User talk:EricCable/SimmonsBaker

Thank you for your kind consideration while reviewing this article. Eric Cable |  Talk  05:37, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I realize I used reference #1 A LOT in this article. Mr. Smith lists several references at the end of his work, but for me to cite those I would need to travel hundreds of miles and dig through piles and piles of 200-year-old documents, if available (Mr. Smith's work was published in 1979) I have made attempts to find better online cites, but have not.
 * In Mr. Smith's work (cite #1) he states that there is a portrait of John Simmons Baker hanging in the Grand Lodge of North Carolina Building in Raleigh. I have sent a couple emails inquiring about said portrait, but have received no response. I will attempt to find that portrait and take a photo of it when I visit the Grand Lodge this coming August. (I live in Charlotte)
 * Also, during my trip to Raleigh I will take a photo of the cornerstone of the State Capitol which bears Dr. Baker's name (if I can't find a photo otherwise in the mean time).
 * Regarding Notability: I'm sure I will meet notability arguments about this person. That being said I will argue that he was a community leader who studied at two of the most famous medical schools at the time, was a state legislator, was a state masonic grand master, laid the cornerstone of the state capitol, has a town in Florida named after his home, and a google search for "Simmons J. Baker" results in 8800 hits

Some direction re: the above

 * 1) Article Miscellany:  Anything pointing to an outside site (like the list of slaves) is not a "See also", but "External links".  See also is for WP articles, and only in the case where they are not already wikilinked within the article.
 * 2) If you use the same citation repeatedly (to the point of citing the same page for books), see WP:REFNAME to format that.  I'm not sure it can be done with different pages.
 * 3) You shouldn't have to "argue" for notability; WP:GNG is very clear, as is WP:POLITICIAN.  State legislature usually does it, but not always.  Also,  the age of the subject is such where there's not a lot of coverage to be had, and one set of guidelines does not entirely supersede another.  However, an important note: Being a Grand Master of Masons does not confer notability in the wider Wikipedia world.  This is because only the early GMs in a jurisdiction tended to be of note in other areas.  For example, not even Massachusetts knows much about its second Grand Master, though the first is mentioned a lot.  In modern times, the progressive line means in most jurisdictions there are only one-year terms, and the individuals are otherwise not notable (falls under WP:BLP1E).  As for the other items, studying at a famous university or being a community leader, laying a cornerstone, or having a town named after one's house tend to fall under trivia (and the last has nothing to do with the individual at all).  That's why the notability guideline says "reliable, independent, non-trivial" coverage.  Google hits are most definitely not quantitative indicators of notability, either.
 * 4) Always spell-check.
 * 5) Wikilink all the important terms in the article (places, famous people, etc.), but don't overdo it.