Talk:Benjamin Tonsler

From Cvillepedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

I see that a few weeks ago, the user known as Rifay deleted the references and accompanying links to the articles on the Benjamin Tonsler House and George W Buckner (a prominent Black educator who lived across the street at 322 6th Street SW) that had previously been embedded within this page. Rather than simply reverting their edit without any discussion, I thought I would give my two cents here on why the aforementioned topics are worthy of inclusion in the article and thus hopefully open the door to building a consensus on the matter at some point down the road.

I have always believed that one of the best parts of Cvillepedia is how it strives to demonstrate the interconnectedness of the area. When my account was first created here, I spent many hours exploring the site with fascination, clicking from one link to another and discovering hidden connections between subjects that I previously would have never imagined existed. Such attention to detail on the part of the editors here has truly helped me appreciate the entire Piedmont Region of Virginia for the organic place it is. For this reason, I have always felt that the inclusion of links to related topics in any article is of great importance, as it contributes to the nature of the site of serving not as a mere recital of facts but as a living, breathing story.

The article on the Benjamin Tonsler House is worth linking in this page because the structure provides a unique look into the home life of Tonsler during his time in the area, opening the door to readers who may be interested in other historic buildings within Charlottesville from this era. Similarly, the article on George W Buckner is also worth linking because it centers around a close neighbor who Tonsler doubtless would have been in close contact with throughout his stay in Fifeville, shedding light on the kind of company he kept as well as pointing interested readers towards other prominent members of Charlottesville's Black community during this period in history. In short, these topics taken together enrich our understanding of Tonsler and permit access to related yet distinct facets of Charlottesville from his time.

It of course goes without saying that Rifay is an incredibly-talented editor who has made countless valuable contributions to this project (one only needs to view their user page for a few seconds at most to observe this simple truth). I place great importance in their viewpoint on any given topic and do not intend to imply anything more with this overly-long comment than a mere desire to convey my perspective on this matter as an intrigued passerby. I hope to collaborate with Rifay and other editors more in the future. --Welder20

  • Thank you for opening the discussion. Unless Cvillepedia.org is running out of storage space or there is an effort to compress articles, it does not appear to me that the recent Bold edit improved this article. Example: removal of the archival image of Benjamin Tonlser's original obituary – which had been add by a Tonsler family member - lowered the quality of the article. I believe a complete (undo) would afford the editor known as Rifay the opportunity to make incremental changes with edit summaries - which will allow discussions towards consensus. In adding or removing links, editors should consider an article's place in the knowledge tree. Internal links can add to the cohesion and utility of Cvillepedia, allowing readers to deepen their understanding of a topic by conveniently accessing other articles. Jmh6d (talk) 15:13, 25 July 2023 (EDT)