Talk:Ben Barton

Cheap land?
Was $10 per acre for California land (far from gold rush) in the 1850s 'cheap'? It seems in line with what I found rooting around on the internet.Mukogodo (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
 * There is a consensus among the sources discussing the purchase that it was "cheap" for its time. James (talk/contribs) 20:38, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Sections
I added sections to the article so that it the article can have a lead, as the first paragraph was already functioning as a lead but was not separated out from the rest of the article. Someone else may want to adjust the wording of the headings but I gave it a shot. Knope7 (talk) 18:13, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Lead sentence
The lead sentence: "Ben Barton ... was an American doctor, landowner, vintner, politician, and early white settler" is a mess. Reading it, I have no idea why he was notable. Please see Winston Churchill for how to properly structure the lead paragraph, emphasize what the person is known for, and not make the lead sentence unwieldy. Keep in mind that WP:BLPLEAD states: "The lead sentence should describe the person as he or she is commonly described in reliable sources. ... avoid overloading the lead paragraph with various sundry roles; instead, emphasize what made the person notable. Incidental and non-notable roles (i.e. activities that are not integral to the person's notability) should usually not be mentioned in the lead paragraph." It also states: "In general, a position, activity, or role should not be included the lead paragraph if: a) the role is not otherwise discussed in the lead, b) the role is not significantly covered in the body of the article, or, c) the role is auxiliary to a main profession of the person". Additionally, WP:LEADSENTENCE states: "Try to not overload the first sentence by describing everything notable about the subject. Instead use the first sentence to introduce the topic, and then spread the relevant information out over the entire lead." LK (talk) 07:35, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Expanded. James (talk/contribs) 04:18, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

"White settler"???
It's often considered to be insulting to refer to people by the supposed color of their skin. No I don't propose that he be called a "pink settler," but perhaps "Anglo-American" or similar? I'll leave the choice to others. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 13:51, 20 May 2017 (UTC)