User talk:AlanMacfadyen

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Responding to your email
I see that the edit summary for the removal from SmartWater was "remove excessive quotations from non-free source". Wikipedia is comprised largely of prose written by Wikipedians, not quotations copypasted from non-free sources. Short quotations are acceptable, but only when absolutely necessary. Hence the removal. Also, the 280-word quotation was one-tenth of the article, and therefore gives undue weight to this one study. — Diannaa (talk) 21:22, 24 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Hi Dianna, Thanks for your response but I both extremely concerned and confused by it. What expertise do you have to unilaterally decide whether or not something is relevant or necessary? I am an ex Fleet Street journalist and am a member of the Society of Evidence based policing. The article has already been identified as potentially advertorial. It quotes a study as to the efficacy of SmartwWater but does not state that the company paid for the study and that it has no statistical significance. I could go on but as this raises critical matters I would like to progress this further. Your comment that 'this gives undue weight to this one study' is risible. AlanMacfadyen (talk) 21:36, 24 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Cite reliable secondary sources that are independent of the subject matter, and by and large, you will be okay. TY — Moops  ⋠ T ⋡ 21:37, 24 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi Moops, Orwellian double think. How can you have a reliable secondary source that is independent of the subject matter? By definition a quotable source must be relevant to the subject matter. I quoted an independent scientific study carried out by the University of Warwick at the request of the police into the efficacy of SmartWater. It raised significant issues. That an unqualified person can make arbitrary edits without a base of relevant knowledge is a matter of grave concern. I will pursue a complaint. AlanMacfadyen (talk) 23:31, 24 February 2023 (UTC)
 * This is not doublespeak, I think you may have misunderstood. By independent, we mean that it is not directly published by the article's subject or a body closely related to them. Reliable sources are simply well respected magazines, newspapers, journals ect. These are two of Wikipedia's core content policies, see Verifiability and No original research.
 * You may disagree with our way of doing things, but please remain civil with our editors dispute any disagreements you may have. Also, please note that we have a policy against people pursuing legal threats against the encyclopedia, so please reconsider your stance. Schminnte (talk • contribs) 23:39, 24 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi Schminnte, I am not aware of not being civil. It is not uncivil to point out facts. I also take great offence at your comment about me making legal threats. At no point have I ever made such a threat. I hope that you will withdraw that remark. I make monthly donations to support Wikipedia, it would indeed be doublethink (I used the Orwellian spelling rather than the Americanism because I referred to Orwell) for me to want to take legal action against the organisation. I do take your point about reliable sources and I have read more about the ethos behind the core content policies. Can I propose a solution? I will edit the SmartWater article again over the coming weekend to reflect on my new understanding and would welcome comment. AlanMacfadyen (talk) 08:34, 25 February 2023 (UTC)


 * I apologize if I have misunderstood you. When you made your comment about pursuing a complaint, I took that as a possible legal threat. If that was not your intention, I thoroughly apologize. You had not previously mentioned your donations, so there was no way I could have known that. As for incivility, questioning a good editor's competence could be perceived as negative to some and does nothing to advance the project.


 * It would be great if you could continue editing the article, provided that you cite the sources and write the facts. As you are probably well aware, we are writing an encyclopedia, so bias must be minimal. The problem with your previous edits was that by quoting a large portion of a non-free article, it was giving bias to that article's viewpoint. We need to cite sources, not use their text (unless for the obvious use of quoting). I hope this clears anything up and that any disagreements have been resolved. If you have any more questions, feel free to message me on my talk page. Apologies for any misunderstanding, Schminnte (talk • contribs) 09:05, 25 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi, I have edited the article and would appreciate comments. I do get the idea that we are producing an encyclopedia which I am rather proud to say, as a Scot, the Scottish enlightenment Britannica was a rather good example thereof. You could not have known that I financially support Wikipedia. I am afraid more at the widow's mite level as a pensioner but I do see it's role as critical in the future.
 * Alan AlanMacfadyen (talk) 22:44, 25 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Nice to see a fellow Scot around Alan! I've cleaned up the edit you made; it was a lot better than the previous edits you had made so thank you for taking our advice into account. Thanks for continuing to edit and remember, my talk page is always open. Happy editing! Schminnte (talk • contribs) 22:57, 25 February 2023 (UTC)