Talk:Specialty Food Association

Hi From SFA & Mea Culpa
Hi, my name is Leanna Truong and I work with SFA. We got some bad advice from a previous marketing firm and made edits through an undisclosed, paid editor. Trying to rectify that now by cleaning up this entry with very neutral. Please note there are very limited edits, I would like to just get the page up to date. Please let me know if any of my edits are incorrect or inappropriate. Thank You. --LeannaTruong (talk) 19:32, 5 June 2020 (UTC)


 * You need to follow WP:COIEDIT and must disclose your paid editing status per WP:DISCLOSEPAY. GSS &#x202F;&#128172; 15:43, 16 June 2020 (UTC)


 * I am trying to follow WP:COIEDIT with the above and below disclosures. Do you need further disclosures?


 * These are the edits I want to make, which I think make the page more in line with Wikipedia guidelines:
 * Remove extraneous executives and publications. I read WP:NOTADIRECTORY and those edits seem like a good idea. Are they not?
 * Update data for 2020, since most of what's there is from 2016. I've included neutral, third-party citations for each. Is there a problem with those edits?


 * I've disclosed my COI and I'm trying to clean up this page. It has plenty of citations now and is clear not a stub. Why shouldn't those tags at least be removed?


 * Thanks. I'll leave a note on your page too.


 * --LeannaTruong (talk) 17:34, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

Edits for SFA

 * I am trying to follow COIEDIT with the disclosure above. I'm not being paid to edit Wikipedia and we're no longer using the contractor who made edits without disclosing. Let me know if there are further disclosures I need to make. I can edit my User or Talk pages too.


 * The edits I want to make should actually improve the page; I want to remove redlinks, the extraneous executives and lists of publications that I thought violated the "Not a List" rule. The only things I wanted to add were updated statistics for 2020. Are any of those edits not OK?


 * I can list them all out separately here. --LeannaTruong (talk) 20:19, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
 * , I recommend that you have a look at WP:EDITREQ (and the related WP:COIREQ) for how to submit an edit request - it's better to do one of those instead of posting here and then making the edit if nobody objects. Edit requests are reviewed by neutral editors who then may make the edit on your behalf, in order to guarantee that somebody reviews conflict-of-interest edits. GeneralNotability (talk) 01:41, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

Requested Edits
I have a COI since I do work with SFA, so can I request the following edits:
 * Change "3,400 businesses" to "3,800 member companies" with https://progressivegrocer.com/specialty-food-association-lobbies-against-tariffs as a citation. 3,800 is a more accurate and more recent number and since SFA only represents members, I think "member companies" is more accurate as well.
 * Append ", worth $148 billion as of May 2020."--with the same reference--to the line that reads "The SFA was established in 1952 to foster trade, commerce and interest in the specialty food industry in the U.S." The data on the page is from 2015, which is pretty outdated.
 * Remove the line "The current Association chair is Becky Renfro Borbolla, Vice President of Renfro Foods, Inc. Her term runs through mid-2018. Past board chairs are listed on the SFA website." That doesn't seem very encyclopedic
 * Change "The Specialty Food Association is a source of industry information, educational events and in-person and online networking opportunities, including a Specialty Food Business Summit and online Product Marketplace. SFA produces yearly research reports that include the State of the Specialty Food Industry and Today’s Specialty Food Consumer." to "The Specialty Food Association is a source of industry information, educational events and in-person and online networking opportunities, including workshops, certification and training programs and events." The latter seems cleaner and less spammy, right?
 * Change "The Summer Fancy Food Show 2016 was one of the largest since the Show’s 1954 inception. More than 40,000 specialty food professionals and 2,600+ exhibitors from over 55 countries attended. The 2016 Winter Fancy Food Show in California drew about 30,000 industry professionals and 1,400 exhibitors from over 30 countries." to "The Summer Fancy Food Show is the largest show for specialty food in North America, with 34,000 attendees and 2400 exhibitors annually. More than 50 countries will be participating in the show, with Italy as partner country for 2020." The latter is more accurate and more broad. I have https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/blogs/300878/18-fun-healthy-and-or-kosher-brands-from-the-2019-summer-fancy-food-show/, https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/13969-trends-at-the-2019-summer-fancy-food-show?v=preview, https://www.thenationalherald.com/archive_whats_new/arthro/greek_products_shine_at_the_summer_fancy_food_show_june_23_25_vid_pics-255089/ and http://www.benvenutaitalia.com/3843/l-italia-country-partner-fancy-food-shows-2020/ for references.
 * Change "The Specialty Food Association produces the annual sofi Awards which recognize excellence in specialty food products. The 2016 award winners were selected from 3,200 entries across 28 product categories, including best chocolate, cheese and savory snack. Annual Leadership Awards honor influential and innovative entrepreneurs who are transforming the way the specialty food industry does business. These awards honor SFA members who have advanced food standards in society by creating positive social, economic and environmental impact through their innovations and vision." to "The Special Food Association produces the annual sofi awards, which recognize creativity and taste across multiple food categories in the specialty food products industry. Gold, Silver, Bronze and New Product winners are announced in the spring and highlighted at both Fancy Food Shows. At each Summer Show, a Product of the Year is announced. The annual Leadership Awards honor industry leaders who are spearheading positive environmental, community, and business practices. These individuals are active members of the SFA, who are shaping the specialty food industry." That version is more accurate, more current and less marketing speak.


 * Responses below. I can start making these changes.
 * In the future, consider making an account and signing your name with four tildes (~).
 * 3800 makes sense. I hear the argument for "member companies," but that sounds a little strange. Maybe "members?" I'll change to member companies for now. Implemented
 * That works, but I'd remove the 2015 line then too. I'll do that. Implemented
 * Good Implemented
 * Good Implemented
 * If those sources actually say that the show is the "largest," I can make. I may need to quantify more, like "largest by total attendance" or something like that. Edit: Those sources do indeed say "largest," so I made this edit, but I found new sources. We need third-party citations for everything on the page, and press releases--since they are released by the first party--are considered first-party. It's the same with other sources on the page. You need to find new sources for everything else and then I can remove the source flag. Implemented
 * I assume using the same sources. Let me look into that one some more.
 * I'm hung up on "shaping the...industry." I'm going to change to "The Special Food Association produces the annual sofi awards, which recognize creativity and taste across multiple food categories in the specialty food products industry. Gold, Silver, Bronze and New Product winners are announced in the spring and highlighted at both Fancy Food Shows. At each Summer Show, a Product of the Year is announced. The annual Leadership Awards honor industry leaders who are active members of the SFA and who are spearheading positive environmental, community, and business practices." Still a little promotional, but better than what's there. Implemented
 * --FeldBum (talk) 21:31, 26 June 2020 (UTC)
 * All implemented. Let me see if I can clean up some more with better sources than the site and press releases. --FeldBum (talk) 22:39, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you so much FeldBum. Is there anything else I need to do? What can I do to help get the "This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments" tag removed? -108.28.44.129 (talk) 15:13, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Was every edit by that paid editor removed/reverted? Can you check? Also, the page needs a new citation for #14 - you can't cite yourselves; you need a third-party sources for everything. Once that's done, I think it can be removed. (Remember to add your signature to your comments, btw) --FeldBum (talk) 14:28, 13 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Every edit made by the editor was removed. Someone else, named Aspects, added the Infobox back in.


 * Could we change that link to https://wholefoodsmagazine.com/grocery/news-grocery/sfa-announces-winners-of-2020-leadership-awards/, https://www.delimarketnews.com/well-paired/volpi-foods-ceo-named-top-business-leader-Lorenza-Passetti/anne-allen/wed-12112019-0853/8918 or https://progressivegrocer.com/whole-foods-walter-robb-keynote-sfa-2018-leadership-awards? -LeannaTruong (talk) 20:41, 14 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Used the Delimarket and ProgressiveGrocer links. The Whole Foods Magazine one seemed like it just regurgitated the press release. I fixed up some other links too. I think it's good to remove that tag now, unless another editor feels differently. --FeldBum (talk) 23:25, 14 July 2020 (UTC)