User talk:Troubledwine

re: edits to Niles West High School
Greetings Troubledwine!

First, welcome to Wikipedia. I hope you enjoy editing the articles here. The welcome template above has links that can take you to places where you can get answers to common questions about the site.

Second, I reverted your recent edit to this article. The person in question requires a reliable source to confirm that he is in fact an alum of the school. One article you cited was a wikipedia article. Wikipedia can never be self referential. Second, the imdb website, while often considered reliable for filmography information, is not considered a reliable source for other background information because the information is not fact checked for reliability. Finally, the New York Times article never mentioned that he attended Niles West HS.

If you know of any sources that meet the reliable sources requirement, that confirm he attended the school, please add them.

Best of luck! LonelyBeacon (talk) 04:43, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Heya Troubledwine! I appreciate the situation. I edit a great many school articles (especially schools in the Chicago area), and it is frustrating when 90% of the alumni listed are likely real alumni, but need to get delisted because of Wikipedia's verifiability. There is a long standing joke among editors (that is hardly a joke): "Wikipedia is not about truth; wikipedia is about verifiability". On the one hand, the verifiability policy helps to keep unfounded claims out. On the other hand, it makes it more difficult to be inclusive. While it is rather difficult to find sources, it is not always impossible. As examples: List of New Trier High School alumni, Wheaton Warrenville South High School, and Maine East High School have extensive lists of referenced alumni, some of which are very famous, and some of which are less famous. I left the alum up with a fact tag because, personally, I believe you, and want to give it a chance to develop a source. I certainly hope one can be found. Best of luck! LonelyBeacon (talk) 13:50, 19 September 2009 (UTC)