Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Rivers

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I am recently reviewing list of longest rivers of China in Chinese Wikipedia. It was a featured list once, but delisted for original research. Which part, you ask? It's the selection criterion: Rivers included in the article must at least 1000 km. However, a user suggested that the criterion itself is original research if no citations provided, and must provide a reliable source that defined a "longest rivers of China" as "rivers in China that are at least 1000 km".

Of course, the usage of the Chinese word 最 may contributed the issue (Chinese don't use grammatical number, so we can't tell if "最长河流" is "longest river" or "longest rivers", see plural for details), but after reading some longest rivers' lists, such as List of river systems by length, List of longest rivers of the United States, and List of longest rivers of Ukraine, I found that no citations provided to their definition of "longest rivers".

Then why list rivers longer than 800 km instead of 1000 km in the US? Why list rivers longer than 1000 km long in the world, not 800 km? Are there any sources supported their criteria? Why aren't these considered original research? - I am puzzled by these questions, and have no choice but ask in the help desk.

Thanks for reading. Saimmx (talk) 13:41, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Selection criteria are editorial decisions. Editorial decisions lie beyond OR. Selbstporträt (talk) 21:51, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

There is a requested move discussion at Talk:Tumpak Sewu Waterfalls#Requested move 22 February 2026 that may be of interest to members of this WikiProject. TarnishedPath^talk 04:45, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Hello, I've spent a fair bit of time and effort improving the following watersheds Nodaway River and Platte River and want feedback before I continue on other watersheds. I intend to one day make and improve my programmatic methods for generating new articles, infoboxes, and tributary lists of tables, so I want to have a pretty solid rubric and template for what to do. If someone could peruse those two articles and their tributaries and provide feedback, particularly with this experimental tributary table, this style of a tributary list, and these examples of new articles: Arapahoe Creek and Little Platte River. Along with maybe the categories I've created and infobox style and citation methods. What I've done is largely influenced from matching similar articles I come across and doing things that make sense to me, but I'm open to better, more standard ways, if they exist. Thanks! SamuelNelsonGISP (talk) 15:47, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

Also feedback on my maps: 1, 2, 3 would be good. SamuelNelsonGISP (talk) 15:48, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

Merced River has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Z1720 (talk) 03:00, 27 April 2026 (UTC)

Good article nominations | June 2026 Backlog Drive
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:59, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

The River Ive Article probably needs deleting because I looked all over the web and I don’t think there are any reliable sources and the article has only a primary source but no secondary source this violates the No Original Research Policy. TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 12:58, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

The Catchment Data Exlorer is a British government database and publicly available. That makes it a WP:RS reliable source. Murgatroyd49 (talk) 14:01, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

Here's a map that contains the River and depicts potentially notable features. Cumberland Sheet XXXVIII Surveyed: 1861, Published: 1868. And there seems to be more maps of the same area: here. Also, maybe research histories of the Eden District or Cumbria County, often histories describe geographic details like patterns of settlements, major floods, commerce or recreation along waterways, etc.

P.S. this stream, even if it is only borderline notable, which it does not seem to be, should be merged with its parent stream, not outright deleted. SamuelNelsonGISP (talk) 14:31, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

What sections does the River Ivel need and can you find more sources for the River Ivel please? I want the article to be Good Article or Featured Article. TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 14:36, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

To find sources on a specific topic, one has to hunt. Some places to try are:

• Google search in your web browser at google.com
• Search in Internet Archive at https://archive.org/
• Study the resources available at Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library which include:
  • Search through academic sources at https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/
  • If you know the name of a particular journal/magazine article, but cannot get access to it (because of a paywall, or other barrier): try asking at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request

It looks like River Ivel is a small river in UK. Consider looking in UK-specific locations, such as National Trust web sites, British Library, or perhaps local historical societies near the course of the river.

Some topics simply do not have excellent sources that talk about it. I don't know if River Ivel has excellent of sources or not. There is no minimum # of sources required, instead, the key is how "reliable" they are (see WP:RS). Ideally, you want sources written by academics that are very high-quality. If it turns out you cannot find some excellent, reliable sources, that is okay: it can still be a fantastic Wikipedia article. Getting GA approval has lower requirements than Featured Article. A typical sequence for an article is:

1. Gather as many sources as you can (see list above)
2. Read all the sources
3. Write the article
4. Go through the WP:GA process. If it fails: fix the issues that were identified and try again.
5. Go through one WP:Peer Review -asking reviewer to focus on FA-related criteria (see WP:FACR)
6. Go through the WP:FA process

Some articles stop after the GA process because there are no excellent sources.

Good luck! Noleander (talk) 15:24, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

@TheAnomynousEditor - I looked at the River Ivel article, and the sources appear to be adequate for WP:GA. So, I suggest that you nominate for WP:GA before you try WP:FA. If you want more confidence that it will pass WP:GA nomination, you can do a Peer Review before the GA nomination. In Peer Review: you can ask other editors to identify issues that might need work before nominating at GA. After the article has passed GA, you can then decide if you want to nominate for FA or not. Noleander (talk) 15:33, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

@Noleander Should there be more headings added into the article or not? TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 15:38, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

And also, are historical societies and conservation groups reliable for geography facts? TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 15:42, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

See my reply below. For advice on a specific article, the discussion should be at the article talk page namely Talk:River Ivel; or in a Peer Review page that you create (see below). Also, you can hunt through Wikipedia for excellent articles on UK rivers, and ask the editors that worked on that article for advice. Noleander (talk) 15:45, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

May I suggest this: Go to WP:Peer Review and create a "PR nomination" there for the River Ivel article. Follow the PR instructions. After the PR is created, notify me on my Talk page, and I will reply in the new Peer Review page you created. And maybe we can find another editor (which is an expert in UK geography) to also provide input. PR is a much better location to get input than here in this River Project page. Noleander (talk) 15:42, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

Sorry for the inconvenience @Noleander but here is the peer review thing TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 16:03, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

I found good quality sources but how do i word them for the River Ivel article?

https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB105033037720?cycle=3

https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB105033038170

Many thanks, TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 19:27, 21 June 2026 (UTC)

Use the Cite web template available above the edit box. Click on Cite then you will get a drop-down menu on the top left. Choose web and fill in the boxes. HTH Murgatroyd49 (talk) 19:31, 21 June 2026 (UTC)

I mean from teh website, it says that it has a moderate ecological status on one part of the ivel and good ecological status on the other ivel body how do i word it? TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 19:42, 21 June 2026 (UTC)

Per https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/OperationalCatchment/3239 there are 20 water bodies in the Ivel catchment, each with its own assessment. You have linked the pages for just two of them. Clicking "View classifications tables" on the page I linked, it states that 4 of the water bodies have good ecological status and 16 have moderate ecological status. I don't see a rating for the catchment as a whole. You need to explore that website more. Donald Albury 01:25, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

It looks like all of the river articles have had their class removed, and I can't seem to find any discussion or documentation of why. All of the subcategories under Category:River_articles_by_quality are now empty, and bots are already flagging them for speedy deletion. Has there been a decision to stop using article classes? Did a bot mass-remove them? Is there a bug in a template somewhere?

Weirdly, Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/River_articles_by_quality_statistics still shows articles in the categories, but when you click any of the categories, they seem to be empty... Kieran (talk) 20:57, 25 June 2026 (UTC)

I'm not sure what is going on. All the river articles still have their grade B/C/GA/FA identified inside their Talk page. Some bot that collects that information and generates the hidden categories (such as Category:A-Class River articles) must be broken or disabled. Maybe post a query in WP:Village Pump where category-savvy experts may be hanging out. Noleander (talk) 22:21, 25 June 2026 (UTC)

Apparently it was an edit to the river article template that broke things, and it's now fixed! See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Liz#h-Weirdness_with_river_article_categories-20260625211100 Kieran (talk) 19:50, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

I was making an attempt to edit the description of the location of a river in my locality but was confused by the current data. That is, when I tried to edit the summary table it looked like a single item and not text, and I thought maybe it is auto filled by some mechanism using eg a GIS database. I just want it to be correct, and it isn't. Is it autofilled somehow, and can it be safely editted manually without breaking anything? Robintundrabay (talk) 22:46, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

What WP article is it? What is the specific fact you are trying to change? Can you post here (in this Talk page) the fragment of text that looks like "a single item" that is the source of the problem? Some items are filled from WikiData databases, but that is sort of rare. Noleander (talk) 23:01, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

If it is in article Clyde River (Ontario) at this line:

| mouth_location = [[Tay Valley, Ontario|Tay Valley]]

you should be able to edit that directly in the article. Noleander (talk) 23:04, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

I thought so too but it seemed linked to something. I'll give it a try when I can find a few minutes. Thx Robintundrabay (talk) 12:57, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

Can someone review the River Ivel article to see if it reaches GA?

Many thanks, TheAnomynousEditor (talk) TheAnomynousEditor (talk) 19:42, 12 July 2026 (UTC)