Wikipedia:AMA Requests for Assistance/Requests/December 2006/notmyrealname

Case Filed On: 19:16, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedian filing request:



Other Wikipedians this pertains to:



Wikipedia pages this pertains to:



Questions:
Have you read the AMA FAQ?
 * Answer: Yes

'''How would you describe the nature of this dispute? (policy violation, content dispute, personal attack, other)'''
 * Answer: Content dispute

'''What methods of Dispute Resolution have you tried so far? If you can, please provide wikilinks so that the Advocate looking over this case can see what you have done.'''
 * Answer:

I have reinserted reference twice, with explanation in edit summaries. I have started a discussion on the talk page.

What do you expect to get from Advocacy?
 * Answer:

I would like the input of an impartial third party observer to weigh in on the dispute, and also help all the parties understand which wikipedia policies apply.

Summary:
This dispute involves whether the content of an entry I made is appropriate for the Mitt_Romney page. I first made the entry on Dec 1, 2006 here:. I created an entry on the talk page to discuss this and to explain my reasoning for inclusion. I had originally included this in a newly created trivia section, but, possibly as a result of this dispute, that section has been deleted as per wikipedia policy. As I have since argued on the talk page, I still believe that this item merits inclusion on this page, perhaps either in the gay marriage section or in the family section.

As I note on the start of my talk page entry, I don't find the reasons that the other editors have listed for deleting the article convincing - these include that the page should not mention other family members (although it does elsewhere); that it is not relevant to Romney's lifetime (although many media references show otherwise); that it is not "encyclopedic" (here I would appreciate some help with wikipedia's official views on this term); and "Doesn't realte to Romney's life. Should we see if southern politicians have a history of slave ownership? No, because it doesn't realte to them." (I think the answer to your first question is open for debate and therefore argues for inclusion, and the second is a red herring in that we are looking at what is appropriate here, not elsewhere).

Other comments by these editors on the talk page revolve around similar lines.


 * As I noted on the talk page, the item has been widely reported in major media on all sides of the political spectrum (you can Google "Romney Grandfather Polygamy" for a quick list of links), many of them quite recent.


 * This page has several detailed discussions about policy decisions taken by Romney, and many of the news articles specifically cite this fact in reference to Romney's views on gay marriage.


 * Romney himself frequently jokes about polygamy while discussing the gay marriage issue, as shown in the Slate article that I use as the primary reference.


 * Mitt Romney has many blood relatives as a result of his ancestor's polygamy and it could reasonably be argued that this has some bearing on his current views (or at least opens some of his statements about the history of one man/one woman marriage up to question).

Any help you can provide will be much appreciated.

Notmyrealname 19:16, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Followup:
When the case is finished, please take a minute to fill out the following survey:

Did you find the Advocacy process useful?
 * Answer: No

Did your Advocate handle your case in an appropriate manner?
 * Answer: No. At first he indicated that I had a solid case. After checking with folks on the other side, he decided to drop it. I asked him to reconsider. He said he would, and then disappeared.

On a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best), how polite was your Advocate?
 * Answer: 5

On a scale of 1 to 5, how effective do you feel your Advocate was in solving the problem?
 * Answer: 1. He never really tried.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how effective do you feel the Advocacy process is altogether?
 * Answer: In my case 1, although I think that was the result of the ineffectiveness of my advocate.

If there were one thing that you would like to see different in the Advocacy process, what would it be?
 * Answer: Editors who agree to be advocates should remain active on the cases they take on, or should find a replacement.

If you were to deal with this dispute again, what would you do differently, if anything?
 * Answer: I would have tried to involve more editors from the BLP message board.

AMA Information
Case Status: open

Advocate Status:
 * Sir james paul