User:Sloggerbum/BLP Sandbox

Hello Digital Villager.

Hello Sloggerbum, I love your handle/alias. I have had a busy few weeks since you offered to help me. I apologize for not responding sooner. I am in the Eastern Time Zone and live near Toronto. Ontario Canada. Any guidance that you can provide will be deeply appreciated. I became interested in how Wikipedia works when I learned that a BLP article about someone that I have known for more than 20 years was being constantly vandalized. I had no idea that almost anyone in the World that has access to an Internet connection can participate as an editor. I am determined to learn how to operate in this environment with integrity and my first task is to help a few friends to improve their articles here. There is something that is a little puzzling to me though. Out of curiosity, I attempted to edit a page concerning Muhammad Ali and I was somehow blocked. The funny thing is, my friend's page that is consistently being vandalized is about Yank Barry and he has two really close friends in the world. One is Gary U.S.Bonds and the other is Muhammad Ali. Alis' article is protected and yet Yank and Garys' articles are not. I have read the information about how to protect a page and I am still not clear as to how to accomplish this.

My first goal, I'm hoping that you will agree to coach me through it, is to improve both Yank Barry and Gary U.S. Bonds' articles so that we can at least get rid of the notations at the top of the articles that indicate that they are lacking something. Once I am more comfortable with the Wiki environment I look forward to branching out. Are you game? Please feel free to ask me any questions that you deem pertinent to the task. About me, I am 51 years old and will celebrate my 30th wedding anniversary on May 30 2011. My wife and I do not have any children, with the exception of a 140lb Rhodesian Ridgeback/Doberman cross security system/playmate. We spoil our nieces and nephews rotten. We live on a working farm where someone else raises Limousin cattle and I travel often when I not working from my home office. We have 2 1/2 acres of lawn to mow, 5 flower beds and a large vegetable garden. I look forward to your mentorship. Have a day filled with blessings.

Yank Barry
Hi SLoggerbum, I guess the best place to start would be to work to improve Yank Barry's page in order to have the tags at the top of the article removed. Once we get Mr Barry's article sorted out I would like to move on to Gary US Bonds article. Where should I start to have the tags removed? The vandalism is amazing. Isn't it? I am going to devote some time to this adventure. Wiki is an amazing social experiment.


 * Hi DV, sounds good, I'll take a look. First little tricks in your adventure; when chatting with other users, its important to sign your messages by typing for tildes at the end of your comment ( ~ ). That way people know who you are. Also, if you want to leave a subheading so people can tell a new conversation has started, you can put two equal signs before and after the title, like this:


 * ==Title of new topic==


 * It works on actual topic pages as well. Also, the reason the tag about the "tone" is at the top is partly because the article contains such phrases as "renowned philanthropist." Words like renowned show a subjective opinion of the writer, and are therefore highly inappropriate in a Wiki article. Wiki prose is generally understood to be as bland and mind-numbingly boring as possible, with subjective adjectives only when uniquely necessary. This way the facts speak for themselves, and readers can create their own opinions. So going through and making sure the text is all purely factual first, would let you be be able to remove the "tone" maintenance box.


 * The second tag, about references, is quite accurate, as much of the information needs to be sourced with real, third-party citations. Does this work as a starting point? Cheers,  Sloggerbum  ( talk ) 18:40, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Beginning the revisions
Thank you Sloggerbum. The point about the subjective adjectives is well taken and understood completely. I will get to work on that today. Here's a question with regard to references. A specific example in this article is a point made that Millionaire Magazine did a feature story on Mr. Barry. Here's the thing. Millionaire Magazine has been out of business for a few years so the only evidence that we could reference for that particular notation is a digital copy of the article and the front cover of the magazine. In this case, would you recommend loading the article and cover on Wiki Commons and providing a link? The same could be done for the different humanitarian awards. Should I consider loading photos of the awards and linking them to the article? Would this begin to satisfy the references requirement? Another example is the notation that Yank was on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. There is a video of his appearance on an unrelated You Tube Channel but I am not aware of any other way to reference that point. My understanding is that Wikipedia frowns upon links to You Tube etc.

I am going to log on to Yank Barry's article now and go through it to search for the offending adjectives. If you have a moment later would you mind reviewing and offering any more suggestions. I really appreciate your help. Although I'm not accustomed to intentionally creating mind numbing material, my wife may offer a different opinion. Thanks. Dv Digital Villager 21:10, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Hi Sloggerbum, if the Yank Barry article looks reasonable with regards to Tone to you, what is the next step to getting the tag removed? Is it something that only an admin can accomplish? If there are more improvements necessary please give me some guidance. I hope that you had a wonderful weekend. It's 12:30am here and I'm heading for bed. Thanks, Dv Digital Villager 04:33, 11 July 2011 (UTC)