User talk:Markamadeo

'Big Yellow Taxi' criticism
Hi there! I've twice deleted the criticism section you added to the Big Yellow Taxi article, as it was unsourced/inappropriately sourced and may not be beneficial to the article regardless. If you know of a source which say that this song, specifically, had an impact on American attitudes toward DDT, that would be an interesting addition to the article. There's a lot of speculation involved, however, in the allegation that this particular song inspired unspecified American policies which led directly to the deaths of a specific number of children in certain unnamed African nations. Presumably this refers to the debate over the relative efficacy of DDT in combating malaria? The use of DDT is obviously a controversial issue, and it is, appropriately, discussed more thoroughly in the DDT article. If you are interested in the influence songwriters had on attitudes toward DDT, sourced additions on that topic would be beneficial to the DDT article (currently only Silent Spring is cited as a catalyst). To address the whole DDT controversy on the page for a song which merely mentions the pesticide in passing, though, is to give undue weight to an issue that's already discussed elsewhere. It's already stated that the song takes an environmental stance; interested users can click on the link to DDT for more info (it wasn't linked to before today, but should've been). Also—and I'm sorry to talk your ear off—it's generally best to avoid general statements like, "Certain groups have blamed songs like this" and "many people have critized this song." Statements like this are often difficult to source; you're better off narrowing your focus to specific statements for which you can find a reliable source.

Anyways, it's good to see you're interested in Wikipedia, and have learned to edit and write citations correctly. I hope you keep contributing, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have or to discuss this issue further. --Fullobeans (talk) 02:41, 22 September 2008 (UTC)