User talk:Rrafat

Welcome!
Hello, Rrafat, 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: Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome! Smkolins (talk) 18:04, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
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about Bahá'í Faith in Ukraine
I'm glad you have an interest and it's clear you are close to what happened/is happening. I welcome the collaboration of improving the article. But personal knowledge is not primary in Wikipedia. Please consult the above and see what kind of published information supports the history you bring up. It could even be that some combination of things needs to be figured out by scholars - different people knowing different things in different places and times. But the fact is cited sources support something and wiping it out in favor of personal information otherwise is not good wikipedia behavior. Let's talk this out some and learn what's going on, eh? --Smkolins (talk) 18:08, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

The previous information was clearly wrong. I have written documents that confirm what I wrote, but not in an electronic format. I thought Wikipedia was interested in true facts, and not some fictional stories that are not true, since I observed these happenings with my own eyes, and have documented all of them. If you want to verify the information, you may contact the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Ukraine, the higheste administrative body of the Baha'i Faith the Ukraine.

Warm regards, Riaz Rafat


 * Riaz I agree the 1977 thing was clearly wrong. No idea where that really came from. The source, written by Moojan Momen, refers to many things but nothing about that. So it should be deleted. As for your written documents there needs to be published materials to serve for facts to cite. They do not have to be online - just published somewhere with title, author, publishing authority etc. Better if it is done via scholarly printing. Let's not get into arguing about this. As for the facts citations they really are needed - appealing to the NSA is not a good alternative as things have to be published. --Smkolins (talk) 18:27, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Also please note the approach - I went back to the source to try and find the fact. It wasn't there. This isn't about what you say or what I say- its about what reliable sources say. This standard is required in wikipedia -see WP:Reliable Sources. This doesn't mean mistakes aren't made but the standard is not to be personal about it and WP:Assume good faith rather than flying off and making accusations. --Smkolins (talk) 18:31, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
 * If you have your own records then I **highly** suggest you seek to write up a history and published through scholarly channels and then that can serve as real citations for things like wikipedia. --Smkolins (talk) 18:34, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Also you marked most of your edits as minor. Most of them were in fact major. Minor edits are things like spelling or grammar, broken syntax whether human or computer based. Major edits add or remote information. --Smkolins (talk) 18:38, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Well, I wanted to assist you in getting the real facts. I have not published the Baha'i history of the Ukraine, but the National Spiritual Assembly of the Ukraine has prepared a larger article on the history of the Baha'i Faith in the Ukraine. If you remove the wrong information about 1977, I am at least a bit satisfied.

On a separate note, many scholars build their articles on second-hand information, and their articles are not more realiable just because they publish it. For example, I know Moojan Momen very well, and the information he has on newer Baha'i history in the Ukraine he has partly from me.

Nevertheless, I would like to commend you for taking your editorial job seriously, and you do not need to respond back to me.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.115.144.17 (talk) 19:22, 17 January 2013 (UTC)