Talk:A Gay Girl in Damascus

Focus should be on the blog, not the character
The scope is pretty odd, the notability of this incident is not the fictional character (who even knows her name?), but the blog and the man behind it. This should not read as a biography. FunkMonk (talk) 10:44, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
 * The main purpose of the article appears to be an attempt by activists to express their outrage over being fooled and to punish the one who perpetrated it; the second is almost certainly a BLP violation and both goals violate Neutrality (as well as notability) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.239.143.244 (talk) 11:25, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

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Conflict of interest vandalism by editor Duedemagistris
This scandal was a long time ago, and few people are interested in it any more, but editor Joatsimeon in 2011 took great care to remove certain material showing that Tom MacMaster, the hoaxer, was held in contempt. Joatsimeon was removed, as a sockpuppet of MacMaster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Joatsimeon/Archive Now, editor Duedemagistris is removing similar material, even calling its restoration "vandalism". I shall restore the edits showing how MacMaster was seen, and watch the page to revert any edits vandalising it by removing the material. It is relevant to the subject of the article that when MacMaster sought help getting his fiction publishd, pretending it was autobiographical, the person he sought help from found the writing narcissistic and painfully obvious. There is more on this in the Archive: Talk:Amina_Abdallah_Arraf_al_Omari/Archive_1 -Abigailgem (talk) 10:30, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Yeah, good thing about Wikipedia is that the old revisions are arvhived... FunkMonk (talk) 10:39, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * The material removed was entirely non-neutral (and tended towards libelous) or unsourced. Editor [Abigailgem] seems to believe (as stated above that the purpose of wikipedia is to excoriate those who disagree with his views rather than as a source of neutral information.  While that may have a place, removing obviously biased materials is not the purpose of this encyclopedia.  Restore the edits rather than indulge this person in their vindictive tantrum. Duedemagistris (talk) 10:56, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * All the info cited reliable sources. FunkMonk (talk) 11:08, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * I object to being misgendered by Duedemagistris. Tom MacMaster is aware that I am trans, and so misgendering is particularly objectionable. If Duedemagistris is unconnected to Tom MacMaster, "Abigail" is a pretty good clue to my gender. Duedemagistris, please refer to me with female pronouns. Abigailgem (talk) 11:16, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Fuck Macmaster and his transphobic bullshit. Wikipedia is NOT a safe space for cishet whiteboys and their hatespeech.  Fuck these nasty boys and stop the hate!  Let's show him for the transphobe he is!
 * Whatever we think, we need to keep the discussion civil and the text reliably cited. FunkMonk (talk) 11:23, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * A new user NormativeMan to make that unsigned foul-mouthed comment, and accuse MacMaster in the article of being a transphobe. Another sock-puppet, possibly? Abigailgem (talk) 11:40, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * See my user page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Duedemagistris and, if you truly are a Quaker, ask yourself what Quaker values say about your actions Duedemagistris (talk) 14:15, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Reminders: --Jake Ocaasit &#124; c 16:51, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * This article documents a very well-covered hoax which received significant attention from multiple highly reliable news sources. WP:BLP is of the utmost concern but it doesn't mean we don't summarize what the media said about living individuals; BLP raises the bar for sourcing, it doesn't prohibit coverage of negative acts or criticism.
 * From their userpage, Duedemagistris appears to be Tom MacMaster or very closely associated with them (having posted their OTRS exchange). Editors with a conflict of interest need to abide by our conflict of interest disclosure guidelines and make clear if they have a conflict of interest pertaining to the subject as explained in that Guideline.
 * The tone of discussion on this page, on all sides needs to calm down immediately. I don't follow what is being alleged regarding transphobia or hatespeech, but that behavior and unsupported allegations of such behavior don't belong here.  Focus on the article, not each other, each other's sexuality, or each other's religion.
 * I wrote this article, so I am WP:INVOLVED as an Administrator. I'm happy to have the page protected or seek blocks of accounts who cannot engage civilly and with respect in line with our policies.
 * There may be pieces of BLP-content which are not needed in this article and they should be presented on the talk page one-by-one for discussion. Removal of multiple large chunks of content without prior discussion isn't going to get anywhere.

Consequences of the Hoax
There seem to be few sources on this. It appears that there was little ongoing effect of the hoax. Dr MacMaster does not appear from the sources still to be perpetrating such hoaxes. I started a new section: is this section worth keeping? Are there other consequences which should be added? The Electronic Intifada article says something about the University of Edinburgh investigation- are there other sources on this, and is it worth adding something about it? Abigailgem (talk) 09:38, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

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Potentially acceptable use of EI
I think this might be a good case to use them despite their depreciation at RFC: Electronic Intifada. Does someone disagree? FortunateSons (talk) 12:01, 28 January 2024 (UTC)