Talk:Edward Thonen

	Edward Thonen was a History good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones Date Process Result April 26, 2023 Good article nominee Not listed
	A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on December 17, 2022. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Edward Thonen, one of the miners killed in the Eureka Rebellion, had gained notoriety in England as a jewellery thief prior to his emigration to Australia?

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In their recent edit, Animalparty suggested that "Ultimately" needs a citation. The possibility of WP:OR should be closely scrutinized, given the creator's involvement in primary research. I am that article creator.

As a first step, I have just removed the unsourced sentence ("Ultimately, Edward's role in the German revolutions is unclear; and while a political motivation is possible, there is little evidence that his travel to England was anything else but business-related"), and the {{cn}} tag that went with it. I believe that this sentence wasn't even necessary. I have tried to remain neutral when writing the article, but I agree that this statement was speculative, and that it lacked a source beyond our own research. In the preceding paragraph the article notes that the literature on Thonen is full of speculation, so I am in good company.

I support Animalparty's suggestion. If I can assist, just ping me. Renerpho (talk) 10:42, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Renerpho, if you are the author of any of the sources, please refer to WP:SELFCITE for guidance (if you haven't already). Looking at the sources themselves, I don't think citing an email is appropriate and could be classed as WP:OR as an email is not a reliable published source. I also have reservations about citing Wikitree as it is user-generated (see this post and this post for some previous consensus). Hope this is helpful Unexpectedlydian^♯4talk^‽ 23:32, 20 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Unexpectedlydian: First of all, thanks for the comment, and apologies for the late response.

Regarding WikiTree, I think there is a difference between mentioning a website that includes user-generated content, and using that website as a source. I don't think WikiTree is ever used as a source here. The article links to it in two instances. First, in a footnote from the lead section, where WikiTree is mentioned in the context of the role it played in the research. And then again in the "external links" section. The first isn't a source, but part of the article content; the second is the quickest way for the reader to find additional information, including primary and secondary sources. That second link may be removed without leaving anything unsourced, but that would just make it harder for the reader to find additional information. If the article Superpermutation can link to an anonymous 4chan post then we can link to WikiTree, too.

Regarding emails, I generally agree, but as I said, I also don't like obscuring references where it isn't necessary. We could just link to my published article instead; but which is better: Saying that there is an email conversation with the other historian, and that it is mentioned in a published but hard-to-access source, or just giving the text of the email directly? Renerpho (talk) 23:36, 28 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Renerpho, thanks for explaining the Wikitree links. I think that's fine. As for the emails, I'd argue that the emails are a primary source and therefore WP:PRIMARYSOURCE may apply, which urges that only reputable published primary sources should be used. Your article explaining the research is a secondary source, and even though it is hard to access, it is better for a Wikipedia article. Hope that makes sense! Unexpectedlydian^♯4talk^‽ 14:38, 29 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The email sources have been replaced. Renerpho (talk) 17:10, 29 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Edward Thonen/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Steelkamp (talk · contribs) 01:55, 8 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I'll review this soon. Steelkamp (talk) 01:55, 8 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Thanks Steelkamp, I appreciate it. If you have concerns left about the citation issues raised on the talk page, let me know. I hope the problems have been addressed already. Renerpho (talk) 23:45, 12 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • @Steelkamp: I have made a first round of corrections and responded to some of your comments. I won't have time to work on this further for the weekend, but I'll see to respond to the remaining questions (or any new ones) after that. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Good article criteria

Well written

• the Stockade. Should this be in lowercase? Eureka Rebellion has it in lowercase when Eureka is left out.

 Done I believe the literature had it either way. For the time being, there's no damage done by making it lower case. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Elberfeld's citizens joined in late on the democrats' cause during the revolution. Is there a page that democrats can be linked to?

 Done Linked to democracy. This is what the disambiguation page Democrat currently does, too. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Unfortunately,. This seems to violate Wikipedia:Neutral point of view.

 Done Removed. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Verifiable with no original research

• I'm concerned about note A. Even though it's not used as a source, the page linked is a wiki, which is advised against in most situations.
  • I share the concern. There are two alternatives: Either include the list here as references, or remove it. Neither would be detrimental I think, just less practical. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Reference 4 will definitely need to be removed.

 Done Reference 3 works for that (see next comment). Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Could you email me the contents of reference 3? It's possible that source will suffice for the previous sentence.
  • I replaced the reference. I'll see what I can do about reference 3. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • @Steelkamp: Please let me know how to contact you. Renerpho (talk) 21:14, 20 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

    Special:EmailUser. Steelkamp (talk) 07:48, 21 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• was widely publicized.
  • Please clarify what's the problem. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• What is reference 5? Is it a baptism certificate?
• about what he did during the German revolutions of 1848–1849, whether he was politically active, and if he got in trouble with the law. Why does this sentence have no references? Could the references for the previous sentence be moved to the end of this sentence?

 Done Moved. These references were intended to refer to the entire sentence. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• ^ Is that paragraph even needed at all?
  • This makes up a significant portion of the discussion about Thonen in scholarly articles (which is sparse in general, for lack of concrete evidence). I can only speculate why so much focus was put on this, because I personally see little evidence that he was involved in the events. If there had been no prior mention of Thonen in published works, and we had written his story from scratch, there would have been no portion on the 1848–1849 revolutions. However, given that people have talked about it, I think it is worth including. Is it needed? I honestly don't know. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• The historian Gregory Blake states in his 2013 thesis that Edward may have been among them,[7] although there is no proof of his participation, or that he even was in Elberfeld at the time. This entire section seems too shaky to include. WP:SCHOLARSHIP says "Masters dissertations and theses are considered reliable only if they can be shown to have had significant scholarly influence." Can you demonstrate that reference 7 satisfies this?
• have pointed out that England had become a kind of safe haven for political refugees from Germany, and that Thonen may have been among those who found it more suitable, be it forcefully or on his own accord. This has no reference. Can reference 9 be moved to the end of that sentence?

 Done Moved. Reference 9 was the intended source in this case. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Thonen would likely have travelled via Cologne, and from there to Brussels, using the Cologne-Aachen-railway. This was Prussia's most busy passenger railway line at the time, and the oldest international railway line in the world. This seems to be original research. The sources do not mention Thonen. I also question the reliability of reference 50.

 Done Removed note, which includes reference 50. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Thonen moved to Islington, London. This seems to be original research. The Ancestry website displays a primary source. There is no proof that the Edward Thonen in that source is the same one.
  • There is proof, yes (the census record gives his place of origin, Elberfeld, and his age; that's enough to identify him). That said, you are right that this is a primary source. I'll think about an alternative! Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Broad in its coverage

• praising his ability to speak numerous European languages. Do we know which languages?

 Done I added that this includes French, German, Dutch, and Spanish. It is not clear which languages he actually taught, and the list of specific languages only appears in the news reports from the 1890s. Such a list is not included in any of the 1852 news reports or court documents we found. However, we were unable to find the direct source for the 1890s reports, so a contemporary source for this may very well exist somewhere, and I think the statement is believable. Reference 2 says that he could speak French, German, Dutch, Spanish, every European tongue. I don't think the every European tongue part is literally true. Renerpho (talk) 14:25, 17 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral

Stable

Illustrated, if possible

General

I'm going to have to fail this review. There has been no progress with the sourcing recently. Steelkamp (talk) 07:06, 26 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly there was absolutely no time to work on this (or on Wikipedia in general). Sorry to Steelkamp for the effort they invested so far. I hope I'll be able to return to this article eventually and provide the work it needs. Renerpho (talk) 21:35, 26 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

A detailed article about Thonen, written by Anne Young and myself, has been deposited on 22 August 2023 at the Eureka Centre in Ballarat and at the Museum Industriekultur in Wuppertal, Germany. I make that article available via Google Drive, which I may replace by a link to an open access preprint server in the future. For the moment, I suggest the following citation format: D. Bamberger, A. Young: Edward Thonen. A forgotten Eureka rebel. WikiTree Germany Connector's Challenge. Zeitgeschichtliche Sammlung, Zentrum für Stadtgeschichte und Industriekultur Wuppertal. 2023. Renerpho (talk) 23:27, 30 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]