User talk:Monster213

Squinky

Please do not add nonsense to Wikipedia. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you. -- Mapetite526 19:08, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I apologize - I was giving my class a demonstration of how to use Wikipedia and I forgot to remove my entry. I wonder if there isn't a less accusatory way of gently reminding a new user to pay closer attention to ettiquette.

Speedy deletion of Vivian woofter

A tag has been placed on Vivian woofter requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a person or group of people, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is notable: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not indicate the subject's importance or significance may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, as well as our subject-specific notability guideline for biographies.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the article meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the article does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that a copy be emailed to you. Excirial ^{(Talk,Contribs)} 15:07, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Female Interior Designers

There is almost no information about women in interior design of note on the Wikipedia website (despite the fact that fictitious character Grace Adler gets a pretty lengthy entry). I teach the history of interior design at a university and am trying to rectify this situation by having my students contribute research they have done on notable women in the profession. The page on Vivian Woofter keeps getting deleted but she is a figure of importance to interior designers just as Norman Foster or Louis Sullivan is to architects. I realize that you may not have heard of her and there are not a great number of books or articles written on her but that is because women have been ignored or marginalized and study of the history of interiors is relatively new. I understand how it could be misconstrued as simply a biography of any individual but I assure you that she is a person of note. She worked as the head of Interior Design for the State Department for 20 years and was responsible for the interior design of embassies and American Field offices all over the world. She has had a prolific career and is a figure who the women who study interior design should be able to find information on. Denying her a place in Wikipedia would be both unfortunate and send the wrong message to a generation of female students who can easily find relatively minor (male) architects discussed at great length. I love Wikipedia and encourage my students to interact with it as often as possible and I appreciate the time and effort you and others put into this wonderfully democratizing knowledge process. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions. Best wishes, Hannah —Preceding unsigned comment added by Monster213 (talk • contribs) 12:43, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree with you that there are people who would, by common sense, deserve an article on wikipedia, and also that there are articles which are deemed notable yet would be better of if they were scrapped. The main issue is that Wikipedia is a large encyclopedia where general guidelines have to apply which govern what is allowed, and what not. For example, there are masses of home-brew bands that try to create an article, and i am not even starting to discuss each and every person that adds him or herself to Wikipedia. That, among with other nonsensical pages have created the need for guidelines.

I cannot remember this specific article, which is mainly caused since i tag about 150-200 articles a day for removal, and read about a fivefold to see if they should be allowed. This means that i cannot give specific advice on this article itsself, but i think i can start of with some basic general information.

There are three core guidelines articles have to meet: Neutral Point of View, Notability and Verifibility.

The first one, Neutral Point of View, rules that an article has to be witting from a neutral stance, as if someone is just plain describing the person without any form of bias. When writing an article, don't just highlight the good things of the person, and try to avoid any "Peacock" words and sentences such as "An excellent designer" and "Of Exceptional quality". Those lines are most times indications that an article is in the area of advertising, which often causes deletion. Full details can be found at WP:NPOV.

The second one, Notability, rules that to be on Wikipedia, the articles subject needs to have some kind of importance which warrants an encyclopedia article. For example an article about Bill Gates is notable because he is the founder of microsoft. An article of the butcher on the corner here is an example of an article of would not be notable. For Persons, notability is governed by two different guidelines. Full guidelines on that can be found Here and Here

And the last one, verifiability, rules that any claims made in the article must be sources with articles from external, independent third party sources. More or less speaks for itsself; Whenever you make a claim to the notability there has to be some form of backing that proves the claim. Full details can be found at WP:VERIFY.

As a last warning, please take care to follow the guidelines. Writing a biography about a person is about the most dreaded task that can be done, mainly due to the sky high standards that apply. Trough WP:BLP Wikipedia maintains very high standards on articles about living persons, mainly as a safeguard to prevent people from adding wrong information, or even worse, libel.

Feel free to contact me in case you need any assistance with the article. Be advised however, that i Cannot help if the subject does not have its notability asserted, and no verifiable sources are available. Also, if you are not sure the article is ok, post it in a user subpage such as User:Monster213/Sandbox. These subpages are outside the article space and will only be removed in very specific occasions. As of such, they are often used as sandboxes to improve articles until they are ready.

I hope this helps, and with kind regards,

Excirial ^{(Talk,Contribs)} 13:02, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

• See User _talk:Anthony Appleyard#Figures of Note. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 13:21, 2 June 2008 (UTC)