Ashleymchase

Hi, One of the editors left me a kind message to which I am replying. I'm just not sure if I'm in the right space for a response. The editors raised a question about a possible conflict he/she fears I may have with the subject of one of the Wikipedia articles with which I've been struggling. The subject is Tony Castro, a writer and author.

While I may have trouble in the writing and sourcing of my articles, I do not believe I have a conflict of interest in writing about Tony Castro.

Allow me to be clear:

I am not employed by Tony Castro in any capacity nor have ever been paid by him.

I have not contracted with Tony Castro in the writing of an article about him for Wikipedia.

I do not represent Tony Castro as an agent.

I am not related to Tony Castro.

I am not romantically involved with Tony Castro, who happens to be married (almost 40 years) and 73 years of age.

Tony Castro does have me listed as his publicist on one of his social media sites, but this is primarily to fill a void. In 2016, Tony lost his longtime agent with the death of Michael Hamiburg of the Mitchell Hamiburg Literary Agency. He also lost his longtime publicst around this time.

I met Tony Castro in the 1990s while interning at the Hamilburg Agency. Tony was one of the few authors who didn't treat me like a a lowly office girl or try to hit on me. He was kind and considerate. I felt for him when Mike Hamilburg died. Tony had a number of projects hanging, and he could not find an a new agent. Life isn't easy for a writer nearing 70. He never got another agent. He had an agent handdling feminist writers who wouldn't sign him as a client but agreed to submit his books -- and she's sold four that have been published and three others underr contact. And she still won't sign him. Fortunately, I think this last baseball book has helped him sign with an agent in New York.

Meanwhile, Tony Castro has encouraged me to try the agenting business myself. I have four clients, but he is not among them.

My interest in Tony Castro is strictly as a writer. I happen to believe that he writes beautifully and, though he has had tremendous success with his baseball books, that he has fallen through the cracks... a bit like his Texas friend Larry McMurtry did for so many years before his Terms of Endearment success, writing book after book that sold well but which left him unappreciated and written off as a regional writer.

More importantly, there's the fact that Tony Castro is getting up in years. He has health issues, and it's safe to say that his health is fragile. I know he was in the hospital over the holidays and that his wife and sons have become extremely protective.

I myself was hoping I could successfully write a Wikipedia article about Tony and have it accepted while he is still with us.

And, yes, I would appreciated the assistance of the editor who sent me the message earlier today. I alwo knew Teo Davis, and it was easier writing abourt him, maybe because he was such a tragic figure.

Tony Castro is a very complicated person -- and that's just as a writer. He has a big baseball following, but he also has a big Latino following, largely because of his first book, Chicano Power, that he wrote in 1974.

I have had the good fortune of getting to read a lot of his early witing because, until recently, I'd been helping two librsrians from Tony's alma mater Baylor who have been sorting out his letters and papers that are going to a library collection at that school.

I think I have gotten a good sense of the writer and the man... and perhaps overwhelmed a bit by all his work.

And I've not been discouraged by the two rejections from Wikipedia. I have continued to work on the article when I can. I believe I am near completion of what will be a meaningful article of an unusual writer. And I have no illusion about my limitations. Be what they are, I stongly do no believe a conflict of interest is among them.

I would appreciate your advice and suggestions.

Ashley Chase Ashleymchase (talk) 01:15, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Welcome!

Hello, Ashleymchase, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions.

I noticed that one of the first articles you edited was Draft:Tony Castro (author), which appears to be dealing with a topic with which you may have a conflict of interest. In other words, you may find it difficult to write about that topic in a neutral and objective way, because you are, work for, or represent, the subject of that article. Your recent contributions may have already been undone for this very reason.

To reduce the chances of your contributions being undone, you might like to draft your revised article before submission, and then ask me or another editor to proofread it. See our help page on userspace drafts for more details. If the page you created has already been deleted from Wikipedia, but you want to save the content from it to use for that draft, don't hesitate to ask anyone from this list and they will copy it to your user page.

One rule we do have in connection with conflicts of interest is that accounts used by more than one person will unfortunately be blocked from editing. Wikipedia generally does not allow editors to have usernames which imply that the account belongs to a company or corporation. If you have a username like this, you should request a change of username or create a new account. (A name that identifies the user as an individual within a given organization may be OK.)

In addition, if you receive, or expect to receive, compensation for any contribution you make, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation to comply with our terms of use and our policy on paid editing.

Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The plain and simple conflict of interest guide
• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• Contributing to Wikipedia
• Tutorial
• How to edit a page and How to develop articles
• How to create your first article (using the Article Wizard if you wish)
• Simplified Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{Help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! Whpq (talk) 00:55, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

File permission problem with File:AUTHOR-TONYCASTRO-BIO-PHOTO.jpg

Thanks for uploading File:AUTHOR-TONYCASTRO-BIO-PHOTO.jpg. I noticed that while you provided a valid copyright licensing tag, there is no proof that the creator of the file has agreed to release it under the given license.

If you are the copyright holder for this media entirely yourself but have previously published it elsewhere (especially online), please either

• make a note permitting reuse under the CC-BY-SA or another acceptable free license (see this list) at the site of the original publication; or
• Send an email from an address associated with the original publication to permissions-en@wikimedia.org, stating your ownership of the material and your intention to publish it under a free license. You can find a sample permission letter here. If you take this step, add {{OTRS pending}} to the file description page to prevent premature deletion.

If you did not create it entirely yourself, please ask the person who created the file to take one of the two steps listed above, or if the owner of the file has already given their permission to you via email, please forward that email to permissions-en@wikimedia.org.

If you believe the media meets the criteria at Wikipedia:Non-free content, use a tag such as {{non-free fair use}} or one of the other tags listed at Wikipedia:File copyright tags#Fair use, and add a rationale justifying the file's use on the article or articles where it is included. See Wikipedia:File copyright tags for the full list of copyright tags that you can use.

If you have uploaded other files, consider checking that you have provided evidence that their copyright owners have agreed to license their works under the tags you supplied, too. You can find a list of files you have created in your upload log. Files lacking evidence of permission may be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described in section F11 of the criteria for speedy deletion. You may wish to read Wikipedia's image use policy. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Whpq (talk) 00:48, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: Tony Castro (author) (March 16)

Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by WikiAviator was:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.

• If you would like to continue working on the submission, go to Draft:Tony Castro (author) and click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
• If you now believe the draft cannot meet Wikipedia's standards or do not wish to progress it further, you may request deletion. Please go to Draft:Tony Castro (author), click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window, add "{{Db-g7}}" at the top of the draft text and click the blue "publish changes" button to save this edit.
• If you do not make any further changes to your draft, in 6 months, it will be considered abandoned and may be deleted.
• If you need any assistance, you can ask for help at the Articles for creation help desk, on the reviewer's talk page or use Wikipedia's real-time chat help from experienced editors.

WikiAviator (talk) 01:54, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Hello, Ashleymchase! Having an article declined at Articles for Creation can be disappointing. If you are wondering why your article submission was declined, please post a question at the Articles for creation help desk. If you have any other questions about your editing experience, we'd love to help you at the Teahouse, a friendly space on Wikipedia where experienced editors lend a hand to help new editors like yourself! See you there! WikiAviator (talk) 01:54, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Problematic editing

It is both problematic and suspicious when you create a draft article, which is declined, then create a main namespace article on the same subject. I have deleted the main namespace article and direct you back to the draft. I would also direct you to the help pages linked above, as they give guidance needed for creating an article. — billinghurst sDrewth 06:41, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: Tony Castro (author) (March 22)

Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by Sulfurboy was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.

• If you would like to continue working on the submission, go to Draft:Tony Castro (author) and click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
• If you now believe the draft cannot meet Wikipedia's standards or do not wish to progress it further, you may request deletion. Please go to Draft:Tony Castro (author), click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window, add "{{Db-g7}}" at the top of the draft text and click the blue "publish changes" button to save this edit.
• If you do not make any further changes to your draft, in 6 months, it will be considered abandoned and may be deleted.
• If you need any assistance, you can ask for help at the Articles for creation help desk, on the reviewer's talk page or use Wikipedia's real-time chat help from experienced editors.

Sulfurboy (talk) 04:02, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for March 24

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. An automated process has detected that when you recently edited Teo Davis, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Prep (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are usually incorrect, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of unrelated topics with similar titles. (Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.)

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 10:53, 24 March 2020 (UTC)

March 2020

Hello, and thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. This is just a note to let you know that I've moved the draft that you were working on to Draft:David McHam, from its old location at User:Ashleymchase/sandbox/David McHam. This has been done because the Draft namespace is the preferred location for Articles for Creation submissions. Please feel free to continue to work on it there. If you have any questions about this, you are welcome to ask me on my talk page. Thank you. Sulfurboy (talk) 15:43, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: David McHam (March 26)

Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Sulfurboy were: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.

• If you would like to continue working on the submission, go to Draft:David McHam and click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
• If you now believe the draft cannot meet Wikipedia's standards or do not wish to progress it further, you may request deletion. Please go to Draft:David McHam, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window, add "{{Db-g7}}" at the top of the draft text and click the blue "publish changes" button to save this edit.
• If you do not make any further changes to your draft, in 6 months, it will be considered abandoned and may be deleted.
• If you need any assistance, you can ask for help at the Articles for creation help desk, on the reviewer's talk page or use Wikipedia's real-time chat help from experienced editors.

Sulfurboy (talk) 15:44, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

A few suggestions for Draft:Tony Castro (author)

Hi, I've done some clean-up work on Draft:Tony Castro (author). If you'd like a few suggestions:

• Clean up the bibliography. A bibliography in a wikipedia article is typically a list of works by the article subject, or else a list of works used to source the article. As you're using inline citations, this bibliography should serve to highlight Castro's works, but instead it's a mishmash of his writing and other stuff. Get rid of everything he didn't write. Also, get rid of all the external URLs in that section. External URLs belong in an External links section or in a ref.
• I would drop the elementary school teacher's letter and mention. It's sweet, not encyclopedic.
• References to demonstrate notability can be tricky to find for writers; they're usually doing the writing, not being written about. In this article, you have a couple of articles in the local (Waco Tribune-Herald) newspaper and the encyclopedia.com entry (I'm not sure how other editors weight encyclopedia.com for notability). Most of the references are to stuff written by Castro which add no weight for notability.
• A claim like Chicano Power "became a scholarly benchmark in Chicano Studies programs at colleges and universities in America" needs a supporting reference. You cited the forward to the book, which isn't an independent source.
• A quick web search shows claims that he's a best-selling author. I don't know which of his books were best-sellers, but that contributes to notability, if properly sourced.
• The article states National Public Radio named Looking for Hemingway one of the best books of 2016. but instead of providing a source that verifies that claim, you link to his book on amazon. The citation should be to NPR or someone reporting that NPR said that.
• The article quotes Tom Wolfe on one of Castro's books, but the citation links to the book on amazon and provides no verification for the quote.
• There are several other reviews of Castro's books that aren't properly sourced. Keep in mind that blurbs on covers or on audible or on amazon are not reliable sources. Find actual published book reviews (not publisher's excerpts) and cite those.

I hope that helps. I think Tony Castro is notable, and I think that overall it's a good article. Good luck! Schazjmd (talk) 23:23, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

Hi, I noticed the improvements you're making to the article. I just wanted to point out that files uploaded to academia.edu aren't reliable sources. You need to find references that are published by independent reliable sources. Schazjmd (talk) 20:07, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

New message from Whpq

Hello, Ashleymchase. You have new messages at Whpq's talk page.
Message added 17:02, 28 March 2020 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Whpq (talk) 17:02, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

File:AUTHOR-TONYCASTRO-BIO-PHOTO.jpg listed for discussion

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:AUTHOR-TONYCASTRO-BIO-PHOTO.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion. Please see the discussion to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination.

This bot DID NOT nominate any file(s) for deletion; please refer to the page history of each individual file for details. Thanks, FastilyBot (talk) 01:01, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Your draft article, Draft:David McHam

Hello, Ashleymchase. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or Draft page you started, "David McHam".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been deleted. If you plan on working on it further and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thanks for your submission to Wikipedia, and happy editing. ƏXPLICIT 03:36, 31 March 2021 (UTC)

Concern regarding Draft:Tony Castro (author)

Hello, Ashleymchase. This is a bot-delivered message letting you know that Draft:Tony Castro (author), a page you created, has not been edited in at least 5 months. Draft space is not an indefinite storage location for content that is not appropriate for article space.

If your submission is not edited soon, it could be nominated for deletion under CSD G13. If you would like to attempt to save it, you will need to improve it. You may request userfication of the content if it meets requirements.

If the deletion has already occured, instructions on how you may be able to retrieve it are available here.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia. FireflyBot (talk) 09:02, 23 August 2021 (UTC)