User talk:Johnwalton71

Welcome!

Hello, Johnwalton71, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! BusterD (talk) 20:10, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

April 2013

Hello, I'm BusterD. I wanted to let you know that I undid one or more of your recent contributions to William W. Loring because it appeared to be promotional. Advertising and using Wikipedia as a "soapbox" are against Wikipedia policy and not permitted. Per WP:BOOKSPAM, the repetitive insertion of mention of the newly released book Stonewall Goes West by R.E. Thomas appears to be more in the interest of promoting the book as to improving the articles. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thank you. BusterD (talk) 20:11, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Buster D,

My intent was to expand the listings of novels in which a particular Civil War figure appears as a major character, following the examples "In popular media." I read a lot of these things, and have sometimes discovered good books because they were mentioned in an "In popular media" section, so I'm trying to give back.

Most of the things I did referred to more than one work, in some cases as many as half a dozen. I don't see how a reference to "Stonewall Goes West" can be promotional, when my repeat references to "Bright Starry Banner," "Shiloh," or "A Blaze of Glory" are not. I also see that Christopher Losson's "Tennessee's Forgotten Warrior's" and Sam Davis Elliot's "Soldier of Tennessee -- the only biographies currently in print for Frank Cheatham and A.P. Stewart respectively -- were redacted from their entries.

If you made all those cuts yourself, I don't understand your choices. What is your basis for picking one novel over another as "promotional," and what is your basis for striking biographies -- hard works of scholarly non-fiction -- altogether? Johnwalton71 (talk) 16:31, 24 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hallo, just dropping by - Buster's talk page is on my watchlist (can't just remember why) and I saw your unhappy comment on his non-reply. Wikipedia editors are many and varied and have varying priorities in terms of replying to questions etc.

Looking at a couple of his reversions: the biography you added to Benjamin F. Cheatham might have been better listed as "Further reading" (after References, before External links, as per WP:ORDER)and cited with a publisher, date and isbn (if you enter this as "ISBN" - in caps, no quote marks - followed by a space and the number, it automatically turns into a link). Serious biographies are not really "popular media", I think.

On Stonewall Goes West it might be better to create an article about the book, or the author, and get them recognised as "notable" - reviews in serious papers, etc - and then add mentions of them to selected article, linking to that article. Or, at the least, when you mention the book give its publisher, date, isbn, either in the text or as a note.

There are plenty of instances of authors or publishers trying to promote their books, so some editors are constantly on the lookout for such abuses of the encyclopedia. From what you say you are just an enthusiastic reader of the books and the encyclopedia but have had a brusque response from an editor who has forgotten the guideline WP:Please do not bite the newcomers. I hope you won't abandon your intention to contribute to the encyclopedia. But please remember that all content added should be sourced. I'll add the "welcome" message to the top of this page in a moment - it has a lot of useful links (no, just noticed Buster already added it - but do have a look at it). You might also find it helpful to visit the WP:Teahouse, a venue aimed at helping new editors. Welcome to Wikipedia and Happy Editing. There's a lot to learn but it's an interesting journey. PamD 18:53, 17 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Johnwalton71, you are invited to join other new editors and friendly hosts in the Teahouse. The Teahouse is an awesome place to meet people, ask questions and learn more about Wikipedia. Please join us!