User talk:Williamwaterway

Gay Head Lighthouse
Gay Head Lighthouse edits as per: (cur | prev) 15:46, 9 May 2015‎ Ebyabe (talk | contribs)‎. . (51,997 bytes) (+737)‎. . (Filled in 5 bare reference(s) with reFill ) (undo | thank) (cur | prev) 15:42, 9 May 2015‎ Ebyabe (talk | contribs)‎. . (51,260 bytes) (-676)‎. . (→‎Future lighthouse ownership / moving lighthouse away from eroding clay cliff: remove unsourced) (undo | thank) (cur | prev) 15:41, 9 May 2015‎ Ebyabe (talk | contribs)‎. . (51,936 bytes) (-630)‎. . (Reverted 7 edits by Williamwaterway (talk): Remove non-reliable sources. (TW)) (undo | thank)

Ebyabe: thank you for taking an interest in the Gay Head Lighthouse. However, I am bewildered as to your recent edits and reversions (per above). FYI: I saved the Gay Head Lighthouse in the 1980s by giving testimony before Congressional committees and being successful, with the backing of Senator Ted Kennedy and Congressman Gerry Studds, in having the Gay Head Light and two other Vineyard lighthouses transferred to my non-profit, tax-exempt organization via a 35-year lease. I was also on the board of the Martha's Vineyard Museum for 7-years whereby, I instituted a committee to further the preservation of Martha's Vineyard's lighthouse history. On related note, I opened the Gay Head Lighthouse to the public in 1986 after renovation and restoration with monies I raised through various fundraising events with island celebrities. I am also the author of the only book ever published about the Gay Head Lighthouse - "Gay Head Lighthouse, the First Light on Martha's Vineyard", published by The History Press. In other words, I have been involved in managing and saving the Gay Head Lighthouse for over 35-years. Therefore, I am bewildered as to your becoming an instant expert about the GHL and reverting my contributions based on your opinion that lacks scholarly research or experience. The reversions you made delete the corrections I made to more accurately depict GHL's history and current status. In other words, you are causing harm to the conveyance of correct information to people who seek accurate and updated information. Please "enlighten" me as to how we may move forward with my again including the corrected and updated information relative to the Gay Head Lighthouse. Williamwaterway (talk) 12:42, 12 May 2015 (UTC) (talk) 07:44, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

Edgartown Harbor Light
Let's not start an edit war here. Policy is very clear that text may not be sandwiched between images, or between images and an infobox. This is both because it looks bad on an ordinary display, but mostly because it is very hard to read on small displays on mobile devices. . . Jim - Jameslwoodward (talk to me • contribs) 00:22, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Hello James - good to meet someone from Wiki. Please understand that I am on a learning curve in the realm of Wikipedia. Since I am the person who saved the Edgartown Harbor Light and two other island lighthouses from being torn down in the 1980s by spending a fortune of my own money and giving testimony before Congress - I find it ironic, that had I not taken the time to save the Edgartown Harbor Light - this exchange would not be taking place because this lighthouse would not exist.

So, the rules say no placement of photos on the opposite side of a page where there is an information box. Okay, then how and where may I place the photographs that tell the story of how this lighthouse was rescued from destruction? Thanks Williamwaterway (talk) 02:31, 24 February 2012 (UTC)


 * You may find some of the following difficult to take. Please understand that I have nothing but praise for volunteers all over the world who have, and are continuing, to put countless time and money into saving lighthouses. You will find that I started about a third of all the articles on lighthouses in New England and contributed to almost all of them, so that I am very much aware that in almost every case the structures have benefited from volunteer time and money. I have no problem giving those volunteers, including VERI, appropriate credit, but there are limits.


 * I should add that I am just one editor -- while I try to give a balanced, middle of the road view, there are certainly people who would take a different approach.


 * With that said, the article has a very self-congratulatory tone, well out of the norm for WP:EN. Although I'm not going to tone it down -- I am mostly active now as an Admin and Checkuser on Commons -- I suggest that you do so before another WP:EN editor takes a meat ax to it. Think in terms of an article in the New York Times.  Certainly they would mention VERI, but not nine times.


 * In particular, this strikes me as a bit too much:
 * "As a result of VERI's high-profile efforts to save Martha's Vineyard lighthouses in the 1980s, the Edgartown Harbor Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Edgartown Harbor Light in 1987"
 * In point of fact, about 27 Massachusetts lights were added to the the NRHP in one batch on June 15, 1987, including most of the extant structures that had any significance at all and were not already on the Register. Some of them were in very poor condition. It's hard to say what, if any, effect your efforts had on the listing of the 27, but it certainly was a smaller piece than the quoted sentence suggests.


 * As for the images, I certainly understand the problem. In my work on lighthouse articles I have often run into the problem of having more interesting pictures than relevant text.


 * WP:EN is, however, by design an encyclopedia, not a picture book, and we must choose images that complement, but not overwhelm, the text. So, the basic answer is that unless you write more text, you can't place more images in the article proper. You might get away with creating a small gallery at the bottom, above the references:

Before and after restoration
If you have questions, feel free to ask. . . Jim - Jameslwoodward (talk to me • contribs) 13:45, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Jim - thank you for your prompt and educational response. As previously stated, I am in process of learning the ways of Wiki. Yes, I noticed your dedicated attention to lighthouses on Wiki. As an author, I know that choosing subjects to write and research is usually predicated on one's interests. Through mutual interest in lighthouses, our lives now intersect via Wiki. So, thanks for your patience. As you suggest, I will revise the content to tone down mention of VERI. Relative to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 - the NRHP had VERI on their radar and were aware of our lighthouse rescue efforts which went public in 1983. If, as you suggest, VERI's high-profile role was not an NRHP consideration - I will rephrase to something more subtle.

FYI - when VERI held its first lighthouse fundraisers - we had "participating" celebrities such as - Senator Ted Kennedy; Caroline Kennedy; Teddy Kennedy, Jr.; Congressman Gerry Studds; Carly Simon; Kate Taylor; Dennis Miller from Saturday Night Live; comedian Steven Sweeney; Bill Styron's wife, Rose - who read one of her original lighthouse poems; United States Coast Guard Admiral, Richard Bauman; David McCullough, and famed photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt. I was fortunate to know and meet many of these people when I was publisher of Martha's Vineyard Magazine, and through lighthouse preservation efforts.

Thanks also for showing me how to do the "before and after' picture gallery. I will incorporate the same as you suggest.   Respectfully,  William Williamwaterway (talk) 15:21, 24 February 2012 (UTC)


 * It reads much better now, thanks.  Jim - Jameslwoodward (talk to me • contribs)  23:26, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Someone keeps switching links that are incorrect and are of people with similar name but are not the people identified in the article. I personally had contact with each of the people mentioned in this article - and am absolutely certain as to my links being accurate. WHOMEVER YOU ARE - please be respectful! Williamwaterway (talk) 02:27, 2 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Only one recent edit to the article was by anyone besides you. That was another user removing prohibited external links, which he noted in his edit comment. I suggest that before you make complaints, you at least look at the history, including the edit comments. . . Jim - Jameslwoodward (talk to me • contribs)  14:19, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

External links in article text
Please stop inserting links to other sites within the text of articles. For a quick summary of Wiki's EL policies, see WP:ELPOINTS. TheMindsEye (talk) 14:54, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

wiki links within article are incorrect
okay - thank you for the guidance - I keep learning Wiki rules - however, two noted inaccuracies were the Wiki links added for US Navy Admiral Richard Bauman - who had the position of control over trillions of dollars of battleships, Navy bases, and hundreds of thousands of personnel around the globe - my article link to Admiral Bauman was removed and someone added a link to a Wiki-linked folk singer named Richard Bauman. Talk about inaccuracies! I also see that a Wiki editor cited Ted Kennedy in the "References" section - which is where I will post Admiral Bauman's link and the link to Derek W. Spencer who was a Vineyard Environmental Research, Inst. board member while he was the Director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. It was Spencer, a respected scientist, who made the decisions as to how WHOI's annual half-billion budget was allocated to various oceanographic research projects around the globe. It took a tremendous amount of effort, negotiations, and connections to get our US Congress to turn over the island's three lighthouses to VERI - the first time in US history that "active" lights were turned over to a civilian organization, and the first time in Martha's Vineyard history that there was local lighthouse control. As the founder of VERI - and the person who initiated this ambitious lighthouse rescue effort - no one else knows this story.Williamwaterway (talk) 12:36, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for August 21
Hi. When you recently edited Martha's Vineyard Poet Laureate, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page George Mills (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ* Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

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Thank you - very helpful suggestion - I will make correction. Williamwaterway (talk) 00:43, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Eric Sloane
Hello Williamwaterway,

I am sorry, but I have reverted your additions. Every possibly contentious addition to Wikipedia must be cited to a reliable source. You can't say he stole a car or mention Milos Foreman unless you cite a source. Your personal experience doesn't count, since everything in our articles has to be verifiable. How does anyone know that what you say is true? I am not saying that it is false, but rather than it must be cited properly.  Cullen 328  Let's discuss it  06:38, 3 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Please provide references for your latest additions. Thank you.  Cullen 328  Let's discuss it  07:00, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Hi Cullen: I lived on Eric Sloane's Connecticut estate for one, and knew Eric's brother, George, who lived in my home town of Towaco, New Jersey. Yes, you have a point about people not being able to verify my information. However, the fact that Sloane sold his Connecticut estate in Warren, Ct. to Milos Foreman is a matter of deeded record. I also have a great photo I took of Eric and Milos at the Warren, Ct. estate. Also have photos of Eric sitting in his studio painting and at other locations. I will pay closer attention to posting "so called" verifiable information. Thank you for letting me know, Williamwaterway (talk) 16:54, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

July 2014
Please do not add or change content, as you did to American poetry, without verifying it by citing a reliable source. Please review the guidelines at Citing sources and take this opportunity to add references to the article. Thank you. Theroadislong (talk) 10:03, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:11, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

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