Talk:Megan Smolenyak

COI
According to her Honoring Our Ancestors newsletter, the name of Smolenyak's assistant is Alyssa Gregory. AlyssaGregory created this article. I tagged COI. --DiamondRemley39 (talk) 14:48, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Agree with COI concern, in fact multiple internet searches, including a blog posting shows an Alyssa Gregory working to promote Megan Smolenyak as her assistant and public relations manager. This Article was written by AlyssaGregory who shares the same name. This BLP article likely violates guidelines against advertising, marketing or public relations. -Monteboat (talk) 16:03, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

Awards issues
Smolenyak was not the recipient of a 2009 Folio Eddie award. These are publishing industry awards for "best editorial content, designs, marketing initiatives, digital products and people." The 2009 Folio Gold Eddie Award probably being referenced was for the category of Consumer, Enthusiasts/Hobbyists, Single Article and given to Ancestry Magazine.Monteboat (talk) 01:02, 4 January 2021 (UTC)

Smolenyak was not the recipient of a Telly award. Like the Folio award mentioned earlier, these awards are generally industry awards and in this case the Telly awards were given not to Smolenyak but to Roots Television. Smolenyak admits this on her own website. She may have been part of a team or group that created the content, but the award was not to her, personally, and to claim otherwise is disingenuous. There are also concerns about the claims of "writing awards" since it is not clear what awards are being referenced or referred to in this case. One cannot simply claim they won awards. It is important to use primary sources when citing. --Monteboat (talk) 21:14, 5 January 2021 (UTC)


 * I'm thankful to you for pointing out that she was not the recipient of Telly awards. It was a silly mistake on our part. Regarding your concern about the "writing awards", i don't think we need to pay much attention to that as it has been cited with an acceptable source in The Pratt Tribune. Pesticide 1110  Lets wrestle! 15:52, 6 January 2021 (UTC)


 * The citation used to support all the awards is from a syndicated columnist David Kentner whose interview with the subject was published not only in the Pratt Tribune but obviously elsewhere. The introduction to that interview, being used as support, has a listing of awards that includes the now debunked claims to the Folio and Telly awards that appears to have come from the original Wikipedia article.  This raises questions about the reliability and vetting of Mr. Kentner's article that has now been proven to include misleading information.  Some bad information does not necessarily negate the other claims, but if the claims to all those awards are true then surely there must be some other reliable source other than Mr. Kentner's questionable introduction.  The claims were left in Wikipedia pending proper citation.--Monteboat (talk) 14:24, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

Removal of COI template
In line with WP:WTRMT, looking for any feedback or consensus on the current WP:COI template. From my current perspective, the article has been dramatically improved since the template was added in Nov 2019. The article went from 14 citations across 11 sources to 34 citations across 29 sources; the current article has a reference behind every statement/sentence. Rework has also removed templates added for WP:SOAP and WP:HOST concerns. The article also survived the AFd process in January 2021, with consensus being that the version at that time passed both WP:GNG and WP:SIGCOV. I would argue that the original COI concern has been addressed. Any thoughts to the contrary? Thanks! CaptainAngus (talk) 01:06, 19 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Removing the COI template per above. CaptainAngus (talk) 00:59, 25 May 2024 (UTC)