User talk:BRubens

August 2013[edit]

Hello, BRubens. We welcome your contributions to Wikipedia, but if you are affiliated with some of the people, places or things you have written about in the article The Bronx High School of Science, you may have a conflict of interest or close connection to the subject.

All editors are required to comply with Wikipedia's neutral point of view content policy. People who are very close to a subject often have a distorted view of it, which may cause them to inadvertently edit in ways that make the article either too flattering or too disparaging. People with a close connection to a subject are not absolutely prohibited from editing about that subject, but they need to be especially careful about ensuring their edits are verified by reliable sources and writing with as little bias as possible.

If you are very close to a subject, here are some ways you can reduce the risk of problems:

Avoid or exercise great caution when editing or creating articles related to you, your organization, or its competitors, as well as projects and products they are involved with.
Be cautious about deletion discussions. Everyone is welcome to provide information about independent sources in deletion discussions, but avoid advocating for deletion of articles about your competitors.
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Exercise great caution so that you do not accidentally breach Wikipedia's content policies.

Please familiarize yourself with relevant content policies and guidelines, especially those pertaining to neutral point of view, verifiability of information, and autobiographies.

For information on how to contribute to Wikipedia when you have a conflict of interest, please see our frequently asked questions for organizations. Thank you. GabrielF (talk) 06:26, 19 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I will not add your name to the list of alumni of The Bronx High School of Science. Our policy on lists of alumni can be found at WP:ALUMNI. In order for an individual to be considered notable, we require that that person be covered by multiple, reliable secondary sources, for instance, newspaper or magazine articles. We do not consider IMDB or an Amazon authors page to be reliable sources as they can be written by the article subject and there is no editorial review. GabrielF (talk) 16:15, 19 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to me that I do indeed fall within your guidelines for General Notability, namely: "Any biography - The person has received a well-known and significant award or honor, or has been nominated for one several times. I was named "Expert in His Field" for my work with Spectacled Caiman and was named the US' # 1 authority on Spectacled Caiman by Reptiles Magazine and by the Reptile Channel and ReptileChannel.com.

Additionally, under "Creative professionals: The person has created, or played a major role in co-creating, a significant or well-known work, or collective body of work, that has been the subject of an independent book or feature-length film, or of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews." My article in Reptiles Magazine, July 2010, page 42 (http://caimanhunter.com/expert.html) and my book, "Spectacled Caiman: My Experience - Your Resource".

Next, under "Entertainers: actors: multiple notable films, television shows, other productions" as can be verified on IMDb here and elsewhere: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4582170/.

All of which are reliable and verifiable sources. On top of that I was an Air Force Firefighter and after medical, honorable discharge for a service connected injury in the line of duty, reached the rank of Chief. Furthermore, I have been named in numerous periodicals, magazines and newspapers for my work with caiman, as well as my duties as a fireman and fire instructor. I have them listed on the below pages, but can also be verified by the city, town and university papers they were in.

DAV Magazine: http://bamrubenstein.caimanhunter.com/images/DAV/nov11meindavmag.jpg My interview on KXAN about veterans issues: http://www.kxan.com/news/disabled-vet-tags-an-issue-in-austin My interview on Fox7 News about my caiman rescue efforts: http://caimanhunter.com/images/videos/thrallcaimannews.mpg Weekly Radio Show about Caiman on BlogTalkRadio: http://my.blogtalkradio.com/bam-the-caimanhunter 10 or more articles on 12 Step Recovery on InTheRooms.com: http://bamrubenstein.caimanhunter.com/published015_itr_02.html Hero Corner in a local paper: http://bamrubenstein.caimanhunter.com/images/herocorner.jpg Article about me in Falcon Times, the University paper: http://bamrubenstein.caimanhunter.com/published002_cmpswkly.html Appearance in the Austin American Statesman being honored by the Mayor of Round Rock: http://bamrubenstein.caimanhunter.com/published011_procs10.html Reptile Channel and Reptiles magazine article: http://bamrubenstein.caimanhunter.com/published009_rptlmag07_10.html

If there is still a problem, maybe it's not with Wiki or me; maybe it's some conflict of interest that is going on with you and something I'm involved in; & maybe you need to get someone else to look my information over.

Thank you.

Respectfully, I am certain from the links that you have provided that you have lived a rich and fulfilling life. However, I do not believe that you would meet the notability guidelines for inclusion in Wikipedia. You've presented some articles that you've written and some places in which you've been quoted. Some of this is relevant, some of it is not. For instance, I could not find your name in the Austin American Statesman article. And we do not accept IMDB as a reliable source for reasons that I described above. What's left are a couple of articles that you've written, which we would not consider evidence of notability as they are not independent of you as a source, and a couple of local or specialized publications where you've been interviewed or quoted. All of this is commendable, but I do not believe it meets the notability criteria in terms of depth of coverage. Consider that the alumni list includes eight Nobel laureates. I have no conflicts of interest regarding anything that you've been involved with. If you would like another editor to look at this issue, I would recommend posting at Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/noticeboard. GabrielF (talk) 03:52, 20 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Although 8 of the listed alumni are Nobel Laureates, as you say, there are over 70 alumni listed; and some have such astounding credits as, "biologist", "Conservative Rabbi", "ecologist", "Professional ballroom dancer", "Professor", "owner of a printing company", and a former runner up in a beauty pageant. However, let's forget everything else that I did - forget the acting, forget the authoring - and forget all the other accolades that I've received. There is one undeniable thing that I've done - that meets all of your criteria; and that is my work with caiman. You might not know what they are and you might not think that they or it's a big deal, but caiman are one of only 23 different types of crocodilians, they are the third nastiest of all crocodilians and caiman have been on the endangered species list in the past and are still on the watch list. I was called "the US' #1 authority on Caiman" by Reptile Channel. Reptiles magazine called me an "Expert in my Field" and had me do an article on caiman for them - the article can be found here: http://caimanhunter.com/expert.html; Reptile Radio interviewed me and did a one hour show focused on my and my work with caiman, which can be found here: http://caimanhunter.com/images/videos/reptileradioshowwbam.mp3; I was asked to do my own 1/2 hour weekly blogtalkradio listener call-in show on caiman called, "Live with the CaimanHunter" - archives of past shows can be found here: http://my.blogtalkradio.com/bam-the-caimanhunter; my rescue operation was seen on Fox7 News and I was interviewed by Nancy Zambrano - the piece that aired can be seen here: http://caimanhunter.com/images/videos/thrallcaimannews.mpg; I hhave gotten calls from Texas Fish and Wildlife to capturea loose caiman; and I have a web site dedicated to caiman that is extensively used as a resource by Bayou Beasts, ZooKeepers, and the new Austin Aquarium, among others. My work with caiman, alone, should get me on the alumni list, if not a page on Wikipedia all to myself.

Why don't you post your request at Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard? GabrielF (talk) 03:54, 22 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]