Template:Did you know nominations/Mandisa Thomas

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:23, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

Mandisa Thomas

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Mandisa Thomas speaking at California Freethought Day

... that the 2013 Blackout Secular Rally, organized by Mandisa Thomas to celebrate racial diversity in the secular demographic, was the United States' first outdoor event headlined by nontheists of color? Source: "In yet another sign of how the American secular demographic is emerging – in terms of both raw numbers and organizational commitment – the first-ever rally featuring nonbelievers of color is scheduled for later this month in New York." (Blackout Secular Rally: Atheism Makes Minority Inroads)
- ALT1:... that California bill SCR-79 recognized speakers including Mandisa Thomas, and officially proclaimed October 15, 2017, as the 16th annual celebration of California Freethought Day? Source: "be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims October 15, 2017, as the 16th annual celebration of California Freethought Day in Sacramento, California..." (Bill Text - SCR-79 California Freethought Day)

Reviewed: Hamadryas laodamia

5x expanded by JGehlbach (talk). Self-nominated at 19:49, 27 December 2017 (UTC).

New enough. Long enough (5x expansion). Article gives subject's full DOB; this needs a citation. Even though the claim "the first outdoor event featuring nontheists of color" is in the source, I am rather sceptical. Have there never been such events outside the US? And I don't see how the source supports it being "the first secular rally celebrating diversity", which also seems an improbable claim. ALT1 is not fully supported by the article, which does not mention it being in Sacramento. Perhaps "in Sacramento" could be dropped, as it is ambiguous anyway. Earwig and spot checking found no close paraphrasing issues, copyright violations or plagiarism. Edwardx (talk) 14:10, 28 December 2017 (UTC)
@Edwardx: Thanks for the thorough review. I removed the DOB from article infobox and lede until RS can be located. Also reworked primary hook to tighten claims and ALT1 to remove mention of Sacramento.

Thank you, JGehlbach. Looking more closely at the at the hook claim, the article reviewing the rally was written by Thomas, and as the organizer, we can reasonably assume the poster was created under her direction. The cited source (review article written by Thomas) begins with, "Mandisa Thomas, organizer of the first-ever outdoor event featuring nontheists of color, reports on the success of the event...". The poster describes the event as, "The first outdoor rally/celebration that will predominantly feature secularists of color". All of these claims are rather vague, and their independence is debatable. Is there no other coverage of the rally available? Edwardx (talk) 12:28, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

@Edwardx: You're right about the primary hook and the likely bias of its supporting source. I found a different source which I also added to the article, and rewrote the DYK hook somewhat to eliminate the secondary hook claim which I'm indeed finding troublesome to support. Please have another look, and thank you again for your diligence. If you find the primary hook still too problematic, I'm happy to go with ALT1. JGehlbach (talk) 16:46, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

Very sorry for the delay, JGehlbach. I've added a little to the article, so that ALT1 is fully reflected by the Wikipedia article, not just the source. I was still a bit hesitant about ALT0, but on reflection, think we can accept the even more qualified claim. The new source appears to be a "blog" type article, but David Niose is a prominent US humanist/secularist, with a well-established article on Wikipedia, and Psychology Today has been published since 1967. Again, apologies for the delay. Edwardx (talk) 09:56, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

I've taken the liberty of changing ALT1 into past tense, since the date is over three months in the past, and adding a needed comma. BlueMoonset (talk) 11:13, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Well spotted, BlueMoonset. I've re-added my "tick" for the sake of good order. Edwardx (talk) 12:34, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, Edwardx and BlueMoonset. I changed my username since creating this nomination, posting here to express my appreciation for your review and to clarify any confusion about usernames. Cheers! Poorlyglot (talk) 02:23, 25 January 2018 (UTC)