Talk:E. T. Pollock

	E. T. Pollock is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on November 25, 2010.
Article milestones Date Process Result February 12, 2007 Good article nominee Listed February 14, 2007 WikiProject A-class review Approved February 23, 2007 WikiProject peer review Reviewed February 23, 2007 Peer review Reviewed March 3, 2007 Featured article candidate Promoted November 26, 2022 Featured article review Demoted A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on March 23, 2006. The text of the entry was: Did you know ...that Commander Edwin Taylor Pollock became the first American governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands by beating the commander of the USS Olympia in a race to Saint Thomas? Current status: Former featured article

This article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Biography: Military / Politics and Government This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles This article is supported by the military biography work group (assessed as Mid-importance). This article is supported by the politics and government work group (assessed as Low-importance). This article has had a peer review which is now archived. Military history: Biography / Maritime / North America / United States / World War I A‑class This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles A This article has been rated as A-class on the project's quality scale. Associated task forces: /  Military biography task force Maritime warfare task force North American military history task force United States military history task force World War I task force Additional information: /  This article has passed an A-Class review. Caribbean: U.S. Virgin Islands Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Caribbean, an attempt to build a comprehensive guide to the countries of the Caribbean on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. If you are new to editing Wikipedia visit the welcome page to become familiar with the guidelines.CaribbeanWikipedia:WikiProject CaribbeanTemplate:WikiProject CaribbeanCaribbean articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the United States Virgin Islands work group. Polynesia: American Samoa Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Polynesia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Polynesia on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PolynesiaWikipedia:WikiProject PolynesiaTemplate:WikiProject PolynesiaPolynesia articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the American Samoa work group (assessed as High-importance). United States: Ohio Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject Ohio (assessed as Low-importance). Politics Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. United States Territories Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States Territories, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Territories of the United States on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.United States TerritoriesWikipedia:WikiProject United States TerritoriesTemplate:WikiProject United States TerritoriesUnited States Territories articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

I'm sorry to say this but while this article is well researched and very informative, it is rather choppily written. Certainly this is a cut above the average Wikipedia article, but I think it needs a thorough copyedit for style and flow. I'll note that there are a few one sentence paragraphs. The writing in the "Early career" section stands out as needing work. Where he served and what position he took or was assigned needs to be included, but there is a way to smooth this out and combine sentences so this doesn't read (as it does now) as: "He was on ship X. He was then on Ship Y". He was then on ship Z. Putting this aside, one sentence is a real problem. This simply does not parse: "Oliver was unable to travel immediately to the Islands and the honor of being the first Acting Governor of the United States Virgin Islands was decided in an unusual way." How these two facts have been connected in one sentence is beyond the ken of any reader.--96.224.145.248 (talk) 06:15, 25 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that the writing is poor throughout; perhaps the article will be cleaned up and better copyedited during its TFA-- if not, it should go to WP:FAR next week. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 14:54, 25 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure, some military officers get a section titled "honors". I love my Navy history, since I work forthem, and know of at least one honor for him, at Naval Surface Warfare Center, there's a conference room dedicated to him there for one of the buildings (1580 I think). But I don't have anything to reference for it. I can't imagine he doesn't have more up at the observatory. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Egreena42 (talk • contribs) 12:59, 25 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This older FA has some sourcing concerns:

• Pollock's date of birth is never directly cited anywhere
• "and he was reassigned to New York, to see service in Cuba and Puerto Rico, eventually taking part in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba" - source is from April 1898, but can't support all of this, because Santiago de Cuba was fought in July 1898
• " In 1910, Pollock was reassigned to USS Massachusetts, where he was promoted to commander in March 1911" - one source is from 1907 and the other from 1910, so they can't support things happening in 1911
• "In the final days before the entrance of the United States into World War I, the US military was concerned that Germany was planning to purchase or seize the Danish West Indies for use as a submarine or zeppelin base" - I think this is something we should have a secondary historian for, not a 1917 news report
• "On August 22, 1924, Mars came within 34,630,000 miles (55,730,000 km) of Earth. The US Naval Observatory made no formal observations of the planet, but Pollock and the son of astronomer Asaph Hall ceremonially re-enacted Hall's 1877 discoveries of the moons Phobos and Deimos with his original 17-inch (430 mm) telescope" - sourced to something from August 20.

I haven't been able to get around to checking the sources (should be PD?), but it wouldn't hurt to check for WP:SYNTH, which is a hazard when piecing together large chunks of an article mainly from single news reports. If the concerns are not addressed, a featured article review may be necessary. Hog Farm _Talk 20:42, 4 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]