Template:Did you know nominations/Pillar Point Bluff

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. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Bruxton talk 22:30, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

Pillar Point Bluff

  • ... that the San Gregorio Fault comes ashore in only two places in Northern California, one of which is between Pillar Point Bluff and Moss Beach? Source: Simpson, Gary D.; Thompson, Stephen C.; Noller, J. Stratton; Lettis, William R. (October 1997). "The Northern San Gregorio Fault Zone: Evidence for the Timing of Late Holocene Earthquakes near Seal Cove, California". Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 87 (5): 1158–1170. doi:10.1785/BSSA0870051158.

Created by Viriditas (talk). Self-nominated at 10:58, 13 November 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/Pillar Point Bluff; consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.

  • I shall review this. Note: It's a longish article, and I may review it in several stages. If the review appears unfinished, please be patient. Thank you. Storye book (talk) 17:34, 15 November 2023 (UTC)


General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
QPQ: Done.

Overall: A very satisfying article: clear, concise and to the point - and elegantly-written. Thank you. Points:

  • The Geography section has very few sources, although it ought to be possible to reference maps, and passing comments in the sources that are already in the article. Please try to find more sources for that section?
  • In the Recreation section, a lot of the points are not referenced. Part of it asks the reader to look at the map which you have kindly provided, but people reading the article on their phone will not have the map within sight all the time. It would help to use citations to link the map to all relevant points.
  • (This point does not affect DYK): I am puzzled that you do not mention sea otter?
  • (This point does not affect DYK): Richard Henry Dana (1840), Two Years Before the Mast gives some good first-hand descriptions of the coast between San Diego and San Francisco, including a bay in which the try-pots were in use for the whaling industry. But I'm not sure whether any of those descriptions were of the exact location of this site. Worth checking out, if you haven't already?
  • Earwig finds various similar proper names and common phrases; none are plagiaristic.
  • The full hook citation is offline, taken in good faith.

Summary: All is well. apart from two sections which look odd without enough sources. Can we repeat any of the existing sources in those sections? If you can resolve that, then I can pass this nom. Storye book (talk) 18:12, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

  • @Storye book: Thanks for the review. I'm working on addressing the issues now. I hope to have it finished by today, tomorrow at the latest. I will ping you when I'm done. Viriditas (talk) 19:54, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Sea otters: Regarding sea otters, you may have confused Pillar Point with Pigeon Point, which is approximately 25 miles south of Pillar Point. It is true that a sea otter was spotted north of that area, near Tunitas Creek Beach, in late 2022, but that's the only official report north of Pigeon Point in the last eight years. As you are likely aware, the sea otters were hunted close to extinction in the SFBA up until the early 20th century. There might be historic reports of sea otters off of Pillar Point in the literature, but their range is far south of that area today. There is major chatter about the FWS starting a reintroduction program which could conceivably bring them back to Pillar Point in the future. Viriditas (talk) 20:06, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Two Years Before the Mast: Thanks for the tip about Dana's book. I just spent five minutes looking through it but didn't see anything about the shore whaling at Pillar Point or anything else. The timeline seems right, so I wonder if the shore whaling station at Pillar Point was simply too small to be of any interest. I will continue to look. However, it does occur to me that considering that the book was actually written sometime between 1834-1836, it may be the case that this was far too early. My understanding is that the shore whaling station at Pillar Point didn't become prominent until 1850, but I'm going from memory, so that could be wrong. Viriditas (talk) 20:24, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Note, I did find something interesting that is somewhat related. In 2014, a draft comment to the GGNRA general management plan recommended performing an archaeological investigation into the historical whaling station at Pillar Point. I don't think this has ever been done. Viriditas (talk) 21:47, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Thank you for the information, much appreciated. I guess the otters/try-pots are best discussed elsewhere, since not relevant to DYK, I'll answer on your talk page. Storye book (talk) 10:06, 16 November 2023 (UTC)
  • My pleasure. I'm still working on the article. I will let you know when I'm done. Viriditas (talk)
  • @Storye book: I think I got most of the things you asked for, but I'm open to making more changes or adding more hooks, so if you see some other areas for improvement or potential hooks that you prefer, let me know. Viriditas (talk) 00:38, 17 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Thank you, Viriditas, for updating the article with citations, and for the other improvements. it looks fine, now. I am happy with all the ALTs. The mention of the fault would surely attract attention, since people are jumpy about earthquakes. Storye book (talk) 10:04, 17 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Good to go, with ALT 0, 1 or 2.Storye book (talk) 10:04, 17 November 2023 (UTC)
@Viriditas and Storye book: to comply with WP:DYKHFC we need the hook cited no later than the end of sentence in the article. Right now it looks like a citation end of paragraph. Bruxton (talk) 22:05, 6 December 2023 (UTC)
@Bruxton: Fixed. Thanks. Viriditas (talk) 22:24, 6 December 2023 (UTC)