Talk:Pest control of cockchafers

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. Track your hook after promotion. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:30, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

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• ... that beetles were collected and killed after failing to comply with a court order?

• Source:

• • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Map
  • Comment: Fun little article that I found while going through some random AlexNewArtBot searches.

Created by Sddarealone (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 11 past nominations.

Beta Beta Beta - talk 06:14, 11 August 2026 (UTC).

• Pest control of cockchafers, surely?--Launchballer 08:02, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

Flew over my head that cockchafer wasn't pluralized, somehow. Beta Beta Beta - talk 08:23, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

• New enough, long enough, no issue with the prose, no issue with the sourcing. The hook is interesting; QPQ is done. Before this was approved, can I get a quote and translation of the sourcing of hook as I don't speak German. Thanks. Ping @Beta Beta Beta: Warm Regards, Miminity (Talk?) (me contribs) 08:00, 15 August 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: As the creator of this article and the nominator of a DYK on the original article from which this one was accidentally created (because of the GA review, well another DYK we have here, don't we), can we also take a look at my DYK? Thanks. Sddarealone (talk) 02:48, 17 August 2026 (UTC)
  • @Miminity: Terribly sorry for the heavily delayed response, but here is the quote:

    Das älteste urkundliche Verfahren (gegen Maikäfer) spielte sich 1320 in Avignon ab.

    While I also don't speak German, external translation services (I forgot what they explicitly were called) may help provide a rough idea of what the quote states. DeepL translates it to the following:

    The oldest documented legal proceeding (against cockchafers) took place in Avignon in 1320.

    Google Translate translates it the same as DeepL. Would that suffice for your translation needs? Beta Beta Beta - talk 03:00, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

GTG. Warm Regards, Miminity (Talk?) (me contribs) 03:07, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

References

Unattributed quote

Some of the language here read as antiquated to me, so I googled it. There's an entire paragraph that appears to be a near-direct and unattributed quote from this book available on Gutenberg:

In Sweden the peasants look upon the grub of the Cock-chafer, Melolontha vulgaris, as furnishing an unfailing prognostic whether the ensuing winter will be mild or severe; if the animal have a bluish hue (a circumstance which arises from its being replete with food), they affirm it will be mild, but on the contrary if it be white, the weather will be severe: and they carry this so far as to foretell, that if the anterior be white and the posterior blue, the cold will be most severe at the beginning of the winter. Hence they call this grub Bemärkelse-mask—prognostic worm.138

Not a copyvio, since it wouldn't be on Gutenberg if it were under copyright. But aside from the plagiarism concerns / need for attribution, do we really want to treat such an outdated source as reliable? -- Avocado (talk) 01:19, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

@Avocado: Thanks for pointing this out, I didn't know it was fully copied from this source. Now there should be no concerns for plagiarism or word usage as I've simplified the wording as well as cited the source originally. Also, in my opinion, it's not outdated since the book was published in 1865 which is just the right time for providing info on cockchafers in the Pest control of cockchafers § 19th century section. Sddarealone (talk) 05:14, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

How did that quote make it in there in first place without your noticing it had been copied, if I may ask? -- Avocado (talk) 09:40, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

Good question. And the answer is I didn't know. At the time when I created this article, it was created as a bifurcation from the main article, Cockchafer. The reason I did so is that the GAN reviewer at the time asked me to reduce the length of this Cockchafer § History of control as a pest section. Also I couldn't find the "De Geer, iv. 275–276. Kirb. and Sp. Introduction, i. 33." source to verify this before so nothing changed before you posted about it here. Edit - Also I didn't add that quote first in the main article. Sddarealone (talk) 12:52, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, that was helpful context@ Found the diff that introduced it. -- Avocado (talk) 13:59, 29 September 2026 (UTC)