LandlockedSurfer

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Need help with creating new "Maury Cohen" page without destructive edits to existing "Maury R. Cohen" page.

There exists a Wikipedia page entitled "Maury R. Cohen" and it appears to conflate two Maury Cohens who are different people. My father, Maury Cohen, born Morris Cohen in Bakersfield California, was a producer-director-writer, published author, and adjunct professor of film techniques and history. A small portion of the existing "Maury R. Cohen" page is accurate with respect to my father, but most of it (e.g., the Poverty Row Studios information) must pertain to the other Maury Cohen.

I wish to create a new page about my father, but leave the existing page mostly intact, editing out only the parts that definitely pertain only to my father, such as the information on his marriage, children and death that are at the end of the article.

May I create a new "Maury Cohen" page and invoke the Disambiguation feature to differentiate it from the current "Maury R. Cohen" page?

Thank you!

LandlockedSurfer (talk) 16:23, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

You have a disclosure of your connection with the subject you are writing about on your userpage. That's a good first step.

Because of the connection, the recommended procedure is for you to open a section on the talk page of the article and explain what changes you would like made to the article. This is going to be complicated, since we somehow have to separate out material that applies to the "other" Maury Cohen". The editors who have been contributing to the article in the past clearly had no clear conception that two different people were involved.

It's important to remember that your personal knowledge about your father is not eligible for introduction into the article. Your knowledge can be used to direct our attention to published sources that will help sort out the two different subjects. — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 17:59, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Posting at Talk:Maury M. Cohen in a "New section" was what I had in mind. Since Onel5969 is an active editor, they should see your post on their talk page quite soon. I was disappointed to see that you didn't offer any references in this first go around, which would have been helpful. Not do doubt your word, but WP can't credit your assertion of a connection to Cohen as having any particular authority. What is needed for sorting things out are references that will help us identify which Cohen is which, so a different middle name, different birth years, etc might begin the process.

But it's a start, we'll see where this goes. — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 21:13, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Well this is fascinating. And thanks for jmcgnh's thoughts above. It's difficult to find online sources from this time period. My intent when I created the article was to base it on the Poverty Row/Palladium Cohen. None of the sources I used indicated that there were two Cohens of the same name active at the time. If you have any references that would help. Over the next couple of weeks I'll look into it from time to time and see if I can't find reliable sources to untangle the two. Onel5969 ^{TT me} 22:37, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you for your guidance with this two-Maury-Cohens challenge!

I thank both of you, jmcgnh and Onel5969 for your help with this. I understand that I must provide citations to published documentation or other reliable public records to support assertions of fact.

I have begun the search for things that will support the elements of my father's life that I would like to see presented in an article pertaining solely to him.

Once I have obtained such citable support, would the proper next step be to request an article? To write one myself?

Also, can copies of public documents such as a birth certificate be the basis for a citation to support the assertion of a birthplace, month, day, and year?

Thank you very much!

LandlockedSurfer (talk) 15:12, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

LandlockedSurfer, you are invited to the Teahouse!

Hi LandlockedSurfer! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia. Be our guest at the Teahouse! The Teahouse is a friendly space where new editors can ask questions about contributing to Wikipedia and get help from experienced editors like Cordless Larry (talk). Visit the Teahouse We hope to see you there! Delivered by HostBot on behalf of the Teahouse hosts 16:03, 7 September 2018 (UTC)