User talk:Statickitten

Your post on the biography noticeboard
Hello, my name is Eggishorn and I saw your post about your attempted edits to Dennis Herman Blair, who you identified as your husband. I also see that you have been unnecessarily harshly warned about those edits. I wanted to offer you some help about reasons your edits were removed and how you can possibly add them in a fashion others will accept.

First of all, I want to extend my sympathy for your frustration. Please understand that it is not unusual for new users to join Wikipedia and try to edit an article concerning a subject they care about deeply. In point of fact, it is how a great number of established editors and administrators started. The community rarely tries to actively drive off new users, although boilerplate warnings such as the one above certainly seem that way.

That said, it is undoubtedly frustrating for new users to read "Anyone can edit" as a promise from the site, and then be told over that their edits are not wanted or even harmful. The basic issue is this: Wikipedia has, over the course of many discussions, reached two decisions that affect you personally: 1) People directly connected to an article's subject should not be the ones to make the biggest contributions to that article and 2) There need to be significant, independent, verifiable sources to each claim an article makes. There are good reasons for this site to have made those decisions, but they can easily feel discriminatory to those caught against them. These policies are considered especially important for biographical articles, since "unsourced" additions to a biographical article can cause serious problems, including legal ones, for the project and its owners.

In the case of biographical articles, most people would likely consider first-hand knowledge of the person a great source. An author writing a biography for print by a publisher, for example, would be considered lazy for not interviewing their subject and their family. So an editor like yourself who has that type of connection should be a great source, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn't, and really can't, work that way. Anyone could claim to be the spouse or other family member and add anything to a biography article, and no-one reading would know if was correct or not. We have no way of verifying the information, in other words. Verifiability of information is one of the core principles of Wikipedia and considered a non-negotiable requirement of all biographical articles. Information in a biographical article that is considered unsourced (by these standards) can be immediately removed without discussion.

So where does that leave you? Well, the information you added about Dennis Herman Blair's post-baseball career is potentially helpful, and would be accepted if there was some source attached. For example, the work with special-needs children in Arizona. If you can find an article in a local newspaper or announcement from the school district, that would be a source for that. The way you can add a source is to go back to the article and add the information, but indicate where the information was published between a pair of special tags. I'll give you an example: "He moved to Texas and taught students with special needs in Garland and Mesquite Independent School Districts." The text: tells the software to put the information in between in a footnote below the article text. It also automatically generates and formats the footnote number. Whatever you can use (clippings, online source, whatever) that you can put in works, and don't worry too much about how its formatted. As long as you put in the basics, another experienced editor can pretty it up.

If you don't have sources or can't find them, then you also have another way of getting the information added. That is using the article talk page. At the very top of the Dennis Blair (baseball) page there are two tabs towards the left; one labeled "Article" and one labeled "Talk". If you click the one that says: "Talk" there is a new page with a bunch of yellow boxes at the top. Above those are more tabs, including one that says: "New Section". Click that, add a headline and your requested information and make it clear you have a personal connection to the article subject and would like help sourcing the information correctly and adding it. I can't guarantee that other editors will be able to fill in the blanks, but folks here tend to at least try helping. Most wouldn't be editing if they didn't want to help share knowledge, after all.

I know this is long, and I apologize for throwing a lot out there. I wanted to extend some help and welcome you to the project. Thanks, and good luck. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 14:58, 8 May 2017 (UTC) Thank you for your thoughtful help. I appreciate it, but I will probably not try again.

Apologies for the way I acted
Sorry about warning you for vandalism. I think I came off as biting, and that wasn't my intention at all, so I deeply apologize. I still stand by the fact that you should have sourced it, though. Thanks, and happy editing. Jdcomix (talk) 16:17, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

Welcome!
Welcome to Wikipedia, Statickitten! Thank you for your contributions. I am Jdcomix and I have been editing Wikipedia for some time, so if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on my talk page. You can also check out Questions or type at the bottom of this page. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: Also, when you post on talk pages you should sign your name using four tildes ( ~ ); that will automatically produce your username and the date. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Jdcomix (talk) 16:20, 8 May 2017 (UTC)
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