Template:Did you know nominations/A. Wilson Greene

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 Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:43, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

A. Wilson Greene

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Historian A. Wilson Greene

... that A. Wilson Greene (pictured) was the first executive director of the Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier?

Source: An 8 March 2012 article in Milwaukee’s Civil War Round Table General Orders says: "In 1995, he [Greene] became the first director at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier…"

Reviewed: Dendrobium falcorostrum

Created by Orygun (talk). Self-nominated at 05:04, 24 November 2018 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy compliance:

Adequate sourcing: - Quick fixes: The statement that he is miscredited in Gettysburg is synthesis; neither source cited actually says so. Also, most content on IMDB is user-generated and not considered a reliable source.
Neutral: - It's not egregious, but the article reads somewhat like a list of accomplishments rather than a straight biography. For example, mentioning other recipients of awards seems like it is invoking their name to add prestige to Wilson; that he's appeared on C-SPAN 10 times should be an illustration of his work as a public historian, not a resume item. The sources don't make a big point out of him being a "a very popular lecturer and well-respected tour leader", so it's probably best to cut that line; the fact that he has done tours for so long says enough. Work on the lead to make it reflect the article in a more balanced way, as well.
Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook eligibility:

Cited:
Interesting: - A position held at a museum isn't the most exciting. Do you have an alternate suggestion--perhaps something about his newspaper column, how the park got started (not currently mentioned in the article), or the Petersburg Campaign book series he's writing?
Other problems: - Remember that (pictured) must appear in a hook when you want to use a photo.

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: You've got a lot of good material that just needs a bit of tweaking to be a balanced biography. Another thing I'd suggest, not related to DYK, is to reformat his publications as a bulleted list of works; it's really a list in prose form right now. Scholarly reviews of his books would be good sources to expand this section with. Kim Post (talk) 17:58, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

Kim Post: I believe I’ve addressed everything you identified in the comments above. Here is a point-by-point rundown:

Adequate sourcing: Removed text about incorrect name (synthesis problem) as well as both IMDB sources; remaining source covers Gettysburg movie credit and have added a new citation from Turner Classic Movies (on-line link to TCM archives) which covers both movie credits under correct name.

Neutral: Deleted names of other award recipients as you recommended; though I think including the names would help reader appreciate the significance of the award.

Reworked the C-SPAN related text to highlight those engagements as an example of his work as a public historian.

Regarding sources not making a big point about Greene being a "very popular lecturer and well-respected tour leader"; while I didn’t delete the line, I did rework the text to be more generic. Here’s what it says now: "…he has become a frequent lecturer and tour leader for the Smithsonian..." I hope that brings text in line with your recommendation. I based this on two sources: Ref 5 says; "He is also a superb tour guide, including Smithsonian Study Tours..." and Ref 8 says: "Greene is a frequent lecturer and study leader for the Smithsonian Institution...and he has spoken to more than 100 Civil War Round Tables and provided more than 50 tours to special interest history groups." I think that should cover facts about his track record as a lecturer and tour leader … hope you agree.

I am not quite sure what changes you wanted me to make in the intro paragraph, but I’ve removed the word "first" (which was used twice in that paragraph) and the President’s name plus a few other minor changes. I hope the new version strikes the balance you are looking for.

Interesting hook: Here are the two alternate hooks you suggested plus one more for your consideration:

ALT1: ... that A. Wilson Greene (pictured) wrote a series of sesquicentennial articles for the Petersburg Progress-Index, highlighting the military actions that took place during the Civil War Siege of Petersburg?

Source: Petersburg Progress-Index says: “Beginning June 9, Greene will also be writing a weekly column for The Progress-Index that will mark the Civil War’s sesquicentennial and provide a weekly snapshot of the military actions and events that occurred in the city during the Petersburg Campaign.” It appears this source is no longer available on-line w/o subscription; nevertheless, above text is a quote from article taken down when it was still available as a free-accesses source.

ALT2: ... that A. Wilson Greene (pictured) is under contract to produce a three-book series about the Siege of Petersburg and that the first volume was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2018?

Source: Ref 22 is University of North Carolina Press announcement of Greene’s new book; it also discussed the three-volume set.

ALT3: ... that in 2009, A. Wilson Greene (pictured) contributed an article about the Pertersburg battle campaign to the on-line Encyclopedia Virginia?

Source: Here is Greene’s Encyclopedia Virginia article.

Other problems: Fixed … added "(pictured)" to original hook.

Hope I’ve adequately addresses your concerns. Regarding the list vs prose format, I previously received the opposite direction from another editor/reviewer regarding a similar author bio article. I don't know who's right...I do it both ways depending on how much I have to say about the individual books. When I have more to say (e.g. when I want to include additional info on specific book award), I usually choose prose; when I just want to cover basics about published works, I go with a bullet list.--Orygun (talk) 00:39, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for that; article does read more balanced now. I like the new hooks. If you wanted to shorten them I'd substitute "the events of" for "the military actions that took place during" in ALT1, and "is writing" for "under contract to produce" in ALT2. But they are under the 200-character limit as it is. Kim Post (talk) 02:26, 16 December 2018 (UTC)