User talk:Tama1957

May 2019
Welcome to Wikipedia. It might not have been your intention, but you recently removed maintenance templates from John Michael Cummings. When removing maintenance templates, please be sure to either resolve the problem that the template refers to, or give a valid reason for the removal in the edit summary. Please see Help:Maintenance template removal for further information on when maintenance templates should or should not be removed. If this was a mistake, don't worry, as your removal of this template has been reverted. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia, and if you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. ''There is absolutely no rush to remove maintenance tags, and it is generally a good idea to allow impartial, experienced Wikipedia editors who know the encyclopedia's policies to review such tags. Since you had made no edits before, and since the article's subject has been asking to have the templates removed, it does rather seem as if you do this on his behalf, or at least that you have been in communication with him. That's fine, but it means that you should absolutely not remove the autobio/conflict of interest template; as for the "overly detailed" template, that is still true, the list is excessive and should probably be pruned quite a bit. bonadea'' contributions talk 19:34, 12 May 2019 (UTC)

Edits to John Michael Cummings
Dear Bonadera:

I appreciate your review of my recent edits to John Michael Cummings' page. I live in Harpers Ferry, and am familiar with Mr. Cummings' work as a regional novelist and short story writer. His books are in the area libraries, and I have read them with great interest. I do not know Mr. Cummings personally, but as someone familiar with his work, I was concerned to see the Maintenance Tags on his Wikipedia page. I attempted to resolve the issues raised by Wikipedia's editors. I carefully reviewed the information on his page, and found it to be accurate. I noted that Mr. Cummings' listing of literary and online publications was lengthy and cumbersome. Therefore, I removed the excessive citations, and organized the lists into columns to improve readability.

Is there any further action I can take to resolve these matters? I would like to ensure that Mr. Cummings is represented appropriately on Wikipedia's website.

Thank you, Tama1957 (talk) 20:26, 12 May 2019 (UTC)


 * It is a common misconception that a Wikipedia article about a person (or an organisation) is "their Wikipedia page". That is incorrect, and maintenance tags are never a cause for concern other than to people with a conflict of interest, since the tags are simply there to flag existing issues for the notice of other editors. It is a little concerning that you would think that the very promotional text, clearly written in order to portray the person in a positive light, was "accurate" if you had reviewed it - some of it was quite misleading, for instance the cherry-picking of part of one sentence in a review, where the review was very open about its criticism, and that same sentence went on to point out weaknesses in Cummings' style (according to the reviewer). I also wonder how you can know about the accuracy, given the lack of reliable independent sources for much of the information, such as the list of short stories you added. If you have other suggested additions or changes, please start a discussion on the article's talk page rather than editing the article directly. Thank you. --bonadea contributions talk 09:24, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

Edits to John Michael Cummings
Dear Bonadea,

I have just looked at Mr. Cummings' Wikipedia page again, and discovered that the entire listing of his literary and online journals has been removed. Do you know why Wikipedia has taken this action? Is there anything that can be done to restore this information?

Thank you, Tama1957 (talk) 20:59, 12 May 2019 (UTC)

Dear Bonadera,

Thank you very much for your advice. I will follow your directions accordingly, and will post a few notable stories, with complete citations.

Tama1957 (talk) 21:48, 12 May 2019 (UTC)

@Bonadera:

Dear Bonadera,

I compliment and thank you for your fair and balanced editing of John Michael Cummings' Wikipedia page. Will you please forward your work to an editor who can remove the "autobiography" tag?

Thank you very much, Tama1957 (talk) 13:46, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

Provided date and citation, as requested.
@Bonadera:

Dear Bonadera,

I have provided the date and citation that you requested for the USA TODAY recognition of the novel, The Night I Freed John Brown. What is the next step in having the autobiography tag removed? I want to say again how much I appreciate your help and look forward to completing the page.

Thank you very much, Tama1957 (talk) 20:03, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

@Bonadera:

Dear Bonadera,

I noted your correction regarding the inclusion of The Night I Freed John Brown in a listing of recommended reading for Black History Month in 2009. Thank you for this clarification.

In the Talk Page, I believe you had concerns regarding the "local" nature of the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Literature. As you may know, Katherine Paterson, for whom the prize was named, won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards. Among her achievements was the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 1998. She also was a recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2006. In addition, Ms. Paterson was the second U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature in 2011, and a recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the American Library Association in 2013.

Given Ms. Paterson's contributions to literature, the Paterson Prize is of broad public interest, and not restricted to a locality. For this reason, I feel that it is appropriate to include mention of Mr. Cummings' debut novel, The Night I Freed John Brown, as co-winner of the Paterson Prize.

Thanks to your great effort in presenting the page in an encyclopedic format, summarizing and referencing information, how can we now move forward to have the autobiography tag removed? Given your standing in the writing community, I hope that you can bring this about.

Thank you very much, Tama1957 (talk) 22:47, 15 May 2019 (UTC)


 * Hi Tama1957, I'm sorry for not getting back to you earlier. Yes, Paterson is undeniably notable, but that does not mean that every prize or award in her name is notable according to Wikipedia's definition of notability. As a parallel example, Erik Gustaf Geijer is one of the most significant poets in the history of Swedish literature, but the prize in his name, awarded since some time in the mid-19th century by Uppsala university, is not notable. Another example: there are various prizes in Astrid Lindgren's memory, including the big one that Paterson received - that is a notable award, but most local awards named after Lindgren are non-notable as far as Wikipedia is concerned. The issue with Cummings' award was not the sourcing, but the fact that Wikipedia articles should not include non-notable awards.


 * If you have any suggested additions to the article John Michael Cummings, please use the article talk page (Talk:John Michael Cummings) and not this user talk page to request them - and there is no need to direct any requests to a specific person. You can post the template on the talk page, with your suggested edits below. Any uninvolved editor (that is, people who have no connection to Cummings) can then evaluate your requests. Finally, I have to ask you who "we" are in your question how can we now move forward to have the autobiography tag removed? At this time, I would not feel comfortable removing the autobiography tag, and again there is no hurry about that. --bonadea contributions talk 13:49, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

Information re Paterson Prize
@Bonadera:

Dear Bonadera,

I noted your correction regarding the inclusion of The Night I Freed John Brown in a listing of recommended reading for Black History Month in 2009. Thank you for this clarification.

In the Talk Page, I believe you had concerns regarding the "local" nature of the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Literature. As you may know, Katherine Paterson, for whom the prize was named, won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards. Among her achievements was the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 1998. She also was a recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2006. In addition, Ms. Paterson was the second U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature in 2011, and a recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the American Library Association in 2013.

Given Ms. Paterson's contributions to literature, the Paterson Prize is of broad public interest, and not restricted to a locality. For this reason, I feel that it is appropriate to include mention of Mr. Cummings' debut novel, The Night I Freed John Brown, as co-winner of the Paterson Prize.

Thanks to your great effort in presenting the page in an encyclopedic format, summarizing and referencing information, how can we now move forward to have the autobiography tag removed? Given your standing in the writing community, I hope that you can bring this about.

Thank you very much, Tama1957 (talk) 22:51, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

Citation for Paterson Prize
@Bonadera:

Dear Bonadera,

If you place the link below in the Google bar and hit return, you will be taken to a PDF produced by The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College, verifying Mr. Cummings' novel as a prize winner. Would you please help me complete the citation?

http://www.pccc.edu/uploads/fn/an/fnan0Fsx7zZcDZRjmpxP-g/Paterson-Prize-for-Young-09w.pdf

Citation for Seminole State College of Florida
@Bonadera:

Dear Bonadera,

Thank you for considering including the Paterson Prize, and I understand your decision.

I have provided the citation for Seminole State College of Florida, as requested.

Do these edits now bring the page into compliance with Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View Policy? If so, would you please remove the autobiography tag?

I am very grateful for your continued help.

Tama1957 (talk) 14:16, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

Please put suggested edits on the ARTICLE talk page, not here
When you have suggested edits for the article, you need to put those on the article's talk page, not your own. The article talk page is here: Talk:John Michael Cummings. BubbaJoe123456 (talk) 18:31, 16 May 2019 (UTC)