Talk:Thomas S. Riley/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Amitchell125 (talk · contribs) 12:05, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

Happy to review the article.

Review

Lead section / infobox

• Amend born to Irish immigrant parents in 1852 to ‘born to Irish immigrant parents’, as the year is already provided earlier on in the text;
• (For the same reason), amend his death in 1938 to ‘his death’.
• Consider using {{ne|Thomas Owen Riley}}.
• Attorney General does not have capitals (see MOS:JOBTITLES). Ditto Chairperson.
• Who was Thayer Melvin?

• Thank you so much for your review, comments, and recommendations! I've addressed all these comments and suggestions in the lead. Please let me know if there is anything outstanding in the meantime! -- West Virginian (talk) 23:21, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

1 Early life and education

• Link clan.
• born in Ireland and emigrated to the United States – any details available of where they were born and when they emigrated?
• he taught after graduation – any further information available about where and what he taught, and what age range?
• Imo subsequently is redundant and can be removed.
• He was subsequently admitted to practice law on October 26, 1878. This is better in the following section (where it is more or less stated a second time).

• Thank you again for your comments and suggestions! I was not able to find further information about where his parents were born and when they emigrated in the available references. The same goes for his teaching following graduation. The details on his early life are few and far between, and those that I could find have already been included in the article. I also removed subsequently, and moved his admission to practice law to the section below. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:27, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

2 Law career

• Who was Thayer Melvin?
• he was replaced doesn't seem to make sense at present, as he was already in the firm.

• Thayer Melvin was also an attorney general for West Virginia. I've added his in the prose. Removed information regarding his replacement. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:29, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

3 Political career

• Link attorney general (List of attorneys general of West Virginia).
• In February 1891, Riley was elected as Wheeling's city solicitor, serving for two years. This sounds to me more like part of his law career, and so should really be in the preceding section, not this one.
• (Not sure about this one.) Is 'Board of Regents for West Virginia State Normal Schools' a political role? If it isn't, it is in the wrong section and needs to be moved.
• Unlink Washington, D.C. (see MOS:OL).

• Thank you for your comments and suggestions! Attorney general is linked in this section. As for his term as city solicitor, since this a politically elected position, I chose to include it under political career, but can move it above if need be. The board of regents is also a political appointment. I've also de-linked D.C. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:33, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

4 Personal life

• regularly could be misinterpreted here. I would rephrase the text so it is not possible to misconstrue the meaning.
• Riley and his family were Roman Catholic and attended the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Wheeling. It’s already clear that he was a Roman Catholic, and it is of little importance in an encyclopaedia where someone went to church, so this sentence should be deleted.
• Knights of St. George of Wheeling needs to be explained, as most readers will be unclear what this is.
• Remove the link for Roman Catholic (already linked in the text).

• I've addressed these comments and suggestions accordingly in the prose. Please let me know if there are any outstanding issues in the meantime! -- West Virginian (talk) 23:36, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

5 Later life and death

• Donahue appears too many times in the first paragraph. Consider amending Donahue’s death in 1922 to ‘the bishop’s death in 1922’; Bishop Donahue inherited 36.5% of a Texas oil estate is off-topic and should be removed.
• Replace constructed (e.g. with ‘commissioned the building of’).
• Riley laid bricks alongside the construction workers is a little surprising, why is this notable?
• As of 2020, the Riley Law Building is Wheeling's third-tallest building at 10 stories and 132 feet (40 m) in height is off topic, and should be removed.
• See MOS:SURVIVEDBY for why Riley was survived by his wife and his three sons should be deleted.
• Remove the duplicated link Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
• Consider amending over twenty years to ‘over 20 years’ (minor point).

• I've addressed all these changes in the article. Please let me know if anything else is outstanding. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:48, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

6 Legacy

• Remove the duplicated link West Virginia Governor Aretas B. Fleming, and replace the text with ‘Fleming’.

Done for you. AM

• Consider amending former West Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson to ‘West Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson’.

• Thank you for these suggestions. I've made both changes in the prose. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:38, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

7 References

• Ref 1 (the death record) comes from a primary source, normally avoided (WP:PSTS). As 1a 1b 1c 1e are paired up with other references, they can be removed as not needed; it could be argued Ref 1 is acceptable to retain for 1c, etc.
• Ref 4 (Friends of Wheeling) is self-published, and so needs to be replaced by something else to cite the text.

• All FoW cites have been removed, and all content sourced from that reference without another cite have been removed accordingly. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:44, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

8 Bibliography

• West Virginia Bar Association (1907) needs a volume number.

• Volume added. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:40, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

9 External links

• There's no need for the link to Wikimedia Commons (and therefore also the External links section), as the only image there is the picture of Riley in the article.

• Removed accordingly. -- West Virginian (talk) 23:39, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

On hold

I'm placing the article on hold for a week until 19 April, to allow enough time for the above comments to be addressed. Amitchell125 (talk) 16:25, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

• Amitchell125, thank you for your comprehensive and thorough review of this article, and for your thoughtful suggestions. I've addressed all your comments to the best of my abilities and will standby should you have any further recommendations for improvement. Thank you for your time and guidance! -- West Virginian (talk) 23:49, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

West Virginian, many thanks for your prompt response. As the one comment left would also apply to a number of articles I have got to GA, I'm happy to let it go. Passing the article now—congratulations and good luck with your future nominations! Amitchell125 (talk) 06:32, 17 April 2021 (UTC)