Talk:Mark Teltscher

TheVOid

It is worth the time to research the reported connection between Mark Teltscher and PokerStars player TheVOid who was disqualified for cheating to win the $1.3 million first prize in the 2007 WCOOP. Anyone with good source material on this, it would be appreciated.zadignose 19:42, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Alright, having looked around, I haven't found anything but rumors on this. Clearly this isn't well enough substantiated to justify a mention on the page, at least until someone can find a real source for the info. If anyone *does* have such a source, of course please bring it forward. zadignose (talk) 17:47, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Wow... looks like the Isle of Mann court case brings more light to the situation, and pretty much confirms the Teltscher = TheVOid connection! Previously PokerStars did not publicly make reference to the Teltscher name. Now I think Teltscher is properly branded, and it's a real shame. zadignose (talk) 10:59, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

I deleted all the information about this competition as it is based solely on rumour and unsubstantiated. It is good not enough for an encyclopedia to fill up entries with unproven allegations and leave them leaving a reader to suspect that the information is true Silverneedle (talk) 11:56, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

I have no idea why but the allegations about Mark Teltscher reappeared. I have deleted them again. Silverneedle (talk) 23:13, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

And I have restored them, because the material is clearly and properly cited. Please discuss before removing the material again. Alan the Roving Ambassador (User:N5iln) (talk) 23:32, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

I am not sure why this material is on the page - it is "allegations." Is it reasonable for an Encyclopedia that wants any credibility to base entries on allegations? The fact that it is on the site leads people to believe that the information is true even if prefaced with the words "alleged" or some such. It is an outrage and not acceptable.Silverneedle (talk) 23:54, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Non sequitur. The existence of "allegations", unproved or not, can be notable with respect to a given article topic. Since one editor has determined that it's notable, and another thinks it isn't, it now falls to consensus to decide. In the meantime, the material should remain in place until and unless a previously-uninvolved editor elects to remove it, and explains their rationale either here or in an edit summary. --Alan the Roving Ambassador (User:N5iln) (talk) 00:32, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

For some reason, the {{RfC}} template was removed, twice, by the RfCbot. Rather than revert either the bot or the repeated (and, in my opinion, improper) deletion of the content in question, I have now requested a third opinion. --Alan the Roving Ambassador (User:N5iln) (talk) 21:44, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

The material had plenty of references, and there are plenty more out there. The incident should definitely be covered appropriately in the article. 2005 (talk) 23:22, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

These aren't allegations: Natalie Teltscher admitted to it herself, not to mention all other sources mentioning TheV0id and Teltscher ban. Rymatz (talk) 11:24, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Response to Third Opinion Request:

Disclaimers: I am responding to a third opinion request made at WP:3O. I have made no previous edits on Mark Teltscher and have no known association with the editors involved in this discussion. The third opinion process (FAQ) is informal and I have no special powers or authority apart from being a fresh pair of eyes. Third opinions are not tiebreakers and should not be "counted" in determining whether or not consensus has been reached. My personal standards for issuing third opinions can be viewed here.

Opinion: I believe the inclusion of this material is prohibited by Wikipedia BLP policy. I've read through all the sources listed in Rymatz's post and those provided in the last version of the article in which the text was included. It is very clear, indeed, that all these sources, even if reliable in their own right (a presumption about which I have considerable doubt as to most of them), are entirely relying on press releases issued by PokerStars to say what they have to say about the matter. Because of that, they are no more reliable on this subject than those press releases themselves. Though it seems fairly obvious on its face, a bit of research at the reliable sources noticeboard will quickly confirm that press releases are considered to be self-published primary sources. The WP:BLPSPS section of the biographies of living persons policy could not be more clear or emphatic: "Never use self-published sources—including but not limited to books, zines, websites, blogs, and tweets—as sources of material about a living person, unless written or published by the subject." Neither PokerStars' press releases, nor secondary sources based on those press releases, nor per the WP:BLPPRIMARY section of that policy any court records, can be used as sources about living persons, including the subject of this article and his sister.

What's next: Once you've considered this opinion click here to see what happens next.—TransporterMan (TALK) 16:50, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

BLP wouldn't prohibit the sources based on the Pokerstars statement, but it might be appropriate dsome or all of the time to phrase things as "pokerstars says.... etc." A source where he says he is TheVoid would be nice, and if need be that could be followed by "Pokerstars says..." text. 2005 (talk) 06:44, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

July 2015

I have removed the information, yet again, on this matter. I remind you of the following: "Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. " Note the third party for this dispute previously. Pokerstars is not a reliable source. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Silverneedle (talk • contribs) 15:26, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Silverneedle, I note your objections above, however, 1. It is not "contentions", it is widely published on reputed media sources for this type of information, 2. It is not "unsourced or poorly sourced", the source are there and referenced and there are many more sources I could also add if you wish?, 3. Pokerstars are not the source, the were the one of the parties in a legal case in this instance, the article could possible have a minor rewording however the facts are clear, 4. Lastly can you state your relationship to any of the subjects mentioned in this article as I see a potential WP:COIThe Original Filfi (talk) 01:54, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

The Original Filfi, firstly I apologise, I wrote "Pokerstars is not a reliable source." I should have written "Pokernews.com" instead. I direct you to Wikipedia's own page about what sources are appropriate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources This, to me, largely seems reasonable. It refers to published books such as those by Cambridge University Press. It is also refers to "academic and peer-reviewed publications" and the like. It sates specifically, " If you are unsure about the quality of a journal, check that the editorial board is based in a respected accredited university, and that it is included in the relevant citation index." I put it to you that pokernews.com is not based at a "respected accredited university." Finally, it refers to news organisations. The ones mentioned include: "BBC News, Reuters, Agence France-Presse or the Associated Press" I put it to you that pokernews.com would not be viewed an organization of comparable repute to the BBC or Reuters etc. There is a standard academic view that on occasion certain publications might be appropriate in context. Hence, a local newspaper of repute where there is an editorial board, columns where there are "letters to the editor" and potentially even "Right to Reply" policies in place that would make other sources acceptable in a given context. However I do not believe that pokernews.com is a sufficient source. If you had a source such as "Las Vegas Sun News" then I would accept that you have a source that it would be reasonable to treat as reliable even if it was not reliable in this instance. But you don't: you have pokernews.com. And as the first sourced used in that segment of the page states, information "swirled through various poker-discussion forums." Is that the standards you believe that Wikipedia should be reduced to: "poker-discussion forums"? What next? A tweet from a 10 year old?

You have asked for my relationship to subjects mentioned in the article. I am certainly not a paid advocate but I am an acquaintance of Mark Teltscher. I simply do not believe it right or fair that a website such as Wikipedia that many people seem to view is authoritative even though it isn't, should publish libelous information, scurrilous gossip about a living person where the facts are not checked back to a reliable source. Pokernews.com does not cut it. I also bring to your attention the information on the Wikipedia page I linked to above: "Beware of sources which sound reliable but don't have the reputation for fact-checking and accuracy that WP:RS requires."

I therefore am now to remove that addition you have added back and I should be grateful if you, or other editors at Wikipedia, did not continue this campaign. I thought it was dealt with in 2011. A third party was brought in to look at it. I have no idea why you feel fit to override that. Please stop it now. Silverneedle. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Silverneedle (talk • contribs) 10:51, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi again, I have read the your comments above, first I would like to point out the revision I saw was poorly sourced and contained supposition, I tried to ensure a balance and find in-industry sources to support any notations/prose, not to re-ignite a resolved debate. I have now dug a bit deeper and have read your previous statements on this matter and the 3rd party review and totally accept that this is not suitable for a BLP. Secondly, as alluded to in my post above, it is and never was from my point-of-view a "campaign", an article linked to this page and no mention of the reason for the link to this page was included in this article, hence I added my edit, it was a drive for the never reached encyclopedic completeness. Lastly, with the above considered, I have reinstated a previous article called TheV0id, used as the redirect, and amended the existing prose and then added some of my prose, sources and quotes I used on this article, TheV0id now stands-alone, it is not covered by BLP and it is notable in its own right. I would appreciate it if you could review, and amend if you think it appropriate. Apologies for any misunderstanding and thank you for your time.Kind regards The Original Filfi (talk) 12:31, 21 July 2015 (UTC) The Original Fifi, I apologise for referring to a "campaign" if that was not the case. Silverneedle. Silverneedle (talk) 08:03, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

Pokernews is a reliable source for poker information. The assertion to the contrary is at best disingenuous. There are dozens of other supporting articles on this topic, and no articles even suggesting some controversy about this information. The bottom line is it is verifiable that 1) Pokerstars awarded the victory to another player, that 2) Natalie was the registered user the V0id, 3) that Pokerstars claims Mark played on Natalie's account. The article should say all these things. The only BLP issue is the article should not state as a matter of verifiable fact that Mark did in fact play. The verifiable fact is Pokerstars says he did. 2005 (talk) 20:28, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

Silverneedle, please address the actual point: Do you dispute that Pokerstars claimed TheV0id was Mark? And, do you dispute Pokerstars claims Natalie dropped her lawsuit about this? Those are the issues. The article now does not say Mark did play. You are right the article should not say that, but you are wrong if you think it is wrong for the article to state the plainly verifiable truth that Pokerstars has made claims about Mark. 2005 (talk) 20:58, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

I just added references from IOM Today/Isle Of Man Examiner which directly reports on the dropping of the lawsuit and paying of court costs, and used the wording from the newspaper coverage, not the PokerStars press release. 2005 (talk) 01:39, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

This really is an appalling outrage. I shall now delete the information and it should not be re-added. As stated earlier, this was looked at in 2011 by an independent third party person from Wikipedia and it was decided that it was inappropriate to contain that information. The person above ([User talk:2005|talk) seems to acknowledge that the Pokerstars press release is not an acceptable source for a living person because they have deliberately added references from IOM Today/Isle Of Man Examiner. Two links have been added from that source but in not a single one is the name Mark Teltscher even mentioned. It you wish to claim that Mark Teltscher has previously been known as Natalie Teltscher then you should provide a reliable source to the point. You have not done so. I put it to you that the reason the Isle of Man Examiner does not mention the name Mark Teltscher is because the newspaper is not relying on tittle-tattle. I further put it you that Wikipedia should also not rely on tittle-tattle. Wikipedia's own pages state this is so: "Wikipedia is not the place for passing along gossip and rumors." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources The section begins: "In 2007 the PokerStars online poker room claimed Mark played multiple accounts including the account "TheV0id"" It is a pure allegation - a simple claim. If I found out your real name, created a website, and claimed you were a cheat, would it be acceptable to repeat that on your Wikipedia page purely because the claim was made? Of course not. This whole section about Mark Teltsher is based on allegations, rumours and gossip. It is inappropriate for a Wikipedia Page. I am deleting it. DO NOT PUT IT BACK. Silverneedle. Silverneedle (talk) 07:58, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

• I have had another look at this and have to agree with Silverneedle, although it appears "common knowledge" there is no direct source, possibly a "See Also" link to the article TheV0id or (not sure this is correct either) a note on his sisters notoriety on this page, in either case as there is no direct source linking Mark to the actual factual cheating, it would at best, be third hand supposition to directly implicate him here, and I repeat what I posted above, "I ... accept that this is not suitable for a BLP". From my research and as far as I can tell Pokerstars never released who they believed was the "agent", indeed their case was to fairly distribute the monies to the other parties and their onus of proof was to disqualify Natalie and not prove who the "agent" was. The Original Filfi (talk) 03:01, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

Protection request

This article is consistently being reverted to a sanitised version by one user, the sources are clearly stated and referenced, some minor re-wording may be in order, however to remove this section entirely is inappropriate.The Original Filfi (talk) 01:39, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

 Not done that is not a semi-protected edit request, and the page is not protected - which, as the other editor is autoconfirmed, would not help in any case.
You have done the right thing by trying to discuss with the editor - if that fails please use WP:Dispute resolution - Arjayay (talk) 08:49, 21 July 2015 (UTC)