User:BostonMA/Mediation/Sathya Sai Baba/Reminders for Mediator

This page was created as part of the mediation process for the Sathya Sai Baba and related articles. The specific purpose of this page is to keep track of issues that require the attention of the mediator that may have been overlooked. Occasionally the mediator may lose track of actions that should be taken. An editor who notices such an ommision by the mediator my remind him by adding a note here. Although anyone may add items, Please do not remove items that are not your own. . The mediator will remove items when the action has been taken. So please to not place any text here that you want preserved for future reference. Also, please do not discuss with one another on this page. This page should be used for reminders to the mediator only. Discussion will be deleted.

Reminders for Mediator

 * Disputed references to: David Bailey (comments attributed to him that have not been published in notable sources); SSS108 talk-email 04:47, 3 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Kasturi as a reference / source for SSB's biographical material. SSS108 talk-email 02:36, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Regarding Mediation
Complaint SSS108 talk-email 20:03, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Complaint II SSS108 talk-email 02:40, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

New Issues To Be Discussed
Andries said he is willing to discuss these proposed changes in mediation. These are my proposed changes:


 * Trouw reference, which is used as a source for defection from SSB, although the source is subjective and non-documented.
 * Remove "In the years 1999 and 2000 SSB has repeatedly belittled the internet and discouraged its use" because of relevance and import.
 * Move the following to the Media section: "In 2006 followers of Shirdi Sai Baba in the Ahmednagar district sued followers of Sathya Sai Baba for use of the name Sai Baba in the court of Rahata. The case is as of January 2006 pending."
 * Remove the following from the introduction because it is redundant and has already been fully explained in the critics section: "Critics, including skeptic Basava Premanand and the former follower Welsh pianist David Bailey, claim that these materializations are done by sleight of hand and say that this can be verified with videos available on the internet. Most vehement criticism since the year 2000 are the allegations, made by former devotees, of inappropriate sexual relations with young men. Followers like, Peter Pruzan, consider the evidence of wrongdoing against Sathya Sai Baba to be insufficient. According to a cover article in the India Today newspaper in 2000, the coterie that surrounds Baba dismisses these allegations by denouncing them as "anti-Hindu" attacks made by foreigners [7]."
 * I would also like to discuss the entire approach being used to formulate the Critics section. Andries is scouring every imaginable resource to write what appears to be an expose on Wikipedia. From my understanding, this is not the way Wikipedia works. Wikipedia is not supposed to be written like a newspaper that tries to expose every single negative thing ever said about the person in question.
 * NEW Discuss the reputability of Beyerstein's "Sai Baba's miracles: an overview", which has not been published by reputable or reliable sources. Although there is a consistent claim that this is a book, I have not been able to find an ISBN # for it. It was supposedly published by Premanand in paper form.
 * NEW There is a reference that has two sources and the referenced text is mostly irrelevant to the reference. The quote reads: "According to Donald Taylor in his 1987 article Charismatic authority in the Sathya Sai Baba movement in Hinduism in Great Britain, SSB made extraordinary declarations to be God to keep his authority at the center of the movement and he made his claim to get reincarnated as Prema Sai Baba in 1963 to maintain his authority and to prevent a struggle about his succession as long as he lives." The two references are: 1) Reference: C. Rajghatta “Is Sai Baba on his way out?”, in 'Sunday' (Madras), September 8-14, 1985; and 2) Taylor, Donald Charismatic authority in the Sathya Sai Baba movement in Hinduism in Great Britain, Richard Burghart (ed.), 1987, London/New York: Tavistock Publications, pp. 130-131. ISBN 0422609102 This reference can be removed by simply quoting Donald Taylor's actual comments about Prema Sai Baba, instead of publishing the entire article by Rajghatta, that quotes Taylor, in the reference.

I would also ask that you create an agreement, from both parties involved, in which answers to mediation questions would be responded to within a certain time-period. I think 3 days is reasonable. If something prevents a participant from answering within that time period, he should also give a reason, in advance, for not responding within that time period (emergencies excluded). SSS108 talk-email 00:14, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
 * No mediation is needed for deletion of the article Allegations against Sathya Sai Baba, because we both agree on it. Three days is unacceptable for me unless the Wikimedia foundation starts paying me for editing Wikipedia. I propose a week for answering questions. Andries 18:58, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Andries, I suggested 3 days because it appears you are very active on Wikipedia and seem to have the time. However, I agree to a one week (7 days) wait period from the date the topic is created by the mediator. If the one week time-table is exceeded, I will go ahead with the edits I planned on, unless you are willing to pay me to wait for you :-) SSS108 talk-email 02:09, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Reminders to be Deleted
This section is for reminders that the mediator believes are no longer current. After a period of time, the mediator will delete these reminders. Editors may move any of their own comments to this section, editors may also move comments from this section back to an active section, if they believe that the issues mentioned have not been addressed. Editors should not move or otherwise modify comments that were made by someone other than themselves.


 * Link to Andries site about alleged videos of faked materializations.
 * Link and references to David Lane's personal site and non-reputably published comments made by him.
 * Link to The Findings, which has never been published by reputable sources. (Andries now reverting this although he refused to discuss it in the 48 hour window)