Jungle Tales of Tarzan.. same problem.

Comments?

Outlier59 (talk) 01:42, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

What's preventing you from adding the scans, which are readily available? 1, 2. Hrishikes (talk) 06:11, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
Ditto, and note: Kathleen.wright and I have been working to upgrade the Barsoom stories with scans. My hope is that we can feature A Princess of Mars in October, 2017, since that will mark the 100th anniversary of the story's publication in book form. If the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories interest you, you could help start The Gods of Mars, which has an Index page already set up and ready for proofreading. --EncycloPetey (talk) 06:19, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
Unfortunately, I read all the Tarzan and and John Carter books available from Project Gutenberg earlier this year. That's why I thought of them as an example. (I couldn't figure out how to add Wikisource to my FBReader network library, so I downloaded the books from Gutenberg.) I might enjoy reading them again in a year or two, but not right now. I wouldn't mind doing The Jungle Book, but I couldn't find a clean edition on Internet Archives; the illustrations looked blotchy.

I've probably brought this question up in the wrong place. I was wondering if proofread texts (say, from Project Gutenberg) might be allowed as Featured Texts until there's a larger pool of proofread texts with linked scans here. Outlier59 (talk) 13:08, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

There are plenty of proofread texts here with linked scans. The problem is: (1) People don't validate, so the queue for validations is always growing, and (2) People don't nominate very often, or follow up on nominations.
Some examples of works waiting for validation that would make great selections: Dubliners by James Joyce, Green Mansions by William Henry Judson, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Kipps by H. G. Wells, A History of Japanese Literature by W. G. Aston.
Some examples of works that could be nominated right now: Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey, Mike: A public school story by P. G. Wodehouse, The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, The Japanese Fairy Book by Iwaya Sazanami.
And this is just a small sampling of items, besides which there are many, many more that could be completed in short order and make a great choice, such as Deccan Nursery Tales --EncycloPetey (talk) 13:51, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

The Jungle Book (Century edition)

The following discussion is closed:

not selected; objections to edition and formatting issues

A first American edition (I think) of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, from 1894. This seems to be a timely text in reasonably good condition here on Wikisource. The illustration placement presentation in mainspace is messy, but the images themselves look decent to me. It's fully validated but obviously needs some clean-up for "Featured Text" status. I'm putting this in the "Featured Text" queue because (1) the queue is too short, (2) this is a lovely collection of short stories that have endured in our culture for many years. [... and ... (3) I saw the 2015 movie, and it has incredibly realistic animation of the animals, and actor Neel Sethi did a great job as "Mowgli"]. Outlier59 (talk) 01:50, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

Object—while it is an early American edition, the fact remains that it is not an English edition. My strong preference is to only feature works in editions from their country of origin (translations excepted). Beeswaxcandle (talk) 02:51, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
Noted, but the purpose of FT is to showcase the best that we have, not to focus on what we lack. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:18, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
The transcluded version is not displaying correctly. Image captions are being inserted into the middle of text on the line below the illustrations. This will need to be corrected. Also, the spacing and layout of items in the transcluded version needs work. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:18, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
Different editors used [[File:...]], template FI, or template FIS for the image display. All three were used in The Jungle Book (Century edition)/Mowgli's Brothers. Looks like a FIS template quirk. @ShakespeareFan00: have you seen this? Do you know what's causing the captions indide the main text? Outlier59 (talk) 16:45, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
Not sure without lookign more closely. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 16:46, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
OK yes this would seem to be an issue with {{FIS}}. AS I can't see anything obvious otherwise..ShakespeareFan00 (talk)
Why are templates instead of [[file:..]] needed in this work? Outlier59 (talk) 17:08, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
No apparent reason. {{c|[[File:...|...px]]}}{{nop}} should suffice here. Hrishikes (talk) 17:28, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
Instead of putting the File inside a {{center}} template, just use [[File:...|center|...px]]; you can center an image without adding the extra template. --EncycloPetey (talk) 18:36, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
OK, I can run through this work and change the images back to their earlier [[File:...]]. Give me a few days to get this done.
Meanwhile, could someone please look at this weird thing.... [3] shows the usual "Page body (to be transcluded):". [4] shows a weird <a href="/wiki/Help:Page_status" title="Help:Page status">Page status</a>. Not sure if that might be impacting the images. Outlier59 (talk) 01:09, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
fixed? CYGNIS INSIGNIS 02:41, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
See how The Jungle Book (Century edition)/Mowgli's Brothers looks now. I made the images larger, centered them. The only way to include the caption in the image file spec is to use "frame" or "thumb". "Frameless" doesn't display the caption. So captions are centered underneath. Alt tags should display on rollover, if you have alt tags enabled. Outlier59 (talk) 13:23, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Alice's Adventures Under Ground

The following discussion is closed:

not selected; repeat title

While I know Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been featured recently, this is the handwritten version of Carroll's famous work that he gave to Alice Liddell. —Beleg Tâl (talk) 21:35, 20 June 2016 (UTC)

 Oppose As you say, another version this work has been featured recently. Variety in FT is very important. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:38, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
I agree. I was more thinking, if you're at a stage where you're doing repeats, you may as well use a notable alternative version. —Beleg Tâl (talk) 21:39, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
 Oppose I'd say it's out of the running. See the index talk page. -- Outlier59 (talk) 00:02, 21 June 2016 (UTC)
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