Talk:W. Somerset Maugham

pronunciation

I think this could really use something about how to pronounce his last name. 2600:1700:803E:F010:2833:362D:DB3A:5811 (talk) 01:40, 23 December 2023 (UTC)

It's already there, immediately after his name in the opening sentence. Tim riley talk 09:45, 23 December 2023 (UTC)

minus sign

this is admittedly a minor issue, but i think all 25 instances of the minus sign ('−') currently in the article were meant to be en dashes ('–'). dying (talk) 22:59, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

SchroCat fixed a bunch of them but there are 17 more. I can easily edit them but they are used as in (space)(dash)(space) and some of the dashes are minus while others are en dash. What is wanted? I would normally use unspaced em dash but don't want to change the style without consensus. So, should it be unspaced em dash of spaced en dash? Johnuniq (talk) 01:18, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

SchroCat, thanks for running that script. interestingly, it caught two spaced hyphen-minuses (" - ") in an image's alt text that i missed, though it also appears to have ignored all spaced minus signs (" − "), perhaps by design.

Johnuniq, i am guessing that the minus signs should be replaced with en dashes because (1) all the other earlier uses of the minus sign were found in ranges, which the mos states should be punctuated with en dashes; (2) had the original intention been to use an unspaced em dash, i assume that the minus signs would not have been spaced; and (3) there are a number of spaced en dashes currently in the article, and no em dashes, spaced or unspaced. dying (talk) 07:59, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Good point, I've done that. There is a MOS suggestion somewhere about using a template to no-wrap the space before the dash but that uglifies the wikitext so I just used plain en dashes. Johnuniq (talk) 08:31, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

thanks, Johnuniq. dying (talk) 08:59, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

I'm slightly bothered by this. Most of the minus signs were added by me in the belief that they were en-dashes. Is it my keyboard that puts in minuses rather than en-dashes? Like this – for instance? How can I check? I don't want to do anything that will adversely affect screen-readers. Does my keyboard render em-dashes correctly—e.g. here? Grateful for advice. Tim riley talk 09:36, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

I did once see mention of a website that can tell you exactly what the characters are that you paste into it (at WP:VPT) but I did not pay attention because I use a text editor that can do that. Your comment has the correct dashes: "this – for" has an en dash and "correctly—e.g." has an em dash. Johnuniq (talk) 10:02, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

That's a relief - thank you. Tim riley talk 10:14, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

removal of hi-res portrait

given the number of low-res and poor quality images which cannot be loaded into Wikimedia Commons on this page it seem a shame to remove this portrait of him that is of good quality by a commercial photographer and in Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SLNSW_FL19828781.jpg Tim riley Eothan (talk) 03:31, 24 January 2024

A good picture, but we've got one of him a few years earlier, and the later one doesn't tell the reader anything much or add to the narrative. It would be a pity to lose the picture of Syrie to make room for the additional one of Maugham, and there isn't comfortable room for two at this point. If you are keen to include it, the new picture would sit comfortably in the Reputation section, breaking up rather a slab of text. Tim riley talk 08:31, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Before it goes in, Eothan, can I ask where and when it was first published? Thanks - SchroCat (talk) 08:40, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Not really concerned so add it if you feel it works - just felt it would enhance the article. It is part of the Harold Cazneaux negative collection in the State Library of NSW. As it almost certainly taken on the 1920 visit it is in the Public Domain in Australia as pre 1955. Also Cazneaux died in 1953 so is in the Public Domain also with 70+ years license. In USA PD-1996 applies. cheers. Eothan (talk) 10:16, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

You've changed the licence at commons, but can I check that it fulfils the following criteria:

• it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days),
• it was first published before 1 March 1989 without copyright notice or before 1964 without copyright renewal or before the source country established copyright relations with the United States,
• it was in the public domain in its home country on the URAA date (January 1, 1996 for most countries).

Given the US licencing requirements (which have to be met to be on Commons), just being PD in Australia isn't enough. Thanks - SchroCat (talk) 10:30, 24 January 2024 (UTC)