I'm very frustrated with a page I created for Alvin "Seeco" Patterson, from Bob Marley and the Wailers. As I put in my footnotes, much of the information came from interviews I myself conducted with him. His date of birth he recently told me was 1930, not 1934. However, every time I correct my mistake and switch it to 1930, it flips back to 1934 in a few weeks time. How do I prevent that??? I have just changed it back yet again to 1930, but I know it will be changed back soon. It's really frustrating. I am also frustrated that the little stub that google brings up when you search Seeco Patterson also uses that false date. Can you please advise me on how to permanently correct my mistake?
Tomazjardim (talk) 12:35, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. I really appreciate your interest in helping to improve this article, and I'm sorry about your frustration, but unfortunately we simply can't use information from interviews that you yourself conducted with him until and unless those interviews are published in a reliable, peer-reviewed source. :( Because anyone can edit Wikipedia, this is one of our core policies - and it is especially important on biographies of people who are still alive. We don't accept original journalism here - we are a "tertiary" source that summarizes what secondary sources say about notable subjects.
It's great that you've been able to interview this gentleman, but before we can use any of the material from your interview on Wikipedia, I'm afraid you're going to have to have it published elsewhere, such as by a magazine or newspaper or reliable industry website. (Sometimes people ask if it would work to publish the information on their own website or their own blog, but I'm afraid we generally can't use that material, either. We are only allowed to use blogs under very rare circumstances as explained here: WP:BLPSPS. If Mr. Patterson has his own blog, and we can prove it is his blog, we can use content that is published there as long as it doesn't source "extraordinary claims" - that's per our neutrality policy.) Given Mr. Patterson's place in history, I would hope that you would be able to find a publisher for your interview so that we can use this content, as certainly the article we have now is really inadequate.
I'm happy to talk to you further about this or you would be very welcome to visit the WP:Teahouse, which is meant to be a welcoming environment for newcomers.
The content has had to be removed per our policies for now, but it is still available in the history of the article, and once the interviews have been published by a reliable source it should be easy to bring back. --Moonriddengirl(talk)13:43, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
