Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography/Archive 42

Pageview stats

After a recent request, I added WikiProject Biography to the list of projects to compile monthly pageview stats for. The data is the same used by http://stats.grok.se/en/ but the program is different, and includes the aggregate views from all redirects to each page. The stats are at Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography/Popular pages.

The page will be updated monthly with new data. The edits aren't marked as bot edits, so they will show up in watchlists. You can view more results, request a new project be added to the list, or request a configuration change for this project using the toolserver tool. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks! Mr.Z-man 04:19, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Help with Henry Lower

Now I first stumbled on this page through new pages patrol, and am not particularly interested in spending time on it, so I hope an editor from here could help out. The article is written by Jpzank (talk · contribs), and the only source is this news article, which I'm not sure can be considered a reliable source. I just realized that news article and the 'pedia article is authored by the same person, James Zanker. Does this violate WP:NOR, WP:NOTNEWS and/or WP:COI? Either way the article has a lot of other issues and it would be appreciated if those could be addressed. BlazerKnight (talk) 11:33, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Multiple article infringement issue

I have recently been made aware that multiple articles tagged for your wikiproject by one particular contributor may be problematic for copyright. These articles have included content copied from various web sources and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. They may also include content from Dod's Parliamentary Companion. I am not able to personally access the latter sources. So far, infringement has been found in articles dating as far back as 2007.

The investigation is listed at here. It includes a link to this subpage that contains diffs of all of his major edits, to some 470 articles. Many (though not all) of these are related to your project. Your assistance would be very much appreciated in evaluating these articles, cleaning or tagging where duplication is found. Of course, those who have access to ODNB and Dod's are particularly useful here, but any contributor who has a good grasp of copyright and patience to check striking phrases against a search engine are welcome. Instructions for processing these articles is found at the cleanup subpage.

Please provide assistance if you can. Even if you can only evaluate a handful of articles, your contribution may help resolve this in a timely fashion. (And also may prevent the necessity of proactively deleting content that may be an infringement, which is permitted by Wikipedia:Copyright violation but which is a remedy I personally am loathe to take, since it can cause massive collateral damage.) --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 16:45, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

(After spot checking, a great quantity of smaller edits have been removed, leaving less than 200. This makes this imminently more doable. :) Please volunteer. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 18:21, 1 November 2009 (UTC))

My 3rd great uncle

I just recently found out about my 3rd great uncle and his service in the confederate army. I'm happy to see he has his own Wikipedia page, and want to thank whoever created it! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.202.140.194 (talk) 02:51, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Michelle Triola vs. Michelle Triola Marvin

Hello all. I just wanted to get some advice on the Michelle Triola article. She just died a few days ago, so her article had been receiving some attention. She is primarily notable for the court case during which the word "palimony" was coined. Even though she never married Lee Marvin, she legally changed her name to Michelle Marvin. [1] Currently Michelle Triola Marvin redirects to Michelle Triola, but another editor pointed out that this probably ought to be reversed. I agree with this, but I'm hoping for a broader consensus. Any thoughts? Thanks for your time! --GentlemanGhost (talk) 22:34, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

If that is her legal name, and it is the name I know her by, then it should be listed as such. It can be requested at WP:Requested moves. I'm not sure that it would be controversial. Wildhartlivie (talk) 05:57, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, Wildhartlivie! --GentlemanGhost (talk) 19:19, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

can some one PLEASE tell me

plzzz tell me HOW erik rotheim died...i cant find it anywhere!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.242.80 (talk) 01:17, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

You might try Google. We can't help you with your homework. Wildhartlivie (talk) 05:55, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

medals

have you noticed it is always nearly always officers that win medals my dad was at anexplosion atsavernake forest where he and his men saved the lives and properly and only recieved a letter saying well done and yet officers that were not their at the time recieved medals i look at the list of people that recieved medals more closly because of this —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.9.88.63 (talk) 10:50, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

One to watch: Phil Judd

Musician Phil Judd's recent conviction for stalking is causing a bit of back-and-forth edits on his article. I don't think that Judd's article will see the same kind of edit warring that has been exhibited at Gary Glitter, but it might be one to add to your watchlist. --GentlemanGhost (talk) 19:27, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Kip Carpenter

This article is absolute rubbish. Carpenter has never won a world championship in speedskating. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Single_Distance_Championships_for_Men#1.2C000_m —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.215.190.52 (talk) 23:22, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Timothy R. McVeigh (no, not THAT Timothy McVeigh)

There's a very odd flaw in this person's biography. The last sentence of the first paragraph says, AOL confirmed that his profile indicated his marital status as homosexual. This is perfect nonsense, and hopefully the reason is clear. This bit, and perhaps the overall article, needs to be looked at. — Athelwulf ^[T]/_[C] 07:37, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, a couple things. According to the only source in the article, the marital status was stated as "gay", not homosexual, so that part is both correct and wrong. The bigger problem is that the article is a BLP with no other references. Wildhartlivie (talk) 09:09, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Continuing dispute at Erin Burnett

There is a long-running issue on Erin Burnett with a succession of editors (often IPs) adding "controveries" sections about various flaps of one sort or another, most recently about Australian feral camels. There are obvious balance and WP:BLP concerns here. Your input at the talk page is invited, especially if you can expand the general biographical information. Mangoe (talk) 02:47, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Toma T. Socolescu

Hello, I need help to check the presentation of this article I have entirely written. It has been listed on the Biography project and I am happy about this. But I am not sure it corresponds to Wikipedia English requirements in terms of style, presentation and other parameters I do not really master... I would be very happy to be helped so that the article fits the requirements. I have time to do what is necessary but I do not know what is most important. A mentor would be welcome :)) This article is the translation of the original one I also write in French (my mother tongue). Requirements and policy are very likely different between French and English Wikipedia.

Regards,

--Cbrajon (talk) 19:19, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Pearl G. Curran -music composer

I have in my possession a piece of sheet music written by Pearl G. Curran, copyright 1918 by G. Scchirmer, Inc. Bearing title "Dawn" and listing about 14 other pieces composed by her. Is the same Pearl G. Curran? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Septicsleuth (talk • contribs) 13:05, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

We do not appear to have an article on a composer called Pearl Curran. Unfortunately I don't understand your question as it appears to be incomplete. "Is the same Pearl G. Curran" what? Road Wizard (talk) 17:56, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Bill Dillard

Bill Dillard was a cabinetmaker by trade with enormous and powerful hands.Rosswillisphotog (talk) 17:04, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for the inspiring statement. However this page is for discussing issues with Biography articles. Unless there is an issue with the Bill Dillard article there is little to discuss here. Road Wizard (talk) 17:49, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Proposal for what to do when the final veteran of WW1 dies (revisited)

Five proposals were made for what to do. If you would like to contribute with what you think should be done, the discussion is at Talk:List of surviving veterans of World War I‎#Renewed: Discussion about what to do when the last veteran dies -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 18:41, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Robert Brackman Did Not Study in San Francisco

Wikipedia's biography of artist Robert Brackman contains an error. It says that he studied at the Ferrer School in San Francisco[citation needed].

This is incorrect. He studied at the Ferrer School in New York City. The confusion probably arises because the first name of Ferrer is Francisco.

Sources: Emma Goldman, Living My Life chp. 40 She states that Robert Henri began teaching at her "modern" school, the Ferrer school in NYC.

Bennard Perlman, Robert Henri: His Life and Art; Brackman studies with Henri.

Jerry Fresia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.60.49.147 (talk) 08:21, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

If you spot incorrect information in our articles you are quite welcome to change it. If you are able to provide a citation to the source along with your text then that is even better. Road Wizard (talk) 17:46, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Black Swan idea versus Black Swan Theory

This text

Living in a world we do not understand Recently, Taleb sees his main challenge in mapping how to live and act in a world we do not understand, and how to come to grips with randomness and the unknown—which includes his black swan theory of unexpected rare events

conflicts with this earlier text in the same article:

The phrase "Black Swan theory" is, to him, a contradiction in terms, and he urges his readers not to "Platonify" the Black Swan. Rather, Taleb in his 2007 book The Black Swan calls this an "anti-theory" or the "Black Swan idea". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pandion (talk • contribs) 16:36, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

It would be useful if you could post a link to the article you are talking about. Editors are more likely to investigate an issue you raise if they don't have to trawl through 3 million articles to find it. Road Wizard (talk) 17:43, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Minors detained in the War on Terror

Are articles listed at Minors detained in the War on Terror notable for something other than that they were held at Gitmo? Is deletion appropriate for many of these? Grsz¹¹ 05:03, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Not that I can see for some of the ones I checked. One I looked at has been tagged for notability since December 2007 and still doesn't really cover the criteria. Wildhartlivie (talk) 05:39, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Billy Taylor

The article mentions his B.A. degree from Virginia State College, and his dozens of honorary doctoral degress, but not his earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Massachuesett at Amherst in 1975. If there's no mention of that, the impression that the title of "Doctor" is merely honorific may be created. It is an unnecessary omission, since the article cites this http://www.visionaryproject.com/taylorbilly/ which provides the missing information. A visitor shouldn't have to "dig" for such important information.Anarchristian (talk) 14:10, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I would suggest you post this to the article talk page, where it is better addressed, and not here where general questions or issues might be addressed. Wildhartlivie (talk) 14:36, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Copyright concerns related to your project

This notice is to advise interested editors that a Contributor copyright investigation has been opened which may impact this project. Such investigations are launched when contributors have been found to have placed copyrighted content on Wikipedia on multiple occasions. It may result in the deletion of images or text and possibly articles in accordance with Wikipedia:Copyright violations. The specific investigation which may impact this project is located here.

All contributors with no history of copyright problems are welcome to contribute to CCI clean up. There are instructions for participating on that page. Additional information may be requested from the user who placed this notice, at the process board talkpage, or from an active CCI clerk. Thank you. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 16:25, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Colley Cibber FAR

I have nominated Colley Cibber for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets featured article criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Mm40 (talk) 03:02, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Dagmar Grossmann

Resolved

 – article deleted as an unambiguous copyright infringement. Road Wizard (talk) 12:20, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Just come across this article Dagmar Grossmann after a tidy of a related article Grossmann Jet Service and it appears to be a self-promotional CV like page. Not sure where to start with it, can somebody with business biog experience have a look please. The same user has also created CEPA (Central Europe Private Aviation) which looks like another promotional article but outside of this project. Any advice on the biog would be appreciated, thanks. MilborneOne (talk) 23:49, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

• Sorry just a bit more research - it looks like most of it is a direct copy of her website http://www.dagmargrossmann.com/biography.html so most can be removed as a copyright violation. MilborneOne (talk) 00:05, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Tim Kaine

Resolved

I am currently involved in a dispute at Tim Kaine, wherein the other editor continuously removes Kaine's signature from the infobox without providing any reason aside from vague assertions that Kaine's office requested it be removed (even if that was true, so what?) and that images of politician's signatures are somehow illegal (that would be news to be me - we'd better get to removing the hundreds (thousands?) of similar images of signatures found on Wikipedia). This has been going on for far too long. It would be great to get some outside input in order to end this. Thanks, faithless (^speak) 00:51, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Acknowledged. Seems like a very stubborn person, will definitely try to help you. warrior4321 02:56, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Dimitri Bertsekas and Paul Tseng

Just to note that Dimitri Bertsekas appears to have been written by the subject he has also created Paul Tseng (as declared at [2]).The professor is probably notable but self-created articles may not be robust in secondary references. Paul Tseng is a collegaue who has gone missing and is full of unreferenced statements like Paul is widely recognized by his peers as one of the foremost researchers of his generation, at a time of great progress in his field. Can somebody please have a look and advise if we need to do anything with this two, thanks. MilborneOne (talk) 20:13, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Picture of James Atkinson - british inventor

Hello, I tried to search a picture of the british inventor James Atkinson 1846-1914, but it seems that I can't find anywhere. I searched thorough many articles and pictures but I can't find one. Any help would be apreciated. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nimik (talk • contribs) 13:14, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Don Kurth

I'm having some conflicts at Don Kurth with other editors inserting potentially slanderous edits. I don't think the facts are wrong but the result seems not to meet WP:NPOV. The edit summaries suggest the edits are politically motivated. JohnBlackburne (talk) 16:13, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

In regards to article on Rob Hood

My name is Robert Hood. I'm an Australian author. In a fit of enthusiasm I went onto my own Wikipedia page (which I in no way instigated) in order to update it. Only after doing so did I stumble upon Wikipedia's COI policies. Now I'm not sure what to do about it, as I do not want to violate or offend the Wikipedia editorial community or to appear as though I'm trying to promote myself.

I was careful to make no changes to opinion or evaluation comment on my biographical page, but I added details to already existing factual content -- bio elements, publication details, awards ... that sort of thing.

If I need to do anything about this, or if anyone thinks I have added details in any overtly self-serving way, please let me know.

Fsherwood (talk) 21:53, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

marshal field residences

sirs...i have always thought that Marshal Field had a home in Ottawa, Illinois (about 86 miles south west via Rt I80). i believe that my home is the original cooks quarters at the bottom of the estate. i am attempting to put together the land and was wondering if i am right or wrong? the area has always been known as "fields place" for many, many years. any info on this would be greatly appreciated! jj —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.80.65.219 (talk) 22:07, 27 November 2009 (UTC)