User talk:LonaAlida

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~&#126;); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! Goldensun 23:42, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
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Wodaabe
Hi Lona,

Thanks for starting this Wodaabe article (if, as i'm guessing, this anonymous user was you)! It's a much needed addition and you're fleshing it out nicely. I've made a few more revisions--mostly style stuff, to which you can see my edits and the guidelines above for clarification--but I wanted to explain one edit that I've made in particular here. You make a good and persuasive case for the Wodaabe not being considered Muslims, but we have to be careful that the article doesn't put only one case forward; the best approach in Wikipedia is to try to synthesize a diversity of points-of-view (see WP:NPOV), with greater weight given to the more respected and more commonly viewed sources. Beckwith looks like a much better source than anything I've turned up on Google (though I'm really surprised she would claim the other Fulani are sedentary!), so I've left almost everything intact and just trimmed down the argumentative tone a bit. The only significant thing I've removed is to say that "they cannot be considered Muslims"--since Google shows a diversity of opinion on this, lacking a few more scholarly sources, I'm wary of our article trying to make that judgement. Soon I may try to find some other sources and we can collate those in, too! In the meantime, nice work, and happy editing! I hope you'll continue to fill out some of these much needed ethnic stubs.

Best wishes --Dvyost 16:30, 25 September 2005 (UTC)