User talk:Jim Supica

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Hello, Jim Supica, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:
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Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or, and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome! —C.Fred (talk) 17:11, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

January 2018
Hello, I'm C.Fred. I wanted to let you know that one or more of your recent contributions to National Firearms Museum have been undone because they appeared to be promotional. Advertising and using Wikipedia as a "soapbox" are against Wikipedia policy and not permitted; Wikipedia articles should be written objectively, using independent sources, and from a neutral perspective. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thank you. —C.Fred (talk) 17:11, 31 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Hi C. Fred.  This is my first contribution to Wikipedia, and I'm not sure I'm using User Talk correctly.  Two questions - How can I find a copy of the material that I just posted that was deleted so I can edit it appropriately, and please indicate the portions that are considered promotional.  Thanks. Jim Supica (talk) 17:22, 31 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Really, it was the whole thing that had the promotional tone to it. It read like it was coming from the museum's website, rather than a neutral encyclopedia. (In fact, I checked the museum's website to make sure the text wasn't copied.) The intro never clearly defined the subject. The last paragraph feels like it came from their website.


 * The other problem is that the prior version cited independent reliable sources to support material in the article. Your version cited no sources. Articles must be based on what's been printed elsewhere, and we prefer the sources to be independent of the subject. I.e., we'd rather cite a newspaper article that the museum's own website.


 * If you go to the top of the article page and click the "View history" tab, you can see all the old versions of the article. —C.Fred (talk) 17:41, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Thanks C. Fred. Below is a proposed revised version of the edit. Would you be able to take a look at it and let me know what portions are objectionable so I can fix them? The current listing has nothing of substance about the museum, its collections, or its operations, and I’m hoping to correct that. If there’s a better way to ask for this type of feedback, please let me know what it is.

I checked listing for some of our peer institutions to compare acceptable and helpful content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill_Center_of_the_West#Cody_Firearms_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autry_Museum_of_the_American_West https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Davis_Arms_and_Historical_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frazier_History_Museum

As suggested, I reworked the first paragraph, added sources, and deleted the last paragraph about museum hours and operations.

Proposed revision:

The NRA National Firearms Museum is a museum located at the NRA Headquarters Building in Fairfax Virginia. Approximated 2,500 guns are displayed in 15,000 square feet. The NRA National Firearms Museum is operated by the Museums Division of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), with partial funding provided by the NRA Foundation, a 501(c)3 corporation. It was established in 1935 at the old NRA Headquarters in Washington DC, and moved to its current location in 1998.

The museum’s exhibits cover seven centuries of firearms development and history. The main museum galleries are organized chronologically. Exhibits include firearms used for competition shooting, hunting, personal defense, recreational shooting, and police work. Also on display are military arms used by the United States, its allies and enemies in major conflicts from the American Revolution through Desert Storm. Each gallery is evocative of a period of time in American history, including a stockade fort at Jamestown, firearms of the Old West, a Coney Island shooting gallery ca. 1900, and a kid’s bedroom from the 1950s. Life-sized dioramas include a nineteenth century rifle-maker’s shop, a trench on the Western Front in WWI, and a shelled-out town square in Normandy in WWII.

Two galleries feature firearms and the arts. "The Robert E. Petersen Gallery" features masterpieces of firearms engraving. The "Hollywood Guns" exhibit features actual guns used in movies and television over the past 80 years.

Historically attributed guns on display include: •	A wheellock carbine attributed as coming over on the Mayflower •	Guns owned by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan •	Firearms of exhibition shooters such as Annie Oakley, the Topperweins, and Ed McGivern •	The first machine gun used in combat by the U.S. Army (Roosevelt's Rough Riders) •	Guns of Olympic gold medalists including Launi Meili, and other shooting champions •	A massive four bore rifle carried on the Stanley expedition to find Dr. Livingston •	Sidearms of American Generals and Medal of Honor recipients •	Napoleon Bonaparte's flintlock fowler •	Arms attributed to Gen. W.T. Sherman, abolitionist John Brown, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, and other historic figures.

The NRA Museums Division is custodian of approximately 10,000 firearms with many of them displayed at three NRA Museums - the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia; the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Missouri; and the Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico.

The NRA Museums Division has published three books on firearms - "Illustrated History of Firearms," "Treasures of the NRA National Firearms Museum," and "Gun of the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum." It has produced five seasons of cable television shows "NRA Gun Gurus" and "NRA Guns & Gold." NRA Museums staff, firearms, and locations are featured on "Gun Stories," "American Rifleman Television," "NRA News Curators Corner" segment, and other television shows.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jim Supica (talk • contribs)


 * That feels better, although there are still some tweaks for style and formatting that are needed.


 * As far as requesting changes, the best place to do that is at Talk:National Firearms Museum. Every article has a talk page where changes to the article, sourcing concerns, suggestions for improvement, and the like can be discussed. If you would like, I will copy your proposed change to that page for others to look at it and work on. I may even be able to get some of the changes into the article today. —C.Fred (talk) 20:51, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

One other thing to clarify
In a previous message, you said, "I checked listing for some of our peer institutions..."[emphasis edded] Does that indicate that you have a connection with the museum (volunteer, staff, etc.)? If you do, there is additional guidance about editing when you have a conflict of interest that you should review. —C.Fred (talk) 20:54, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Yep. I'm the Director of the NRA Museums Division. That shows up on the current Wikipedia listing for the museum, so I didn't think to mention it in our initial conversation.

I take it that it would be best to wait a few days and see if we get additional input.

Thanks for the help & guidance - Jim  [redacted]

............ and yes, please do copy proposed changes to that talk page for input, thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jim Supica (talk • contribs)


 * I've copied your requested changes over to the talk page. I've also made a note that you are a connected contributor and have declared the connection.
 * Procedural tip: it is customary to sign messages on talk pages (Talk:, User talk:, etc.) so other users know who left the message and when. The way to sign your post is to type four tildes ( at the end of the message. The system will then insert your username and the time. —C.Fred (talk) 21:23, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for putting it on the talk page. I'll work on learning Wikipedia style & editing process. Once we get this worked out, I'll add listings for the other two NRA Museums, if that's appropriate. Jim Supica (talk) 21:29, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Since we've received no feedback on this (at least as far as I can tell) I'll assume it's ok to go ahead with the edit unless you advise otherwise. Thanks. Jim Supica (talk) 20:06, 8 February 2018 (UTC)