User talk:Miranda/X

Removal of Mali Reference
Hello, Miranda! I appreciate you keeping spam out of the Wiki site, but the reference I put in is not spam. Cruelest Journey, written by National Geographic journalist Kira Salak, is entirely about Mali. Salak describes in detail the country's history, its exploration by Mungo Park, the people and languages of the country, and many other aspects of Mali. The book is published by National Geographic Books and the references I have put in the Mali Wiki article are described in her book. You can check out the Amazon summary on the book at http://www.amazon.com/Cruelest-Journey-Hundred-Miles-Timbuktu/dp/0792274571/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225565584&sr=8-1 to see that the book is completely about Mali (Salak recreates the journey of Mungo Park up the Niger river through Mali to Timbuktu). I have replaced the links. Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by JakeSturm (talk • contribs) 18:54, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
 * You just placed a book title and her website. I don't see how that's relevant to Mali. I have reverted your other edits because it looks like you are advertising her book and her website. You also didn't place a page number for her book. What makes her the authority on African countries? Because she visited there? Is she a scholar in her field? It looks to me that she just traveled to a certain section of Africa and noted down her travels. In this case, this would not be a reliable source in reference to scholarly materials. If you have any problems with wondering what scope your source has, please ask on village pump. Thanks.  miranda   20:01, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Removal of Bhutan
It seems you are going through other entries of mine and removing them, I am trying to make a contribution to Wiki by adding references to articles/books by authors that I feel are accurate and contain information that is relevant to the articles. I have begun with Kira Salak because of the availability of her articles as well as her books, can you please explain what the problem is on your end? These entries meet the criteria of Wikipedia and I am only trying to be as thourough as possible by giving readers options where they can reference the material. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JakeSturm (talk • contribs) 19:05, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Changes to Kira Salak Page
Miranda, I do not want to get into a dispute with you, and I do realize that you are acting based on what you think is correct action. In regards to your edits to the Kira Salak page I have this to say. The copy editing tag should only be used if the Wiki tool states low readability, which it does not in the case of the Kira Salak page; it actually has the highest scores possible. You can check the tool out at: http://toolserver.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/readability1.4.py?page=Kira_Salak. Nearly all author websites list the books that the author has published, that is not an advertisement, just standard practice of Wiki. I chose direct links to where people could get information on the books to make it easer for people to research the books, not to buy them. I made the Kira Salak page after researching several existing author pages and followed the standard format, and others came afterwards and made additions and corrections to make it conform to Wiki standards. Every comment in the article is referenced to make sure there were no statements of opinion. The tag “autobiography” does not apply either as I am not Kira Salak, so it too is inappropriate. Search on Amazon and you will see that a few years back that I published several programming books, so clearly, that tag is wrong. Upon reviewing vandalism it states: “...adding a controversial personal opinion to an article once is not vandalism; reinserting it despite multiple warnings is”, Your entries are not based on any fact; they are your opinion. I know that you are doing what you think is best and trying to protect Wiki, and I admire you for that, I really do. But in this case, you are stating things that you have no evidence as being fact, they are simply your opinion, and to conform with the rules, I am asking you to stop. If you do not, I will be forced to involve the administrators and ask them to lock the page without your comments until this matter can be reviewed by them and this issue arbitrated.

As I stated to you, I am simply going through my books and research information and adding information to the Wiki site that is relevant. The content on her site includes previously published National Geographic articles that have won some of the highest journalism awards and are invaluable for research.

Jake Sturm
 * Since Salak is a living person, her page qualifies under biographies of living persons. Thus, any of the content which is deemed libelous needs to be removed. I see several examples of libelous statements on her page, which needs to be copyedited. It reads like an autobiography and needs to be cut down to the relevant facts (i.e. gang raping, depression, etc. is something which is not relevant to her bio). I really wish you would stop removing maintenance tags, because you are confusing vandalism with content and reliability. As far as "locking the page down" due to disputes and contacting an admin, yes, I welcome for you to do that on ANI. Most likely, the admins will agree with me because of BLP and reliable sources. But I have no plans to improve her page, because you are detracting my improvements to the page. And, I really don't like my time wasted. Thanks.  miranda   22:25, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

GAN review of Debian
I'm a bit confused as to whether you're going to be able to complete this review or not. I'll be happy to take it over if you're not. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 20:05, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Oops, forgot to cross that out. Thanks for reminding me.  miranda   21:09, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Mali reference removal
Miranda,

I will forget about the Mali entry as I have no desire to get into arguments with anyone and I know your intentions are in the right place. I am just wondering though, did it ever occur to you that I might be relisting the book in the Mali section simply because I believe that the book might be a good reference about the country? I have read the book and and there is a great deal of information on the country of Mali in the book that is not included in the Wikipedia article, such as the continuation of the slave trade in Timbuktu despite it being illegal. It also gives descriptions of the different tribes, religious beliefs and other aspects of the country that are far more detailed than the Wikipedia entry. The description that I gave in the reference was accurate: the book retraces the journey of Mungo Park, the first Western explorer of Mali and the first Westerner to reach Timbuktu. As I said above, the book also gives detailed descriptions of the country, its people, etc. Clearly, it belongs in the Mali section. In my opinion, the readers of the Wikipedia Mali page should be given a choice to decide if the book is a resource that may help them in their research about the country, a choice that you are not giving them by removing the link. Perhaps you will reconsider and undo your removal of the entry, thus allowing the Wikipedia users to make a choice on the reference instead of you making it for them. If your interest is really in making Wikipedia the best resource possible, than I would at least hope you would consider this. Either way, I wish you the best in all you do and all you try to accomplish. JakeSturm (talk) 03:17, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Mali
I think you need to take a step back and assess your edits to the article. They are not helpful. A quick 5 minutes of research reveals that the book is relevant to the article and as no valid reason for it's removal has been given there is no reason to continue to remove it. Please remember that the goal is to improve the encyclopedia not to persue personal battles. --neon white talk 04:51, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah, no. The book is commentary, not scholarly material. And, yes, I know what Wikipedia is about. I brought the article to GA standard, and know the policies as well. So, please don't do this as well. Thanks. Oh, btw. It's "pursue".  miranda   05:17, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The book is fine. The only criteria for inclusion in a 'further reading' section is that the book is relevant to the article and adds information of use in understanding the subject. There is no criteria that a work has to be 'scholarly material'. Your personal feelings on the style in which a book is written has no bearing on whether it should be included. The edit summary of the article shows that you have continually changed your reasons for removing it as they have been dismissed, i think there is clear evidence that this has become a personal quest rather than judging the book in an objective way. Remember that anyone can add information to an article, there does not need to a prior censensus to add information. If you indeed know what the purpose of wikipedia editors should be then consider your actions more carefully and also the manner in which you communicate with other editors. --neon white talk 14:18, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Kira Salak image
BTW, I'm curious about the copyright status of Image:KiraSalakIran.jpg. The picture was uploaded to commons by jakesturm and it says that the author is Kira Salak which is unlikely (since she is the subject). Here it says that the photo was by Bobby Model and that he owns the copyright. My guess is that if Jakesturm knows Kira Salak, then he can probably get a copyright release, but, as is, there doesn't seem to be a release. I don't have experience with images - do you?--Regents Park (bail out your boat) 15:10, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
 * If it was taken by JakeStrum, he needs to contact permissions at wikimedia dot org. Otherwise, if Bobby Model took the pictures, the rights belong to Bobby Model, and Bobby Model needs to contact OTRS. Neither Salak nor Strum own the rights unless the rights were released by Model to Salak. So, you might want to contact permissions with this revelation for further details, because picture rights depend on a case by case basis. Also, to link images, you do Image:Example.jpg Cheers.  miranda   21:18, 14 November 2008 (UTC)