Talk:Jonathan Alder

Hair colour

Interesting detail that the Shawnee spared Alder because of the colour of his hair. What colour was it? This would be useful information to include in the article. Gonzonoir (talk) 11:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Black, I'll add it now... - Adolphus79 (talk) 16:19, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

That makes sense! Thanks. Gonzonoir (talk) 16:34, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for the copyedit, you you think it will pass assessment as a C-class article now? - Adolphus79 (talk) 16:46, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

You're welcome. I'm afraid I'm completely new to article assessment myself, but reading the guidelines I would guess it's at least C-class. I see you've listed it at the wikiproject, so hopefully a more knowledgeable editor will grade it soon. One suggestion: the lead paragraph would benefit from expansion, I think. Gonzonoir (talk) 17:08, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Aha... I've always thought the lead should only be one or two lines giving a very brief "Joe (born-died) was a German astronaut and cowboy." I did not realize that the lead should also include a short summary of the entire article... I'll have to look into this... thanks... - Adolphus79 (talk) 17:15, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

OK, I expanded the lead slightly (per the 'Length' section of WP:LEAD), but my brain is not fully operational yet this morning, and I do not like the phrase "white man's world" at the end... could you maybe think of a better way of saying that last bit for me? - Adolphus79 (talk) 17:38, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi: good work on the new material. I've given the additions a copyedit too; of course, feel free to change anything you disagree with (you've read the source material, and I haven't!). The lead looks fine to me. I'd guess now that one area where a reviewer might raise questions is on the sourcing. You've cited everything scrupulously, but a lot of the material in the article refers to just one source, the Howe. It would be great if you can add inline cites to other books for some of that material as well. Gonzonoir (talk) 19:40, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

(undent) Yeah, the most recent expansion was done using the Howe ref, I just read through it word for word and expanded the smaller details I had left out previously... I plan on doing the same thing with the other refs, and adding additional inline refs, if not more content, when I do so... probably later this afternoon or tomorrow... thank you for your second copyedit on the additional content, I did not notice too many errors with either of them... I tried to find some images at the local historical society yesterday, but all they had were some low quality lithos of one of his cabins, and we did not know which cabin... I am going to try to drive down to London one day and take a photo myself of the 1806 cabin at the museum... Again, thank you for your help... - Adolphus79 (talk) 19:50, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

That sounds great. Good on you for all the work you're putting in; just shout if you'd ever like another set of eyes on this again. Gonzonoir (talk) 20:03, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that it is a good solid C class now, and I just left another comment on WP BIO's assessment page... hopefully we can get yet another set of eyes on it, someone with more assessment experience than me, to let me know how to get it to B (or maybe even GA)... (and a DYK to boot, but it's probably too boring for that)... - Adolphus79 (talk) 20:09, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Hmm... it seems that Howe (ref #1) is the most accurate and reliable reference available... Nelson's text (ref #4) is a recreation of Alder's own tale, and the editor uses Howe's text to correct Alder's own version... I have found that most of the stories end between 1795 and 1812 though, so I am going to try to find some more references for after Alder's re-uniting with his family and/or the war of 1812 and/or after the war... - Adolphus79 (talk) 21:31, 4 March 2009 (UTC)