User talk:Anarchoplanet

Welcome, Anarchoplanet!


Welcome to Wikipedia, Anarchoplanet! I'm I dream of horses, and I've been assigned as your mentor. About half of new Wikipedia accounts receive a mentor chosen randomly from a list of volunteers. It just means I'm here to help with anything you need! We need to have all kinds of people working together to create an online encyclopedia, so I'm glad you're here. Over time, you will figure out what you enjoy doing the most on Wikipedia.

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Again, welcome to Wikipedia! I dream of horses (Hoofprints) (Neigh at me) 04:47, 4 January 2024 (UTC)


 * I think one reason why reverted your edit is because of removal of references, but I'm not sure; however, you can ask them directly if you want. I dream of horses (Hoofprints) (Neigh at me) 04:49, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

Why I reverted your text
Let me explain why I reverted your contribution to Peopling of the Americas. First, you inserted “There are” as the first words of the text in the article. I thought it unconventional and unnecessary to put “there are” as the first words of an article. The usual Wikipedia style is to begin the text with the title of the article.

Secondly, I thought that your insertion of language about the first traces of man in the Americans dating back more than 20,000 years in the first paragraph of the text was (1) repetitive of what is already stated in the fourth paragraph of the text; and (2) gives too much emphasis to recent findings which are still not accepted by all archaeologists. In other words, I don't think the evidence deserves a statement quite as definitive as the one you are making. Too many spectacular archaeological discoveries don't stand the test of time. As an example, to quote you, the new evidence places human presence in the Americans “at least as far back as 23,000 years ago.“ That seems an exaggeration. The White Sands footprints only puts human presence in the Americans back 21,000 to 23,000 years ago. I think it is more accurate to reflect the debate among anthropologists – which is still uncertain about humans being present in the Americas before about 15,000 years ago. Discoveries of human remains before about 15,000 BP are still controversial.

Third, still talking about your edit in paragraph one of the summary, you say that that the debate about the earliest date of man's presence in the Americas has a Euro-centric or biased component. Certainly, there are beliefs, mostly by non-professionals, such as the Solutrean hypothesis with racial elements, but the Solutrean hypothesis is regarded as nonsense by most professionals. You're making a generalization about the present-day archaeological profession that may be unfair. To make a statement like you did, you need good references and an amplification of the point in the main text.

However, take heart. Editing a controversial topic on Wikipedia is going to result in more criticism than praise. That goes with the territory. We all get our stuff challenged and deleted. In particular, inserting text in the summary paras that is not fully explained and referenced in the main text of the article will get your contribution reverted. If you believe, for example, that racial bias is an important factor in the argument about the earliest human presence in the Americas, begin your editing with a well-referenced section in the main text about that subject which will justify the inclusion of the point about bias in the summary paragraphs. (But I would advise against citing the Solutrean hypothesis as your main argument for bias.) Cheers. Smallchief (talk) 23:15, 4 January 2024 (UTC)