User talk:64.18.151.214

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Someone using this IP address, 64.18.151.214, has made edits to Stonewall riots that were made in good faith, but have been deemed not to contribute positively to the article. These edits have thus been reverted. Wikipedia's page on unacceptable additions may explain why. If you'd like to experiment with the syntax, please do so in the sandbox rather than in articles.

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Again, welcome! Mathglot (talk) 10:54, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Edits at Stonewall riots

Moved from User talk:Mathglot § Seeking clarification

Regarding your comment here on my Talk page (reproduced below):

Seeking clarification

Hello. I got a notification informing me that, disappointingly, the edit I had made to a very incorrect statement in the Stonewall riots page had been reversed. I even found and linked the supporting reference by the same author quoted a few lines before for other details. Can you explain what happened to my work? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.18.151.214 (talk) 05:52, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi, 64.18.151.214, and once again, welcome, and thanks for your work at Stonewall riots. Yes, it's disappointing, but your work hasn't disappeared, it's preserved in the version history and you can still find it there under the History tab. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and there are certain policies and guidelines about adding or changing content, some of which are linked above in the welcome message. I urge you to take some time to look at them and browse around a bit. Some of the most important ones, concern the verifiability of content, and the use of citations to reliable sources to demonstrate it. Conversely, when removing content that is appropriate to the article topic and already has citations, then normally you have to justify why you have decided to do that, especially if that sourced content has been present in the article for some time, and passed muster with many other editors who thought well enough of it to leave it alone. The lead section of an article is special, and is supposed to be a summary of the main part of the article. On a popular or controversial article, it may represent the work of dozens or hundreds of editors over a period of years, and is not the best place for a new editor to make their first edits at the encyclopedia. Since it is a summary, normally you can't just dive in, and change the lead, even if you are an experienced editor, or the lead doesn't summarize the article correctly; what you'd have to do, is first changed the body of the article, and then summarize it in the lead. Also, the entire topic can be a contentious one, so not the best topic area for a new editor to jump in.

Your edits didn't seem an improvement to me, as you removed some long-standing content from the lea and you also added some content, sourcing it to Carter, which is fine, but he is cited dozens of times in the body of the article, and the level of detail of your addition seemed more appropriate to the body of the article. But another principle of Wikipedia, is that it operates on consensus, and perhaps other editors will agree with you. The way to find out, is to raise a discussion on the article talk page, describe the changes you wish to make (or link them, as I did just above), and see what other editors think about your idea.

When using Talk pages, whether mine, this one, or the article talk page, please follow talk page conventions which you can find at WP:TALK. In addition, please follow the talk page convention of indenting replies, which you can read about at WP:THREAD. Finally, please always sign all your contributions, by adding four tildes ('~~~~') at the end of your message. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 10:09, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

P.S., Check into signing up for a free account; there are lots of advantages, including being notified when someone leaves you a message, and many others. Mathglot (talk) 10:09, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

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