User talk:72.89.107.15

January 2021
Hello, I'm Aloha27. I noticed that you added or changed content in an article, Libra (astrology), but you didn't provide a reliable source. It's been removed and archived in the page history for now, but if you'd like to include a citation and re-add it, please do so. You can have a look at the tutorial on citing sources. If you think I made a mistake, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you.  Aloha27  talk  02:26, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * If this is a shared IP address, and you did not make the edits referred to above, consider creating an account for yourself or logging in with an existing account so that you can avoid further irrelevant notices.

Thank you for your message on my talk page. Please remember to put any new messages you leave at the bottom of whomever's talk page you edit. If you have an issue with the way any article reads, I suggest making your case on the talk page of the article in question, in this particular case here. Here at Wikipedia, being a collaborative effort we use consensus to improve the project. Regards,  Aloha27  talk  14:27, 11 January 2021 (UTC)

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia. When you add content to talk pages and Wikipedia pages that have open discussion, such as at Help desk, (but never when editing articles), please be sure to sign your posts. There are two ways to do this. Either: This will automatically insert a signature with your username or IP address and the time you posted the comment. This information is necessary to allow other editors to easily see who wrote what and when.
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Thank you.  Aloha27  talk  17:08, 14 January 2021 (UTC)
 * If this is a shared IP address, and you did not make the edits referred to above, consider creating an account for yourself or logging in with an existing account so that you can avoid further irrelevant notices.

Hello Aloha27, how good to hear from you. I posted the following message on the wikipedia help desk; here it is FYI: I recently endeavored, as I often do, a light handed correction to the subheading "Air Sign": as the entry professed that Rome is a "Libra city", I simply added that "however" the traditional date of Rome's foundation is April 21, 753 BC. I received a message by an Aloha57 (on the heading of a successive wikipedia search) telling me s/he removed my note because I did not quote a source. I was flabbergasted, but I posted a message to the page s/he indicated, politely pointing out it is common knowledge, and if s/he saw fit to let misleading information stand, it would be a consideration in my (potential) future contributions. Just for the record: I learned the date of the foundation of Rome in elementary school; asking for a source, to me is the equivalent of asking for a source for the date of the Declaration of Independence. The entry stands "corrected" to Aloha57's "truth", I just checked; incidentally, Wikipedia's Rome page has the date I added as that of the mythical foundation of Rome (and the only one on record I am aware of).

I could have easily let this go, it isn't a matter of "being right": simply, it nags to me that the cooperative spirit of Wikipedia, which I treasure, is undermined by this episode; the information on the historical record is discarded in favor of some of dubious (if attributed) and uncheckable source. This episode also makes me reflect on the excessive faith I sometimes put in Wikipedia: while the collective editing is mostly a reliable practice, and often unearths details that would take years of studies on more traditional sources, and I am very grateful for that, it presents some challenges and potential pitfalls, as evidenced by this episode. I'll leave it at that.

I hope this helps, thank you!
 * You saw the response, right?— Vchimpanzee  •  talk  •  contributions  •  18:28, 5 April 2021 (UTC)