User talk:Pamcat99

Welcome!
Welcome to Wikipedia, Pamcat99! I am Malik Shabazz and have been editing Wikipedia for quite some time. Thank you for your contributions. I just wanted to say hi and welcome you to Wikipedia! If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on my talk page or by typing helpme at the bottom of this page. I love to help new users, so don't be afraid to leave a message! 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! Also, when you post on talk pages you should sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); that should automatically produce your username and the date after your post. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place helpme on your talk page and ask your question there. Again, welcome! — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 19:08, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
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Phil Ochs
Hello Pam - I see Malik welcomed you as I was writing to you as well. I'm also an active editor here and wanted to explain why we removed your edit. I don't doubt at all that your father worked with Phil Ochs in the early NYC days, and I would not be surprised to hear that he influenced Phil. Indeed, I was at the inspiring and sad Felt Forum concert and remember Ramblin' Jack's performance quite well, so I witnessed your father's great guitar playing. But the way things work at Wikipedia - in order to try to keep articles unbiased - is that we want to have outside sources making connections rather than relying on our own personal knowledge, no matter how accurate it is. One of the guiding policies here is "verifiability, not truth" (you can read the policy by clicking on the phrase) - we of course strive for the encyclopedia to be truthful, but we need verifiable outside sources so that readers can confirm the accuracy of information and not be dependent on what individual editors believe to be true. Also, I am not questioning your father's connection to Phil, but the intro section speaks of "major influences" - like Woody Guthrie, Bob Gibson, JFK and the others - all of whom have been publicly cited by Phil himself, his biographers, or articles written about him. There were many musicians and other figures who had an influence on Phil, and we talk about them in the body of the article - not intro - when we have good sourcing, but they don't rise to the level of "major influence" for the intro section. I hope you understand. Thanks for your input here and nice to meet you. Tvoz / talk 19:27, 27 August 2010 (UTC)