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January 20

05:32:14, 20 January 2016 review of submission by Ted.gehring

Ted.gehring (talk · contribs)

Hello,

My name is Ted Gehring. I am a Ford's Theatre Teacher Fellow who currently teaches American History in St. Francis, MN. This past summer, I had a chance to study under some of our country's best Civil War historians during a NEH Scholarship experience at Ford's Theatre.

While completing my course work, I repeatedly came across the name of an African American servant who played a major role in foiling the attempted assassination of William H. Seward as well as the capture and conviction of Lewis Powell. Bell attempted to turn Powell out, witnessed the Powell attack Seward's son (Frederick), obtained help from a nearby military headquarters, returned in time to get a make on the assassin's get away horse and give chase, later picked Powell out of the police line up, and gave important eye witness military tribunal testimony led to Powell's guilty verdict at a time when black testimony was widely seen as inadmissible in court.

While Bell's story and picture is present on the front page of period newspapers, and in the military tribunal testimony, he has been mainly written out of the story because he was black. People who played a lesser role in this event than Bell currently have a Wikipedia page (for example, Frances Adeline Seward).

To help rectify the heroic role William Bell played in this major historic event, my students researched and wrote the Bell page which I have been trying to have published. However, our page has been denied because my editor believes Bell is not noteworthy. This is ridiculous. According to the Wikipedia page, a person should not be included if all of the following 3 criteria are not met.

1.If reliable sources cover the person only in the context of a single event.

    - Bell's major contribution to US history is tied to the Seward assassination, and Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy Military Tribunal

2.If that person otherwise remains, and is likely to remain, a low-profile individual. Bell's role in the event was front page news during his time period which is odd considering the time period in which he lived. Blacks were often not written about, trivialized, and/or marginalized due to period racism. If his role is not rectified, how can he ever not remain a low-profile individual?

3.If the event is not significant or the individual's role was either not substantial or not well documented. Bell's role is both well documented in period newspapers, tribunal testimony, and current history works by leading Civil War historians that have written on the topic. Furthermore, Bell's testimony is more extensive than other white people of privilege from the time who have been given a Wikipedia page (Frances Adeline Seward for one). Like many heroic African Americans of his time, Bell did not receive a metal for his heroism like Seward's white body guard George F. Robinson who was present probably due to period racism that existed. Because Bell was not awarded a metal for his actions like Robinson should Bell not be included? (Robinson has his own Wikipedia page as well)

I can site Bell in more secondary sources on the topic if this is helpful. My class really could use help here.

Yours truly, Ted.gehring (talk) 05:32, 20 January 2016 (UTC)Mr. Ted Gehring and his 7th Grade Class[reply]

Ted.gehring (talk) 05:32, 20 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

See also WP:THQ#How can I dispute a decision made by an editor to deny a page because he/she feels the person is not noteworthy? --Murph9000 (talk) 06:03, 20 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Ted.gehring It seems to me that there is plenty scope for improving the sourcing. The only one of your currently cited sources that appears to be specifically about Bell himself is an online forum discussion. Unfortunately forum dicussions are not acceptable sources at all. You mention that various newspaper articles discussed Bell, but you have not actually used any of those articles as sources. Mainstream news media articles that contain substantial discussion of the subject (Bell) are in fact of the best possible sources. Other high quality sources are peer-reviewed academic journal articles, have you tried your local college library? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:00, 20 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

13:24:58, 20 January 2016 review of submission by Sam3346

Sam3346 (talk · contribs)

Sam3346 (talk) 13:24, 20 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello,

My page keeps getting disapproved by Onel5969 reason being that the references do not show the subject's notability even though i have references from credible sources such as the news. if you google my client Samuel Robinson Nigerian Actor you'll see the references and see his notability. Why does my page keep getting disapproved?

16:16:46, 20 January 2016 review of submission by Louise Riche

Louise Riche (talk · contribs)
- User:Louise Riche/sandbox (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

@Louise Riche: Hello, do you have a specific question about the draft? Right now it is just a title and the words "Business Person", which isn't enough substantive content to be accepted. You might be interested in reading the guide to writing better articles, which gives some helpful tips. Note also that there's already a mainspace article named Deniz Kiziloz, although it has been nominated for deletion. Thanks, /wiae /tlk 14:03, 21 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

17:45:17, 20 January 2016 review of submission by Tony Howell

Tony Howell (talk · contribs)

Hello! I'm trying to create a page for a very well known actor in NYC, but keep getting declined based on notability. How can I remedy this? I cut down the article to just sentences with references. Tony Howell (talk) 17:45, 20 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Tony Howell: The draft is promising. I've left a detailed comment for you on the draft. Worldbruce (talk) 08:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

18:04:00, 20 January 2016 review of submission by Lionblaze17

Lionblaze17 (talk · contribs)

why was my page denied ? Lionblaze17 (talk) 18:04, 20 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Lionblaze17: Hi, and thanks for stopping by the Help Desk! The draft was declined for a few reasons, which you can see at User:Lionblaze17/Who is herobrine. For one thing, it's a little difficult to determine what the article is about—is Herobrine an actual character in Minecraft or is it just something that's been made up? The second issue is that this topic is probably not notable—meaning it's not suitable for its own article in Wikipedia. Articles must generally be supported by strong references from reliable sources, and it doesn't seem like this topic has had that kind of substantive coverage. So unfortunately this draft can't be accepted. Thanks, and do let us know if you have any further questions. /wiae /tlk 14:06, 21 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]