Talk:Richie Farmer

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This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on August 25, 2019.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
March 28, 2015	Good article nominee	Listed
May 13, 2015	Featured article candidate	Promoted

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on November 29, 2014.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Richie Farmer holds records for most points scored in the KHSAA championship game (51), and most ethics violations by a Kentucky executive branch officeholder (42)?

Current status: Featured article

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WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 08:18, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Richie Farmer/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Coemgenus (talk · contribs) 17:18, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'll start this review over the next few days. --Coemgenus (talk) 17:18, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Checklist

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose, no copyvios, spelling and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (reference section): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free content have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

Comments

Images

The images you have are fine. I'm guessing there was no free or fair-use image available of Farmer himself? Obviously it's no mark against the article if nothing exists, but it would be nice.
- Unfortunately, no. I even looked for his federal mugshot, thinking it would be {{PD-USGov}} (though perhaps in bad taste), but I didn't find anything. Doing my part to get to Rupp once a year to get pictures of the new guys so we don't have this issue again! :) Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 20:48, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Early life

It might be useful to mention where Clay County is, e.g., "... in eastern Kentucky..."
- Worked in as best I could. Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 20:48, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

College basketball, freshman

"...decimated by attrition." Could probably just be "decimated".
- Done, but I think this works better if we change "team" to "roster". Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 20:48, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

College basketball, sophomore

There's some inconsistency between "3 pointer" and "three pointer" and whether hyphens are used. I don't think there's one right answer, but you should probably choose one and stick with it.
- Good catch. I think I fixed them all. Note that I had to leave a couple because of WP:NUMNOTES (e.g. "four 3-point shots" as opposed to "four three-point shots"). Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 20:48, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Second term

I notice you don't ever name his girlfriend. Is there some reason for that?
- I thought there was some policy or other that deemed it a bad idea. It was reported in the Herald-Leader. I can add it if it seems glaring in its absence. Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 20:48, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  - It's fine. It's not necessary, I just thought it was odd, but with BLPs I guess it's better to err on the safe side of things. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:56, 28 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Acdixon: this is an exceptionally well-done article. After these (minor) issues are resolved, I look forward to promoting it. --Coemgenus (talk) 19:05, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Coemgenus: Thanks for taking the time to review and for your helpful and kind comments. Hopefully, the next stop is WP:FAC and a WP:FOUR award. Would you be available to review at FAC if I let you know when I list it there? Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 20:48, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This all looks fine, I'll promote it. I'll probably see it when it shows up at FAC, but feel free to leave a note on my talk page. Good luck! --Coemgenus (talk) 00:56, 28 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

BLP question

This interesting RfC concerns the girlfriend of a remarkably corrupt American politician. The girlfriend seems to have been on the receiving end of several thousand dollars of taxpayer's money which she did very little to earn. She has been charged and convicted of violations of a US ethical code. The discussion below is less thorough than I would have hoped, and as closer it would have helped me if editors had discussed which name they propose to add ---- her current name, or the one she had at the time of the offences? This did not come up at all, although both names are easily found in reliable sources.

I can find no consensus in the discussion below, and after reading WP:BLP carefully I can see no rule that would specifically preclude mentioning the lady's name. She is certainly a "low-profile individual" within the meaning of WP:BLP1E and we should not have an article about her, but the policy provides no guidance about whether it's okay to mention her anywhere else. I certainly can't see anything that would shield her from the spotlight of Wikipedia coverage.

My formal close is no consensus: what to do is a matter for editors' discretion. However, this is rather unhelpful to Acdixon who has gone to RfC because he doesn't know what to do, so I'll append my personal opinion to it, which is this: personally, I don't think you should name her in this article. I said I can't see anything that would shield her from the spotlight, but this particular article is a featured article about recent US politics that will attract quite a lot of attention, and I think it's more of a searchlight than a spotlight. I'd personally suggest that there's no need to name her here.

But the close is "no consensus" so if Acdixon, or anyone else, thinks it's appropriate to name her then this RfC does not prevent them from doing so.

Finally, I'm very sorry for producing a close that's longer than the discussion that gave rise to it! I hope this helps.—S Marshall T/C 15:26, 22 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Should the article include the name of Farmer's mistress? Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 13:31, 14 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Out of an abundance of caution regarding WP:BLP, I chose not to include the name of Farmer's mistress in the article, even though it appears in mainstream, reliable sources such as the Lexington Herald-Leader. (For reference, the first mention of her is in the last paragraph of the "Bid for lieutenant governor" section.) She is relevant because Farmer was indicted for abusing the public trust, including putting his girlfriend into a non-merit government job and apparently paying her on the clock for doing personal errands and such. She was also charged and convicted.

During the article's recently passed FA candidacy, a couple of editors asked why the name wasn't included. They thought a case could be made for either inclusion or exclusion, so I promised I'd follow up with an RFC once the FAC closed. The prose probably does read a bit more awkwardly without it in places. I'd like input from folks more policy-savvy than myself on whether the mistress' name should be included. Thanks. Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 13:38, 14 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Assuming there was no ambiguity in the report, I would include it, but with in-text attribution to the Herald-Leader. Dwpaul ^Talk 14:59, 14 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Without a consensus to include the name, I would default to omitting it. It doesn't seem necessary to the article. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 00:33, 15 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
This case depends heavily on the coverage of the mistress' name in reliable sources. Assuming your statement, that it "appears in mainstream", is true, it should be included. However, if only one source makes note of it, then inclusion is not necessary and it should not be included. Meatsgains (talk) 02:10, 19 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
- I have found the name in the Lexington Herald-Leader, The Courier-Journal (Louisville), The State Journal (Frankfort), and the web sites of WBKO (Bowling Green), WKYT (Louisville), and WDRB (Lexington), at least. Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 13:53, 19 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

@S Marshall: Thanks for a thoughtful close. Perhaps I should have commented here -- I was one of the FAC reviewers who asked why her name wasn't mentioned -- but I don't have a strong opinion either way, and I don't know enough about the details of BLP policy to feel I could contribute to that aspect of the discussion. I think the RfC does settle that there is no compelling BLP argument in either direction, which leaves it up to editor discretion, as you say. That's a useful outcome. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 15:37, 22 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@S Marshall: Let me echo Mike's thanks for the extensive closing rationale. Far from apologizing, you should be commended for it. I really expected a dutiful "no consensus" close without further comment, which would have proven most unhelpful. I'm also pleased to see that my indecision was not without merit, as thoughtful arguments exist on both sides, although nobody seems to have a really strong preference for either. One point that holds some sway – and which I had not considered previously – is the issue of the publicity the article could generate. Since I have toyed with nominating the article for TFA on Farmer's release date, that is a consideration. My personal sense of decorum led me to believe the name should be omitted absent a compelling reason to include it. Seeing nothing here that I would consider a "compelling reason", and given that the lack of consensus seems to leave the issue to my discretion for the moment, I think we'll continue with the status quo. Thanks to all who commented. Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 17:13, 22 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Richie Farmer/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

==Initial rating== While he holds a special place in the hearts of Kentucky Wildcats fans like myself, Farmer's overall notability isn't very high, even in his present post of Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture. This article is obviously a stub. Acdixon 16:58, 2 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Last edited at 16:58, 2 January 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 04:25, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Photos?

It's remarkable to me, especially in the cram-in-the-pix Wikipedia, how few pictures there are in this article—and none at all of the article's subject (his team's coach?), despite his being a star athlete and statewide politician. Surely there are pictures of him out there, all these years later. --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 17:15, 26 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Piledhigheranddeeper: I would love to have added a picture of Farmer, and I'm sure there are some available made by state government entities, but I know those are not automatically PD, as they are with US federal entities. I did some cursory searches way back when, but something more may have come to light in the interim. Acdixon ^{(talk · contribs)} 17:46, 26 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]