Talk:Global Strategy Group

Updating History and organization section

Hello,

I'm a Global Strategy Group employee who has been tasked with updating the firm's article. I want to go about this the right way, so I'll be abundantly clear about my COI and will suggest edits rather than making direct changes to the GSG page. For my first request, I wanted to ask if editors would consider making changes to the History and organization section, which currently contains a few inaccuracies and informational gaps. It also lacks secondary sourcing, which I understand is important for substantiating claims on Wikipedia.

If you follow this link, it will take you to a subsection of my user page, where I have uploaded a revised section draft that I believe fixes these issues and improves the section overall. On that page, you will see: 1.) the current section; 2.) my revised section draft; and 3.) a list of all the changes I'm proposing, in the order they appear within the draft.

Please feel free to critique my draft. I've read up on Wikipedia's content guidelines and done my best to make sure all the language I've drafted aligns with it, but I'm obviously an interested party and understand that compromise might be necessary.

Thank you! ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 14:57, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

Reaching out to User:Drm310, to see if they would like to review my revised section draft. No pressure, Drm, but since you added my username to the top of this Talk page, I thought I would see if you're interested. ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 13:56, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

I noticed that User:HeyElliott and User:Novo Tape recently edited the article, so I'm tagging them in here as well. If either editor would like to take a look at my proposed updates, I would very much appreciate it! ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 13:53, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

Reply 2-NOV-2023

Some observations from the COI editor's draft:

1. The draft that was written was placed on a page that the COI editor ultimately controls. In the interests of transparency, edit requests should be made with the text being placed on the talk page of the article, so that it may act as a permanent record of the requests being made for future editors to see.
2. The highlighting system that the draft uses is not at all helpful. At best, it does not do enough to draw attention to what is being changed between the two versions, and at worst, it acts as a hindrance to the reviewer being able to quickly identify the changes. (For example, by highlighting an entire paragraph — which the reviewer must now read through — when perhaps only three words were changed.)
3. There are a handful of incidents where more than one reference is placed at the end of a sentence. This would normally indicate that both references verify everything in the sentence. Usually when that happens, it's best to let a single reference do the job by itself—preferably the stronger of the two. In circumstances where multiple references verify different elements within a single sentence, then the guidelines at WP:INTEGRITY should be followed. If this is how the references are handled in the article currently, and if it is the desire of the COI editor for the reviewer to simply carry over these multiple references (in essence, giving a second pass to a possible mistake that was given a pass the first time) then the draft, IMO is not approvable.
4. There are instances in the proposed text where the subject organization acts as a reference for its own information. I see that this is merely the case because that is how the article's referencing is handled now. But as I said earlier, if the changes are to be implemented as a whole, and if those changes are to simply carry over problematic sourcing from the organization itself, then — from my perspective as the reviewer—the request as a whole would not be approvable.
5. I've made a general cleanup of the article, so the part of the COI editor's request where it gives the text "as it currently stands in the article" is no longer current.

The COI editor should feel free at their earliest convenience to submit future edit requests here on the talk page, taking care to ensure that they activate the {{Edit COI}} template whenever they are ready to proceed.

Notes

Regards,  Spintendo  13:37, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

Revised History and organization request

Apologies for any confusion I created, User:Spintendo. Thanks for giving the article a once-over. I'll revise what I'm asking for and start a fresh request, so that I can work off your changes. In the History and organization, I'm seeking to accomplish the following:

1. Clarify that GSG conducts "public opinion research" as opposed to "market research"
2. Add that GSG has expanded into public relations, public affairs, and creative services over the course of its history
3. Add some new satellite offices that GSG has opened since the last time this article was updated
4. Add a paragraph that recaps some important developments in the firm's history over the last few years

In accordance with Spintendo's suggestion above, I've trimmed all superfluous references. There's now only one sentence—about GSG's expansion of services—that has two of them. That's because the CNBC piece substantiates that GSG is in the public relations business, and the O'Dwyer's one substantiates that the firm also works in public affairs and offers creative services. And I've left the primary source at the end of the sentence about GSG office locations. I know that we don't want to have GSG backing up lots of claims about itself, but in this one case I wonder if the firm can be considered a reliable source. I'll let independent editors determine that.

Here is a side-by-side of the current section and the changes I'm proposing:

−

In 1995, GSG was founded by Jonathan Silvan (CEO), Jefrey Pollock (President), and Jeffrey Plaut (Partner) as a boutique polling firm. From its inception, GSG has conducted [[market research]] on behalf of its clientele, which include both political and corporate clients. In 2008, the firm's annual revenues were about $20 million, and it had 50 employees. In addition to its main offices in New York and [[Washington, D.C.]], GSG has offices in [[Chicago]], [[Denver]], [[Seattle]]; and [[Hartford, Connecticut]].

+

In 1995, GSG was founded by Jonathan Silvan (CEO), Jefrey Pollock (President), and Jeffrey Plaut (Partner) as a boutique polling firm. From its inception, GSG has conducted [[Opinion poll|public opinion research]] on behalf of its clients. Its clients have included political, corporate, and nonprofit organizations. Over time, it has also developed public relations, public affairs, and creative services. In 2008, the firm's annual revenues were about $20 million, and it had 50 employees. In addition to its main offices in New York and [[Washington, D.C.]], GSG has offices in [[Chicago]], [[Denver]], [[Seattle]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]]; and [[Hartford, Connecticut]]. In 2019, GSG recorded $33.4 million in revenue. That figure increased to $50.5 million the following year. In 2022, the Milan-based communications firm SEC Newgate acquired a significant stake in GSG. Following this acquisition, GSG continued to function independently, while using SEC Newgate's resources to expand its operations outside the United States. As of April 2022, GSG had approximately 150 employees.

If all my edits were implemented exactly as I'm proposing, the History and organization would look like this:

Extended content

In 1995, GSG was founded by Jonathan Silvan (CEO), Jefrey Pollock (President), and Jeffrey Plaut (Partner) as a boutique polling firm. From its inception, GSG has conducted public opinion research on behalf of its clients. Its clients have included political, corporate, and nonprofit organizations. Over time, it has also developed public relations, public affairs, and creative services. In 2008, the firm's annual revenues were about $20 million, and it had 50 employees. In addition to its main offices in New York and Washington, D.C., GSG has offices in Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Nashville; and Hartford, Connecticut. In 2019, GSG recorded $33.4 million in revenue. That figure increased to $50.5 million the following year. In 2022, the Milan-based communications firm SEC Newgate acquired a significant stake in GSG. Following this acquisition, GSG continued to function independently, while using SEC Newgate's resources to expand its operations outside the United States. As of April 2022, GSG had approximately 150 employees. References

I assume Spintendo will field this request, since they seem to have an interest in it, but any other independent editor is welcome to jump in as well. I'll be on standby for feedback.

Thanks, ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 20:48, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

@ES at Global Strategy Group I just want to say I really appreciate your revision of this request. It's much appreciated! I will take a look at this very shortly, or, if another editor gets to it sooner than that, perfect! Regards,  Spintendo  22:03, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

 Done I kept the company source for the offices, but added the word "reports" to clarify that it is self reported. STEMinfo (talk) 21:51, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Appreciate it, User:STEMinfo. Just FYI, I've got a request for updating the New York State section below. If you'd like to take a look, please do. And if not, thanks for your help with the History. ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 15:39, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Updating New York State section

Hello again,

I'm back to suggest improvements to the article's New York State section. There's a side-by-side comparison below, but I'll also briefly explain what I'm trying to accomplish:

• Standardize all citations with consistent ref names, so that it's easy to see how many times and where in the section a particular source is cited
• Add citation to opening sentence
• Remove sentence about Melissa DeRosa, since it describes an action taken by somebody in the Governor's office and not at GSG
• Add a couple sentences about GSG's relationship with current NY Governor Kathy Hochul, since she's one of the firm's most notable clients
• Add sentence, per a NY attorney general's report, about GSG President Jefrey Pollock's advice to then-Governor Cuomo as sexual harassment scandal was breaking
• Add a brief paragraph about NY-based members of Congress that GSG has worked for
• Simplify passage about GSG running polling for Scott Stringer. ("Internal polling operation" is a little bit redundant and confusing. The polling GSG does for a candidate's election campaign is always internal.)
• Do some light reorganization, so that Kirsten Gillibrand is in the paragraph about GSG's congressional clients, and Bill De Blasio and Scott Stringer are grouped together in one about New York city politics

−

GSG has advised New York politicians, including former Governors [[Andrew Cuomo]] and [[Eliot Spitzer]]. In 2019, [[Melissa DeRosa]], a top aide to then-Governor Cuomo, was criticized for suggesting edits to a poll conducted by GSG on behalf of "Jobs of New York", described as a "so-called "[[Super-PAC|super PAC]]" funded by billionaire New York City landlords" by the [[Times Union (Albany)|''Times Union'']]. During [[Andrew Cuomo]]'s gubernatorial tenure, GSG President Jefrey Pollock was described as a member of Cuomo's "inner circle". According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', GSG President Jefrey Pollock was one of the key figures who advised Cuomo in the wake of the [[Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations|2021 sexual harassment scandal]] that ultimately culminated in his resignation. GSG has also been active in New York municipal politics, and was most recently responsible for running the internal polling operation of [[2021 New York City mayoral election|2021]] mayoral candidate [[Scott Stringer]]. GSG notably served as Representative [[Joe Crowley]]’s pollster in the [[United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2018#District 14|2018 Democratic primary]] for [[New York's 14th congressional district|New York's 14th Congressional District]]. Though a GSG poll commissioned by Crowley’s campaign found him up 35% versus activist Alexandria [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez|Ocasio-Cortez]], Crowley ultimately lost to Ocasio-Cortez by 15%. Other New York politicians advised by GSG include Senator [[Kirsten Gillibrand]] as well as [[Bill de Blasio]] during his [[2009 New York City Public Advocate election|2009 Public Advocate campaign]].

+

GSG has advised New York politicians, including former Governors [[Andrew Cuomo]] and [[Eliot Spitzer]]. The firm also advises current New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The relationship between GSG and Hochul dates back to the [[2011 New York's 26th congressional district special election|New York 26th congressional district special election]], when GSG did polling and strategic work for her winning campaign. During [[Andrew Cuomo]]'s gubernatorial tenure, GSG President Jefrey Pollock was described as a member of Cuomo's "inner circle". According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', Pollock was one of the key figures who advised Cuomo in the wake of the [[Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations|2021 sexual harassment scandal]] that ultimately culminated in his resignation. A New York State attorney general report found that Pollock advised Cuomo to "express contrition" shortly after allegations against the governor became public. GSG has advised Senator [[Kirsten Gillibrand]]. It has also done polling for New York [[United States House of Representatives|House Representatives]], including [[Joe Morelle]], [[Ritchie Torres]], [[Nydia Velazquez]], [[Jerry Nadler]], and [[Pat Ryan (politician)|Pat Ryan]]. GSG has been active in New York municipal politics, advising [[Bill de Blasio]] during his [[2009 New York City Public Advocate election|2009 Public Advocate campaign]]. In 2021, GSG ran polling for [[2021 New York City mayoral election|2021]] mayoral candidate [[Scott Stringer]]. GSG notably served as Representative [[Joe Crowley]]’s pollster in the [[United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2018#District 14|2018 Democratic primary]] for [[New York's 14th congressional district|New York's 14th Congressional District]]. Though a GSG poll commissioned by Crowley’s campaign found him up 35% versus activist Alexandria [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez|Ocasio-Cortez]], Crowley ultimately lost to Ocasio-Cortez by 15%.

The section, if changed exactly as I've suggested above, would look like this:

Revised New York State subsection

GSG has advised New York politicians, including former Governors Andrew Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer. The firm also advises current New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The relationship between GSG and Hochul dates back to the New York 26th congressional district special election, when GSG did polling and strategic work for her winning campaign. During Andrew Cuomo's gubernatorial tenure, GSG President Jefrey Pollock was described as a member of Cuomo's "inner circle". According to the New York Times, Pollock was one of the key figures who advised Cuomo in the wake of the 2021 sexual harassment scandal that ultimately culminated in his resignation. A New York State attorney general report found that Pollock advised Cuomo to "express contrition" shortly after allegations against the governor became public. GSG has advised Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. It has also done polling for New York House Representatives, including Joe Morelle, Ritchie Torres, Nydia Velazquez, Jerry Nadler, and Pat Ryan. GSG has been active in New York municipal politics, advising Bill de Blasio during his 2009 Public Advocate campaign. In 2021, GSG ran polling for 2021 mayoral candidate Scott Stringer. GSG notably served as Representative Joe Crowley’s pollster in the 2018 Democratic primary for New York's 14th Congressional District. Though a GSG poll commissioned by Crowley’s campaign found him up 35% versus activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Crowley ultimately lost to Ocasio-Cortez by 15%. References

I'm giving editors a lot to chew on, so if anybody has questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate. Thank you! ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 15:36, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Reply 27-NOV-2023

  Edit request declined  

1. The edit request contains references from the New York Post. Although these references apparently already exist in the article, the COI editor has asked that these references be carried over into the newer requested version. As the use of that source is currently deprecated, the requested changes cannot be carried out.
2. The COI editor is kindly asked to reformulate their request, taking care to ensure that any text referenced by the New York Post either be removed or replaced with an appropriate source.

Regards,  Spintendo  19:59, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

User:Spintendo: Thank you for taking the time to review my request. I've removed the sentence that uses the New York Post as a source. It's a little bit redundant anyway, since the beginning of the section establishes that GSG has advised Cuomo. You can see that removal reflected in the (otherwise unchanged) side-by-side comparison:

Existing section vs. Revised section

− GSG has advised New York politicians, including former Governors [[Andrew Cuomo]] and [[Eliot Spitzer]]. In 2019, [[Melissa DeRosa]], a top aide to then-Governor Cuomo, was criticized for suggesting edits to a poll conducted by GSG on behalf of "Jobs of New York", described as a "so-called "[[Super-PAC|super PAC]]" funded by billionaire New York City landlords" by the [[Times Union (Albany)|''Times Union'']]. During [[Andrew Cuomo]]'s gubernatorial tenure, GSG President Jefrey Pollock was described as a member of Cuomo's "inner circle". According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', GSG President Jefrey Pollock was one of the key figures who advised Cuomo in the wake of the [[Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations|2021 sexual harassment scandal]] that ultimately culminated in his resignation. GSG has also been active in New York municipal politics, and was most recently responsible for running the internal polling operation of [[2021 New York City mayoral election|2021]] mayoral candidate [[Scott Stringer]]. GSG notably served as Representative [[Joe Crowley]]’s pollster in the [[United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2018#District 14|2018 Democratic primary]] for [[New York's 14th congressional district|New York's 14th Congressional District]]. Though a GSG poll commissioned by Crowley’s campaign found him up 35% versus activist Alexandria [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez|Ocasio-Cortez]], Crowley ultimately lost to Ocasio-Cortez by 15%. Other New York politicians advised by GSG include Senator [[Kirsten Gillibrand]] as well as [[Bill de Blasio]] during his [[2009 New York City Public Advocate election|2009 Public Advocate campaign]]. + GSG has advised New York politicians, including former Governors [[Andrew Cuomo]] and [[Eliot Spitzer]]. The firm also advises current New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The relationship between GSG and Hochul dates back to the [[2011 New York's 26th congressional district special election|New York 26th congressional district special election]], when GSG did polling and strategic work for her winning campaign. According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', GSG President Jefrey Pollock was one of the key figures who advised Cuomo in the wake of the [[Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations|2021 sexual harassment scandal]] that ultimately culminated in his resignation. A New York State attorney general report found that Pollock advised Cuomo to "express contrition" shortly after allegations against the governor became public. GSG has advised Senator [[Kirsten Gillibrand]]. It has also done polling for New York [[United States House of Representatives|House Representatives]], including [[Joe Morelle]], [[Ritchie Torres]], [[Nydia Velazquez]], [[Jerry Nadler]], and [[Pat Ryan (politician)|Pat Ryan]]. GSG has been active in New York municipal politics, advising [[Bill de Blasio]] during his [[2009 New York City Public Advocate election|2009 Public Advocate campaign]]. In 2021, GSG ran polling for [[2021 New York City mayoral election|2021]] mayoral candidate [[Scott Stringer]]. GSG notably served as Representative [[Joe Crowley]]’s pollster in the [[United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2018#District 14|2018 Democratic primary]] for [[New York's 14th congressional district|New York's 14th Congressional District]]. Though a GSG poll commissioned by Crowley’s campaign found him up 35% versus activist Alexandria [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez|Ocasio-Cortez]], Crowley ultimately lost to Ocasio-Cortez by 15%.

And in this dropdown, I have what the section would look like if all my suggested changes were implemented:

Revised New York State subsection

GSG has advised New York politicians, including former Governors Andrew Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer. The firm also advises current New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The relationship between GSG and Hochul dates back to the New York 26th congressional district special election, when GSG did polling and strategic work for her winning campaign. According to the New York Times, GSG President Jefrey Pollock was one of the key figures who advised Cuomo in the wake of the 2021 sexual harassment scandal that ultimately culminated in his resignation. A New York State attorney general report found that Pollock advised Cuomo to "express contrition" shortly after allegations against the governor became public. GSG has advised Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. It has also done polling for New York House Representatives, including Joe Morelle, Ritchie Torres, Nydia Velazquez, Jerry Nadler, and Pat Ryan. GSG has been active in New York municipal politics, advising Bill de Blasio during his 2009 Public Advocate campaign. In 2021, GSG ran polling for 2021 mayoral candidate Scott Stringer. GSG notably served as Representative Joe Crowley’s pollster in the 2018 Democratic primary for New York's 14th Congressional District. Though a GSG poll commissioned by Crowley’s campaign found him up 35% versus activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Crowley ultimately lost to Ocasio-Cortez by 15%. References

If you have more feedback, please let me know. Thanks! ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 17:10, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

 Declined I'm still seeing the New York Post in your proposed text. This cannot be added (or re-added/kept/retained/reincorporated) into the article. Regards,  Spintendo  03:27, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

User:Spintendo: You're seeing the New York Post as a reference because the "reflist" code is capturing all the sources in both the current and revised versions of the subsection. (I don't know how to keep it from doing that.) If you look closely at the footnotes in that second dropdown, you'll see that the Post article is reference number 2, but there's no superscript 2 in the actual text.

I assure you: the Post is no longer cited in the revised section draft. Apologies for any confusion. ES at Global Strategy Group (talk) 16:59, 8 December 2023 (UTC)