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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: rejected, closed by Dclemens1971 (talk) 18:44, 5 October 2026 (UTC)

Martinsburg Street Railway

    • Reviewed:
Moved to mainspace by Wobs100 (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

Wobs100 (talk) 23:48, 2 August 2026 (UTC).

  • Article was moved from draft space on August 1, and was nominated a day later within the proper nomination window. The article is long enough. No copyright violations or other policy concerns found. The only issue here is the hook itself is dreadfully dull; failing WP:DYKINT. Many American cities had streetcar systems. Simply existing is not surprising or unusual in any way. Please propose new hooks below with attention to crafting a hook that features something unusual or surprising per DYK's style guideline. Perhaps the revoking of the charter due to lack of maintenance would draw interest for example. Please propose new hooks below for review.4meter4 (talk) 19:17, 8 August 2026 (UTC)
  • A suggestion: the system only operated for a little less than a year (which needs to be made more clear in the article). I think a hook could be developed from that. Acroterion (talk) 19:25, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

1. The system lasted for ~a year and a half not less than a year as the system made it to late 1893 and I'm confused on how the operation time is confusing. 2. Here are some hooks; DYK that the Martinsburg Street Railway operated a trolley park as a way to cool off in the summer? and DYK that the Martinsburg Street Railway helped shape the Boomtown Historic District? (both might need to be reworded) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wobs100 (talk • contribs)

As I said, it's hard to make out the time in which the system actually operated. Acroterion (talk) 02:58, 9 August 2026 (UTC)
Hmm... There are problems with both proposals. The "Boomtown Historic District" of Martinsburg, West Virginia would be of interest to people local to the area, but is too esoteric and obscure a topic to appeal to a global audience. This fails the "no specialized knowledge" criteria at WP:DYKINT.
The sourcing for the cooling off fact doesn't check out as the newspaper is writing about a future trolley park and not about the trolley park after it has opened and was in use. The newspaper is making a prediction about how the park will be used in the future. That claim may or may not have come true. Predictive claims on future events in a newspaper are not reliable claims, and you can't rephrase that type of reporting as a factual claim about the past. There's also a certain marketing element being done. This looks like WP:SYNTH of historic newspaper sourcing.
Now that I am looking more closely at the sourcing, I see there are some other issues. Facebook for example is listed as a unreliable source in the Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Perennial sources, and while it is from a historical society social media page, we can't accept articles with inline citations to facebook.
Based on these two significant types of sourcing errors, you are going to need to do some rigorous trimming of inappropriate materials, and rewriting to pass WP:DYKPOL. Any self published sources such as social media will need to be removed, and the content cited to those materials will also need to be removed unless you can find reliably published materials to verify the same content. You will also need to go back through the many historic newspaper sources you've cited and double check that you aren't making claims not supported by the materials such as taking a predictive claim about a planned/upcoming project and turning it into a factual claim about the project. Plans can change and don't always come to fruition as originally envisioned, and predictions often don't come true. Just because something was planned or predicated doesn't mean it happened.
Let me know when you are ready for a second look on my part at the sourcing. Once that is done, we can them return to considering alternate hooks. Best wishes.4meter4 (talk) 02:34, 9 August 2026 (UTC)

I am focusing on sourcing Elkins Park right now I'll come back to the other stuff later Update! I fixed Elkins Park take a look and fix any errors I made! Question is https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84038206/1893-07-29/ed-1/?sp=3&q=elkins+park&r=0.197,0.097,0.3,0.109,0 is this enough proof that baseball and dancing were rec activities at the park or is that still implied? Update: I removed Facebook and fixed some (if not many) errors in the newspapers. I found one or two with that problem but a couple others with separate errors that I fixed. May you check on it? I do have ideas for NEW hooks!

  • Comment. @Wobs100: This looks much better. In spot checking I am seeing a more careful use of newspaper sources. I could not check every single one (too much!) but it looks good from I did check. I am trusting in good faith that you have correctly identified where adjustments needed to be made. Good work. Please propose new hooks below.4meter4 (talk) 22:15, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

DYK that the Martinsburg Street Railway only operated for two years? (Proposed by Acroterion) DYK the Martinsburg Street Railway halted service due to worn street stones? Lastly, DYK that remnants of the Martinsburg Street Railway were found after twelve years after its disestablishment?

@Acroterion I just saw your message and the Martinsburg Street Railway started operations in October of 1891 and ended in October of 1893 after city council revoked its charter. From there on the railway sat non-operational until its removal in 1896. I hope this helps

  • @Acroterion: Would you mind assisting with hook proposals as Wobs100 is new to DYK. The proposals so far seem unsurprising and generic. Not anything really usable per WP:DYKHOOKSTYLE. I think there are some potential things here, but if I propose them, I will not be able to review them. Best.4meter4 (talk) 22:33, 18 August 2026 (UTC)
Sure, I'll give it a try. Acroterion (talk) 23:22, 18 August 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the help you two! Is it allowed to link the former Facebook post in ex links?

No, that is not allowed. Social media links are only sometimes allowed for official pages and the like, but they cannot be used for references except in limited cases stated in WP:SPS (like if the subject is a subject expert, or if the source is the subject themselves confirming uncontroversial details). Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 11:24, 17 September 2026 (UTC)
We are now past the two month window. Time to let this one go per WP:DYKTIMEOUT.4meter4 (talk) 17:45, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
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