Gjmokcb

Yoo! Hoo! Just wondering if you're interested in participating in a major Texas project on the Texas revolution, on any level. You can read all about it here: Talk:Texas Revolution . — Maile (talk) 21:56, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Oh, Good Lord. I just spent a fair amount of the day cruising the history of the Republic, thinking about putting together a brief and readable history--maybe 50,000 words or so. The only resources out there are monster tomes like Fehrenbach, Davis, Campbell, and Hardin. It's too much for a lot of people to swallow, especially students. But it's a big project and I've sworn not to write another book. (I am the author of one TX history from UT, another from A&M, and three throw-down histories for tourists.) So I don't know. Could you give me some idea of the scope of work involved in being a proof-reader or editor? I'm not an expert on the revolution, and I've never really gotten involved with Wikipedia; perhaps I can serve better as someone familiar with the topic and handy with plain English. Thanks for considering me. Gjmokcb (talk) 22:36, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

I figured out from the get-go who you are, but I don't "out" people on Wikipedia. Proof reading is what you did on the Pinta Trail, James Bowie and the Runaway Scrape. You'd be good at eyeballing the articles and catching prose and historical errors like you have already been doing. Pinging Karanacs here so she'll know how you got involved, if you do. She has taken the lead on this, and you can read her user page on her track record. But as you mentioned, it's a huge undertaking. This could use any support you can lend.— Maile (talk) 23:20, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia!! I had noticed your efforts already - THANK YOU for volunteering. There aren't enough of us interested in early Texas history, and on Wikipedia as a whole it's nice to see professionals get involved in any way (and there's a real need for creation or improvement of articles in your area of expertise). I'm not a historian, but I've spent a good portion of the last 7 years trying to fix the coverage of Texas history here. Having read 3 or 4 dozen books on the pre-Republic years, I completely agree with you about hard-to-digest tomes!!

As Maile said, right now we are attempting to get Texas Revolution up to featured article status (which means it can go on the Main Page of Wikipedia). The History Channel is producing a miniseries on the events after the Battle of the Alamo and they asked the Wikimedia Foundation if we could improve the articles here so they have someplace to send their viewers for more information. Featured article status requires a review by other Wikipedia editors to see if the article is comprehensive, balanced, well-sourced, and well-written.

I've done the bulk of the research already and started a first draft (with the notable exceptions of the section on the Goliad Campaign, the retreat section, and the aftermath/legacy (I got 4 more books at the library today). The article is going to be too long; I've included what I thought was relevant but am quite sure it's too detailed. If you have the time and inclination over the next several weeks, it would be nice to have an uninvolved eye offer an opinion on the balance - what is covered in too much detail, what is not covered in enough detail, what doesn't make sense, etc. Then there will be the copyediting. I get a little too close to my own prose.

Whether you join us on this project or not, we're glad to see you here. If you have any questions at all about WP, please let one of us know. We'd love to have you like it enough to stay. Karanacs (talk) 00:14, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, Karanks. I would be glad to edit/proof, but I will again mention that I am not an expert on the revolution. My strengths are in the vicinity of San Antonio and the Hill Country, from Spanish days through the Civil War, plus I'm the only person on the planet who cares about La Junta de los Rios. That's more than enough to keep me confused. Please let me know when/where editing & proofing is appropriate. Gjmokcb (talk) 17:03, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

Welcome aboard

Ummmm...a hot plate of fresh Jalapeños - the perfect Texas welcoming platter

Some links you might find helpful in the the future:

• Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) is a good place to ask questions if something technical isn't working right.
• Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history, possibly the most active project and a good place to get answers on like subjects.
• Commons, where to get images for the articles.

Other than that, thanks for helping with the Texas Revolution. — Maile (talk) 19:41, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

More

Because of your comment above, I just looked at the Republic of Texas article, and it's kind of shabby. If you do actually feel inspired to rewrite it, nobody is going to fuss. Along those lines, I have a couple of more Wikipedia things you might be interested in.

• Preferences - somewhere at the top of your page should be a bunch of links, one of which is Preferences. Browse it, and you can change a lot of how you see the page (Preferences/Appearance/Skin), or Gadgets, etc.

• Doesn't look like you have a Sandbox set up yet, but you might see a link to one up there around near the Preferences. You can write or rewrite anything in your Sandbox and drop it into article space when you are ready. You can have as many sandboxes as you want, just name each one separately. To do that, on your main page (not this talk page) go to the URL and do a forward slash at the right-hand end right after your name. Type in a name for the Sandbox and hit Enter. It should take you to an edit window for your new sandbox.

Good luck. — Maile (talk) 22:28, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

Los Almagres

You are most welcome to make the change to my edit. Thank you for your consideration. As you note, in Bowie's day, it probably would have been known as Almagres, and so the article introduces it under the name by which Bowie probably knew it, which is probably for the best. Regards, Plazak (talk) 21:52, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Ottomar von Behr

In the Handbook of Texas article on the Boerne Village Band, the Ottmar von Behr they refer to "moved with his family to Sisterdale in the 1840s." I found a reference that the son Ottmar was not born until 1854. That is why I made the statement about the two being the same person. Somewhere the facts got distorted. Thanks for pointing out my misinterpretation. Regards Nv8200p talk 14:16, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

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