User talk:Melanyesm

Welcome

Hello Melanyesm and welcome to Wikipedia! If you have questions, there is a new contributors' help page, or you can click here to ask for help on your talk page, and a volunteer should respond shortly. You may also find the following pages useful for a general introduction to Wikipedia.

I hope you enjoy editing and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Feel free to write a note on the bottom of my talk page if you want to get in touch with me. Again, welcome! UW Dawgs (talk) 05:24, 6 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Edits related to coach Don James.

Hello,

Thank you for your recent edits to Washington Huskies football and Don James. However, some effort may be taken to improve the neutrality and quality of both pages. I had to spend some time to fix some issues such as WP:OVERCITE, WP:LIBEL, and WP:RECENT in Don James' and Chris Petersen's sections. Every fix was well documented with reasons. Please read the log before reverting everything to the original without specifying convincing reasons.

Specifically, I've found the following issues:

1. Too many citations may compromise readability and performance of web pages -- more than three citations should be avoided according to WP:OVERCITE. Three citations are acceptable for controversial topics. Please read WP:OVERCITE to understand my effort to remove redundant, repeated, and relatively unreliable sources. Normal news such as Petersen's hiring and Don James' new statue should not require more than one citation per sentence, per Wikipedia's recommendations and guidelines.

2. Possible defamatory issues without respectable sources (WP:LIBEL) -- I've checked your citation for Don James protesting William P. Gerberding's betrayal. Although the opinion was popular among many people around the Seattle area, the citation you provided did not direct quote coach Don James. Since this is a strong accusation against a living person, WP:LIBEL might have been violated without definite, reliable sources (such as media publications outside the Pacific Northwest). Wikipedia has to make sure the content is not defamatory. Media outlets such as the Dawg pound and Husky haul are good for general news. However, they may not be reliable anymore when the topic is about strong opinions.

3. Quality of citations (see WP:CITE) -- I understand that finding that many citations took a lot of time and effort. However some citations are of poor quality, such as YouTube videos from unverified users (see WP:YOUTUBE). There are also many repeated and redundant citations (i.e. two citations state the same thing; one citation is cited twice).

4. Some WP:RECENT and WP:NPOV issues -- History section may not be the best place to state trivia or news happened recently. An example is that athletic director Jen Cohen praised coach Pete with a quote. The quote may be a better fit for coach Pete's own Wikipedia page instead of the history section for Washington Huskies football. Also, I've observed some citation titles such as "Dawgs > Ducks" and "Dawgs > Cougs." Let me make this clear -- these phrases are unacceptable on Wikipedia due to clear violation of WP:NPOV and must be removed.

5. Some copyright violations while using external photos. See WP:COPY.

I very much appreciate your time and effort while editing these two pages. However, quality and neutrality requirements of Wikipedia forced me to spend a lot of hours to resolve apparent issues. I've spent the entire afternoon decorating some sections while improving quality of both Washington Huskies football and Don James. Every edit I made was well documented with comments and reasons. Please read the log to understand why I chose to change some of your paragraphs. In fact, most of things I removed were temporary (i.e. I used the comment feature to hide those words without deleting them). Once quality requirements are met, they can be brought right back. Sadly, I had to remove apparent violations. Please... I can honestly tell you that I spent time to improve and polish these pages, instead of simply deleting things.

I also made a lot of decorations to charts and tables to the football page (such as Rose Bowl colors, an improved table for consensus All-Americans, national awards and honors). Reverting the changes without specifying anything in the log or notifying me first could be frustrating. Please see my comment ("what was improved" per community guidelines) after each of my edits before making your decision.

Thank you so much. We can discuss further. We both work to improve pages. So it will be best for us to resolve disputes as soon as possible. J1n9 (talk) 04:17, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I really appreciate your candid feedback. Will you allow me some time to review and fix the issues you mention? I may need to have the weekend because I'm working, and I want to give this matter its due attention. Feel free to reach out to me here or on your talk page. Thank you very much for communicating and collaborating with me. Melanyesm (talk) 04:32, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Reading my version should do the best. I only changed Don James' and Petersen's sections to resolve apparent issues. The content itself was only slightly changed (just some word choices, commas, citations in the middle of sentences etc). Please offer me some feedback -- I make mistakes all the time. J1n9 (talk) 04:37, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Since the page content itself has only slightly changed, it is now easier to compare two side-by-side versions. I very much appreciate your time and attention to my concerns. Please leave any major suggestions to my talk page after reading Washington Huskies football and Don James pages. I'll also review differences between two versions myself and continue looking for better ways to resolve disputes before Saturday (such as trying to find better citations, and assessing quality of citations). Don't feel stressed or worried. I'm open to suggestions anytime. Most importantly, thank you for improving these pages and listening. J1n9 (talk) 05:07, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Feedback

Most editors understand that you are a newish editor. We also believe in Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers. So while you're learning how to become a better editor and about Wiki policies, your edits are also focused on a narrow topic. Sometimes it's helpful if you make (more) smaller edits while also using an WP:EDITSUMMARY (explaining what you're trying to convey) which can allow easier collaboration with other editors -they might tweak your text or find a helpful citation for example. Also, see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Cheers, UW Dawgs (talk) 04:54, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much for your feedback! Melanyesm (talk) 04:58, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I should apologize for removing a lot of citations today without leaving a message on this talk page first. Although I believe in Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers, I should have realized simply attaching comments/reasons (while making changes at the same time) would not meet desired reactions. I'll compare two most recent versions before Saturday to see what changed most significantly. I wholeheartedly appreciate your time and effort. I have a lot of lessons to learn as well. Please feel free to offer me suggestions whenever I made some "big" changes to pages. J1n9 (talk) 05:17, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate your comments. Thank you. I am working my way through the changes. I will review them in more detail over the weekend. In the interim, I have several citations that substantiate the betrayal by William Gerberding. I will insert them where you have indicated citation is required. Also, William Gerberding is not a living person. Further, he was a public figure holding a State of Washington position. It is very difficult for any public official to pass the defamation of character tests (in this case, libel). No one will dispute the reference or the citations, because the history is well documented. It is a fact that William Gerberding betrayed Don James and the University of Washington football program. One of my references is The Seattle Times article by Blaine Newnham, already included in citations. To uphold the guideline regarding duplicated citations, I will not repeat it for this reference. Additional sources are a journal and a book that includes well documented research into the matter. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you! Melanyesm (talk) 05:23, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sometimes getting the syntax of citations correct can be difficult. WP:REFILL and tools.wmflabs.org/refill are tools which automate the creation citations. UW Dawgs (talk) 05:33, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Will be excited to see these citations. I forgot that Gerberding had died years ago (although I was in Seattle at that time). WP:LIBEL is only a community requirement (to ensure quality) instead of a legal threat. I personally agree with you on this matter (that Gerberding's leadership led Washington to its twenty years' mediocrity). However, try to find some investigative pieces to make a strong opinion more convincing. The William Gerberding part was the one I changed the most -- but don't worry, I only used the comment feature to hide that sentence. Once some good sources are found, just un-comment to bring it back. Thank you so much! J1n9 (talk) 05:36, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I have added/updated citations. It's possible I may still have too many in one area, but I'm thinking about which citations to keep and which to delete. In addition, I provided the direct quote from The Seattle Times regarding the story/comments in Miami. Let me know if changes are needed. I'll come back to it over the weekend. Thank you!

Side note response to your comment: It's impossible to build a football program with the burden of unfair/unwarranted sanctions, followed by five coaching changes in 15 years. But the Huskies did continue to do very well through the 2001 Rose Bowl. In my opinion, Washington didn't fall into mediocrity until the 2001 season, which kicked off a decade of mediocrity. Steve Sarkisian started to turn things around with recruiting, and then Washington struck gold when Chris Petersen took over in 2013. I'm sure you already know, he is an amazing person and a phenomenal coach. He really may be the next "Dawgfather" ... It's very likely he will remain at Washington until he retires – which could be over 20 years. :) Melanyesm (talk) 06:29, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Minor changes to the section "Don James era."

Hello,

I've made some small changes to the section. Three apparent changes were: added an article from USA Today stating how Don James had influenced Nick Saban (Alabama) at Kent State (the announcers of the 2016 Peach Bowl also mentioned this on TV); added a sentence stating that the school honored him one week after his passing by beating California 41-17 (Why do I remember this? I was in that game). All citations were preserved -- however fixed some publisher information. Please review and see if it is okay. There may be some more suggestions coming out during the weekend. I'll post them on the Washington Huskies football talk page first. Let's improve Washington Huskies football and Don James page together. Thanks. J1n9 (talk) 03:04, 20 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for following up with me. I'll take a look at the changes. I'm happy to work together! Melanyesm (talk) 04:31, 20 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I've got your message. Current version seems alright. We can elaborate once we have more time over the weekend or later. Don't feel too stressed. Thanks. J1n9 (talk) 06:05, 20 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much! :) Melanyesm (talk) 06:11, 20 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]