Talk:Wayne Allyn Root/Archive 1

Questions? Ask them through Wikinews
Hello,

I'm Nick Moreau, an accredited reporter for Wikinews. I'm co-ordinating our 2008 US Presidential election interviews. We will be interviewing as many candidates as possible, from the Democrats, Republicans, and other parties/independents.

I'll be sending out requests for interviews to the major candidates very soon, but I want your input, as people interested in American politics: what should I ask them?

Please go to any of these three pages, and add a question.


 * n:Wikinews:Story preparation/US 2008/Democratic Party
 * n:Wikinews:Story preparation/US 2008/Republican Party
 * n:Wikinews:Story preparation/US 2008/Third Party or Independent

Questions? Don't ask them here, I'll never see them. Either ask them on the talk page of any of these three pages, or [mailto:nicholasmoreau@gmail.com e-mail me].

Thanks, Nick --  Zanimum 19:42, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

NPOV?
This reads more like a campaign release than an objective article.Historygeek2007 (talk) 16:25, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I did some cleaning up to neutralize the tone and reduce excessive verbiage. I hope this addressed your concern. If you still think the article reads like a campaign release, please specify which statements or passages you consider POV and why you think so. This will help the page's editors in addressing your issue. Thanks.--JayJasper (talk) 19:19, 23 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Need WP:Reliable source for claim he is a "Best Selling author." Some listing on Amazon saying his book is the best selling "libertarian" book on Amazon doesn't count. Need report from some sort of Independent booksellers publication. His claiming it and someone just repeating his claim doesn't count. CarolMooreDC (talk) 23:47, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Born again Christian?
I don't know where to put this, but Wayne is a born again Christian. I tried to change it and someone reverted it. He says this here: http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=9873076&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/freedomwatch/ (unsigned Sept 2009)


 * Important question and belongs in the article if true. Google search on this here. In Independent Political Report he says he is one here: . In that article he also says he is not running for president in 2012. I've put in  Query on WP:RSN as to whether it is WP:RS. [Later note: [Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_63#Interview_in_Independentpoliticalreport.com_for_BLP.3F Here one user says it is.] Since it is from an interview where he directly says it, that would seem to be true.]CarolMooreDC (talk) 22:37, 19 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I just listened to the video and low and behold at 5 min 30 seconds he declares: "I happen to be a Jew turned Born Again Christian." Unfortunately, I have a conflict of interest in being a critic of his within the libertarian party who is evening putting together an expose website. So I don't feel comfortable entering that info. However, [Later amended to: Because I have a strong POV on this individual], I will list some problems with article and some new WP:RS info for others to enter and encourage some people at the Libertarian wikiproject to do just that [unless it is an obvious factoid like above or a tag about an obvious problem, or deletion of material clearly against BLP, like unsourced controversial material]. CarolMooreDC (talk) 20:27, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

WP:RS info of interest
CarolMooreDC (talk) 13:43, 2 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Las Vegas will host LP convention, which is news, plus, re running for President, Root says "Everyone assumes I will be one of the leading candidates. But I haven't decided whether I will run for president." Same quote in Las Vegas Journal review
 * Sunshine state news Presidential derby story that says: "The Libertarians will be holding their presidential nominating convention in Las Vegas from May 4-6, 2012. This could provide a boost for Wayne Allyn Root, the sports handicapper who was Bob Barr’s running mate on the 2008 Libertarian ticket."
 * On November 14, 2010, in response to an article where Root stated that he was "re-creating libertarianism" and that "Traditional libertarianism mixes in too many things that are liberal", the Florida Libertarian Party passed a resolution urging the removal of Root from the Libertarian National Committee. REFS:Sunshine state news; Seven Magazine story on libertarianism with Cover and section about Root; LP of Florida says LNC, LNCC should boot Wayne Root, Independent Political Report. 2010-11-16 (Thinking about it later, this PolIndepReport is WP:RS because confirmed by previous ref).

Conflict of Interest v. POV
For as long as it is there, User_talk:68.96.242.239 (aka "Will") has admitted he works for and/or represents Wayne Root on this page. See WP:Conflict of interest. He also has threatened legal action if WP:RS info is not removed, specifically information about the LP of FL resolution saying he should be removed from the Libertarian National Committee (which I also just noted is on the LPFL main page of its web site). See WP:No legal threats. Also he says his other IP was blocked so technically that makes him a WP:sockpuppet, since he should have emailed them to discuss this. They would just tell him the same thing I did. As I told him, proper channels per WP:BLP is to email wikipedia.

People with declared POVs (as I have mine) have a responsibility to be careful of their edits. I keep mine minimal and only to factual matters and not to making the article either overly laudatory or critical of the person. Thus I am not going to introduce negative material but I will make it more NPOV and add better sources, including to critical material recently added by the other IP editor (who is from New Jersey). This is even a stronger "commandment" upon people with strong WP:Conflicts of interests like "Will" has. CarolMooreDC (talk) 18:52, 2 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Indef'd. Page also semi-protected for a short period; and Pending Changes applied for a month. If you continue to have problems after the semi wears off, request re-protection at WP:RFPP. KillerChihuahua ?!?Advice 20:31, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Removal of WP:RS info (by socks?)
Dec 5, 15 and 16. It looks like we have socks removing the same embarrassing material without explanation. If they don't explain here, I'll have the article protected again per the above and see if that works. CarolMooreDC 14:09, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

RE 20,000 undergraduate students
anyone familiar with elite colleges, will know few schools have such a large populous at that level. in fact, few ivy league etc have such a large number of students with most of these universities having a more pronounced number of graduate students, respective to the number of undergraduates. there is NO way that Columbia had that many "undergrads" at that time.

Columbia University currently has less than 8,000 undergrads at this time. it would be interesting to know how many were at the university in the 80s. furthermore, undergrad classes are selected for major areas and disciplines and progression (senior, junior...). the representative number of peers for Root would be a much smaller number and the "20,000" claim is specious and fraught with subverting interest that Root would have been a prospective peer to Obama. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.140.128.153 (talk) 16:14, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Actually, he's gotten a lot of publicity for this claim, as well as some other strange "conspiracy theory" stuff, so that's actually the angle that needs to be covered. I haven't had time. CarolMooreDC 01:12, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Whitewashing/Edit War? + this reads like an advertisement/promo
I've been cleaning up this article a bit plus adding more complete info to this bio. Someone keeps deleting anything that isn't like an advertisement, even though it's all well-sourced. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Localemediamonitor (talk • contribs) 00:09, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

IRS audit and Daily Show
I don't have energy to deal with right now, but there's a bunch of stuff about him denouncing the IRS for profiling and auditing him and then about the Daily Show making fun of him for hypocrisy cause he calls for profiling in other circumstances. Search news.google archives for this time period if you come across later and still not done. Might wait a few more days to see what other refs pop up. ''CarolMooreDC - talkie talkie &#x1f5fd; 20:49, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm on it. Localemediamonitor (talk) 00:18, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Wayne Allyn Root. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20111224113231/http://root4america.com:80/webroot/oldblog/index.php?entry=entry070515-124639 to http://root4america.com/webroot/oldblog/index.php?entry=entry070515-124639
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080528033121/http://www.lp.org:80/media/printer_588.shtml to http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20130504125736/http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/obama%E2%80%99s-college-classmate-the-obama-scandal-is-at-columbia/ to http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/obama’s-college-classmate-the-obama-scandal-is-at-columbia/

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Removed material
The material removed was hardly notable. One off comments aren't needed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1002:B118:DB1C:945C:C651:1F09:ACDD (talk) 14:00, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120523232152/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504383_162-5556507-504383.html to http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504383_162-5556507-504383.html

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Self-contradiction
The factcheck.org source in the 2008 Presidential campaign section says that Root stopped short of claiming Obama never attended Columbia University, only that he could not remember ever seeing him there. This flatly contradicts the claim in the CBS News citation later on. (Looks like a case of sloppy journalism to me; just because a news organization publishes something doesn't necessarily make it reliable if the writer is biased.) At any rate, we have "reliable sources" that conflict, and we should say so. JustinTime55 (talk) 19:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
 * This is what CBS says: "He is known for promoting right-wing conspiracy theories. Root, who attended Columbia University while former President Barack Obama was also studying there, falsely claimed that Obama did not actually attend the school." You have not presented evidence that contradict this RS. Snooganssnoogans (talk) 01:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Just because "CBS says" it ("Root ... falsely claimed that Obama did not actually attend the school"; NOT "known for promoting right-wing conspiracy theories") doesn't make it true. The "evidence that contradicts this RS" is already there; read the citation for "He has 'stopped short' of actually claiming that Obama did not attend Columbia." The Wikipedia page as it stands contradicts itself, and the contradict tag is valid. You are the one edit warring if you just remove it without addressing the contradiction. JustinTime55 (talk) 01:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * You are also mindlessly reverting other formatting changes I've made which have nothing to do with your controversy. 01:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * The source you are referring to is a FactCheck.Org piece from 2010. Root has made subsequent remarks about Obama, his citizenship and his tenure at Columbia, including claims about how Obama was a "foreign exchange student". The CBS News piece is from 2018, and the Daily Beast article covers Root's 2012 bizarre conspiracy theories about Obama's Columbia tenure. It's a futile task trying to figure out what the true and coherent views of a conspiracy theorist are (they are changeable and incoherent), and adding tags that suggest that RS are lying about the man is not the way to go. We should simply report what RS report. Snooganssnoogans (talk) 02:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The tag does not accuse any source of lying; it simply says the article is contradicting itself because it's using contradictory sources. It needs to be rewritten, by explaining what he said at different times.
 * Glad to see you're discussing this rather than continuing to edit war. JustinTime55 (talk) 13:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * I have edited this to reflect more clearly that Root's (wild) claims have been contradictory:


 * "At one point, Root falsely claimed that Obama was not a student at Columbia University; at another point, in an interview with Sean Hannity, Root said that he believed that Obama was a "foreign exchange student" at Columbia."


 * The sources reflect that Root has made different claims at different times, hence that's what the article should reflect.


 * --Neutralitytalk 14:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A tasteless political remark is not a "conspiracy theory"
Root making tasteless comments about Mueller does not qualify as a "right-wing conspiracy theory", and so doesn't belong in this section. If you want to include material about Root being a partisan extremist (if you can do it in a NPOV way), fine, but put it elsewhere; don't try to sneak it in among Root's reputed conspiracy theories. JustinTime55 (talk) 01:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * No, it fits perfectly with the list of conspiracy theories and bizarre ramblings. Snooganssnoogans (talk) 01:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The section title is Conspiracy theories, not "Conspiracy theories and bizarre ramblings". You have not addressed what I said; if you want to present "bizarre ramblings", then fine, add another section (but figure out how to do it in an NPOV way). There is no conspiracy theory involved in saying "Mueller has penis envy". JustinTime55 (talk) 01:23, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I just arrived at the same conclusion. There's nothing illegal about a black guy having sordid gay sex in Chicago during his alleged immigrant years, nor a white man singlehandedly covering up his own penis (or lack thereof). Renamed "Controversial statements". InedibleHulk (talk) 06:58, 23 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Neutrality has changed my change to "Promotion of conspiracy theories and false statements". While that's certainly a larger title, it still begs the question of whether Mueller's penis actually is smaller than Trump's, and how Mueller truly feels about the matchup. Unless reliable sources affirm respective lengths/girths and analyze the results on each competitor's psyche, I'm not comfortable betting against a tall blond carouser who married Melania Trump in Wikipedia's voice (though I would bet Bob's wife is a generally happier woman where it counts over time). InedibleHulk (talk) 23:45, 23 August 2019 (UTC)


 * I replaced "false" with "baseless". We'll probably (and hopefully) never get a clear picture of Mueller's probe, much less an upskirt into his mind. We can't prove anything, that's all, and neither can Root. InedibleHulk (talk) 04:48, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

He is known for conspiracy theories
That's one of his claims to notability, thus it should be in the lead. Snooganssnoogans (talk) 13:02, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 18:43, 29 October 2020 (UTC)
 * WayneAllynRoot Head.jpg