Talk:Craig Hilton

COI
The creator of this article, User:Tahatai, identifies herself as journalist Jenny Nicholls on her user page. Nicholls has written a couple of the magazine articles used as sources for this article; one of the quotes by Hilton is from one of her interviews. It's not clear, however, that this constitutes a close connection or WP:COI: it's not writing "about yourself, family, friends, clients, employers, or your financial and other relationships." Nicholls presumably interviewed dozens or hundreds of people for North & South. There's nothing prohibiting an editor from citing a source they wrote, as long as it's not done to excess: "Using material you have written or published is allowed within reason, but only if it is relevant, conforms to the content policies, including WP:SELFPUB, and is not excessive." Unless there's evidence that Hilton is a client or friend of Nicholls, I'm going to take the template down. —Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 21:58, 29 November 2020 (UTC)
 * The magazine articles she wrote about this artist began in 2010 and continued over a number of years. It seems she also sold products of his at her Pop-up Store in 2011 according to this article in the New Zealand Herald. Granted, the items are not of great value, but it made me wonder also about the photographs she took of him in 2015 and uploaded to Commons in 2020. Netherzone (talk) 23:22, 29 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Well what about just asking her if she has a COI, rather than putting a template on the article? You've left no message on her talk page, and surely that's the first step with a beginning editor. She hasn't uploaded any photos of him, those are gallery shots of an installation. Waiheke Island is a small place. Including someone's T-shirt designs in your pop-up shop nine years ago doesn't really satisfy Wikipedia's definition of a conflict of interest. —Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 01:21, 30 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi: Jenny Nicholls ( Tahatai (talk) 23:00, 30 November 2020 (UTC) ) here. Thanks for all your interest. I guess this is how you keep the PR merchants at bay! To answer fully - I found these images when scrolling back through old phone images for my previous Wikipedia page on an art event (Sculpture on the Gulf). I am trying to improve New Zealand artist's pages on Wikipedia; and I had just a received delivery of a freshly published book about Billy Apple to judge for the 2021 NZ Ockham book awards, which contained several pages on Hilton. Combined with the images of his work on my phone and the many interviews of him in the quality press (Radio NZ for example) I thought it serendipitous. In short: I am not an agent of his: he is no relation, partner etc etc. I do not do PR. I am now a book reviewer and columnist. I have met him of course as I have interviewed him several times, and he lives on the same small island as I do. He often appears wearing an ape costume, is one of NZ's few artists combining art and science - and perhaps the only one with such a serious science background - and has imported an Australian artist with three ears for a Dunedin science show. If I ignored the guy I would be an odd kind of journalist. But thanks for your care and rigor: I am not an experienced editor and this has taught me to explain more clearly in the first paragraph why someone should be on Wikipedia. Tahatai (talk) 23:00, 30 November 2020 (UTC)
 * , thank you for your contributions to the encyclopedia, and for elaborating here on the talk page regarding your connections with this artist. Netherzone (talk) 17:22, 1 December 2020 (UTC) Additonal comment: It seems clear now that there is a work-related COI (by way of North/South employment) and possibly a commercial sales connection. Thank you. Netherzone (talk) 00:45, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

Hi there - again, to be clear - there is no work related COI or sales connection. Tahatai (talk) 01:05, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't agree with your conclusion that there is a work-related COI or a commercial sales connection. Can you substantiate these allegations? If not, we should remove the tag off the top of this article. MurielMary (talk) 03:06, 29 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Sure thing, it's actually in the link I placed above. The 14 December 2011 edition of The New Zealand Herald Style Notes states: "...style magazine art director Jenny Nicholls has ensured her pop-up shop "Wonderfool" situated in an artislts studio on Waiheke is a must next time you visit the island. Nicholls has collated all her favourite "stuff" including...tea towells and t-shirts by Craig Hilton..." Seems clear she was selling his products (granted not major works of art at blistering prices) as well as writing about his work. Netherzone (talk) 21:33, 31 December 2020 (UTC)