Talk:Theodore Roosevelt desk/GA1

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Reviewer: Kavyansh.Singh (talk · contribs) 06:07, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
Nominator: Found5dollar (talk · contribs) at 03:33, 29 July 2021 (UTC)
Hi @Found5dollar – I would be reviewing this article per Good article criteria. From a quick glan, the article seems well researched and well cited. My general comments about the article would be divided by section, and other suggestions would be separated from the review. Feel free to let me know if you have any concerns. Thanks! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 06:07, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

GA criteria

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)
It is reasonably well written. a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists): It is factually accurate and verifiable. a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism): It is broad in its coverage. a (major aspects): b (focused): It follows the neutral point of view policy. Fair representation without bias: It is stable. No edit wars, etc.: It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate. a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall: Pass/Fail:
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Section-wise comments

Overall

• Overall, the article is well written and well cited. It covers almost everything I can think of a desk. Hence, the criteria 3 passes.
• I fixed quite a few curly quotation marks. Please see for other instances of same, and replace them with straight quotation marks.
• No copyvio (except a direct quotation – see comparision)
• I noticed that you have not used Cite web or Cite news templates. It is not a major issue as it isn't required by the criteria.
• @Found5dollar – I am putting this article on hold for you to address the issues. Overall, an excellent and in-depth research was done. Thanks! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 10:04, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
  • Thank you for fixing the quotation marks. That is something that I just always miss. I did another close read of the page and it seems like you caught them all.--Found5dollar (talk) 01:22, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • Fine – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Infobox

• Everything seems fine here. Maybe add a link to Harry S. Truman's presidency in the image caption.
  • Link added.--Found5dollar (talk) 01:22, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Lead

• "After briefly using this desk in the Oval Office, John F. Kennedy switched to the Resolute desk and moved the Theodore Roosevelt desk to the Vice President's Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building." – The first line already mentions that Vice President's Ceremonial Office is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
  • Removed " in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building"--Found5dollar (talk) 01:29, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where ..." – Eisenhower Executive Office Building is linked for the second time.
  • Removed link.--Found5dollar (talk) 01:29, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• " After Nixon resigned, the Theodore Roosevelt desk was ..." → "After Nixon resigned, the desk was"
  • fixed--Found5dollar (talk) 01:29, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. signed the inside of ..." – Required a grammatical fix.
  • changed sentence to say "Many of past users of the desk have signed their names on the bottom of the center drawer."--Found5dollar (talk) 01:29, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • It works. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Design and markings

• The prose should be in chronological order. This section mentions Nixon's use of draw before mentioning the 1949 article.
  • Chronological order is not helpful here. To keep it chronological I would need to start talking about signing the desk, then talk about the changes Nixon made to the desk, then continue talking about signing. It makes more sense to keep the physical characteristics of the desk in one paragraph then have a second paragraph about the tradition of signing the drawer.--Found5dollar (talk) 01:33, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • Fine. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:57, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

History

1902 White House renovation

• "In 1901 Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States following the assassination of William McKinley." → "In 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt ascended to the presidency, following the assassination of incumbent president William McKinley.
  • changed the sentence to "In 1901, Vice PresidentTheodore Roosevelt became President of the United States following the assassination of incumbent president William McKinley."
    • Seems good to me – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• "The budget for all of the furniture was $10,000 ..." – Add Template:Inflation for $10,000 equivalent to $352,154 in 2023 and $14,054.77 equivalent to $494,944 in 2023.
  • added
• " in the Executive Office Building, now West Wing, ..." – mentioning that Executive office building is now West Wing is repeated.
  • removed the extra "now West Wing"--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Early use and 1929 fire

• ".. during Herbert Hoover's presidency ..." – link
  • link added--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. 8pm ..." – Replace by "8 p.m."
• ".. 10:30 pm ..."" – "10:30 p.m."
  • fixed both.--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. Vice President's Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Building ..." – I feel no need to mention that VP ceremonial office is in the Eisenhower Executive Building, as the reader, by now has already read it.
  • removed "in the Eisenhower Executive Building"--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. House so a special ..." – Comma after House
  • added--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. This desk was used by President Hoover for the remainder of his time in office and for all of Franklin D. Roosevelt's tenure ..." – It implied President Hoover used the Theodore Roosevelt desk for remainder of his term, as well as all of FDR's terms. Modify the sentence as "This desk was used by President Hoover for remainder of his term, and by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency". Also, link Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • done--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• "After Franklin Roosevelt's death the ..." – Comma after death
  • added--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• The JFK library citation from You-Tube needs probably to be replaced.
  • why does it need to be replaced? It is an excerpt of a presentation by White House Curator William G. Allman posted by a presidential library. That seems pretty reliable to me.--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • Well, fine then – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Use by Nixon and by vice presidents

• ".. the Theodore Roosevelt desk was moved to the Vice President's Ceremonial Office, in what is now called the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where ..." – Repetition.
  • wow. didnt realize I said this so many times. fixed.--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. The desk has remained in this building since and used by all vice presidents but one since Johnson in this room." – Which VP hasn't used the desk? Gerald Ford, Spiro Agnew, Hubert Humphrey?
  • the next two sentences explain that Humphrey was the one that didn't use the desk.--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • Ok, I missed the Humphrey's part. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• ".. He chose to continue using this room, room 274, as ..." "He continued using room 274, as ..."
  • fixed--Found5dollar (talk) 02:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Timeline

• Could we have a better work than "Tenant"?
  • I've tried many different terms for this but tenant is the one that seems to fit the best. I am totally open to other ideas but what other shorthand is there for "person that used the desk during this time frame"? Occupant? User? Incumbant holder?--Found5dollar (talk) 02:13, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • Let it be what it is. Anyone interested in copy-editing the article would eventually fix it. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
• I made some general edits in the table.
  • Thank you for these!--Found5dollar (talk) 02:13, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • No issues. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Replicas

• No issues here.

Other suggestions

• Suggesting to archive the citations.
  • Totaly open to archiving the references, but that just is not something I ever learned how to do. I'll look into it.--Found5dollar (talk) 02:14, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
    • This was just a suggestion, and could be done even after the review ends. I'll suggest using this tool to archive all references. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Image review

• File:TaftOval1909.jpg – I doubt its copyright status. If you can find a link of it's publication, then add it. If not, the image is probably fine to use. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 18:10, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
• File:Trumanovalofficereplica.jpg – This file is most probably not in Public Domain. Firstly, a source link to Truman Library is not provided. An another image of the same replica Oval Office in the Truman Library is copyrighted (See here) If you really wish to use the Truman Library's replica image, you'll probably have to use black and white images, which are in Public Domain. These are a few which I found. You can find more here.
  • Oval Office replica in the Harry S. Truman Library
  • Reproduction of the Oval Office
  • Oval Office, Truman Library
• All the images have suitable captions, suitably licenced and have ALT text. Hence, criteria 6B passes.
  • @Kavyansh.Singh: I agree that File:Trumanovalofficereplica.jpg was probably copied incorrectly. But what's wrong with File:TaftOval1909.jpg? It was published in the US before 1926, which as far as I know makes it PD. GA-RT-22 (talk) 18:01, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
    • Hi @GA-RT-22 – I just doubted its PD status as I couldn't verify whether it was published before 1926 or not, but anyways, that isn't a major concern. My major concern here is Truman library's replica oval office image. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 18:10, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
• you are very right to question these images. They were in the article before I started updating it and I never gave their copyright a glance. I clarified the source for File:TaftOval1909.jpg on its page as "GearedBull's private collection of memorabilia". File:Trumanovalofficereplica.jpg is very clearly not free to use so I put it up for deletion on commons. I replaced it with a new image that I found licensed correctly on flickr.--Found5dollar (talk) 03:15, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
  • That works. All images now look fine with proper licencing. I'll comment on the deletion request. Thanks! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 03:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Response to changes

@Kavyansh.Singh: I believe I addressed all of your concerns! please let me know if there is any other issue or question you have. --Found5dollar (talk) 03:15, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

@Found5dollar – Thanks for addressing almost everything in a short period of time. I fell this article now meets the criteria, and therefore; I am passing this review, and listing it as a Good Article. Archiving and other minor issues can be addressed afterwards. Honestly, I didn't knew that so much could be written about a desk. I'll strongly encourage you to continue improving the presidential desk articles, and eventually make it a Good Topic. Thanks a lot for you contribution and co-operating during the review. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 04:22, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.