Talk:Slinky/GA1

GA Review[edit]

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GA review (see here for criteria)

This is a decent article, but it still has some shortcomings with respect to the good article criteria.

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS):
I have already fixed some MoS issues myself, you can check those; some comments on others below.
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
About.com is not considered a WP:RS, and needs to be replaced.
Deleted. ItsLassieTime (talk) 22:42, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
See comments below.
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars etc.:
It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Doubts on two of the three, comments below.
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

Some comments, in no particular order: * I don't think the "®" mark in the lead is necessary or appropriate. We don't use it in other game or toy articles such as Monopoly (game), Barbie, etc.

Done. Removed. ItsLassieTime (talk) 18:38, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

* The lead section should probably be two paragraphs, not one. It needs to summarize a couple of other aspects from the article, such as the continued affordability and the 300 million sales figure.

Done. Expanded lead as recommended and plan to continue. ItsLassieTime (talk)

Why does the caption of the first image say "Metal Slinky"? Is there any other kind of Slinky?

I believe there are plastic Slinkys. Will investigate. ItsLassieTime (talk)

* I'm not sure the fair use rationale on File:Betty James 2001 NY Times.jpg is valid. It's a copyrighted photograph of J.D. Cavrich/The Altoona Mirror, via Associated Press, that's very recent (2001). Most "contemporary press photos" are ruled out by Wikipedia:Non-free content#Images 2 item #6. I don't think the fact that the person has died since 2001 changes this. Are you sure this image would survive WP:IfD?

I'm uncertain about this. Removed. ItsLassieTime (talk) 18:57, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure the fair use rationale on File:Slinky ad 1946.jpg is valid. (I'm not trying to be difficult, I know just like all of us that finding valid images for WP is a bitch!) I'm not sure whether the copyright for an ad like this belongs to the Slinky manufacturer or to Popular Science ... I'm less sure on this one than the prior, will have to look around to see if similar examples are on WP.

It was published in a public domain period, I believe. I'm uncertain on this. ItsLassieTime (talk) 18:57, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I was originally going to put this on hold, but the more I look at it, the coverage of the article's subject is far from complete, and the GAN was premature. For example, all of the following sources could be used:

this 1996 NYT article, which gives more biographical information about the Jameses and also describes Slinky's 1990s resurgence in popularity

Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 22:26, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

this 1998 NYT article about Helen H. Malsed, the inventor of the Slinky Dog and Slinky Train toys

Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 22:26, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

this 2001 NYT story, which gives additional information about why Betty James picked the name

Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 22:26, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

this 1985 NYT story, which gives specifics of how Slinky behaves in space

Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 22:26, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

this 1992 NYT story, which describes a science museum exhibit that made an 8-foot-long Slinky to illustrate the principles behind waves

Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 22:26, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

~~this 1961 NYT story that describes a bizarre John Cage avant-garde music performance based around Slinky~~

this 1957 NYT story, by Gay Talese, that gives a sales figure up to then (14 million) and discusses how it became a success despite its abstractness
A discussion is needed of why Slinky was successful from a design point of view, perhaps as described in the 2005 book Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design (see this review here), and as described in an art show covered here

* A discussion is needed of Slinky's cultural resonance. It's been frequently used as a metaphor, such as in this theatre review or this troupe review or this mime review or this description of an intellectual.

And these are just some of the useful cites from one source, The New York Times. Other newspapers or magazines will have more, books will have more (use Google books as a search vehicle, then hit the library as necessary). There are other missing aspects of Slinky that I noticed, such as kids would juggle with it, there was a rainbow colored one, and sometimes they just wouldn't do what they were supposed to. The Talk page also has some items that could be followed up upon, such as what is a normal Slinky's overall length, and exactly how did/does the manufacturing process work. Are they still made in the U.S., or has production moved overseas? And so on.

So in sum, I still think a lot more research and writing needs to go into this article. (I think the nominator knows the GAN was premature too, since the article has been expanding in the time since then.) This will take longer than the normal one-week GA hold, and research/writing shouldn't be done under pressure in the first place (this is supposed to be fun!), so I'm failing the GA for now, with encouragement to re-submit it down the road when the treatment is more comprehensive. Wasted Time R (talk) 14:32, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]