Template:Did you know nominations/Theodore Roosevelt desk

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 03:36, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Theodore Roosevelt desk

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The Theodore Roosevelt desk in the Truman Oval Office

... that the Theodore Roosevelt desk, (pictured) the first desk used by a President in the Oval Office, was described by First Lady Edith Roosevelt as "ugly and inconvenient"? Source: "This is the original West Wing desk"[1] "The desk McKim designed for Roosevelt (which First Lady Edith called “ugly and inconvenient”)" [2].
- ALT1:... that the Theodore Roosevelt desk (pictured) was described by First Lady Edith Roosevelt as "ugly and inconvenient"? Source: "The desk McKim designed for Roosevelt (which First Lady Edith called “ugly and inconvenient”)" [3].
- ALT2:... that the Theodore Roosevelt desk (pictured) was the first desk used by a President in the Oval Office?
- ALT3:... that the Theodore Roosevelt desk (pictured), the first desk used by a President in the Oval Office, survived two fires?
- ALT4:... that vice presidents sign the Theodore Roosevelt desk (pictured), the first desk used by a President in the Oval Office?
- ALT5:... that the Theodore Roosevelt desk (pictured), the first desk used by a President in the Oval Office, was described in Parade magazine as being "time-worn, fire-scarred, [and] repainted"?

Reviewed: Propallene longiceps

5x expanded by Found5dollar (talk). Self-nominated at 23:01, 6 December 2020 (UTC).

QPQ

Provided

Eligibility

Assuming article is at 5x now, expansion began 57 edits ago on December 4, 2020
15399 characters (2565 words) "readable prose size"

Sourcing

Every paragraph and the embedded table sourced multiple times

Hook

Hook is 159 characters, stated in the article, and sourced
ALT! hook is 102 characters, stated in the article, and sourced

Images

All images are on Commons, mostly US government images, and free of copyright restrictons

Copyvio check

Earwig's tool has flagged a large chunk of prose, but in both the source and article is a source quotation from the White House Historical Association (so noted in the article)

Awaiting completion of QPQ. — Maile (talk) 21:17, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

@Maile66: Thank you for the review but unfortunately I need to strike the two original hooks as, while IU was looking for more info about the desk's design, I discovered this quote from Edith was actually about her own writing desk (contrary to the cited source).[4] I have fixed the article and added a few new alts above. I'm not sure any more which fact is the most compelling for a hook. Thank you for taking the time to review this!--Found5dollar (talk) 00:52, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

@Found5dollar: Meh ... even better. I wasn't all that jazzed about Edith's opinion. I really like ALT2 and ALT4. We can leave it up to a promoter. All I'm waiting for to pass this, is the completion of your QPQ review. @Cwmhiraeth: is pretty good about responding to things, so there shouldn't be a long wait on that. — Maile (talk) 00:59, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

- Everything passes. Good work. Note to promoter - Inauguration Day on Jan 20, 2021 - this would be an ideal lead hook that day. — Maile (talk) 13:39, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Theodore Roosevelt desk in the Truman Oval Office

I just found the original image and cropped that. Doesn't this look more presidential? Yoninah (talk) 00:29, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

It gives the drapes about 3/4 of the image, and minimizes the desk itself. But I'll leave this up to the promoter to decide. — Maile (talk) 10:48, 9 December 2020 (UTC)
@Yoninah: thank you for trying a different crop of the image. I completely understand the desire to make it look more "presidential" for DYK, which this crop does. I'm just worried that this image diminishes the actual desk, for an article about it. Since I would need to switch out your crop with the one above in the article I think the original makes more sense as it focuses on the object the article's about. I'd be ok with a slightly wider crop, but not one quite as wide as you suggest. The desk kind of needs to be at least 50% of the image.--Found5dollar (talk) 17:56, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

@Found5dollar: you do not need to alter the image in the article. Please feel free to suggest a different crop. Yoninah (talk) 18:11, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

@Yoninah: I cropped the original image proposed for this hook. That remains my suggestion unless someone has a better idea.--Found5dollar (talk) 19:43, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

@Found5dollar: OK. Are you able to improve the contrast? Yoninah (talk) 20:52, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

The Theodore Roosevelt desk in the Truman Oval Office

@Yoninah: here is a version with bumped up contrast.--Found5dollar (talk) 15:54, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

@Found5dollar: Better, thanks! Yoninah (talk) 15:57, 10 December 2020 (UTC)