Talk:Alan Kotok

To Do
IMHO article needs more work at least on W3C, telephony, bridge, security, system software and significance of DEC machines after the PDP-6. Also somewhere in Wikipedia, a screen shot from Spacewar! running on the Computer History Museum's restored PDP-1 would be great (the phosphors give the ships tails). --Susanlesch 15:15, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Spacewar! photo added 21 July Susanlesch 04:58, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
 * W3C at Stata Center added 26 December Susanlesch 07:06, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Alan B. Kotok
Someday this entry should mention and link to a separate page for Alan B. Kotok. -Susanlesch 22:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Mention added at the top. --Susanlesch 11:04, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Sketchpad
In the Computer History Museum video celebrating the PDP-1 restoration, there is a mention of T-Square possibly being the "first electronic drafting" program, and that it used the Spacewar! controllers. Spacewar! apparently first ran in February 1962. In his MIT PhD thesis published in 1963, Ivan Sutherland explains he completed an early version of Sketchpad that could draw parallel and perpendicular lines in November 1961. Sutherland goes on to say, "Somewhat before my first effort was working, Welden Clark of Bolt, Beranek and Newman..." showed him a "similar program" running on a PDP-1. It would be interesting to know what program that was. --Susanlesch 10:17, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Paragraph saying relationship is "unknown" copied to new stub T-Square (software). Clark's publications might or might not hold an answer. --Susanlesch 22:27, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Good luck
I've made a few tweaks, but that is all I plan to do for now. If you need a copyeditor before the next GAN, feel free to let me know (I'm not a very good one, but I understand the context and am at least another pair of eyes). Geometry guy 21:41, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Geometry guy! If you are serious about offering to copyedit, you lifted my spirits. Hurray. One source left in question: http://www.samizdat.com/ibg.html. Do you think that the direct quote there could be allowed at GAN (and FAC)? It explains several years of the subject's life and could be a primary source. Samizdat.com is probably as old as Google but some people might call it self-published. -SusanLesch (talk) 05:49, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I've done a bit more and a bit less than copyedit. More because I've removed some content that seemed to me to be tangential. Less because I think more copyediting work may be needed. However, a priority right now should be WP:LEAD. The current lead is very weak and needs to be expanded to 2-3 paragraphs which touch on the main points of the article. I don't mind giving it a shot this weekend, but I need to be sure I have understood the main points, hence my copyediting++. As for the source, I'm not sure: in my view the reliability of a source should be judged in the context of the material that is being sourced. In this case it is pretty factual, so some leniency is OK. You can ask at the reliable sources noticeboard for other opinions. Geometry guy 23:55, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
 * The lead is better now. Also I cut some details that couldn't be cited. If you think it is ready say go. -SusanLesch (talk) 03:19, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I would suggest renomination now. There may still be GA concerns, but given your willingness to fix issues raised, and the closeness of the article to the GA standard, there's a good chance that you'll get a review with a positive outcome. Geometry guy 23:27, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Congrats on the GA!
I see the article has much improved through the GAN collaboration between SusanLesch and the reviewer Dana Boomer, resulting in a well deserved GA. If you want to take the article further, the prose still needs work: in particular long run-on sentences are a recurring problem. I also added a cn tag. I hope a source can be found as it is an important and interesting point. Geometry guy 20:21, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Geometry guy. The cn is cited now. I can't help with the prose. Do you know anyone who can? -SusanLesch (talk) 22:56, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
 * The most obvious person to ask is Malleus Fatuorum, who has the relevant technical knowledge and is also very good at copyediting in my experience. You could also ask Dank. I've read and reread the prose too much myself to be a good copyeditor. Geometry guy 23:06, 25 February 2009 (UTC)