Wikipedia:Dispute resolution noticeboard/Archive 190

Industrial and organizational psychology

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Iss246 on 23:24, 2 May 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

Draft:BRIDGEi2i Analytics

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

Taiwan

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

Template:George Floyd protests map

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

Julian Assange

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

Ice Cube

Closed discussion

Leopold Ružička

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Notrium on 16:00, 14 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

UFC 251

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Kent Bargo on 21:00, 19 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

Impulse (TV series)

  Dispute resolved successfully. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Debresser on 22:58, 9 June 2020 (UTC).

Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.

Location of dispute

Users involved

Dispute overview

The question is whether our Wikipedia article on the TV series Impulse should say that the series is "inspired by", "based on" or "loosely based on" the book Impulse by Steven Gould. There is a source that uses "based on", but it seems clear that this is not completely correct, since only a general idea was taken from that book.

A talkpage discussion of 3 editors decided 2 against 1 in favor of the language "based on". When I, the disagreeing editor, decided to tag the statement as disputed, that tag was removed with the claim that the talkpage discussion had show a clear consensus.

How have you tried to resolve this dispute before coming here?

Talk:Impulse_(TV_series)

How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?

Advice on what considerations should be overriding, strict adherence the language of sources or allowing to slightly adjust the language of the source if it seems clear that the source wasn't reflecting the facts in a precise way?

Advice on whether a talkpage discussion of 3 editors, reaching a 2 against 1 conclusion, justifies removal of a disputed statement tag.

Impulse (TV series) discussion

hello. i am willing to moderate this dispute. if you let me Clone commando sev (talk) 00:56, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

With pleasure. That why I came here. Debresser (talk) 12:44, 10 June 2020 (UTC)
cool. but first. have all the involved users been notified on their talk page? there is a template for it. Clone commando sev (talk) 00:55, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
No, I had not done so. Hadn't noticed that part of the instructions. Done now. Debresser (talk) 13:13, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
Well to me this was pretty simple.. reliable sources say this series was based on the book.. that's how it was in the article. The user Debresser wanted to insert his own POV opinion that it was "loosely" based on it.. though there are zero reliable sources that say that.. and the term "based on" is what was in the credits of the show and in the sources.. how closely it was based on it was irrelevant. He was not able to get any support for his position on the talk page so now he is forum shopping. Spanneraol (talk) 14:20, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
My take is very similar to Spanneraol: sources say the tv series is based on the book. Trying to specify how closely or loosely an adaptation "adheres" to the source material is the ultimate in subjectivity. Unless the vast preponderance of sources repeatedly claimed the series was "loosely based on" the material, the approach Debresser is promoting has no leg to stand on. And even if sources did overwhelmingly say "loosely based", there's been no indication that "based on" is sufficiently different from "loosely based on" that any distinction needs to be made or, more importantly, that such a distinction would enhance the article in question. —Joeyconnick (talk) 20:29, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
The Boston Herald says "loosely based on",[11] and Nerd says "inspired by".[12] As I argued above, the difference between those terms and "based on" is substantial, as the latter is not fit for what is no more than taking one central idea from the book and making it into a whole series. By the way, I did not appreciate the forumshopping accusation, as it was a bad faith accusation and stands at complete odds with the purpose of this whole noticeboard. Debresser (talk) 00:17, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
i know wikipedia is all about sourcing and being verifiable, but. how accurate to the books is the series? Clone commando sev (talk) 00:51, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
That's not a sentence that should be said. i know wikipedia is all about sourcing and being verifiable, but. There is no "but". Wikipedia is all about sourcing and being verifiable, that's it, that's Wikipedia. Hence, if the majority of sources state that the series is based on the book, as well as the series itself stating so in the credits, then the series is based on the book. As Joeyconnick already said (emphasis is my own): Unless the vast preponderance of sources repeatedly claimed the series was "loosely based on" the material, the approach Debresser is promoting has no leg to stand on; two outside reviews of the series do not change this. There is more support for the fact that there is no substantial difference between "loosely based" and "based", meaning that it comes down to one editor's personal opinion on the two terms; this is further supported by statements there were given as direct personal beliefs here (And I think that the stated reason of that edit is very correct "if literally the only thing they adapted was "what if a teenage girl can teleport", it's an inspiration, not an adaptation.), here (It is rather the premise of a girl who can teleport that inspired the series. So let's say "inspired") and here (You can read our Impulse (Steven Gould novel) article, and see for yourself, that the plot has nothing in common with this series apart from the premise of a teleporting girl.; Spanneraol's comment of you just did by reading a plot summary and making an inference rings true).
(And Debresser, don't get mad at other editors' claims after you claim Alex 21 agrees with this when he most certainly does not; do not make false claims and you won't get them back.) -- /Alex/21 01:07, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
i understand. sorry. i was just trying to get an understanding of the issue. i am sorry that it sounded like i was trying to undermine the sourcing policy. Clone commando sev (talk) 02:57, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
That is fine, because in this case, that is part of the issue. We should indeed base ourselves on sources, but where sources are not high quality (not academic, for example), there is nothing in policy that says we should perpetuate the inaccuracies of sources. Furthermore, WP:5P5 clearly gives us a mandate to do this. Especially since I have pointed out a few sources that were more precise and correct in their wording.
I think we could ask editors at Impulse (Steven Gould novel) to weigh in on the factual aspect of the discussion. Debresser (talk) 10:26, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
again.. none of that matters... it doesn't matter how closely it follows the book.. it is still based on it.. and that is what the credits say... anything else is subjective. Spanneraol (talk) 13:50, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
We should indeed base ourselves on sources, but where sources are not high quality (not academic, for example), there is nothing in policy that says we should perpetuate the inaccuracies of sources. So, you yourself admit that the two baseless "sources" you provided do not need to apply to this situation, as they are most certainly not of high quality or academic standards; they're reviews. Inaccuracies, indeed. And the editors at the novel article? There's been a dozen edits to the article in almost four years - there are no active editors there. Even after bringing the issue to DRN almost a week ago, you have not yet been able to gather any further support; all in all, your position on the terms used is solely based on your own personal interpretation, that it is. -- /Alex/21 14:48, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
The article is indeed not actively followed by many editors. Which is one reason I think it was the right thing to do to come here as a way of getting broader input. Again, please keep the personal snides to a minimum. I did not come here to garner support. I came here to resolve an issue which I think was resolved incorrectly. Debresser (talk) 22:16, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
I checked on your statement that the series itself states "based on", and I noticed that 3 seconds before the end, it indeed does say so. Debresser (talk) 22:31, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
would that count as a source? if yes than i think this is settled if no.... well it is still 2 or 3 against one. i think that is consensus Clone commando sev (talk) 00:53, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
Yes, as it is a primary source. A consensus is indeed very clear. -- /Alex/21 07:14, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
I am not convinced a 3:1 consensus on a page that is hardly visited, and in view of sources that state otherwise, is enough of a consensus to remove a {{Disputed inline}} tag. Debresser (talk) 20:55, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
One person that objects is not enough to include one. Spanneraol (talk) 21:19, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
seems this dispute is solved then. sorry Debresser consensus is against you. Clone commando sev (talk) 22:39, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
I know consensus is against me. That I stated from the beginning. That is not the question I asked here. I asked, if a 3:1 consensus is reason to remove a disputed template. Debresser (talk) 20:17, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
Yes, per WP:WTRMT. The issue has been adequately addressed and the issue has been resolved, and there is consensus on the talk page (and here) as to how to address the flagged issue. More information is available at WTRMT, but the current situation is supported by a multitude of the reasons given to remove the maintenance tag. -- /Alex/21 23:28, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
seems like my job here is done. this is settled. now it is up to you guys to remove the tag. Clone commando sev (talk) 23:49, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
The tag was removed on 9 June server time. It seems this discussion can therefore now be closed. -- /Alex/21 07:09, 18 June 2020 (UTC)
@Clone commando sev A hell of a job you did... I already knew that three editors disagree with me. I didn't post here for you to tell me that. If you care at all, you can review the "How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?" subsection, and if you don't care, you should not have undertaken to "mediate" this dispute. This is a farce if ever I saw one. Debresser (talk) 18:26, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
Debresser, you asked if a 3:1 consensus is reason to remove a disputed template, you were given a link supporting the removal of the tag, the moderator saw fit to agree. Just because you disagree with the outcome, does not mean it was a poor job. This battleground behaviour from you is unacceptable. -- /Alex/21 23:41, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
Oh, please cut the big words. The moderator did not address the questions I asked. That is a fact. I am well within my rights to express my dislike of the process, since no process to place here. That is not battlefield behavior, that is pointing out that this process has zero added value, apart from repeating the already known fact that the three of you disagree with me. Perhaps I was expecting too much from dispute resolution (wouldn't be the first time), or perhaps this moderator really is a bit too passive. Debresser (talk) 00:13, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
The point remains.. one person disagreeing is not enough to label something disputed.. otherwise every article would be littered with such tags. Spanneraol (talk) 00:18, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

Jim Kenney

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Lasalleexplorer on 13:20, 26 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

Stonehenge

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by M R G WIKI999 on 13:58, 27 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

Ingush people

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

Tipu Sultan

  – Discussion in progress.
Filed by Edithgoche on 15:20, 13 June 2020 (UTC).

Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.

Location of dispute

Users involved


Dispute overview

WP:DUE and possibly WP:CENSORED issues. Tipu's religious policy is discussed at lengths in the article's body. There is disagreement on how much of it should be included in the intro, and whether censorship is in place.

How have you tried to resolve this dispute before coming here? Yes, in the talkpage [15]

How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?

by explaining wikipedia policies to users.

Summary of dispute by EdithGoche

In the article's body, Tipu's religious policy is discussed in great detail, in over 3000 of the total 9000 words. If you look at the long intro, a mere one line is allotted for it, thus due weight is not given. I want due weight be given to the topic, taking a similar article Aurangzeb as an example. Edithgoche (talk) 15:34, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Summary of dispute by Irshadpp

There is a huge discussion over this issue, which involved by users @RegentsPark:, @Alivardi:, @Aman.kumar.goel:, @Abecedare: etc. Most of the users commented that, there is no expansion required in lead, which gave already picture both views hero vs religious tyrant.Here, @Edithgoche: removed the content In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism. However...... and added the details of other side. So the balancing of views were destroyed. I revert the mentioned edit, which was again changed by the same user. Now that edit reverted by another user. I do not understand why only me mentioned in his complaint.--Irshadpp (talk) 07:31, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

Tipu Sultan discussion

  •   Note to participants: I am willing to moderate this dispute, if you accept. I will first be reviewing the discussion in the talk page. Feynstein (talk) 17:20, 13 June 2020 (UTC)
Hello Feynstein I accept your offer. I am new to DRN. Go through the talk page and tell me if I should invite the other 4 users. I only invited one active user. Edithgoche (talk) 17:43, 13 June 2020 (UTC)
Thanks and welcome for moderating between us. I have just noticed this now, kindly refer the talk page for other editors' opinion.--Irshadpp (talk) 07:39, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
@Edithgoche: and @Irshadpp: Yes I would suggest that you invite the other editors, it can only help the discussions. And also, I opened this case, I think it is a valid DRN case. I will be posting my first statement, and setting things up as soon as I get on my PC (I'm on my phone now and it's not as efficient). Feynstein (talk) 14:22, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
I have invited all the editors who took part in the talk. Edithgoche (talk) 04:11, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Volunteer Comment - I would like to add a comment only as to what policies and guidelines are applicable. The filer says that there are WP:DUE and WP:CENSORED issues. The policy Wikipedia is not censored is usually misunderstood, and has nothing to do with questions of balance or due weight. However, this is an issue of due weight. The editors are requested to follow the instructions of the moderator to reach agreement on content. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:27, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
@Robert McClenon: Thanks for the inputs. I will keep the discussion only applying WP:DUE. Edithgoche (talk) 04:06, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

@Edithgoche: I won't be taking this discussion into a censoring issue as I don't think this is the case. Kindly try to be more careful when using this kind of language here, it could be perceived as a personal attack. I strongly suggest that everyone involved assume good faith. Feynstein (talk) 14:29, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

Agreed. Edithgoche (talk) 04:11, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

First statement by moderator

  • I first want to thank you for using the DRN to help resolve this dispute. As for the discussion here, try to keep it clear and concise, and try to bring one issue at a time. The issues should be stated in a single question for clarity. Try to agree on which questions to address and in what order. Please discuss the content and avoid shooting the messenger. Please be aware of the the rules and refer to them if you are unsure. I would prefer it if you used the subsections I will be providing for your discussions. If it gets too much into a back a forth discussion please stop and wait for me to assess the current messages. I am not an expert in the field and I don't pretend to be one, so I will need your help for explanations on more particular concepts I might not be aware of. And finally, try to keep the relevant discussions here, it will make everyone's life easier until we can find a resolution. For now, can everyone involved write a short opening statement including any recent development. Thank you. Feynstein (talk) 14:46, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

First statements by editors

  • Example statement. Feynstein (talk) 14:46, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
  • I think it would be wrong to repeat the whole religious policy section in the lede rather than the summarization. Not all Indians criticize him, many Indians consider him their hero. Also, to state again what I said before on the article talk page, another question is that to what extent can we trust the sources about religious persecution? The section, "British accounts," talks about it: "Historians such as Brittlebank, Hasan, Chetty, Habib, and Saletare, amongst others, argue that controversial stories of Tipu Sultan's religious persecution of Hindus and Christians are largely derived from the work of early British authors (who were very much against Tipu Sultan's independence and harboured prejudice against the Sultan) such as Kirkpatrick and Mark Wilks, whom they do not consider to be entirely reliable and likely fabricated. A. S. Chetty argues that Wilks' account in particular cannot be trusted." I think, even if the lede is expanded, it must be kept neutral. Khestwol (talk) 04:48, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Request 1) Any reader who only reads the intro would be misled that the body doesn't contain the religious policy in detail. We need to expand the intro. Doesn't have to be an essay, I will settle with just 2 sentences (compromising from my previous 5 sentence edit), one for critical POV and another for praiseful POV. That's all I am asking.
Request 2) The names of the concerned communities involved must be mentioned, with links to the wiki pages that discuss the same. There are separate wiki pages on the captivity of Mangalorean Christians, Kodavas and Nairs. The reader must be able to get to those pages from the intro. Edithgoche (talk) 05:13, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
  •   Note to participants: @Edithgoche: and @Khestwol: I think both your statements are very reasonable and I would let you carry on with this discussion in here and write my second statement later this week. What I write as suggestions is only a neutral opinion and serves only to keep the discussion going, you can disregard it completely if you both think it is wrong. I think that for historical accounts it is very difficult to assess the credibility of the authors. That's why WP:DUE exists actually. I also think that the two positive and negative sentences proposed by Edithgoche is a very reasonable request and attempt at a concensus resolution. As for the naming of the communities I think it would be removing the goal of the lede, which is a summary of the article at a quick glance. I think it would be better to try and concatenate the religious communities in a single word, like "some religious communities" or other summarizing phrasing. Feynstein (talk) 19:50, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
  • I'm not really sure this is a candidate for dispute resolution. What we have here is one editor (Edithgoche) who has a preferred text that they want to insert in the lead of the article and is unwilling to listen to other editors. No other editor has supported this version of the text. In short, there is no dispute, but there is merely a recalcitrant editor. My suggestion to Edithgoche they go back to the article talk page and discuss the issue dispassionately without recourse to statements about censorship and due. I personally don't think the lead warrants anything greater than the "he has been criticized for his repression of Hindus of Malabar and Christians of Mangalore for both religious and political reasons" (details are best left to the body) but ... --regentspark (comment) 21:38, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Let's discuss the content. not contributor. The last para has a WP:POV issue. That Tipu was secular is a view shared by some scholars and sections. To present it as the view of the entire Indian subcontinent is POV. Other scholars/sections consider him a religious tyrant. This has to be changed. Below is the revised version of my previous edit. Suggestions are welcome.
Tipu is criticized by some historians for the destruction of churches and temples, and forced conversions of Mangalorean Catholics and Hindus of Malabar and Coorg. Others dispute the historicity of the claims and applaud him as tolerant for the appointment of Hindus in his administration and land grants to temples.
Thanks for the moderation Feynstein. My Request 2 was not about mentions of community names vs "some religious communities". Community names are already present in the current version - "Hindus of Malabar and Christians of Mangalore", and this is agreed by the other editors. The article can be improved by changing "Hindus of Malabar" to "Hindus of Malabar and Coorg" or "Nairs of Malabar and Kodavas of Coorg", whichever the editors agree on. As the article discusses both, I don't think there is a valid reason to mention Malabar and not Coorg.
Khestwol's concern that the claims of the critics are disputed by some historians is addressed. His other concern that some sections consider him a hero is also given due weight. Edithgoche (talk) 03:52, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
Thanks Feynstein, I agree with RegentsPark regarding the talk page discussion. But the user who raise this issue here didn't enough support there. Current lead is
  • In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism. However, he has been criticized for his repression of Hindus of Malabar and Christians of Mangalore for both religious and political reasons.
If the word secular ruler is the center of our discussion, we can make it tolerant ruler. It is very clear from all citations that Tipu was tolerant with all except rebels. If he was not tolerant to other religions, how there were many top admin staffs of him from Hindu religion. In light of citations, we may see that all communities fell in repression of Tipu were rebellious to Tipu's administration (Political). In my opinion, the current lead is sufficient to the article.--Irshadpp (talk) 06:30, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the inputs Irshadpp. I think we are making progress in terms of understanding the positions of others. My concern is not with Tipu being presented as a secular or tolerant ruler. My concern is that this POV is being presented as the unanimous view of the entire "post-colonial Indian Subcontinent", which is not the case. Instead we can write, "Some historians applaud him for being secular/tolerant..", as present in my revised version above. Edithgoche (talk) 07:17, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Edithgoche, if the first part (post-colonial India) is a problem, perhaps we could go with: In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as criticized for his repression of Hindus of Malabar and Christians of Mangalore for both religious and political reasons That, imo, equally balances both views.--regentspark (comment) 15:51, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
I agree with RegentsPark. Khestwol (talk) 18:42, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
  • RegentsPark's version looks good and is an improvement over that currently in the article. I have some suggestions to improve it more.
1) by altering the term repression. The sources use the terms forced conversions and persecutions liberally. I don't see the term repression used anywhere in the four articles [16] [17] [18] [19]. Let's use the term that the critical sources themselves use, to present their view more accurately. Also imo repression does not convey the essence of the criticism as it has multiple interpretations.
2) Hindus of Malabar can be changed to Hindus of Malabar and Coorg. The article discusses both.
3) for political reasons can be removed to maintain WP:DUE. This is the critical view, "According to historian Alan Machado Prabhu, Tipu's reasons for the captivity were primarily religious. He found the social customs of the Christians distasteful, such as their fondness for pork and the social acceptance of alcohol.". This is the non-critical view, "Contemporary scholars like Surendranath Sen, Mohibbul Hasan, N. K. Sinha, and B. Sheik Ali, who have analysed Tipu's religious policies on Christians, conclude that he was not a religious bigot. They argue that forcible conversions to Islam were done purely for political, not religious reasons.. as a punishment for Christians who supported the British.". We see that Political reasons is cited in defense of Tipu. Including it in the second statement dilutes the criticism, effectively giving the critical view one-fourth weight in the whole para.
Here is the improvement I propose,
In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as criticized as a religious bigot for the persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore. Edithgoche (talk) 05:28, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
In my opinion, politics was the main reason so I would suggest mentioning this word first, i.e. "...for both political and religious reasons." Otherwise, RegentsPark's wording is perfect. Khestwol (talk) 10:30, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
  • That politics was the main reason represents one POV, the secular view. That religion was the main reason is another POV, the critical view. If we necessarily have to include the reasons, each of the reasons must be placed duly in their own statement, without mixing them up and confusing the readers. My opinion is that reasons are best left to the body and not the intro. Edithgoche (talk) 15:36, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
It is a good move by Regentspark, Agreed with his opinion. No altering required as this is a balanced sentence. In proposal of Edithgoche word religious bigot and emission of reasons behind his actions (Political & religious) will make the statement biased. To the proposal of Regentspark, addition of Coorgs may be acceptable to all.--Irshadpp (talk) 10:57, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
I don't see "religious bigot" as being neutrally stated. We could replace "repression" with "persecution" though. On reading the stuff in the body (which, if I may add, is full of poorly sourced material and desperately needs to be cleaned up), we need to keep "political" in. My suggestion: In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as criticized for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Christians of Mangalore for both religious and political reasons. I suppose Coorg can be added in but it is probably overkill. --regentspark (comment) 13:06, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Here we have two statements for the two views - secular view in the first statement and critical view in the next statement. That Tipu did it for reasons mainly political or purely political is a secular view, not a critical view, used in defense of Tipu by historians like Hasan to show he was not a religious bigot. If we necessarily want to include political reasons, I am open to including it, but we have to do it in the secular statement. It is one thing to say Tipu did it for political reasons, which is correct and represents secular view, and a totally different thing to say, Tipu is criticized for the persecution of .. for both religious and political reasons, which is wrong and represents neither view accurately. It mixes up secular and critical views and presents them as a critical view overall, thus misrepresenting the criticism. I suggest we omit the reasons totally. Stating the reasons in the intro amounts to going into details, which is meant for the body. Most editors just want a short summary of the religious policy, is what the feeling I am getting from the beginning of the discussion.
Since we are having the description secular ruler in the first statement I looked for a similar description for the second statement - religious tyrant, religious bigot, religious fanatic, villain. All these terms are used for the critical view in the sources. "However, the image of Tipu in the memoirs of the people of Coorg, Malabar and South Kanara conforms more to the one presented by Kirkpatrick and Wilks, one of a bitter religious bigot and a ferocious conquistadore." [20]. In the discussions I see other editors using the term religious tyrant when describing the critical view. This term is fine as well. Here is what is suggest, In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as criticized as a religious tyrant for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore.. Edithgoche (talk) 14:39, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
I'm sorry Edithgoche but tyrant, bigot are not acceptable. If you want to drop religious and political reasons, that's fair. But words like tyrant are too loaded to be used here. --regentspark (comment) 16:23, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
  • I felt the term secular was loaded and wanted it altered, but then I could find a source using this word, now I support keeping it in the interests of objectivity. Most (maybe all) critical sources I read here call him a religious tyrant (or other synonyms). I think we have to keep our personal feelings and interpretations aside and use the words that the sources use, without judging if they're loaded or not. That he was a religious tyrant is the fundamental criticism against Tipu. Without that charge, there is no criticism at all. I suggest we keep it to present the sources objectively. In the talk you said, The original text succinctly summarized the content in the body (hero vs religious tyrant). I thought you would be open to using tyrant instead of bigot. Edithgoche (talk) 16:49, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
Ok. I read the section again and perhaps we can go with In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as viewed as a religious tyrant for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore. I changed criticized to viewed because that may be the more accurate summary word. But, criticized is fine too if that is preferred. --regentspark (comment) 21:25, 18 June 2020 (UTC)
Your version looks good and balanced. I suggest a minor change. We can go either with applauded and criticized for the first and second statements, or considered and viewed, to use similar wording when describing both POVs. I'd say considered and viewed is more accurate wording, but the former is fine too. Edithgoche (talk) 05:35, 19 June 2020 (UTC)
I agree that "applauded" is an odd choice of word. So, what we have is: In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both considered to be a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as viewed as a religious tyrant for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore. @Irshadpp and Khestwol:, could you comment here.--regentspark (comment) 18:36, 19 June 2020 (UTC)
  • I agree with this version. Edithgoche (talk) 08:24, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
  • If we are using a word religious tyrant, I suggest the removal of the details of it such for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore, as there is no details shown for his tolerant attitude to his own Hindu subjects and who were allied with him like Hindu Raja of Cochin. religious tyrant v/s secular ruler, No need details of both.--Irshadpp (talk) 09:00, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
I have some observations regarding this. 1) His fight against British colonialism is described in detail in the above paras. Whereas for the critical view, we are not alloting a separate para, the least we can do is mention these details in one sentence here. 2) The body discusses the persecutions critically in about 2500 words (let's say we trim it down to half). Just giving it two words can seriously compromise WP:DUE. 3) I wanted to add more details like his land grants to temples and appoint of hindu officers to the secular view, and destruction of churches and temples and forced conversions to the critical view. I think the above version by RegentsPark is a good compromise between too much detail and maintaining WP:DUE Edithgoche (talk) 10:08, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
  •   Note to participants: Hello again, I am sorry I didn't have time to make my second statement yet, don't worry it is still coming. My week turned into utter chaos at work... it was pretty unexpected. I will try to write it tonight. Sorry. Feynstein (talk) 19:27, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

Second statement by moderator

  • Hello editors. I am sorry if my second statement took so long, I had a very rough week at work and was very tired every time I got back home. As you might know I am a nuclear physicist working in industrial radiography and we had a surprise inspection from the nuclear safety commission with 2 days notice. So we had to go through all our documentation and all our blueprints for shielding and make sure everything was in order, that we did not forget anything. We passed with flying color, but it is pretty exhausting hahaha.
  • As for the subject matter itself, I agree that non-neutral words like "bigot" should not be used unless it is a quote from a text. But in order for you to get the right information, I collected a few wikipedia reference pages for consultation. WP:RNPOV, MOS:WTW and WP:ATT. Secular is a perfectly acceptable work and is neutral. Here is the definition: "denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis."
  • And to conclude, I think that RegentsPark brought a reasonable compromise and I suggest the two other involved editors, namely Edithgoche and Khestwol, start working on a good final phrasing for the compromise. I suggest that for now the discussion should focus exclusively on this compromise, as it is our best bet at a resolution. I also suggest that the editors present their version of the phrasing in the sections below in the same form as I will be formatting them.Feynstein (talk) 12:46, 19 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Omg I almost forgot Irshadpp sorry :P. Good editing everyone :-) Feynstein (talk) 12:49, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Formatting example

  • "Candidate sentence"
    • Approve Explanation by original poster of the sentence
    • Disapprove Explanation for disapproval
  • "Next sentences until all parties agree on a final version"
    • Approve or Disapprove etc, etc. Feynstein (talk) 12:46, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Second statements by editors

  • In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is considered to be a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism. However, he is also criticized for his repression, for both political and religious reasons, against Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore, and for his clamping down on Mappila Muslims. Khestwol (talk) 08:03, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Disapprove. Reasons same as discussed above. 1) First statement being presented as the view of the entire subcontinent, which is not really the case. 2) The term repression is not sourced, persecution is. 3) reasons are best left to the body 4) There is no source which 'criticizes' the clamping down on Mappila muslims. Edithgoche (talk) 08:42, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
  • I agree with RegentsPark's latest version, In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both considered to be a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as viewed as a religious tyrant for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore. Edithgoche (talk) 08:42, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
  • As I mentioned above, if we are using the word religious tyrant, I suggest the removal of the details of it such for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore, as there is no details shown for his tolerant attitude to his own Hindu subjects and who were allied with him like Hindu Raja of Cochin etc. religious tyrant v/s secular ruler, No need details of both. Otherwise we may tell like this Tipu was criticized for his persecution towards Hindu rebels of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore--Irshadpp (talk) 10:01, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Disapprove I have to disagree with the word 'rebel'. That his actions were motivated by the rebel nature of the communities is the secular view. It cannot be included in the critical view. Edithgoche (talk) 10:15, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
What Edithgoche means by secular view and critical view. Here our references are historical, not secular or critical. We have two streams on historians regarding religious attitude of Tipu Sultan. I would suggest to split fighting to British and religious policy separate.
  1. In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is considered to be a brave ruler who fought against British colonialism. His religious tolerance was documented by many historians through his activities such as appointing Hindu Officers in key administrative positions and land grants and endowments to Hindu temples. On other side, Tipu criticized as a religious tyrant for his persecution towards Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore which historians are debating over the reasons that political or religious. Or, same suggested by Regentspark, but without word religious tyrant.
  2. In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both considered to be a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as criticized for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore--Irshadpp (talk) 11:21, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Disapprove Yes, we present historical references. But two opposing POVs exist regarding the same, which I call secular vs critical to help illustrate my points better. You can call them by any other names.
The first two sentences are merely POV, but they are being presented as the truth. Also, I don't see any source for brave ruler.
The terms bigot, tyrant, fanatic, villain are used in the sources. There is no rationale to remove tyrant. Edithgoche (talk) 03:26, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
What I am proposing is, if we are using word religious tyrant, then no need details of accused atrocities. The word itself enough to balance secular ruler. If we add the details, we must add for both views like below.
  • In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is considered to be a ruler who fought against British colonialism. His religious tolerance was documented by many historians through his activities such as appointing Hindu Officers in key administrative positions and land grants and endowments to Hindu temples. On other side, Tipu viewed as a religious tyrant for his persecution towards Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore which historians are debating over the reasons that political or religious.
brave-omitted.--Irshadpp (talk) 06:21, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Disapprove Same reasons stated above. First two sentences are POV, being presented as truth. If details are to be included we can use a modified version of my original proposal which presents POVs as POV and not as truth. Tipu is viewed as a religious tyrant by some sections for the destruction of churches and temples, and forced conversions of Mangalorean Catholics and Hindus of Malabar and Coorg. Others consider him a secular ruler for the appointment of Hindus in his administration and grants to temples and that his treatment of rebels were for political reasons. Edithgoche (talk) 05:31, 22 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Here we are submitting both POVs, Tolerant & Tyrant. Both are POVs, being presented as truth. The main point is both are POVs not mine or yours, but historians. While British writers on that age painted Tipu as religious tyrant or bigot, modern world historians suspect the authenticity of this records. They had research over this and found British interest to paint him with these labels. While Tipu was religious tolerant with His Hindu subjects and Hindu-Christian allies like Cochin, France etc., his treatments to rebels of Malabar, Coorg and Mangalore were the basis of criticizing as Religious tyrant....... --Irshadpp (talk) 07:31, 22 June 2020 (UTC)
  • I got caught up in RL issues! I'm ok with either the ...secular... ...religious tyrant... (acceptable to Edithgoche) or the ...secular... ...persecution of... (acceptable to Irshadpp) versions (with a slight preference for the latter). But, the longer detailed version, as well as the Khestwol version at the top of the section, are too much for the lead. It looks like we have an impasse here. @Feynstein:, any suggestions on how to resolve this impasse?--regentspark (comment) 22:01, 22 June 2020 (UTC)
  • @Irshadpp: His religious tolerance was documented by many historians. This is a POV statement. It presents him as tolerant, a POV disputed by others. Whether he is presented as secular or tyrant it must be accompanied by qualifiers clearly indicating that it's a POV, such as Some historians consider him tolerant. Look at the phrase, which historians are debating over the reasons that political or religious How is it that when he is presented as tolerant, historians aren't mentioned to be debating, which they are, but when criticized, historians are debating? The entire para has POV issues. Also, this para is bigger than the detailed version I proposed above. Since our goal is to keep intro short, I suggest we go with regentspark's latest version, which is short and acceptable for me. Edithgoche (talk) 06:29, 23 June 2020 (UTC)
  • I have only one objection with Regentspark's latest version, which is Religious tyrant + Details of atrocities to the rebels (Not hindu, christian or muslim). Either details or the word religious tyrant to be omitted.--Irshadpp (talk) 06:53, 23 June 2020 (UTC)
The last para gives two POVs, each disputed by the other, and all the above paras give undisputed facts. So we can write this fact in a para above, This fact is not disputed as even secular POV scholars agree to this. Contemporary scholars like Surendranath Sen, Mohibbul Hasan, N. K. Sinha, and B. Sheik Ali, who have analysed Tipu's religious policies on Christians, conclude that he was not a religious bigot. They argue that forcible conversions to Islam were done purely for political, not religious reasons.. as a punishment for Christians who supported the British. The dispute only lies in two things 1) whether the numbers are exaggerated? 2) political or religious reasons?. These seem to be significant events and deserve a mention.
And in the last para describing his legacy we can present the two POVs, In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is considered to be a secular ruler by some and religious tyrant by others. Edithgoche (talk) 05:17, 24 June 2020 (UTC)
  • What about facts about his tolerant attitude to his subjects and allies. If you are adding details, both side details to be there.--Irshadpp (talk) 10:19, 24 June 2020 (UTC)
We could give both details like this, Tipu's religious policy is controversial. He is both considered to be a secular ruler for his grants to temples and appointment of Hindus in his administration, as well as viewed as a religious tyrant for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore. I think this gives due weight to both views. I am omitting fight against British as it is given in above paras. This para gives POVs only about his religious policy. Edithgoche (talk) 15:12, 25 June 2020 (UTC)
  •   Note to participants: Hi everyone! There is no obligation, but can you please try to use the formatting I proposed? There seems to be valid consensus propositions mixed in the comments. For clarity, could someone resume the working phrasing?
  • Like that? Feynstein (talk) 13:40, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

Third statement by moderator

  • The debate seems to be going well. Since it is getting a bit crammed up there with all the replies and such, I suggest you continue your discussion down here with concise statements. I also want to weigh in regarding the usage of wording like Tyrant and such. If these words are included, they must be within quotation marks. As per WP:NPOV it is essential that the wording of the encyclopedia itself stays neutral. So those words must come from the litterature, or from historical reports and such. I would also like for the editors to start writing candidate sentences and focus on the final goal of getting a concensus. Thank you! Feynstein (talk) 15:49, 23 June 2020 (UTC)
The word tyrant is sourced. Similar words like bigot, villain and fanatic are used in the critical sources. We are merely presenting what the sources say. I don't think it has be within quotation marks, when we are not doing the same for the word secular which represents the other POV. Edithgoche (talk) 04:57, 24 June 2020 (UTC)
  • @Edithgoche: I know those words are sourced, but they are clearly pejorative. And very much more than secular, which only means no link to religion. What I only want to say is be mindful of the wording and make sure it is not the encyclopedia that uses these words, but the sources themselves. Feynstein (talk) 19:54, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

Third statements by editors

  • Tipu's religious policy is still controversial among historians. He is both considered to be a secular ruler for his generous attitude towards his subjects and allies, grants to temples and appointment of Hindus in his top administration, as well as viewed as a "religious tyrant" for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore.
This is a small variation of latest proposal of Edithgoche. According to Feynstein, the word religious tyrant inside quotation marks. The changes of mine is in bold letters here only for review--Irshadpp (talk) 09:12, 27 June 2020 (UTC)
  • Disapprove. 1) still is not required 2) WP:UNDUE Secular POV is given more weight than critical POV. If you read the body more details is given for critical POV. There is a single line mentioning the grants to temples and appointment of Hindus, including it here is already WP:UNDUE but I am okay with a short summary. Adding more details on top of it is pushing it a bit far. 3) Unsourced claims. generous attitude, top administration 4) Putting religious tyrant in quotes is unwarranted. We are not writing it in encyclopedia's voice, we are writing it in the voice of the sources. So no need for quotes.
Either we go with Tipu's religious policy is controversial. He is both considered to be a secular ruler for his grants to temples and appointment of Hindus in his administration, as well as viewed as a religious tyrant for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore., which is my version and balances both views equally imo. Or we go with Regentspark's version that is also acceptable to me, In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is both considered to be a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism as well as viewed as a religious tyrant for his persecution of Hindus of Malabar and Coorg and Christians of Mangalore. Edithgoche (talk) 22:36, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Edward Colston

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Michael F 1967 on 17:37, 27 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

United States involvement in regime change in Latin America

  – New discussion.
Filed by Jamez42 on 18:16, 14 June 2020 (UTC).

Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.

Location of dispute

Users involved

Dispute overview

There has been a long lasting disagreement in the article regarding the portrayal of Venezuela in the article, if any: whether its section should be split or merged, and which content should it include.

How have you tried to resolve this dispute before coming here?

Discussion in the article throughout several months:

Related discussions in main article:

Admin El C has advised the DRN if the last discussion became stale.

How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?

Helping to decide if the section should be split or merged, and which content should be included.

Summary of dispute by David Tornheim

This DR has serious process issues, in terms of cherry-picked participants and failure to notify at the pages affected.
Cmonghost's analysis is on point, except I think the scope is straightforward: Regime change is what the WP:RS says it is. If the WP:RS says it is "regime change", then it is regime change.[22]
Notrium made some valid points: [23][24].
Jamez42 has already been sanctioned and restricted (0RR/1RR) for poor behavior at the regime change articles, where he repeatedly deleted well-sourced content about U.S. involvement in Venezuela when he didn't get his way.
The previously discussed unnecessary and unpopular "accusations" section is Jamez42's creation, and he can't seem to accept the fact that there is little support of it.
ReyHahn said In the case of Venezuela the section included mostly accusations by Maduro administration itself.
That's because Jamez42 added almost all of it: [25], [26], [27].
The addition of extensive content of unsubstantiated accusations and their political expedience muddies the water. I both discussed trimming and tried to delete some of it, but got reverted.
I believe that the WP:RS that discusses and/or takes seriously the U.S.'s involvement in regime change is what we need, and mention of accusations should be fairly minor as discussed in that section.
Ultimately, this dispute was created by Jamez42, and the best way to handle it IMHO is for Jamez42 to take a breather from Venezuela, Guaido and Maduro related articles. Regardless, I will do my part to work collaboratively with him.
I am happy to work on an RfC(s) about this to get more non-involved editors to comment once the WP:FRS is working. Such RfC(s) should be prepared and discussed on article's talk page, not in this limited forum of editors cherry-picked by Jamez42. If some non-involved editor(s) like Notrium or Robert McClenon [28] want to help with that, I would welcome it. --David Tornheim (talk) 23:50, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

Update: 09:54, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Per Robert McClenon's request Will each editor please make a brief statement about what they want to be in the RFC? Be civil and concise. Do not engage in back-and-forth discussion.: I have created the below section for my proposed potential RfC questions. I will fill it in shortly. If preferred, I can limit to one proposed question.
As you can see from above, I prefer to provide readers who want to dig deeper with links to previous discussions. I propose to do that, while recognizing the importance of neutrality in RfCs (WP:RFCBRIEF and WP:WRFC). If such links are unhelpful or need to be stated in a different form, please let me know.
@Robert McClenon: Thank you for your attention to this. --David Tornheim (talk) 09:54, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
DT's Proposed RfC

This RfC relates to these two articles:

Questions:

  1. Should Venezuela be the only country in the above two articles to be listed under a separate section called "Accusations" as seen in this version?
  2. Should the accusations added by these, three, edits be included, not included, or trimmed from the article, etc.?

End of Proposal by --David Tornheim (talk) 11:54, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

  • Note: I had considered adding questions about the scope of these two articles, but I believe this would muddy the water. This is a content dispute only related to U.S. involvement in Venezuela, and it should not spill over and undermine the stable content of the long-established scope defined by the WP:LEDE of the United States involvement in regime change article. Nor should it undermine the stable portions describing U.S. meddling in other countries' governments. I have noticed some editors are heavily and sometimes almost exclusively focused on Venezuela content. I think it would be a disservice to Wikipedia to allow their desire to have specific things said (or not said) about Venezuela weaken the content of other subjects they do not care about. --David Tornheim (talk) 11:54, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Summary of dispute by Cmonghost

Please keep it brief - less than 2000 characters if possible, it helps us help you quicker.

In my view there are three main issues with Venezuela content in this article. The first is that Jamez42's proposed division into two sections, "history" and "accusations", is arbitrary and appears to mostly reflect their personal opinions about which allegations are credible and which are not. Instead, we should agree on content to include in a single section, with appropriate context from reliable sources for each point. There is also no precedent on the page for splitting sections in this way, and it leaves Venezuela as the only subsection in the "Accusations" section, which is not good article structure. The second is that there is no agreement between editors about what constitutes "involvement in regime change". For instance, reliable sources do not dispute the fact that the U.S. (through the National Endowment for Democracy) funded organizations involved in the 2002 coup (source), some editors seem to believe that this does not constitute involvement in regime change (though such editors have been vague about how they would define the term). Finally, there is a tendency on any articles related to current Venezuelan politics to paste in an extremely long paragraph about how Maduro has committed election fraud, the crisis is his fault, etc.; regardless of whether this stock paragraph is accurate, it is not directly related to the actual subject of the article, and appears to serve mostly as editors' justification for US regime change efforts. This content should not be included on this page. In general, the text has an explicitly anti-Maduro framing, e.g., the only discussion of U.S. sanctions, which are imposed for the explicit purpose of regime change, is that Maduro exploited them to "bump up his approval ratings" (which is not even directly supported by the source cited). — cmonghost 👻 (talk) 16:02, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Summary of dispute by Jogarz1921

Please keep it brief - less than 2000 characters if possible, it helps us help you quicker.

I don't think the inclusion of Venezuelan event since in the article should be particularly controversial. Since early 2019, US and the majority of Latin American nations have openly stated, numerous times, that they want to see Maduro and his government go. Regime change in Venezuela is a public effort by numerous countries to remove the authoritarian regime, not a conspiracy theory. I think the key problem here is the inclusion of pre-2019 events. The evidence that the US was actively attempting regime change during this period is scant at best and comes mostly from unreliable sources. Maduro may claim that the collapse of his country's economy was a US-engineered effort at regime change, but there's simply no good evidence that this is the case. Rather, all available evidence shows that the mid-2010s economic collapse was the result of failed economic policy. Until very recently, US policy towards Venezuela was predominantly disinterest. I don't think the baseless deflections of Maduro and Chavez have the same notoriety as actual, confirmed US regime change efforts. I am also concerned that including such accusations alongside well-verified historical events will create a false equivalence between the two. As such, I believe pre-2019 accusations should not be included on the page.Jogarz1921 (talk) 03:36, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Summary of dispute by ReyHahn

The problem is related to a larger issue that is part of United States involvement in regime change (USiirg). There is no clear consensus yet on what is an involvement in regime change. USiirg and USiirg in Latin America seem to be articles to compile all foreign actions and plans of United States without critical view on them or context, especially if it is in the news. Users are encouraged to add all informations they find on US and x country, sometimes in a "wrong deeds" manner. US authorities position on the subject and their international position of other countries involved is often avoided. On the other hand, "x" position is always important in these articles, independent of evidence. Sometimes opinion articles are used because they are authored by an "expert" (but what's an expert in "involvement in regime change"?). In the case of Venezuela the section included mostly accusations by Maduro administration itself. Maduro administration frequently accuses all problems in Venezuela on foreign causes (US, Europe, Israel, Colombia, Brazil,etc). Some users seem to want Venezuela in the article either without the context or with accusations by Maduro administration without further evidence. Jamez42 created an accusation section for this cause, that went on for some months with a POV template, but as soon a the POV template was considered deprecated and was removed (as discussion stopped during those months), the content was merged back to the main section, a move that was asked to be reverted as it was done without previous announcement (the content could have also been split between accusations and main, but this was not the case either). Briefly: involvement in regime change is ill defined, context is discouraged (by some users), accusations are taken as facts and separating sections for accusations apparently is seen as arbitrary. Under these conditions, the article seems to be pushed for anti-US bias.--ReyHahn (talk) 16:47, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

Proposed RfC by Jamez42

This RfC relates to these two articles:

Questions
  1. Should content about Venezuela be included in the article?
  2. Should its content be merged or split into an "Accusations" section?
  3. Should content about the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt be included in the article?
  4. Should content regarding official statements between 2002 and 2020 be included in the article?
  5. Should content about the Venezuelan presidential crisis be included in the article?
Previous discussions
  • Note: Questions 3, 4 and 5 are dependent on the second one, which is about the scope of the section, just like all of them are dependent on the first question, which is the inclusion of the content. --Jamez42 (talk) 14:08, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

United States involvement in regime change in Latin America discussion

Please keep discussion to a minimum before being opened by a volunteer. Continue on article talk page if necessary.
  • Volunteer Note - User:David Tornheim appears to have requested assistance with a Request for Comments. I am willing to assist in that regard. I am alternatively willing to moderate, but David Tornheim appears to be making a reasonable request that we use an RFC rather than facilitated discussion.

First statement by Volunteer

Will each editor please make a brief statement about what they want to be in the RFC? Be civil and concise. Do not engage in back-and-forth discussion. Robert McClenon (talk) 20:58, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

First statements by Editors

Before all else, I would like to thank @Robert McClenon: for volunteering and helping with the current dispute.

My experience with RfCs regarding Venezuela is that, given its polarizing nature, it effectively turns into a poll. Judging from the article's talk page and statements here, everyone appears to be unsatisfied by the current version, and issuing a ingles binary yes or no question (eg: Should the section be merged or split) risks leaving concerns unanswered, including about policies of verifiability and neutrality. The RfC should discuss which will be the content, but I'm not aware if the RfC format allows this and I would like to be more familiar with this; I hope that it is the case. Robert, do you have knowledge about RfCs about similarly controversial topics, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict? Perhaps we could learn from them to seek the best outcome.

I am also very disheartened to see that David Tornheim decided to cast aspersions against me for starting this request. This venue was recommended by the very admin that placed the restrictions; seeking alternative ways to discuss and seek consensus should not be a reason for reprehension, even less to suggest that an editor should stop editing in the topic. David was the user that restarted the issue, despite not having consensus among the editors involved. This dispute is long lasting as extensive discussions on the issue show, and to say that I'm the one that "created" it is an oversimplification to say the least. If a RfC is started it's important to uphold civility, precisely to ensure collaborative discussion, which I'm looking forward.

I pinged essentially all of the editors involved in the most recent discussion (Talk:United States involvement in regime change in Latin America#Venezuela 2020) and I don't have any problem with inviting uninvolved editors; I only ask for the issues mentioned above to be considered. I will probably make a summary in the article's talk page hoping to make the procedure easier. Many thanks in advance! --Jamez42 (talk) 13:45, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Comment about RfC Since this thread has been stale for over a week, I'll make an additional comment. Despite the best intentions, DT's RfC fails the neutrality required of RfCs (WP:RFCNEUTRAL), namely in the phrasing of its first question and for targeting three specific edits in the second one, while not addressing the concerns raised in the discussions by other editors. I have tried to cover these issues in my proposal, regarding both the scope and the content, although I worry about the length of the RfC, another problem with this mecanism. In any case, I'm looking forward to improve and I'm all ears to any suggestion. --Jamez42 (talk) 13:01, 29 June 2020 (UTC)

United States

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by 91.110.211.44 on 19:08, 29 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

Peace Myanmar Group

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Erateam8 on 03:10, 30 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

African Descendants of Slavery

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by Truthsayer21 on 03:35, 30 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

Criticism of Twelver Shia Islam

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by 49.180.128.47 on 04:08, 18 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion

Roman Retzbach

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Filed by YvesMe on 08:31, 30 June 2020 (UTC).
Closed discussion