User talk:Aramos04

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16:05, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

Copyright/plagiarism

Hi! I'm the content expert assigned to your class, Shalor.

I recently received a notification that some of the content you added to the article for Lisa Portes was identical to the content posted at the website for The Theater School at DePaul University. It looks like you resolved this, but be careful about taking content from other sources - especially when it comes to a person's work. Not all of a person's work needs to be listed on their page, especially if the only sourcing for this material is WP:PRIMARY.

More importantly, I noticed that some of the content you're adding can be seen as fairly promotional in tone, meaning that it reads like it was written in order to promote Portes in as positive a light as possible and doesn't really fit Wikipedia's WP:NPOV guidelines. One portion that immediately stood out is this:

"Portes leads the three year MFA Program where she strives to make sure future directives are taught different skills such as leadership as well as other hard skills. She aims to foster an environment where imagination can thrive, because according to Portes, the first quality that makes a good director is his/her imagination."

The reason that this is seen as promotional is because it is the type of thing you would see on a press release and it contains information that isn't immediately necessary to a Wikipedia page, such as her statement concerning her teaching. Most teachers would espouse a similar viewpoint and for Wikipedia's purposes isn't necessary since a biography page would only contain the most basic information about a person's employment.

You also need to be very careful with sourcing. Much of it is WP:PRIMARY, meaning that it is something that is affiliated with Portes and the people/organizations/events she's affiliated with. For example, you use this link from BroadWayWorld.com, however the link is a reprint of a press release and not an independent news article. Other links, like this one are profiles that are published by organizations or venues with which Portes has worked with. The issue with primary sourcing is that it cannot establish notability for Portes. The only time a primary source can do this is when the source is the official website of an award giving organization, and even then the award must be extremely major and noteworthy and it should not be given by an organization that Portes is employed with. Most awards aren't considered to be all that major on Wikipedia and in general less than 5% of any existent award (including sports, television, and other areas) gives even partial notability on Wikipedia. Another reason to try to minimize the use of primary sources is that a lack of non-primary sourcing can actually make a person seem less notable.

Finally, I also saw that you are including a lot of hotlinks on the page. (IE, things like this.) Please avoid linking to outside websites within the article. Per WP:EL, external links should be kept to a minimum and should only be used when absolutely necessary.

I hope that this doesn't discourage you! I like that you are so passionate about editing! Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 06:18, 26 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Shalor, thank you for the advice! I will try to fix these things over the next couple of days. I struggle with using secondary sources because I want to make sure no one thinks I am plagiarizing! But I get your point about how using so many makes the person less notable.

I didn't realize about the hotlinks, I will also try to minimize those. What's a good rule of thumb for that though? I think it's important to know that certain festivals or theaters are recognized even if wikipedia doesn't have a page on them? Let me know.

Further I didn't realize I was painting her in such a light. I just saw on some other directors pages that there was information based off of interviews they have had with newspapers and different institutions. I will try and revise that though I have a feeling that will be the toughest to fix. Thanks! Aramos04 (talk) 14:35, 26 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm... I'd leave the festivals off as far as hotlinks go for the most part, just because she's likely going to be participating with so many. A way around this, however, would be to create an external links section and include the most major of them there. For example, a link to the Latina/o Theatre Commons page would be very appropriate there, as she was a founding member. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 05:07, 1 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

May 2017

Hello, I'm Piandcompany. An edit you recently made to Lisa Portes seemed to be a test and has been removed. If you want more practice editing, the sandbox is the best place to do so. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks. Jason Spriggs ^chat 05:18, 1 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It wasn't a test! I'm trying to add those three sections as I come across more information. They have some of the most information I can find. I will work on my sandbox first though and move it over since it was not complete enough. Aramos04 (talk) 05:24, 1 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, my apologies, the revert was my mistake. I have undone that and the content has been placed back on the page. Thanks for bringing it to my attention and thank you for your contributions. Jason Spriggs ^chat