User talk:Lauriemann

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome! -Hit bull, win steak(Moo!) 18:37, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * Tutorial
 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

I'm not sure where to post this, so let me start by doing it here before I find a more appropriate platform.

I have very mixed feelings about the anonymous nature of many Wikipedia "admins." Now, a few years ago, many anonymous contributors would post completely bogus stories to Wikipedia, making it very unreliable. These days, administrators tend to clean up that kind of stuff pretty quickly. However, a number of us have had news deleted because we were viewed to not have a reliable source.

The case in point - the death of science fiction writer Fred Saberhagen.

I first read about Fred's death on July 2 from a source I view to be extremely reliable - the obits discussion list on SFF.NET (http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=xover&group=sff.discuss.obituaries&from=-10). Just about everyone who posts their posts under their real names. I know just about everyone who posts there. In the many years of this group's existence, I don't think there's been one rumor planted on the list. When Harlan Ellison reports the news of a death or an illness, I don't think it's ever been shown to be false, and it was Harlan's Web site where the news of Fred's death first broke. Again, this list is not like, say, the USENET group alt.obituaries where many people post anonymous drivel. This is a list where many of the participants are known to one another.

So since I trust the information in the sff.discuss.obituaries group, I immediately added information about Fred's death to Dead People's Server (a site I maintain), and attempted to add it to Wikipedia. I've had an account on Wikipedia for a while, and make occasional updates. I do so under my own name, and not under a pseudonym.

I admit I failed to include a referential link when I first added information about Fred's death, but then added a link back to the sff.discuss.obituaries group. And then, I had other things to do, so I didn't spend much time watching Fred's Wikipedia page.

It turned out my editing of Fred's death was edited by some Wikipedia admin using the name of Quatloo. When John Scalzi tried to update the record later, Quatloo deleted John's edits as well.

Now, when two people make the same edit both using their own name, you'd think someone at Wikipedia would catch on. It took hours for Fred's death to be properly noted due to the stubbornness of one pseudononymous Wikipedia admin.

If someone could direct me to a discussion on trusted sources for news, I'd like to be part of that. And I'll happily contribute under my own name because I have nothing to hide, unlike people who insist on using pseudonyms.

On reliable sources
I emailed the news into a local Albuquerque news station KOAT-TV who replied -


 * Thanks you for writing. I am a fan of Saberhagen's work.  Our condolences to the family.  We will be doing something on this in one of our newscasts, 5 or 6.

Regards, Foxhill 17:52, 3 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Et voila - http://www.koat.com/news/13615149/detail.html

Kathleen Woodiwiss
What news source reported her death I did not hear or see anything reported.? Stephanie Lang-Ley mammagooses@gmail.com

I included a link back to her funeral home notice: http://www.strikefuneral.com/2007/07/07/kathleen-e-woodiwiss/

Looks like it's hit a few papers: BLACKLISTED LINK REDACTED

But it hasn't hit Yahoo News or CNN yet. Lauriemann 21:23, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Worldcon GoH Category
There is another attempt to delete the Worldcon GoH category. Since you participated in the last discussion, I thought you might be interested.Shsilver (talk) 22:57, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

If you ever need assistance...
...I'm usually available to help with all sort of matters Wikipedian. Since I found that convention running and Worldcon bidding wasn't taking up quite all of my free time, I'm also an admin here on the English-language Wikipedia. - Dravecky (talk) 17:39, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

December 2011
Welcome to Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the encyclopedia, but when you add or change content, as you did to the article Alan Sues, please cite a reliable source for your addition. This helps maintain our policy of verifiability. See Citing sources for how to cite sources, and the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.  Sottolacqua  (talk) 20:31, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

I believe the source is reliable - the confirmed Ruth Buzzi Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/#!/search/Ruth_A_Buzzi). I agree I don't tend to add deaths to my own site (Dead People Server) without reliable sourcing, but I think this is correct. I was able to add the reference site to the 2011 Death page, but it wasn't clear how to add it to the Alan Sues page. Also, it took me a while to find the correct formatting for death dates for the infobox.

Your submission at Articles for creation
 Thank you for your recent submission to Articles for Creation. Your article submission has been reviewed. Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. Please view your submission to see the comments left by the reviewer. You are welcome to edit the submission to address the issues raised, and resubmit once you feel they have been resolved.
 * If you would like to continue working on the submission, you can find it at Wikipedia&.
 * To edit the submission, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
 * If you need any assistance, you can ask for help at the Articles for creation help desk, or on the [ reviewer's talk page] . Please remember to link to the submission!
 * You can also get live chat help from experienced editors.
 * Thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia! ChrisGualtieri (talk) 04:01, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
 * It exists at Bernice Madigan so you can update it there! ChrisGualtieri (talk) 04:02, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Talkback
ChrisGualtieri (talk) 04:37, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Bernice Madigan concern
Hi there, I'm HasteurBot. I just wanted to let you know that Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Bernice Madigan, a page you created, has not been edited in at least 180 days. The Articles for Creation space is not an indefinite storage location for content that is not appropriate for articlespace.

If your submission is not edited soon, it could be nominated for deletion. If you would like to attempt to save it, you will need to improve it.

You may request Userfication of the content if it meets requirements.

If the deletion has already occured, instructions on how you may be able to retrieve it are available at WP:REFUND/G13.

Thank you for your attention. HasteurBot (talk) 17:39, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Sorry to hear you're leaving
I see you've done some good work here, so I'm sorry to hear this news; especially so because I wouldn't consider the arbcom decision to consist of "banning women content providers". Thirteen editors were sanctioned, only two of those identify themselves as women, one of those was only admonished and the other was topic-banned, the one who was topic-banned appeared to be in favour of Gamergate, and the only editor who was given a full site ban seems to be a man (see Arbitration/Requests/Case/GamerGate for more information). I hope you reconsider your decision to leave. ekips 39 20:20, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

So long as editors (mostly male) can attack people by vandalizing their bios, I will not use or recommend Wikipedia. [LDTM]