User talk:Jumpin'Joey

This is being posted on your talk page where you can receive messages from other Wikipedians and discuss issues and respond to questions. At the end of each message you will see a signature left by the editor posting. This is done by signing with four tildes ( ~ ) or by clicking in the editing interface toolbox, located just above the editing window (when editing). You won't need to sign your contributions to articles themselves; you only need to when using talk pages. If you have any questions or face any initial hurdles, feel free to contact me on my talk page and I will do what I can to assist or give you guidance.

Again, welcome! John from Idegon (talk) 13:02, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

Hi, Joey. Normally I would leave you a templated message here, welcoming you, but telling you I've reverted your edits, and why. However, and please know I know your intentions are the very best, there were problems with pretty much all of it. First, you cannot add brand new information and tag it "citation needed". One of our pillar policies is verifiability. Every thing you add, you must have a source. You don't necessarily have to cite it, but you sure can't say you can't. If you think it needs a citation, you're probably right, and so should add it with the info or omit the info. Second, you titled a section "(something) and trends". You cannot make analysis here. We only report on what others have written in reliable secondary sources. Bare statistics can come from a primary source, but remember that the school article you are editing is one of roughly 28,000 articles on US high schools alone. There's very good reasons for using the same source for statistics nationwide. That source is NCES. Compass provides excellent data, and promptly. More promptly than NCES. However, Indiana is the exception, not the rule. If you use NCES data, it makes comparison of schools possible. Where Indiana does use the same methodology as NCES, again they are the exception, not the typical state's DOE stats at all. (And they don't report private school numbers at all - NCES does.) The problem with using Compass is it puts the Indiana stats a year ahead of the other 45 or so that report stats. Some don't at all. Every school has differences, but stats are just a quantifiable comparison point. And you can't compare 18-19 (which is just coming out this week on NCES) with 19-20 (which is where Compass is) any more than you can compare apples and oranges. There's nothing to be gained for our readers to have stats, if you cannot compare them. There are many broad areas of subjects that have style guides here on Wikipedia, and secondary schools are one. See WP:WPSCH/AG.

Keep the following in mind:
 * 1) We are editors, not journalists. We report on what others have written about the subject in reliable secondary sources. Paraphrase your content from reliable secondary sources and cite them.
 * 2) Whenever possible, please follow the existing page layout, and if you need to add a section, use a standard one from the style guide. There is very little that cannot fit into a standard section, and uniformity in layout makes the information more accessible to our readers.
 * 3) An article about a real existing subject is not for that subject and isn't controlled by the subject or people connected to it. This isn't the school's page on Wikipedia.
 * 4) Don't take this personally; it isn't. None of it. Everyone gets here with preconceptions about what Wikipedia is and how it works. Mostly, you'll discover, those preconceptions are incorrect. For instance, your first instinct when you saw your edit was removed was to be a bit angered, no? Well, that's just the normal way we indicate a problem with it. Your edit was a completely proper bold edit which you have every right to make. Equally, when I noticed your edit (I watch about 12,000 of those previously mentioned school articles), I was absolutely correct in removing it due to the multiple deficiencies noted. Now, the next step is to discuss it, and that should be done on the article's talk page. See WP:BRD. Again,  it isn't personal, and from the amount of work you put in, it's clear you want to improve at least this school's article. And I'll be happy to help you. I'll leave you some info to read and a link to where you can ask how to questions. Please don't give up. I find this educational, fun, and a rather enlightening look into human behavior. As long as you remember to not take it personally, you'll be fine. Thanks for being a Wikipedian.  John from Idegon (talk) 12:57, 12 April 2020 (UTC)