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The Signpost: 02 January 2012

The Muhammed al-Ahari article

Can you please take a look at this article and see if it seems to meet Wikipedia standards?

Most of the edits seem to have been made by anonymous editors. Parts of it read like they could only have been written by the subject. For example:

"Al-Ahari received his other appellation the well-known Moorish American title "El" when he proclaimed his nationality as Moorish American at Moorish Science Temple #1 Brother Prophet John Givens El branch at 3810 S. Wabash at the hands of Sheik Willie Bey and Sheik Yusuf Ali El on October 15, 1985."

And parts of it read like a resume. For example:

"Muhammed al-Ahari took a Masters in English literature from Northeastern Illinois University in 1996, and has studied Islam at Chicago's near-defunct American Islamic College for over three years where he took coursework in Sirah, Hadith, Islamic History, Arabic, and Fiqh. He is currently in the last year of a Doctorate in Education Leadership at the University of Phoenix. His planned dissertation topic is on the curriculum methods of Imam Kamil Avdih. These are compared with the methods with his contemporaries such as Baba Rexheb, Sufi Sam (Samuel L. Lewis), and other communities in the United States. It will cover Avdić's sources, influences, and teachers.
Muhammed al-Ahari has been working as a teacher in the Chicago public school system since 1995. In 1994, he married a Muslim woman from the Bosnian region of Bihac and currently lives in the city of Chicago."

This certainly invites the suspicion that the article has been largely authored by the subject himself. --Sarabseth (talk) 12:46, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

I've taken out most of it. It's desparately needs sourcing. You could probably even take it to AfD if you can't find anything about him, rather than just a list of books he's published/written. GedUK  13:17, 16 December 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! --Sarabseth (talk) 10:59, 17 December 2011 (UTC)
On 6 separate occasions in the last year, he has (by his own admission) edited his article anonymously. This includes reverting your Dec 16 edit, in which you deleted a bunch of personal stuff.
It appears that he may now be trying to obscure the fact that he is the user associated with the I.P. address used to make those edits. Please see the last two edits by me today at Talk:Muhammed al-Ahari. Thanks! --Sarabseth (talk) 10:11, 3 January 2012 (UTC)
Sorry, I've only just seen this. Do you still need me to do anything, as you seem to be making some progress? GedUK  20:52, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

It's not clear that he's paying much attention to me. And surely it's not okay for him to make anonymous edits to his own article, including very substantive ones like reverting your deletions? And there's the whole troublesome business of the article having been started by his friend and his attitude that if he himself doesn't add content, then who will.

I'm not sure what's called for here, just a warning from an administrator, or something more. And I'm not sure whether the facts warrant proposing the article for deletion.

Thanks! --Sarabseth (talk) 10:24, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I've dropped them a note on their talk page advising them to read the WP:COI policy. They aren't doing anything inherently wrong with his edits; people can edit their own articles, they just need to be balanced. At this stage, this article seems to be OK. Whether he's actually notable enough by the standards of WP:AUTHOR or WP:PROF is another question, and one that can only be answered by AfD really. The article really needs third party sources, I'll add a note on the talk page saying as much. GedUK  12:39, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
Thanks very much! --Sarabseth (talk) 10:09, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Help.

Hi Ged, I wasn't really sure how to submit a help message to admin about what I percieve as vandalism. I remembered syou sorted out the issue with Courtois a while back so I was wondering if you could help....

It's to do with Fernando Torres. A user keeps trying to put in rumours about him, it's got sources, but the sources are just rumours too. I've reverted it and put messages on his talk page, but he hasn't responded really and keeps putting the information back in. Can you have a look at it for me? Regards, Mythical Curse (talk) 12:29, 5 January 2012 (UTC).

It really isn't vandalism so much as a content dispute. The best solution is to start a conversation on the talk page about whether that should or shouldn't be in there. Consensus will probably form pretty quickly, it's quite a well watched article. I've had too much involvement in that page in the past (esp when he was an LFC player) to get involved in an admin capacity, sorry. GedUK  20:56, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Oh, and the place to report vandalism is WP:AIV, after they've been adequately warned. You might find WP:VAND helpful to clarify definitions. No problem with you asking me though! :) GedUK  20:58, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry for the slow reply but thanks for your help. I did read it when you replied, i've just had some internet problems amongst other things. The page has since been locked so i'll create something on the talk page the hopefully resolve the situation. Thanks for all your help, regards Mythical Curse (talk) 20:25, 14 January 2012 (UTC).

No problem! GedUK  12:51, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter, Q4 2011

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The Signpost: 09 January 2012

The Signpost: 16 January 2012

The Signpost: 23 January 2012

The Muhammed al-Ahari article, revisited

Hi there!

Sorry to come back to this, but there are some new developments. To summarize briefly:

1) Mr. al-Ahari got upset with me (partly under the erroneous belief that the edit in which you deleted a whole bunch of personal stuff on December 16 was made by me), and started attacking me on the Talk page.

2) In the course of one of his rants, he wrote on the Talk page:

"...such as saying I was a character in Star Wars, an asshole, gay when I think that behavior is a mortal sin, etc."

3) I added the following to his article, as a new section titled "Homophobic views":

"Al-Ahari believes that homosexuality "is a mortal sin".[1]"

4) He got upset at this, even though a) the statement is factually true, b) he professes this to be his sincere belief as a devout Muslim, and c) the statement is reliably sourced.

5) Since then he has repeatedly tried to censor his own article by deleting that statement, which he somehow views as slander and libel, or watering it down and adding editorial commentary.

6) I have asked him several times on the Talk page why he objects to his sincere beliefs about homosexuality being accurately reported in the article. He goes off into personal attacks each time, and has consistently refused to provide a coherent rationale for the edits he has repeatedly made to the "Homophobic views" section.

While he's entitled to be upset, if he chooses, and it's his prerogative to attack me, if he wishes, surely it is not okay for him to censor his own article to edit out or water down statements he wishes he had not made? If you agree, would you please protect the article and advise him that he cannot censor his own article?

Thanks! --Sarabseth (talk) 16:00, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Certainly he shouldn't be censoring it, but wikipedia isn't a reliable enough source for a statement like that, especially because his identity isn't verified. I think that it would be wise if you raised it at conflict of interest noticeboard where much more experienced editors in this area will be able to help you, him and the article. GedUK  12:51, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
Thanks! Much appreciated! --Sarabseth (talk) 14:28, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 January 2012

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