User:Liz/Whiteboard4

Best example I've ever seen of how not to bite a newbie:

In response to your entry on the Gerald P. Pulley talkpage
Hi there, Mr. Pulley. I've read your thoughts that you posted on the talkpage of the article about your father, and have to say first off that it sounds like he has led a fascinating life! He has certainly amassed a long list of memorable experiences and has served our (and I mean our - I'm in the U.S.) country nobly. I can tell you are extremely proud of his accomplishments, as you certainly should be. You've probably noticed that I initially held the opinion to "keep" the article based on the information and my own websearching, but have now changed to "delete" the article. If I may, I'd like to explain why I don't think Wikipedia is the appropriate place to memorialize your father.

1. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia of people, places, events that are not only notable, but verifiably notable.   What that means is that the subjects of articles are required to have been written about somewhere else. Not only that, the other sources that have written about the person/place/thing must be reliable, meaning not biased towards a specific viewpoint.

2. Whenever an article is discovered not to meet this criteria, it is either deleted outright (called speedy deletion, or it is brought to the attention of other editors through the deletion process.  Without reliable sources, an article is usually deleted.  Before I, (or any editor), chooses "delete", they are required to do a good faith search for the sources themselves.  No editor has been able to find any good sources.  the source that I initially thought was reliable (the Truman library oral history interview) is, while interesting, not quite Wikipedia standards, as was pointed out to me, because your dad's thoughts were mostly about Truman.

3. Whenever anything is posted to Wikipedia, it is released to the public domain for anyone to change. That means, at any time, any editor, be they well intentioned, ill-intentioned, or otherwise, can change anything you've written at any time, without permission and without logging in to the site. I would find it very sad if at Christmas, you were to show your dad his article, that you and your family create as a tribute, only to find it replaced (seconds before you opened it) with "Gerald P. Pulley is stupid. Navy sucks." While that would be changed immediately by the Vandal Patrol, you can see where that might be a bit stressful for your family.

4. Wikpedia is not a memorial site. Whether a "tribute" is made for the deceased or the living, this is not the appropriate place. There are other websites that are perfect for that though, and just as free as Wikipedia. Perhaps some of your computer-savvy family knows of some? I personally am not that familiar with many so I hesitate to recommend any specifically. What I did do, though is go to Ask.dom and type "Where can I post a memorial online for free?". It may lead you somewhere more appropriate, and only logged in people would be able to contribute.

Best of luck to you, Mr. Pulley, hope you have a nice Christmas. I hope you don't take any of this deltion stuff too personally, it isn't meant to offend or in any way lessen your dad's accomplishments. Great day to you,  Keeper   |   76  20:28, 13 December 2007 (UTC)