Talk:Well Pharmacy/Archive 1

Unexplained persistent reversions by unregistered users
Attempts to edit this article are being prevented by unexplained persistent reversions by unregistered users. The problem began when my copy edit of 12 January 2015 was reverted by unregistered User:2.27.78.52 as it "introduced errors" (which were unfortunately unspecified). However, the edit was extensive and only consisted of re-arranging the existing text and adding templates to references. Therefore it is hard to believe that the entire edit could have been erroneous, without it being the case that the existing text was also in error and in need of correction. I hoped to apply the re-arrangement as it made the article more readable and useful. You can read it here: []. I posted a polite request for User:2.27.78.52 to identify what the "errors" were so that the other changes could stand.

Polly Tunnel (talk) 17:03, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Piecemeal re-introduction of edit
As User:2.27.78.52 did not reply I began to re-introduce the edit piecemeal to see if they would explain where the "introduced errors" were.

Polly Tunnel (talk) 11:00, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Abbreviation of National Co-operative Chemists
The piecemeal re-introduction of the copy edit encountered continual reversion by User:2.27.78.52. No explanation was given, except for on one occasion when they claimed (via an edit summary rather than on this page) that the inclusion of the abbreviation "NCC" for "National Co-operative Chemists" (as used in the Co-operative News article) was classified as an "error" because it consisted of "unnecessary initials, abbreviation not repeated in text" and hence was removed. In fact, the abbreviation was repeated in my original text. It was the reversion that removed it. This was the only explanation ever provided for any reversion of the original edit.

Polly Tunnel (talk) 13:07, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Possible change of reverter, 31 January 2015
As of 18 January 2015 unregistered User:2.27.78.52 ceased editing this article (and indeed Wikipedia) but they were replaced in their work by a new unregistered User:2.25.223.218 from 31 January 2015. The new user took over the job of reverting the piecemeal re-introduction of the copy edit, again without ever explaining whether they found "errors" or for some other reason.

Polly Tunnel (talk) 11:00, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Date of establishment
I was able to infer from the unexplained reverts that there was a disagreement between myself and the reverter which involved the date of establishment listed in the article. I twice tried to correct the article so that it said that the National Co-operative Chemists was established in 1945 (as it says in the Anca Voinea reference). Both of these attempts were reverted (firstly by User:2.27.78.52, secondly by User:2.25.223.218) to make the article claim that The Co-operative Pharmacy was established in 1945. This is despite the fact that elsewhere the article it says (more plausibly) that The Co-operative Pharmacy brand was introduced in 2007. Hence the article as it stands appears to be self-contradictory. If anyone has any evidence that it was The Co-operative Pharmacy rather than National Co-operative Chemists that was established in 1945, I would be grateful if they could provide it.

Trading locations
Another disagreement that I was able to infer concerned the geographical trading locations of the National Co-operative Chemists. I claimed that these locations were "parts of the United Kingdom" since the Voinea reference says that "over 230 branches had opened in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by 1995". This was reverted to "areas", not in any particular country, firstly by User:2.27.78.52 and secondly by User:2.25.223.218. Does anyone have any evidence that the National Co-operative Chemists did not trade in "parts of the United Kingdom", and if not, where did they trade?

Polly Tunnel (talk) 21:53, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

Independent societies
A third disagreement concerned the "independent societies" which ran their own pharmacies under the Co-operative Pharmacy brand. This needs more explanation, as "independent societies" is unclear and could mean anything from a building society to a bowls club. I initially edited this to "mutual societies" (reverted by User:2.27.78.52) and later the more specific "co-operative societies" (reverted by User:2.25.223.218). If these societies are not co-operatives or even mutuals, does anybody know what they are?

Outstanding editing tasks - The Future
This article is associated with a significant ongoing story as the pharmacy adjusts to a change of ownership. I shall follow events with interest. However, I do not intend to edit this article again. I had to break my single copy edit down into 13 separate edits in order to try and get an explanation for the reversions, and virtually none has been forthcoming. Some parts have been reverted twice and some only once. I have made three final edits which, I am sure, will be reverted today. Neither reverter has placed any explanation on this talk page despite repeated requests. I suspect any further improvements I or others attempt will simply be reverted by one or other of the identified reverters. Nevertheless, it is probably worth me leaving some notes on the tasks that need to be done if editing this article becomes possible again.

Polly Tunnel (talk) 12:25, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Consider semi-protecting this page so that unregistered users cannot revert improvements.
 * Clarify the date of establishment of National Co-operative Chemists and The Co-operative Pharmacy.
 * Provide a new reference for the history of the dividend scheme as the link is now dead.
 * Introduce abbreviations for National Co-operative Chemists (NCC) and The Co-operative Pharmacy (CP) to improve readability.
 * Re-write the first paragraph of the History section. In the form the reverters have insisted on, it is hard to understand, self-contradictory, and contains very little information about the century-long history of the pharmacy (as given in the Voinea reference).

Update - Success on date of establishment
Another unregistered user (User:2.25.223.218) has re-introduced my edit which corrected the date of establishment of the National Co-operative Chemists to 1945. Mysteriously this has not been reverted. Hopefully someone may now be able to re-introduce the other improvements that were reverted, such as the clarification of "trading locations" and "independent societies".

Polly Tunnel (talk) 13:09, 26 February 2015 (UTC)