Talk:Ben's Chili Bowl

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[edit] Encyclopedic?

With the greatest of respect to those who have put work in on this article, could someone explain exactly how this is encyclopedic? It reads very much like an advertisment for a non-notable business (WP:NOT - 'Wikipedia is not the Yellow pages'). The fact that it is sourced etc is good to see, but doesn't seem to affect the fundamental defect of non-notability. Comments?

Xdamr^talk 03:01, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I consider the fact that the business is about the only one to have survived the 1968 riots and the Green Line construction as making it fairly notable, among other things. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:50, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

A lot of property is damaged in urban unrest. Some unrest is relatively trivial, other unrest is significant - however the fact that one particular business escaped relatively unscathed doesn't make it significant, however important the riot itself was. Likewise for the Green Line construction - survival alone is not necessarily notable. If significant events took place in the building in connection with these events then that could be notable, but merely being an observer of history doesn't seem to qualify.

Xdamr^talk 03:59, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I think the distinction is not that it is the only business with a direct link to Black Broadway, but that it is known and reported as that business. It seems to meet Wikipedia:Notability (companies and corporations)'s "The company or corporation has been the subject of multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the company or corporation itself." - BanyanTree 13:26, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Ben's Chili Bowl has attained the status of a local institution in Washington, in the same way that Nathan's Famous on Coney Island has become a landmark or The Brown Derby in Los Angeles was one. --Largo Plazo 15:00, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I agree that Ben's Chili Bowl is indeed notable. It has served as a meeting place for countless organizations and activists during the civil rights movement and provided a vital service by remaining open during the 1968 riots despite the risk. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has even been to Ben's. Plus, most Washingtonians consider the restaurant notable by labeling it a Washington Landmark. That's quite significant for any business not to mention a small family owned one. President Bush painting a mural of Ben's only reinforces my sentiment. Tboogie 04:15, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bush painting

The front page photo at the Washington Post site currently is President Bush painting a mural of Ben's facade as part of the MLK community service day at Cardozo High School. Find the photo section linked here. It should be the second photo in the set. - BanyanTree 22:50, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

If nothing else, it's worth a footnote, perhaps, if we can figure out how to link to it directly. SchuminWeb (Talk) 15:49, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

If it had been a White House photo, I wouldn't have hesitated to upload it. I just thought it was amusing, after the discussion about notability here, to see Bush painting "Ben's Chili Bowl" lettering on the front page of WaPo. - BanyanTree 16:43, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Here it is: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/images/20070115-2_p011507pm-0105w-515h.html --Aude (talk) 17:05, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Great image finding! That's sheer awesomeness. I've substituted a cropped version that has more Ben's and less people in hallway. I am highly amused. - BanyanTree 18:13, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Edits

It pisses me off. I wanted to add an external reference to plans for expansion of the restaurant, ...BUT... I came across a nasty note telling me to use the "Wikipedia:Footnotes" style or my edits will be swiftly deleted without notice.

OK I'll find out how to use footnotes styles ... 1/2 hour later I gave up looking. So instead of my external link I am bitching in Talk! RGGR! FrankTownend 15:17, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

What do you want to add? We can help you out. If you add text to the article, it's good practice to provide a reference, such as link to a news article or something. That way, we know where you got your information. Technically, to do that, you can just put the link after the text like this [1]. More can be done to format the link, like the other links. (see WP:CITE) But, someone else can do that if you have trouble figuring it out. --Aude (talk) 15:23, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

I 100% agree that the notice "<!-- This article uses [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]]. Please use this format when adding references to material in the article. External links added directly to this section will be swiftly deleted without notice. -->" is not user-friendly. It's been removed and shouldn't have been there. Apologies for that. --Aude (talk) 15:26, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Aude! I saw an article on-line that showed Ben's is "expanding" into another location and adding additional "features". Typically I add an external link with text that allows the reader to understand what I am pointing out about the subject. When I came on the statement in the edit box it frustrated me so I used the help features for formatting instructions. After a half hour I gave up.

I haven't had trouble adding or editing content in the past, this was a new one for me.

The content I wanted to add was as follows:

• Ben's Chili Bowl set to expand.

Sorry, my bad. As I recall, back when footnotes were first introduced and even experienced editors had no idea how to use them, I saw this on a TFA (Albatross, if I'm remembering correctly). I then copied the reference markup, which allowed the new "small" font, along with the comment, into several articles I introduced the footnotes system to over the next several months, until the creation of {{reflist}} made it easier to type rather than copy markup from an older article. [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] is immediately understandable to editors who have been around a while, but I can see how it would be baffling for new people. I'll try to remember which articles I might have copied it into and replace it with reflist. - BanyanTree 23:33, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

I have seen the footnotes comments on many pages -- so many pages (more than ones you added them to) that I think a bot or some other automated process is needed to fix them. --Aude (talk) 05:41, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

This would be a good addition to the article. I've tried to summarize this.

In June 2007, Ben's Chili Bowl announced plans to expand to a second location, a 3,000 square foot building next door, which The Casbah nightclub used to occupy, which will have more of a nightclub atmosphere. [2]

Does that sound okay. Feel free to change it, add it to the article, or come up with something yourself. I have made the reference into a basic link, which is definitely acceptable. Though, we have a way to convert it into reference like the others. Doing this may be a little complicated for someone new to Wikipedia, so I wouldn't worry about it and suggest doing things the easy way. We can format the reference later. --Aude (talk) 17:55, 27 June 2007 (UTC)