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Welcome!

Hello, David Tornheim! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions to this free encyclopedia. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your username and the date. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Happy editing! -- Levine2112 discuss 02:51, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
Getting started
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-- Levine2112 discuss 02:51, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Outlining

Two minor things. New topics start at the bottom, & use a new header, like so: ==Outlining== which gives you the effect you see, & the "edit" link for the section. You missed the bottom of the page here & left off the header, so I moved & added (which is within guidelines if somebody goofs; just be sure you put it back in...)

If you want to get tricky you can add * to get more indent,

  • indent
    • indent
      • indent

or use #

  1. indent

If you want to get really fancy, you can [[User talk:Trekphiler|hide out]]... Cheers. TREKphiler hit me ♠ 08:37, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for all the help!!--David Tornheim (talk) 17:39, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Lennar Corporation

Hi there, I have warned the user regarding this, if he/she continues I will report them to WP:AIV. Unexplained blanking of article content, especially entire sections constitutes vandalism. You did fine on my talk page, the only thing you didn't do was create a header for the subject. You do this by clicking the 'new section' tab (up at the top) and entering a subject, or you can put two equal signs on either side of the discussion topic and it will generate a header for you. The archive box on my talk page is for archiving outdated discussions that are no longer relevant. Rather than deleting the discussions most editors archive them for easy access, and so other editors can view old discussions without having to dig through the page history. I'll keep an eye out for the editor removing the controversy section, he gets one more warning then he can be reported. If you see them delete the section again feel free to revert, the WP:3RR rule does not apply to vandalism. Is there anything else I can help you with? Cheers, Landon1980 (talk) 00:17, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the help. I see they did it again, but maybe a separate person. Should we do Wikiscan? I haven't tried that yet. This is correct to reply here instead of your talk page?--David Tornheim (talk) 17:48, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
It dosen't matter where you reply, but just make sure that the user knows that you replied to them on your talk page--leave a message on their talk page saying something like "I replied to your message on my talk page". Good day! the_ed17 01:54, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
It's usual to reply on the poster's talk, unless you want to limit it to your own talk; if so, custom (as I've seen it) is to place a notice prominently on your talk saying "I'll reply here" & advise 'em to watch your talk. (Don't sweat how, unless you want an explanation....) Personally, I prefer to reply on usertalk so they'll know I've added, but it's your call. TREKphiler hit me ♠ 08:23, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for all the help!!--David Tornheim (talk) 17:39, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
Yes, if they do it one more time they will be blocked from editing. If you see that same user make that edit again report them to WP:AIV, there is a level 4 warning on their talk page. Anytime a user vandalizes after a level 4 warning their blocked. IP's are not usually blocked indefinitely, but where this is a registered user they will most likely be blocked indefinitely for using a 'vandalism only' account. Have a good day, Landon1980 (talk) 17:52, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Misusing Vandalism Warnings

Hi, I am an administrator. You just left me a vandalism warning [1] for an edit I made to Lennar Corporation in a good faith effort to improve the article. Wikipedia has an assume good faith policy. Attempts to improve an article, even if misguided, are not vandalism. You need to immediately stop misusing vandalism warnings in editorial disputes. Instead, discuss concerns with other editors and then go to dispute resolution, if needed. Jehochman Talk 21:31, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Conspiracy?

I've no problem with it, but it will need sourcing (& I don't have access to paper copies of the said reports, or I'd do it), so it's going to get promptly taken out again. I can only suggest, if it bugs you a lot, post a complaint on the PHAND talk page. Trust me, there are people with access to the docs who will address the issue. If not, try here; you might be surprised, & I know there are serious, interested people that will see it there, & act on it, if they realize there are uninformed people getting lost in the crossfire of esoterica. Hope that helps. TREKphiler hit me ♠ 04:18, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

TIND

See this essay on deadlines. If you have a concern about the article, you can start a request for comments on the get more editors involved, or you could try third opinion. Happy editing. Jehochman Talk 20:52, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

I can't disagree with that. It takes as long as it takes. Best you can do is watch the page, hope there are people as interested as you (& there probably are, check the talk page), & if it doesn't move at all, message the talk of somebody who's posted to the talk often. Or who created the page (click "page history" on the article page) & ask for comment. Give it at least a couple of weeks on a contentious issue with lo traffic on the talk page. (Something like PHAND, you'll tend to see it in a couple of days, 'cause it attracts a lot of attention; this has gone weeks with only 3 of us seeming to notice it, & that was after a msg to the WP Autos talk page.) You could also try a msg to the project talk page. (The article will fall under a project; follow the link, & beware posting on the project page instead of the project talk, 'cause it's all to easy to do. I learned the hard way. ;) ) And yeah, sometimes the application seems a little capricious. All I can say is, don't let it bug you too much, 'cause there really isn't much you can do about it. Post the messages, prod people if you can, & above all, keep your temper, 'cause frustration will only bite you when it comes to getting results. (That's the hardest thing for me.) Hope it's some help. I'll have a look at the page, too.
I gotta tell you, I don't see the beef, either. I'd say both sites are outside NPOV (neither is neutral on it), but beyond that, you got me beat. Might ask here for more info. Calling it vandalism was over the top; bad call, maybe, but clearly not bad faith. And you overreacted in the tone of your edit summary; all caps is SHOUTING. (Yeh, there's all kinds of wikiquette to learn...) Better to post a comment to the talk page with detailed concerns or questions, & your reasons for including, reverting, re-adding, whatever, after it's taken out, especially when you're getting somebody citing guidelines. That's obviously somebody who knows his way around.
And when it comes to what's OK for EL sources, I'm not the best one to ask, 'cause I took out ELs & had the original poster complain about it & win. I thought I understood the standards... TREKphiler hit me ♠ 20:46, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
I moved our discussion to the talk page of the Lennar article, and replied to your last post there. Landon1980 (talk) 21:42, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Respect

For the record, though, you are one of the most amicable newcomers I have ever met! Thanks you for that! the_ed17 20:52, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliment. I've been doing political stuff for years and used to be as argumentative as so many people here and on newsgroups are and have been. I have learned how futile it is to argue like this (although it can be fun, I guess)--when someone is invested in another side emotionally, which is often the case in these heated discussions, bashing your opponent over the head with your superior facts is generally not going to work: they will not want to feel beaten & humiliated, so they will simply do the same back, even if they have inferior facts. It's a matter of pride. The more aggressive or condescending you are, the more they will dig in their heals and fight fire with fire.
Instead, if you really want the other side to listen, you have to start with respect, listening, and striving for common ground, and seeing the other side as an equal. In fact, if you see them as not the ENEMY, but a potential supporter of your viewpoint, you'll have a much better chance of convincing them. If you think they are an idiot and other condescending things about them, they'll pick up on that FIRST and FOREMOST and instinctively want to fight and disagree with you, even when they know you are right and no matter how solid your position. (As a good example, I met this one guy and he would come at people like a steamroller or tank, aggressively arguing his position. When I first met him, he did the same for me, implying I was totally wrong to think certain things. Unfortunately, he didn't know that either I didn't know or didn't think any of those things he seemed to be attributing to me, and I ALREADY agreed with his position before I met him. But because he was so nasty in his style of argumentation and towards me and those the disagreed with, I instinctively felt the need to defend the people I disagreed with and then disagree with the position he was taking, despite the fact that I originally agreed with it before he opened his mouth. What he really wanted was to argue, not to convince me. He had a chip on his shoulder. Fortunately, I didn't take the bait. I steered clear of his negative energy.)
Back to the people being attacked--they'll simply hear the negativity you feel about them and vigorously insist you have no right to say such negative things, or think so badly of them and they'll throw in everything but the kitchen sink to protect their dignity and defend facts they know are sketchy--the argument on the surface appears to be about facts, but in reality, the desire to have one's opinions and viewpoints respected and heard is really what's going on. And both sides vigorously insist their viewpoint is not being heard for any number of reasons.
On the other hand, when the person you disagree with has room to be mistaken gracefully, and the person doing the convincing does not thereby claim victory and say "See I was right; he's an idiot", if their acceptance of the contrary view is safe and they will not lose face by agreeing, then you will have a chance to bring them to your point of view. If agreeing with your opponent invites further ridicule and harsh treatment, they simply are probably not going to concede if they have any pride. It becomes more a game than an investigation into the truth.
And last, and most important: My experience with politics is that you really waste your time, if you expend all your energy arguing with those who disagree with you, because as I said before, those who strongly disagree are unlikely to change their position, no matter what the issue and no matter how much energy you put into trying to convince them. Probably the best you'll get is that they will understand WHY you think what you think, may even be able to cogently make your argument to someone else, but will continue to disagree with you, but hopefully will leave with more respect for you than you started--that's probably your best case.
It is also as big a waste of time to try to convince those who don't care about the subject at all. When you say to them, "You SHOULD CARE MORE about the environment", (or, say, Pearl Harbor), for example, they will immediately get defensive, just like the person who disagrees with you about whether drilling for oil in Alaska will have a negative impact on the environment. The person who does not care will resent your trying to drag them into a discussion about something they are not interested in, and will shut down, disagree to be annoying, pretend to be listening, nod their head in agreement when they actually disagree, etc. Either way, you are wasting your time and theirs, they are not listening and likely no substance is going to get in, they don't care. If they had any viewpoint on the subject before, it will be unchanged by whatever you said, which will be like the noise of a fly they would prefer to swat. If anything they will think, "People arguing for X are really annoying and pushy--I'm not sure I want to be associated with people arguing for X; they're jerks." Basically, they too feel disrespected for your trying to convince them of something they don't want to be convinced about; so you lose their respect as well. If you want their respect, which again is the most important, you let them continue not to care, go on their merry way and worry about whatever they do care about. If they later start listening, and this often happens when they get bored with whatever stuff is happening their lives and they see how excited you get about what you are doing, they start showing interest and asking questions, THEN you talk about that subject, but until then, you let them not care, and accept that, just like accepting those who disagree. It can be hard to bite your tongue when that's what you really want to talk about. In the meantime, maybe you can find another subject that both you and he or she DO want to talk about. You'll have a much better chance on the subject that does interest them.
So in politics, to make something happen, instead of arguing ad nauseum with those who vehemently disagree or don't care, you first energize those who DO agree with you and support you. They are easy to convince--they are instinctively on your side anyway. Next, you convince those who are on the fence and have not made a decision, but are open to listening (unlike the people who don't care). They are going to listen to you AND to the other side, then come to a decision. If you're being mean to those who disagree, you're going to lose respect in their eyes and they may listen more attentively to the other side. If you are respectful, then they are more likely to think you are confident enough in your position to not get so defensive. And if you can accept that other people have different opinions (and even argue them WITHOUT resentment), they're also more likely to listen to you: They'll think, hey that person is reasonable and level-headed, not narrow-minded with an inflexible and emotionally invested based agenda; that person looked at ALL THE EVIDENCE and then came to a conclusion--they are not biased and have blinders on. That's my 2 cents...

--David Tornheim (talk) 04:15, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Nice novel! Fun to read. I'll try to reply in depth later, I have to go for now. the_ed17 01:38, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
Ever think of being a crisis negotiator? (That's my in-depth reply =]) Wow. the_ed17 02:13, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
Glad you liked it. I put a lot of work into revising it, probably spent 2 hours on that. But I think it was worth it, even if you are the only one read it. I wrote something similar to an activist a few weeks ago, having put just as much work into it (don't know how much she actually read). I probably should have just cut and pasted that and revised accordingly. Of course, when I started, I had no idea I was going to say so much. Happens a lot to me. Sometimes drives me crazy... I'm saving this one, maybe I'll make a book out of essays like this... --David Tornheim (talk) 02:29, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

That would be a good idea...I think that many people would buy something like that! (like, um, crisis negotiators.... =]) Don't forget the section above too.the_ed17 02:47, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

After reading your [User:David Tornheim|user page]], I agree that, no, you are not neutral on some subjects. On the flip side, who is? People can be completely biased and still want a neutral article, right? Ugh. Disgusting, how people can just attack someone else because they think that they know them, and "know" what they are going to do. the_ed17 23:36, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

Day code: style section

"what's the best way to add emphasis?" Not having read it, I can't say if this addresses it. I find it's more a matter of personal taste. I prefer bolding ('cause I find ital doesn't show up well on my monitor), but I've gotten ragged a bit for it; some wikipeople consider it shouting. It's really your call; you're not gonna get warned off for much past a lot of ALL CAPS, which is over the top, especially in edit summaries. (Why that's treated diff, I'm not really sure, but it is; deal with it. ;) ) Oh, & style questions like that, really, are better posted to a usertalk page, rather than an article page, since they don't deal with the article content/format. (Unless you mean emphasis within the article...) No, that's not a rule, just a convention, a bit like the diff between a party line & a private one. Hope this helps. TREKphiler hit me ♠ 04:53, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Indenting

To indent something, just put it like this:

:blah, blah, blah

It will appear as so:

blah, blah, blah

To bullet/number something, it goes like this:

*The Shannara series is written by Terry Brooks.

  1. </nowiki>The Shannara series is written by Terry Brooks. </nowiki>

It will appear like this:

  1. The Shannara series is written by Terry Brooks.

(The bolding was for emphasis, by the way. =]) Hope that helped some! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Cheers! the_ed17 01:52, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for all the help!!--David Tornheim (talk) 17:39, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
Anytime...and here's another thing. =) When you reply to someone else's comment, indent your reply, like I did just now to your comment--it just makes conversations a lot easier to follow. Two more quick thoughts: don't get frustrated if you are not doing stuff right...Rome wasn't built in a day, and you won't learn everything about Wikipedia anytime soon, if you even could. I've been here since March of 2006, (my first edit!) and I'm still learning a lot every day I am on here. Good day! the_ed17 20:52, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
Also, here's something that isn't required, but can help other users out:

When editing an article on Wikipedia there is a small field labeled "Edit summary" under the main edit-box. It looks like this:

Edit summary text box

The text written here will appear on the Recent changes page, in the page revision history, on the diff page, and in the watchlists of users who are watching that article. See m:Help:Edit summary for full information on this feature.

Filling in the edit summary field greatly helps your fellow contributors in understanding what you changed, so please always fill in the edit summary field. If you are adding a section, please do not just keep the previous section's header in the Edit summary field – please fill in your new section's name instead. For the record, though, you are one of the most amicable newcomers I have ever met! Thanks you for that! the_ed17 20:52, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the further tips. Yeah, I knew about indenting, not immediately, but caught on--forgot about it for the outline. Sometimes it's unclear when it is best to indent. For example, on the "conspiracy thing", I was really really responding to just the most recent jab back & forth, I was responding to the ENTIRE DISCUSSION (that to me seemed to be leading nowhere in a hurry) and I was hoping to draw attention to the bigger picture--that's why I didn't indent there and at another place.
I was also aware of the revision comments section. Except in my first edit, I pretty much always use it when revising an ARTICLE, except for reverts of deleted sourced material (on Lennar). I haven't been doing it for the discussion page, since I'm just adding to an existing conversation, and it seems redundant--what else are people doing other than continuing the discussion. What's the protocol on that? Any guidelines on comments in the discussion section. I have experience with revisions from programming & understand the concept for being able to see the history of changes to a product or program, etc., but it doesn't exactly make sense to have a revision history of a conversation--instead, I would think you just watch the conversation which is basically sequential anyway, right?--David Tornheim (talk) 04:53, 24 July 2008 (UTC) [Actually I submitted this an hour or so ago, along with the continuation of the next topic...]
Just put 'reply' or 'reply to ____' in the edit summary box...it helps others who happen to wonder what x person did...I dunno, its not a huge deal when on discussion pages. the_ed17 01:38, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
It's useful for those watching an article talkpage to know what you're commenting about, tho "reply" or "cmt" are often enough; I prefer to clip a bit of my comment & quote it in the summary, so if you're looking for a particular comment, you can search the page without having to read it all. It's a matter of choice (like so much on WP). Only thing not to do is leave it blank.
And I don't know if there's a guideline on it, but when you start a new section, ideally, edit summary like this: "/* Indenting */ new section" (just leave off " & "). I think the system will do it for you (I've never opened a blank page & tried it), but in case it doesn't... TREKphiler hit me ♠ 05:33, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

SF Emergency Drill Simulates WMD Attack

Check it out! I was on TV!

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=37954@kpix.dayport.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN-HlDoUMyY

BillyTFried (talk) 22:46, 17 August 2008 (UTC)


No comment? Do you think I came off like a wise ass calling them "Heros"? BillyTFried (talk) 03:44, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


Terrence Park School

Hi there. You might consider keeping the title the way it is. "High Schools" are pretty much protected against deletion like garlic stops vampires, whereas "Elementary Schools" are pretty much assured of being deleted or merged pronto. Calling it "School" may well work okay now that it's through the New Articles gauntlet (I "patrolled" it through last night) as long as you emphasize that it included grade 9-12 kids at some point in its history. If you want to write about the elementary school, you'll need to either do that on the school district's page or on the regular Terrence Park School page, because, like I say, elementary school pages are slated for quick annihilation about 99% of the time... To change the name of the page, just click the MOVE THIS PAGE link and follow the easy instructions.

Thanks for adding the stuff and welcome to Wikipedia! Don't hesitate to drop me a line on my talk page if you ever have any questions about this or that. The page WP:OUTCOMES might be useful reading helping to get you up to speed.

It looks like you had problems with a photograph on that page also. Can I help with that? Carrite (talk) 15:33, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Oh, crap, I see you've been here since 2008. My bad. Nevertheless, my mailbox is open if you ever have a question or a problem. Carrite (talk) 15:35, 8 April 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for your response. Yeah, I've been on Wikipedia since 2008, but I have done almost no editing for 2-3 years. So I've forgotten some of the key things I learned when I was active. I'm a pretty focused person and very interested in specific topics, like that school (and now as an extension Terrace Park history, partly because I lived there), so many of the specific things that are common on Wikipedia I might not know. As I state in my main page, I never claim to be 100% objective, try to be fair and balanced. I only recently found out about the demolition plans, and that's why I thought it valuable for people to know about the school and what has and is happening to it. I have always considered it a historically significant building worthy of a wiki page, but had not until now been interested enough to actually put up a page on it. Now that it is about to be lost, the Wiki page will be one of the few things that explains it as it was before it was partially destroyed.
I'll keep in mind your suggestions about the name.
As to the picture, I would indeed like help with that. My friend took the pictures so that we could show what the building looks like for educational purposes and sent the authorization for that, but the bot killed it and I didn't understand what I need to do to keep the bot from killing it. I have asked him to give me the GPLv3 or Wiki Commons authorization, but he has been too busy to respond and may not understand what it means to do so--it's pretty complicated even for me who now sort of understands it. I noticed user Dianna responded about the picture. I'll look into that and see if that helps.
Also, I had some problems with material I added on the Terrace Park, Ohio page. Some user Nyquist deleted the information I added about Native Americans, saying it had no reliable sources while retaining material about Europeans based on the same sources! In fact the Native American stuff was better documented. I think that shows bias, and I undid it, but Nyquist went and deleted it again. I just put up a post explaining my thoughts on what has been done. If you know how best to deal with this, I welcome your advise. David Tornheim (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:14, 10 April 2011 (UTC).

David Tornheim (talk)


Terrace Park

I don't know why Nyttend is acting this way, frankly they seem to have decided they own the article. It's a disgrace and I have warned them to stop, however I must warn you as well that edit warring is not tolerated on Wikipedia and could lead to this account being blocked. Nyttend has become a somewhat problematic administrator and as you know has been extremely pushy before at this same article, but edit warring is not going to change any of that. Beeblebrox (talk) 01:20, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

How long to wait before calling in other admins to do dispute resolution? David Tornheim (talk) 02:56, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Well, despite what dealing with a user like Nyttend might lead you to believe, admins have no special authority in a content dispute. Since he is apparently unwilling to discuss these matters I would suggest that now is as good a time as any to seek WP:DR. Beeblebrox (talk) 03:23, 13 April 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for the advise and the assistance in this. I'm about to take a break today on the Nytend issue--maybe tomorrow. I left you a long note about the images regarding the school. Since writing it, I found more images on Flickr and am soliciting permission from those people too. David Tornheim (talk) 04:23, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Reminder

There's a certain unnamed bully who tends to be very uncivil and drives editors away from topics. You may or may not have run into him. Strangely, he's never been blocked, which shows that some editors are very good at manipulating and gaming the Wikipedia system to get what they want, mostly by kissing up to the right people and spreading false rumours about others they dislike. Unfortunately, you may have become the latest target of this bully. If this is true, then you must be very careful to be calm and civil in your replies, because this bully will attempt to game the system to get you blocked. Take care. Viriditas (talk) 02:02, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

hmmm] Jytdog (talk) 03:17, 16 February 2015 (UTC)
although with the spooky conspiratorial tone, this is more appropriate. Jytdog (talk) 03:20, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

about your note on gandy's page

It is strange that you are disappointed that no one walked you through the history. Nobody gets a personal escort through WP.

I read the rest of what you wrote, and again, it was strange. I have no idea who you are and it is none of my business - thinking about who you are is profoundly against the spirt of Wikipedia - we assume good faith about one another as a baseline and we focus on the work we do together. And I don't care what you think of me. Please stop thinking about me. I don't want to read about your speculations about what motivates me or doesn't motivate me, and you shouldn't write it Really. We don't go there in WP. If you haven't actually read WP:AGF please do.

Think about all the drama on the GMOC talk page about substantial equivalence - as you wrote on Gandy's page, that was driven by your distrust of me (which has no place here). I will also add, that the drama was driven by your ignorance with regard to the subject matter. (ignorance is not bad - i have oceans of it, and try to learn more every day) Making strong statements based on ignorance is kind of bad, however. Anyway, once you finally read the sources and let them speak to you, the issue went away. Which is great, and was a relief to me. And the article ended up with better sourcing. We could have gotten there much quicker and more pleasantly had you not wasted time being suspicious of me, and had just thought about the content, and what reliable sources say about it, before you started making strong claims. But we got there.

I am happy to reboot our working relationship. Please just deal with the content and the sources. Once you do, you will find that the articles are mostly accurate and NPOV, per reliable sources. They have been tested by fire, many many times. (they are not perfect and they can never be finished; nothing in WP ever is) But there is a lot of misinformation out there about GMOs and a lot of unreliable sources; please think carefully about the sources you bring.

Best regards Jytdog (talk) 02:58, 22 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))

Additional note - about BP. Your effort to throw my own words at me is really glib and ugly - you don't know the story. if you had read the history of the BP article (which would take you another week at least), you would have seen that once I was able to push back the real ick that was going on there (and it was icky and is not what I do) you would have seen that Petra in particular started to push way way too far the other way and as I tried to hold the middle, she started to demonize me so much, that it got so ugly that I just walked away. That all happened before the March against Monsanto article, where she tried to do the same thing, in the same way, and then came after me again on the GMO stuff. It was really dark and ugly. I believe she has burned out and mostly left the project now. I feel bad for her; carrying that kind of hateful poison around, hurts you. As for me, I aim for the reasonable, messy middle, always. I just try to make the articles I work on, as well sourced and NPOV as I can. But that is all a big fucking waste of time; I just responded because your effort to throw my words at me - done in ignorance of the whole story - was icky.
Please just concentrate on the work. And please work carefully; be on reasonably firm ground when you make claims, and be ready to hear that you are missing information. You will find that is how i behave here. Jytdog (talk) 03:18, 22 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))
Thank you for your response. I have many thoughts on all of the things you wrote above and spent two hours working on this response. However, I don't want to spend a lot of text explaining myself and where I feel misunderstood, so I cut much of it down. I want to focus on some points of agreement, forward movement and explain one place where we disagree.
(1) "I am happy to reboot our working relationship." Good! Let's keep it positive!
(2) I read the [[WP:AGF]. It's good policy. It seems to me you were the first to start accusing me of not having "good faith". You snapped at me first, using harsh language and ad hominems. It was clear to me at that point you did not think I had "good faith". Let's please go back to (1) and not start accusing either of the "good faith" thing unless it is truly warranted. Accusations tend to cause distrust, lack of harmony. It is mentioned in WP:AGF and I agree.
(3) I did not expect an escort. I wanted to avoid stepping on well-known landmines and reigniting old disputes and people forming battle lines and get caught in the cross-fire or relegated to one side. This is a constant problem on Wikipedia. I have seen in on many pages. I don't know how to fix it--but I am aware of it.
(4) "Please just concentrate on the work." Yes, let's do that. However, if there is corporate malfeasance going on in regards to Wikipedia on ANY article, it should be addressed. If you can point me to a place where these problems are addressed, it would be much appreciated.
(5) I did not "use your words against you". Please assume the "good faith" you say I lack. Your words prove you are a stand up person and are interested in Wikipedia not being subverted by corporate malfeasance. That is good! That is why my distrust from the list I wrote was changed into trust. Trust is good. Let's build trust. Now we may agree there is a problem with corporate PR people, but it appears you strongly disagree with Gandydancer and others about HOW to address it. I honestly don't know what is best--I'm all ears on that subject. It is a somewhat tangential issue from the NPOV but may be a problem and a number of people have said they think it is a problem. Wikipedia's policies of anonymity make it quite difficult to ascertain, unfortunately. Doc James noted that. And I saw that you helped him identify "sock-puppets". Again good work. This builds more trust.
(6) I can see you have strong emotions about this, especially the sentence where you said, "fucking waste of time". I know you don't believe that or you would have left just as Petra did. I think you have a short fuse now and that's something you'll have to work on. I can see there are relationships that have developed and many strong unhealthy negative distrustful emotions have come into this. I hope we can repair the burned bridges. I don't want you to project these problems on to me and assume I am going to behave similarly as those who you have had problems with you in the past on GMO's or MAM. My goal again is to avoid repeating past mistakes.
(7) "Think about all the drama on the GMOC talk page about substantial equivalence - as you wrote on Gandy's page, that was driven by your distrust of me (which has no place here)."
No. No. No. That was not because of distrust. You are not assuming "good faith" by saying that. Please look again at the talk page of GMOC. Both of us focused on content, not trust. There was no "drama" there that I detected. The drama was on my talk page and you started it, when you got all pissy that I posted the article that was negative on Pamela Ronald (whose page is anything but "objective" and I believe the sources violate numerous RS rules. Of course, the Pro-GMO would never care about that, right?). I honestly was quite shocked at how upset you got and that certainly damaged the "good faith" assumption. Anyway, I made the edit on the "Substantial Evidence" to see what would happen. Because I truly believed that statement was incorrect. I would not have done that if you had been better at explaining it on my talk page and had not stormed off, saying, "I'm done talking to you." That would have looked terrible if you did that on the talk page, right?! If you look at where I challenged your claims about the "substantial equivalence" ON MY TALK PAGE, you didn't response about where in the article it said it was UNIVERSAL. I noted that the article clearly said the US has been shifted by corporate lobbying more so that the EU, and it was at that time you had gotten mad and stopped talking, instead of just showing me the content that proved your point as you did on the GMOC talk page in a mature way. I hope our work on the GMOC talk pages is *that* productive in the future!
(8) I would appreciate it if you read the first section of my user page written (it's shorter than this response) when I first joined Wikipedia about NPOV, bias, objectivity, etc. I think it applies as much today about my concerns on the GMO pages as it did about other subjects I had seen with controversy.
Maybe that wasn't so abbreviated. LOL!!  :-) Yours truly,David Tornheim (talk) 06:04, 22 February 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for your remarks. I will see you on the Talk page. Jytdog (talk) 08:08, 22 February 2015 (UTC)(striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))

Conflict of interest in WP

OK, you keep referring to corporate interests working to pervert WP and the like, and above you asked me to tell you about how "corporate malfeasance" is addressed here.

I work a lot in this area - this is something that is very important to me and I spent a significant chunk of my time on Wikipedia dealing with it. So I can tell you about it. This is quite long, for which I apologize, but I want to give you an intro and then a careful description.

pre-intro... before I do, I want to say something again. While I understand your concern about corporate corruption of WP and share it, your approach to this issue is wrong. We do not begin by distrusting anybody, and we do not write boatloads about how we feel about other editors in Wikipedia. You will understand that better ( I hope) after reading the following.

Intro: The whole complex of policies and ideas about anonymity and outing is very important to this project. We assume good faith and we do not try to WP:OUT anybody. Let me put this in bold - if you try to out another editor, you will be banned. Wikipedia takes anonymity very very seriously. Editors who have been publicly identified have been threatened with physical violence, hounded, and otherwise fucked with both professionally and personally, by crazy and bad people. I know editors to whom this happened. The Outing policy is strictly enforced, and very important to how this place operates.

Related to that -- deep in the guts of Wikipedia - part of the beautiful and well-thought-out heart of this place - is the notion that we are all equals, working respectfully side by side, looking at and focused on creating and improving article content according to Wikipedia's content policies and guidelines, and behaving according to WP's behavioral policies, guidelines, and norms. WP is all about content, not contributors; it doesn't matter who you are in the real world - Randy from Boise or a nobel laureate. We don't know who you are in the real world, and we don't care. What matters is the content you create and how you conduct yourself. It is beautiful.

If we have problems with the behavior of another editor - if another editor's behavior leads us to pull our eyes from content and direct them at another editor - we address that directly and respectfully with the other editor on his or her Talk page, and if that fails, we take it to one of the boards and let the community handle the matter. It should never get personal here. This place falls away from its ideal and becomes really ugly when editors turn their eyes from article content and start looking at and discussing one another's good or bad intentions, or start talking about how qualified they are and how we should accept their contributions based on their authority instead of what reliable sources say. These are all typical newbie mistakes. When you combine those newbie mistake with some passion... you can see that things get even uglier, faster.

I hope you reflect on that, and incorporate that into the way you operate here.

OK, intro is over.

The key documents regarding "corporate malfeasance" are WP:NOT (specifically WP:PROMO), WP:NPOV, WP:COI, and WP:ADVOCACY. You should notice right away, that NOT is pillar and policy, NPOV is policy, COI is a guideline, not a policy, and ADVOCACY is just an essay, not a guideline and not a policy. ("policy", "guideline", and "essay" are technical terms in WP) I'll discuss these in there order of centrality to the heart of WP and community consensus about them.

  • WP:NOT is a pillar and a policy. This is all about the mission - what we are doing here, defined largely by what we are not. This document is really important to orient editors to our mission, which is to crowdsource a free and reliable source of information that captures the sum of human knowledge. Beautiful. But people arrive here who don't get that, and try to make WP into all kinds of things it is not, and some abuse it (sometimes not understanding that what they are doing wrong, sometimes knowingly). One of the most common abuses, is using wikipedia to promote some thing, organization, person, cause, or idea. Promotional editing is profoundly un-Wikipedian (pillar) and is against policy, be it done by a company or someone committed to opposing a company's activities.
  • NPOV is policy, because everybody agrees that NPOV content is absolutely central to Wikipedia's mission. Everybody agrees on that. Also, NPOV is something that you can discuss objectively - editors can find sources, discuss them and (try to) come to agreement on what they say, and what ideas in them are central and should get the most WEIGHT, and which are more peripheral and should get less WEIGHT. It is about content, and is based on publicly available information. I want to note here, that there is a noticeboard for NPOV issues, WP:NPOVN. That board is pretty much defunct, which is unfortunate. We can have a separate discussion about why that is, but issues about POV are most often addressed at ANI.
  • COI is only a guideline. There have been many many MANY efforts to raise COI to policy but those efforts have never succeeded, primarily because any given editor's conflict of interest is personal - it is about contributor, not content. Do you see how issues about COI immediately come into conflict with our policies about anonymity and outing, that I described above? (that is a real question - if you don't understand that, the rest of this will make no sense to you).
    • Those who oppose raising it to policy, make the very good points that:
      • a) it is about contributor, not content;
      • b) the information that would make it clear if someone has a COI is private, and getting it would involve violating OUTING;
      • c) what matters at the end of the day is whether the content is NPOV and well sourced - if someone adds that for pay or as a volunteer, doesn't matter;
      • d) we already have the NPOV policy and if editors add biased content, we already deal with them under that policy. we don't need a COI policy
      • e) ADVOCACY is as big, if not a much bigger, problem (but see note below) and all this fuss about COI does nothing to deal with advocacy;
      • f) (less good point) those who are obsessed with COI are most often anti-corporate advocates themselves, trying to shove their bias down everyone else's throats.
    • Those who want to elevate COI to policy, make the very good points that:
      • a) every responsible organization has a COI policy, and WP as a widely used repository of information, has a special responsibility to manage COI of our editors, to earn and retain the public's trust;
      • b) editors with a COI cannot help but be biased - it takes superhumans to write truly NPOV content with a COI, and we cannot give them free rein:
      • c) WP is a volunteer project and everybody has limited real time and real jobs, and there is an endless supply of COI editors and we cannot keep up with them:
        • (i) companies have money to pay people to push biased content into WP:
        • (ii) there are tons of freelancers looking to get paid for editing WP;
        • (iii) there are companies that exist as brokers between companies and freelancers - their whole business model is pushing biased content into WP;
      • d) (weak argument) Wikipedia has legal liability under advertising laws to disclose any content that is actually a paid advertisement, and if we cannot get COI disclosed we cannot comply.
      • e) (weak argument) it is actually in the interest of conflicted editors to have controls; most often they end up embarrassing themselves and their clients or employers
  • ADVOCACY is just an essay and is really an adjunct to WP:NPOV and WP:NOT. Advocacy is more focused on the editor's behavior (and passion underlying biased editing, rather than financial interests underlying biased editing), while NPOV focuses on content, and COI is about the editor him- or-herself. Looking at someone's behavior, it is often hard to sort out if the bias they are adding is due to COI or passion. The result is the same, though - biased content. It is important to know that the community distinguishes between COI (something essential to the editor) and Advocacy (behavior of the editor generally, but especially concerned with passion-driven bias), and NPOV (content). The essay WP:TENDENTIOUS is useful for identifying editors who have a pattern of advocacy behavior. (It really is useful - you should check it out. And I invite you to apply that checklist to me. I check myself against it.)

I have argued for raising COI to policy. I also want to note, that with regard to the interesting question of what perverts WP more - bias due to financial or other conflict of interest, or bias due to passion (say someone who is ardent practictioner of yoga wants to add glow-y content to an article about the health-benefits of yoga; or a fan of a football team adding glowy content about that team and adding negative content to other teams; or a vegetarian adding loads of content to the Meat article about how evil meat and the livestock industry are... etc etc you see what I mean)... with regard to which damages Wikipedia more - there is actually no data on that. Nobody knows. It is clear to me, that both are big problems.

Anyway, within the realm of COI, there are 2 broad classes of "conflict", in the way Wikipedia considers the issues:

  • What we call "paid editing", which is (as it sounds) editing for pay. You might be freelancer, or a PR agent, or an employee of a company or a university... but if you are getting paid to edit WP to promote something, you are a "paid editor" (I note that there is a class of paid editors that are different and are not considered to have a conflict of interest- see WP:GLAM for example)
  • Other COI editing - maybe you are suing someone and want to add negative content about them, or maybe you are an academic who thinks you are great and wants the world to know that through WP, etc etc. (as I mentioned above and as WP:ADVOCACY explicitly discussed, it is often impossible to figure out if someone has this second kind of COI especially, or is editing from passion - they are closely related)

There are lots of famous examples of Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia - there is even an article about it. One of the most recent and painful examples, was a nest of sockpuppets that was uncovered in 2012 - see Wiki-PR editing of Wikipedia. This was driven by one of the "broker" companies I mentioned above, so the issue was paid editing. Literally hundreds of sock accounts; huge huge effort by volunteers to uncover them all, close them down, and reverse the damage they did. This led to another massive effort to get a policy to explicitly ban "paid editing" in Wikipedia - there were no less than 5 competing proposals running at the same time. Huge turmoil. None of them succeeded. After the WP-en community failed to come to agreement on how to manage this problem, the WMF (our parent) took over and did two things. It sent Wiki-PR a cease-and-desist letter regarding use of the WP name, and claimed (very weakly) that Wiki-PR itself violated our Terms of Use. They subsequently amended the Terms of Use (which it, as the owner of this site, issues) to make it obligatory for paid editors to clearly disclose their "employer, client, and affiliation" and to follow project policies and guidelines with regard to conflict of interest. You will see the results of their actions in the WP:COI guideline, in the first section.

It is important to note that the WMF did 'not ban paid editing. This made the wing of the community that wanted to ban it, very unhappy. But per the WMF, paid editors can be part of the community, if they disclose their COI and follow the COI guideline (namely, if they don't directly articles (outside of making purely factual, uncontroversial (broadly defined) changes) and instead suggest content on the relevant Talk page). It is also important to note that the WMF left the anonymity and outing policies of WP intact. The change to the Terms of Use is not a license to hound or OUT anyone.

Anyway, WP:COI describes very clearly, what a COI is, what someone with a COI should do, and how to handle concerns any editor may have, with another editor's possible COI - for the latter, see Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest#How_to_handle_conflicts_of_interest. It follows the general principles I mentioned above about how we handle it, if we ever have a concern with another editor's behavior. Raise the issue directly and politely with the editor-of-concern on their Talk page, and if you are not able to resolve your concerns, take it to the relevant noticeboard, which in this case is WP:COIN. Do not hound, do not pound it on it relentlessly on the talk page, do not make it personal, and do not attempt to OUT the person. Let the community handle it. I do a lot of work responding to notices posted at COIN. I think it is an important issue.

You can learn more on your own about all this and the various perspectives voiced by the community, by carefully reading WP:COI and its talk page and their archives, as well as the archived failed discussions about creating a policy banning paid editing, that are linked in the "further reading" section at the bottom of the Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia article (which I put there)

there you go. Happy to discuss any part of that or answer any questions you may have. Jytdog (talk) 18:06, 22 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))

Wow!! Thank you so much for a very interesting read and much good information! I had no idea! I will do the reading you recommended. I started working on response last night, but the power went out, so I might get back to you later on some of my initial reaction, and also some of the confusion I have long had, which I think is a problem for other new and even experienced users as well. I'm really happy you have such strong feelings on this matter and you have such a strong commitment to addressing these problems. I agree with nearly every thing you say in one way or another, and understand the potential corruption from "passion" or Ideology or Cultural myopia (such as Patriotism or Nationalist views), where one particular POV is so strongly held that there is simply no room for any other view, no matter how reasonable. And honestly, when I first heard about Wikipedia, I thought Ideology and cultural myopia would ruin all the articles, since ANYONE could edit and had an equal voice in what looked like "democracy-knowledge." I saw almost immediately that I was wrong about that, and that exceptionally well written articles started popping up and often included positions that the average American might cringe at, but which were in fact true.

And I was even more impressed how many article were far more NPOV than the mainstream media's incredible superficial treatment of nearly every subject they address. Nonetheless, I can't say I totally understand WHY it works. I'm glad it does and glad to be a part of it. But obviously it doesn't always work and I do tend to jump in when I see an article that lacks NPOV and try to balance the one-sided voices. I typical example is when I looked at the page for my hometown Terrace_Park,_Ohio. The page had a very Euro-centric view and I tried to fix it but was met with heavy opposition from an admin. who I believe threatened to use his/her admin. powers to block me if I put in the Native American portion. The editor just reverted everything I did and another admin. Beeblebrox saw the problem and definitely agreed that the other admin. was out of line. But I didn't feel like going into contentious Wiki-litigation with DR, so instead, I just waited until the other editor who had been a problem stopped watching and corrected the content, and fortunately it stuck! I have considered trying DR, in cases like that but was afraid to. I don't understand the Wiki-court proceedings, and do not want to make a fool of myself in front of a large number of established users, and I don't want to be perceived as a "vexation litigant". Unfortunately, there is no free Wiki-legal advice for this unusual pseudo-judicial system of DR, ArbCon, etc. LOL. I actually did a search on that on-line and might have paid someone to give me Wiki-legal advice before I started trying to edit on the page! LOL. David Tornheim (talk) 03:52, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

glad you found this useful. "why" it works, is people. there are enough people who are committed to the ideals of WP and who have really digested not only the letter but the spirit of PAG, that they are able to keep the ship on even-enough keel. i spend another chunk of my time here trying to teach newish editors how this place works and what those ideals are. some get it, some don't. some get it, with time. people have built some structures to help improve and maintain quality. I do a lot of work in heath-related articles and follow/participate in the WT:WikiProject Medicine and together that group minds many important articles here. It is super helpful to have a community Jytdog (talk) 04:38, 23 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))

GMO Controversy -- Talk discussion Jokes

fwiw, i would appreciate it, if you would not engage in sarcasm and other rhetorical flourishes in the Talk page discussion, as you did in your 2nd paragraph here. Let's try to have a simple, serious discussion - dealing with the actual issues is hard enough, without distractions. You are free to do as you wish; I'm just telling you what I think would be most productive. You will find that I will just not respond to stuff like that. I think other editors may do, and if they do, it will probably be something in similar vein directed at you, and soon we are in an ugly place. Best just not to go there, in my view. Thanks! Jytdog (talk) 15:01, 23 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))

I was afraid you would say that. Sometimes a good laugh is good for the soul to release tension from being too serious all the time, no? Besides, humor sometimes has a truth of its own--A Modest Proposal was an outstanding example of that, I think. Nietzsche's sarcasm is amazing. I know I have been to many scientific and engineering conferences where the speaker starts off with a joke. Besides, I thought Lfstevens's joke was funny too. Did you scold him as well? David Tornheim (talk) 15:11, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
"I think other editors may do, and if they do, it will probably be something in similar vein directed at you, and soon we are in an ugly place." I don't think it would go to an "ugly" place. If they lack a sense of humor and bring it there, they look like fools in front of everyone. They are wise not to take it personally and laugh at it too, as I am sure Lfstevens will do! David Tornheim (talk) 15:16, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
i don't know if you have worked on controversial articles before, but i have done so a lot and in my experience, sarcasm/rhetoric is really unhelpful and does lead the discussion astray when others respond without self-restraint. you will do as you will, of course. btw i am watching your talk page so no need to leave talkbacks at mine. Jytdog (talk) 15:25, 23 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))
this wasn't meant as a scold, but as advice. you can do with it as you will. i didn't see a joke by lfstevens. can you point me to what you are talking about? thx Jytdog (talk) 15:31, 23 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))
You asked him about it [here] Where he added the comment:
When will the anti-GMO folks produce an unimpeachable study that supports their fears? Lfstevens (talk) 09:30, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
Did you not see it? Please tell you understood he was joking. David Tornheim (talk) 15:54, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
He was being serious. -Roxy the dog™ (resonate) 16:02, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
LOL!! David Tornheim (talk) 16:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
User:Roxy the dog: Welcome to the discussion. What brings you here?David Tornheim (talk) 16:50, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
I found that comment/set of comments confusingly formatted and so i wrote him a note on his talk page about it, yes. it was so fragmented/strange that i hesitated to react to it at all and still have not. Jytdog (talk) 16:31, 23 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))
Okay, I noticed those various fragments too, and considered replying, but I am trying to keep focus there. I think we are making progress, and I think you are beginning to see where I am coming from on the sentence in question. The jokes I just saw as light-hearted distraction before me get back to the heavy work of looking at WP:RS. I so wished you thought it was funny. Oh well. I do have another thing I wanted to say about sarcasm, but I'll get back to that later. I'm going to make a new section for discussion, because of your question asking me if I had been to or worked on a controversial page. Yes, absolutely. And I want to share my experience and the confusion I had about how Wikipedia there, and my concerns that other users get confused in the same way I did. David Tornheim (talk) 16:57, 23 February 2015 (UTC

this is more elaborate than i what to get into. i've told you that i think it is unwise to add rhetorical flourishes and sarcasm to discussion of controversial topics, and i believe you have heard that. you asked whether i was being unfair, and I responded to that. you will do as you see fit. good luck! Jytdog (talk) 17:40, 23 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))

Perhaps you are right. The man could tell a joke, but not take one of the same nature. I do think you should have scolded him too, if you knew this was his personality. It does seem like a double-standard, otherwise. I indeed found his response to my joke both annoying and needlessly distracting from what we were talking about. I think I am also annoyed at how much time you and I had to waste talking about it on top of it. If all of us just laughed there wouldn't have been a problem. Oh well--advice noted. David Tornheim (talk) 22:04, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
as i told you above, i did not take it as a joke. i took it as too fragmentary to interpret. hence there was no double standard; i experienced only one "joke". also you have said that I "scolded" you. Parents scold their children. teachers scold their students. I have no authority over you. I told you I would prefer you not be sarcastic, and explained why. You will do as you wish. Jytdog (talk) 22:14, 23 February 2015 (UTC) (striking, this discussion is not something I should have done Jytdog (talk) 22:15, 26 February 2015 (UTC))
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