User talk:JoelLThompson

Welcome!
Welcome to Wikipedia, JoelLThompson! Thank you for your contributions. I am Swarm and have been editing Wikipedia for quite some time, so if you have any questions feel free to leave me a message on my talk page. You can also check out Questions or type at the bottom of this page. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: Also, when you post on talk pages you should sign your name using four tildes ( ~ ); that will automatically produce your username and the date. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Swarm  21:05, 2 October 2011 (UTC)
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Nomination of Mountainet, the West Virginia Radio Network for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Mountainet, the West Virginia Radio Network is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Mountainet, the West Virginia Radio Network until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on good quality evidence, and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion template from the top of the article.  Neutralhomer •  Talk  • 09:37, 23 October 2011 (UTC) 09:37, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Mountainet, the West Virginia Radio Network‎
I am going to give you a few tips that would help keep this page here on Wikipedia.


 * First off, the page needs as many third-party reliable sources as possible. Can't say that enough.


 * Speaking to someone at a newspaper or some guy who worked for the network doesn't help, because this is considered original research. The information needs to come from a website for a newspaper or radio or television network.


 * Don't quote blogs as these are written with information that could be copied from God only knows where or just gotten from "some guy", this isn't verifiable. It has to be reliable, like the Charleston Gazette or the Dominion Post or WOWK-TV or WSAZ-TV.  You can take information from nationally known magazines as well, as long as they have a link to the article online (it helps, trust me).


 * Try not to write something as if it was an advertisment. This is severely frowned upon and is covered under WP:ADVERT as well.


 * Most importantly, it has to meet the General notability guideline. If it doesn't, it is out.  Think of it like this: some guy's garage band with 6 fans wouldn't pass the GNG, but Linkin Park or Frank Sinatra, they pass the GNG.  Think of it that way.

If you have any questions, you can find me at my talk page. -  Neutralhomer •  Talk  • 00:47, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

I can't figure out how to send you a message, Neutralhomer, so I will post my reply here...

I was the original news director of the network, and eventually became its Operations Manager, and was given the title of General Manager. My observations are factual, from personal experience. There is some supporting narrative of our actions in the Charleston Gazette over these years (in particular, the twice-weekly political column by Fanny Seiler), and I also gave a brief history of the network in a column I wrote for the Gazette in 1986. But there is no online presence of the Gazette's archives from the 80's, it only exists on microfilm.

The fact there is very little evidence of what we did in these years is the one greatest reason a Wikipedia entry is needed!

We were put out of business by a well-moneyed political figure and broadcast industry investor, John Raese. He deceived us into thinking he was wanting to invest in and rescue our money-losing company, but then went to our network affiliates when their three-year contracts were up for renewal, and gave them free satellite dishes and electronics for agreeing to sign with his network rather than ours. Now, he would like to claim that his network ("West Virginia Metro News") was the originator of the concept in the Mountain State...but it was not. Please take a look at this online discussion that includes some of our affiliated stations' staff: http://wvbroadcasting.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19104 Thank you very much! JoelLThompson (talk) 01:15, 26 October 2011 (UTC)
 * See here is the problem I have and others will have. Since it is all "by word of mouth", it is considered original research.  That is not to say that what you have put down isn't true, but here at Wikipedia we source everything.


 * Here's what can be done though, but you would have to either go to the Charleston library or the Charleston Gazette (am hoping you are close to Charleston). Go to the Charleston library or the Charleston Gazette archives and see if you can find where this information came from, like what newspaper (might be other papers), dates each individual article was published, page numbers the articles fell on (it's helpful), title of the article (also helpful), and the author of the article (very helpful), you can put a text-only reference.  This is a reference that shows the information is indeed somewhere, just on microfilm, but can be checked by a user if they so wish.  This would keep the article on Wikipedia.


 * Since that is a big undertaking and would take time, the page could be moved to your userspace (a page like User:JoelLThompson/Mountainet or something similar) temporarily while you work on it. This would keep the information on Wikipedia and worked on at your leisure without the worry of deletion.  The page Mountainet, the West Virginia Radio Network‎ would be have to be deleted (as part of general housekeeping), but once you have all the references on the page, then you can move it back.


 * This would also give you a chance to find more information with more sources and make the article better than it already is. We don't just post an article and leave it.  We add to articles constantly with updated information or newly discovered information from the past.  An article never stops getting worked on.  It becomes a challenge to find anything and everything about the subject, source the hell out of it, and in the end, get the article to featured status and on the main page.


 * It's a tough process, but it is worth it. If you want to go this route, let me know, and I can move the article to your userspace quickly so you can work on it.


 * Oh, I check out WVBroadcasting.net daily and I seen the thread there, I also seen my Aspergers getting a slam and me getting called a "WikiNazi". I have been called worse though. -  Neutralhomer  •  Talk  • 01:36, 26 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I went to the WVBroadcasting thread you started and I have to say, I'm bothered by what I saw. My tips to you on how you can get your "memories" to stay on Wikipedia was called "'advice'" and when I say I am willing to move the page to your userspace so you can work on it, you make it seem like I am just trying to get it deleted outright.  Look, I didn't have to offer help, I could have walked away, the page be deleted and it be over...especially after the little slam about my Aspergers.  But I didn't, I offered help, I gave a new editor tips on how to keep an new article from being deleted.  But I see I am only going to catch heat from you and the board.  So, if and when you are ready to work on the article, tell the truth without spinning things around, and to not enlist others to half-ass things for you by doing end-rounds around our rules...contact me.  Until then, I am going to do what I should have done...walk away and let the page be deleted.  Ya can't say I didn't try to help. -  Neutralhomer  •  Talk  • 09:10, 26 October 2011 (UTC)