User:BostonMA/Mediation/Sathya Sai Baba/Reminders for Mediator

This page was created as part of the mediation process for the Sathya Sai Baba and related articles. The specific purpose of this page is to keep track of issues that require the attention of the mediator that may have been overlooked. Occasionally the mediator may lose track of actions that should be taken. An editor who notices such an ommision by the mediator my remind him by adding a note here. Although anyone may add items, Please do not remove items that are not your own.. The mediator will remove items when the action has been taken. So please to not place any text here that you want preserved for future reference. Also, please do not discuss with one another on this page. This page should be used for reminders to the mediator only. Discussion will be deleted.

Reminders for Mediator

• Disputed references to: Brian Steel; Robert Priddy; Michelle Goldberg; Hari Sampath; Said Khorramshahgol; David Bailey (comments attributed to him that have not been published in notable sources); Gerald Moreno (I concede my pages and name should not be used as references or sources) SSS108 ^talk-email 04:47, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
• Discussion about referenced links being linked to sites that are partisan, biased, controversial and/or personal. SSS108 ^talk-email 06:09, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
• Kasturi as a reference / source for SSB's biographical material. SSS108 ^talk-email 02:36, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Regarding Mediation

Complaint SSS108 ^talk-email 20:03, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Complaint II SSS108 ^talk-email 02:40, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

New Issues To Be Discussed

Andries said he is willing to discuss these proposed changes in mediation. These are my proposed changes:

• Deleting the Allegations Against Sathya Sai Baba article.
• Link to Andries site about alleged videos of faked materializations.
• Link and references to David Lane's personal site and non-reputably published comments made by him.
• Link to The Findings, which has never been published by reputable sources.
• Trouw reference, which is used as a source for defection from SSB, although the source is subjective and non-documented.
• Remove "In the years 1999 and 2000 SSB has repeatedly belittled the internet and discouraged its use" because of relevance and import.
• Move the following to the Media section: "In 2006 followers of Shirdi Sai Baba in the Ahmednagar district sued followers of Sathya Sai Baba for use of the name Sai Baba in the court of Rahata. The case is as of January 2006 pending."
• Remove the following from the introduction because it is redundant and has already been fully explained in the critics section: "Critics, including skeptic Basava Premanand and the former follower Welsh pianist David Bailey, claim that these materializations are done by sleight of hand and say that this can be verified with videos available on the internet. Most vehement criticism since the year 2000 are the allegations, made by former devotees, of inappropriate sexual relations with young men. Followers like, Peter Pruzan, consider the evidence of wrongdoing against Sathya Sai Baba to be insufficient. According to a cover article in the India Today newspaper in 2000, the coterie that surrounds Baba dismisses these allegations by denouncing them as "anti-Hindu" attacks made by foreigners [7]."
• I would also like to discuss the entire approach being used to formulate the Critics section. Andries is scouring every imaginable resource to write what appears to be an expose on Wikipedia. From my understanding, this is not the way Wikipedia works. Wikipedia is not supposed to be written like a newspaper that tries to expose every single negative thing every said about the person in question.

I would also ask that you create an agreement, from both parties involved, in which answers to mediation questions would be responded to within a certain time-period. I think 3 days is reasonable. If something prevents a participant from answering within that time period, he should also give a reason, in advance, for not responding within that time period (emergencies excluded). SSS108 ^talk-email 00:14, 24 March 2006 (UTC)