Wikipedia

Wikipedia:BrilliantProse

This page is about the pre-2003 process of promoting Wikipedia's best work. For the modern such process, see Wikipedia:Featured Articles.

The "modern" (so to speak) process of Featured Article candidacy was created on 24 June 2003 by User:Eloquence. Prior to that time Wikipedia had a system known as Brilliant Prose to recognize its best content, which was an ad hoc collection of articles added to the Brilliant prose page by various editors.

Due to the UseModWiki software in place during 2001 and early 2002, a large number of edits from that era do not survive to the modern day in the main Wikipedia edit history database. However, Tim Starling discovered a backup database that contained all the edits that had been thereto lost to history. In the case where the relevant diffs do not survive, and when the 10K redux doesn't maintain a record (i.e., anything after 8 March 2001), users have manually reconstructed the versions using Starling's archives and created a subpage for the version, crediting the original author(s) in the subpage-creation edit summary. Many of the earlier pages have odd capitalization due to software considerations of the time. The capitalization of the initial letters of each page are as they appear in the relevant entry of the logs verbatim, due to software both then and now it is irrelevant; this case insensitivity does not apply to other letters in a page's title.

Starting in November 2001 these additions are readily available in the [merged] page history of Wikipedia:Featured articles. This page commemorates the earlier process and contains history up to 17 August 2001. There are some missing edits from August to November 2001 which have as yet not been found.[2]

First light

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This was the initial revision of BrilliantProse from 23:53, 21 January 2001:[3]

Somebody thinks the following WikiPedia pages are "brilliant prose" or at least pretty damn good:

TheCanonofScripture -- MathematicalGrouP -- NewZealand --

And the following are looking very promising:

BallroomDance -- ChristianIty -- DirectRealism -- EuroCurrency -- OpenContent --

and this is the revision from 00:02, 22 January 2001, which was current when the first Wikipedia-l email referencing "14 not-bad articles so far" was sent:[4]

Somebody thinks the following WikiPedia pages are "brilliant prose" or at least pretty damn good:

TheCanonofScripture -- MathematicalGrouP -- NewZealand -- PythagoreanTheorem -- SabBath -- TaoTehChing -- TheMostRemarkableFormulaInTheWorld -- TheRecorder

And the following are looking very promising:

BallroomDance -- ChristianIty -- DirectRealism -- EuroCurrency -- OpenContent -- PrettyGoodPrivacy

Well, whatever these articles are, they sure aren't PatentNonsense!

First criteria for inclusion (May 2001)

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(1) copious original content;
(2) good writing;
(3) clarity for the person who doesn't know what the topic is about 
    (after all, this is an encyclopedia!);
(4) whimsy. --Larry Sanger[5]

2001

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January

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Date and time Article Nominator Featured version Notes
21 January 2001, 23:53:53 TheCanonofScripture LarrySanger Here Title modified in March, see below.
MathematicalGrouP LarrySanger Here Currently a Featured Article as Group (mathematics) since 2008
NewZealand LarrySanger Here
21 January 2001, 23:59:29 PythagoreanTheorem LarrySanger Here Title modified in March, see below.
SabBath LarrySanger Here
TaoTehChing LarrySanger Here Title modified in March, see below.
TheMostRemarkableFormulaInTheWorld LarrySanger Here Title modified in March, see below. The formula in question is Euler's identity, but the normal-cased title is now a redirect to the technically broader Euler's formula.
TheRecorder LarrySanger Here Title modified in March, see below.
26 January 2001, 21:12:38 GladstoneOregon LarrySanger Here Title modified in March, see below.
28 January 2001, 08:14:02 AlchemY JoshuaGrosse Here

March

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On 23 March 2001, 17:23:44, Sanger changed the following links to the recently-available free links, at which point the pages were automatically moved:

(The current CamelCase PythagoreanTheorem page appears to be a later creation on 4 April 2001 19:17:34 by JimboWales.)

Seconds later, at 17:23:51, he then created the page Brilliant prose to take advantage of the new syntax, on which all subsequent activity took place. No new pages were promoted at that time.

Date and time Article Nominator Featured version Notes
23 March 2001, 17:40:22 Hate Crime 198.207.223.xxx Here
24 March 2001, 15:28:45 Japanese Language RoseParks Here Changed to the lowercase Japanese language by Parks at 15:30:32

May

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Date and time Article Nominator Featured version Notes
24 May 2001, 20:53:51 Meme KoyaanisQatsi Here Demoted to "These ones look promising" by Qatsi at 20:54:37, the first FARC. (Although its inclusion might have been accidental in the first place.)
26 May 2001, 08:00:45 statistics Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted "the whole area" as included in his inclusion into the list. The articles had been worked on by Dick Beldin (also editing as User:DickBeldin).
Classical Mechanics Larry Sanger Here
Quantum Mechanics Larry Sanger Here
periodic table Larry Sanger Here Currently an FA since 2012
carbon Larry Sanger Here
Biology Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted "many excellent pages here, and a good start generally" as a comment to his inclusion.
cladistics Larry Sanger Here
protista Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted "the whole area" as included in his inclusion into the list.
DNA Larry Sanger Here Currently an FA since 2007
Astronomy and Astrophysics Larry Sanger Here
Earth Larry Sanger Here Currently an FA since 2007
Paleontology Larry Sanger Here
geologic ages Larry Sanger Here Sanger included "and related pages" in his inclusion in the list.
countries of the world Larry Sanger Here Sanger jocularly remarked "the CIA pages, anyway; hey, the CIA did a great job!", a presumable reference to the CIA World Factbook.
History of Levant Larry Sanger Here
Byzantine Empire Larry Sanger Here Currently an FA since at least 2004
Alexander the Great Larry Sanger Here
United States/History Larry Sanger Here
World War I Larry Sanger Here
History of Germany Larry Sanger Here
East Germany Larry Sanger Here
Netherlands/History Larry Sanger Here
Language Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted that "some of the individual language pages are excellent".
Anarchism Larry Sanger Here
Capitalism Larry Sanger Here
Economics Larry Sanger Here
market forms Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted "and related pages" as part of his inclusion.
City Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted that "a few of the city articles are good" in his inclusion.
Milgram experiment Larry Sanger Here
Disabilities/Disability Etiquette Larry Sanger Here
History of Science and Technology Larry Sanger Here
Echelon Larry Sanger Here
code Larry Sanger Here
The Singularity Larry Sanger Here
Linux Larry Sanger Here
computer system Larry Sanger Here
World Wide Web Larry Sanger Here
Search Engine Larry Sanger Here
markup language Larry Sanger Here
ASCII Larry Sanger Here
Computer Security Larry Sanger Here
information theory Larry Sanger Here Sanger conceded that "probably others about Computing" were among such articles
Road Transport Larry Sanger Here
Spacecraft Propulsion Larry Sanger Here
intellectual property Larry Sanger Here
copyright Larry Sanger Here Sanger included "and related pages" in his listing
trade secret Larry Sanger Here
Law Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted "bunches of good brief articles" in his listing
Star Trek Larry Sanger Here
science fiction Larry Sanger Here
film theory Larry Sanger Here Sanger noted "some good articles in this area"
Paramount Larry Sanger Here
Walt Disney Larry Sanger Here
horse-breaking Larry Sanger Here
horseshoe Larry Sanger Here
bulldogging Larry Sanger Here
jazz Larry Sanger Here
punk rock Larry Sanger Here
disco Larry Sanger Here
hip hop Larry Sanger Here
Freestyle music Larry Sanger Here
musical instrument Larry Sanger Here
saxophone Larry Sanger
Hammond organ Larry Sanger
Mozart Larry Sanger
Achilles Larry Sanger
Perseus Larry Sanger
Ernest Hemingway Larry Sanger
Stephen King Larry Sanger
H. G. Wells Larry Sanger
Christianity Larry Sanger
Catholicism Larry Sanger
Protestantism Larry Sanger
The Book of Mormon Larry Sanger
Scientology Larry Sanger

In the 26 May 2001, 08:00:45 edit, Sanger proposed the first ever criteria for inclusion to the list, the predecessor of the WP:FACR, albeit describing it only as his personal criteria for including articles. Verbatim except for formatting, the criteria were:

(1) copious original content;

(2) good writing;
(3) clarity for the person who doesn't know what the topic is about (after all, this is an encyclopedia!);

(4) whimsy.

Criterion 1 is nowadays expected of all articles due to WP:COPYVIO, WP:PLAGIARISM, etc. Criteria 2 and 3 are the spiritual predecessors of modern criteria 1a and 1b, respectively, and together broadly represented by 1 and 2. Criterion 4 is no longer a part of FAC, but personal whims would be a part of the process until at least 2003. In addition, he standardized Alchemy's capitalization (albeit to lowercase "alchemy", irrelevant due to link canonicalization). He also demoted The Canon of Scripture, MathematicalGrouP, NewZealand, SabBath, Tao Teh Ching, The Most Remarkable Formula In The World, The Recorder, Gladstone Oregon, and AlchemY to "look promising". Ten seconds later he reverted the edit to the version as of the end of January, but it would be restored on 08:02:26 and the "o" in Hammond Organ capitalized.

On 26 May 2001, 09:18:40, Sanger added the following: political correctness -- Renaissance Classicism -- Mannerism/Art -- Baroque/Art -- game theory -- Game (this whole area is excellent) -- Go -- Poker (amazing!) -- Sheepshead -- Bridge -- video game (a great start) -- Stone, Paper, Scissors -- Wikipedia FAQ

On 29 May 2001, 08:17:43, Sanger added History of England.

On 30 May 2001, 01:08:10, Qatsi added negligence.

June

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July

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August

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Mid-August to mid-November

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The Starling logs end on 17 August 2001 05:26:02. The earliest surviving revision of the modern FA page is on 14 November 2001 19:50. The following articles had been added to the list in the interim. Since the exact times of their additions can't be known for certain, neither can their "featured versions", so in lieu of such the earliest surviving revision of the given page is provided, or if that revision predates 17 August 2001 05:26:02 the earliest revision after that time.

November

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Date and time Article Nominator Featured version Notes
14 November 2001, 19:50 Hebrew language Stephen Gilbert Here Implied by the edit summary "Hebrew language is wonderful!"
19 November 2001, 03:21 Alfred Hitchcock 205.188.198.xxx Here Entered as "[Hitchcock]" at this time, with the free link corrected by the IP at 03:22; "Hitchcock" did not exist at the time. Koyaanis Qatsi made the link explicitly to Alfred Hitchcock at 04:20, whose featured version is thus included at the initial time.
20 November 2001, 01:32 Eugene Wigner 152.163.205.xxx Here Removed by Lee Daniel Crocker at 01:50; per the talk page, the IP had authored the page and placed it before it was written (which the timing of the "featured version", dating to 01:44, supports). Crocker argued that "I think we should agree [a self-nomination] is not appropriate." 205.188.197.xxx re-added it on 21 November, 00:07.
27 November 2001, 17:35 basketball 205.188.198.xxx Here Crocker removed it at 19:53, deeming the IP a "self-nominating anonymous coward." Re-added by the IP on 30 November, 18:30.
28 November 2001, 05:21 Humphrey Bogart 152.163.206.xxx Here
28 November 2001, 18:44 Paul Erdos Lee Daniel Crocker Here

In response to the spate of self-nominations, 61.9.128.xxx added the following to the page on 27 November, 23:34:

Be aware that you are most likely not the best judge of your own work. Even if you think a page you have contributed a large majority of the content to is brilliant, it is best that you wait for somebody else to recognise it as such.

This is somewhat the opposite of modern practice, but an extraordinary amount of time has happened in that span.

December

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Date and time Article Nominator Featured version Notes
2 December 2001, 15:32 Freemasonry Bryan Derksen
3 December 2001, 11:14 Rudyard Kipling Malcolm Farmer
Joshua Norton
5 December 2001, 16:14 baseball 152.163.197.xxx

2002

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2003

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-January/000000.html
  2. ^ Compare pages
  3. ^ Special:Permalink/1042543697
  4. ^ Special:Permalink/1042543700
  5. ^ special:diff/1042581049
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