Mako, I have continued to collect all of the material and will continue to do so following your excellent guidance and will contact you shortly. In the meantime and as you can see, SkaraB/Mediahound is celebrating its “VICTORY” to harm the ICD and continuing with the campaign to harm the ICD in every possible way. Now “they” are going through the ICD Advisory Board members list and deleting references to the ICD. For example, Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, the Vice President of the ICD got “a visit” from them and they deleted any reference to the ICD, ignoring the fact that in her own website the Vice President mentions her role on the icd and of course it is also mentioned in the ICD website:

See here (scroll down to the very bottom): http://ehennicotschoepges.lu/cv/

The anonymous editor is continuing like that with all of the pages of ICD members and will probably continue on the hunt against the ICD any way possible. This is of course not good for the Wikipedia and administrators and high level management of Wikipedia must be involved in this as this can have consequences for Wikipedia. I will now continue to observe and watch the activity of SkaraB and Media Hound and document all of their activities. At the same time, I will deliver the findings to Wikipedia authorities in order to stop this activity, as it has been going on for years already. I just wanted to let you know, however I am sure from the encouragements that I see in your talk page that Skara B and Media Hound have already contacted you and this game of theirs is already well known by you.

I will appreciate your advice here. Greetings.--Hessin fahem (talk) 04:39, 19 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like an excellent start.
One of the key issues is whether the person qualifies as notable. That's a link to the general guidelines, there are specific guidelines for musicians. This isn't my area of strength, so I'm not going to opine, but if he has a charted single, that should be notable.
It highly desirable to include the accomplishment giving rise to notability in the lead.
A couple minor items - I presume that the intention is to move this to "Jim Neversink" at some time - note that your info box includes that as a link, which would make it self-referential. Not a good idea.
You used <references /> in your References section. Understandable, as someone just posted that advice recently. However, I believe it has been deprecated in favor of {{reflist}}. I will check to be sure. --SPhilbrickT 13:17, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Media Hound and ScaraB, after going over all your previous postings about the ICD, it is very hard to ignore the feeling, that you are not a neutral and objective user, but rather individuals who are for whatever reason (perhaps former intern/worker/partner there, or carrying a hidden agenda, even perhaps the owner of the hater blog against the ICD, but you surly had some sort of relation with them) aiming to discredit the ICD, or create doubts about its legitimacy, using the Wikipedia source as a tool. I have doubts, as well, that you are using Mako (probably you also contacted him directly), who seems as a legitimate guy (he is also not hiding behind any anonymity) to be on the look-out for so called “controversies” about the ICD (such as working agreement between Interns/volunteers and the ICD), while on the other hand using your computer skills ignoring, annulling, deleting the hundreds of legitimate independent resources that are notable by Wikipedia standards, and which I am currently working on to restore and to publish them according to the best rules/norms/guidance of Wikipedia.

For example, National Public Radio covered some of their conferences in a very interesting way, which can be found in a 5 second Google search, see here ( http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111346468 ). I found it, and I was surprised to see that it was also on the Wikipedia page and was taken down by Mako. Furthermore, I was shocked to read the comment below made by Mako, who now has doubts also regarding NPR and their reporter Monika Mueller Kroll?!! To my understanding a public remark like this one, could easily fall into the category of Slander/Defamation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libel . I see it necessary to contact Monika Mueller Kroll, as well as NPR and inform them about Mako´s statement.

Please see the controversial statement of Mako here:

“The most convincing coverage from a reliable source on the list is definitely the work from NPR. That said, I'm a little worried by issues with conflict of interest here as well. All of the NPR pieces are written by one person -- Monika Mueller Kroll. Monica herself has her work hosted and promoted by ICD [40] and NPR Berlin (presumably, through Monica) has hosted events with/at the ICD. —mako๛ 06:59, 12 June 2012 (UTC)”

Therefore , my main concern here is that you are not an objective nor neutral wiki users, and this is why?

From a very brief check you can see that actually all of your activities around the ICD, are on a negative side and you are not trying to bring any kind of neutral sources (which could be easily found) and you attempt only to publish a non-fact information in order to de legitimize the creditability of the ICD.

In addition to the one-sided postings coming from your side, I can learn from the speed of your reaction to the corrections made my Mako and from your willingness to support any negative claim in a very short time, that you are very much committed to promote a non-objective, biased campaign against the ICD.

In addition, I am very curious about the last pdf file that media hound posted here in this page and I am wondering how did you acquire this document? I tried to get this pdf in Verdi´s website and also on the internet and failed. I would be happy if you can send me a reliable source where I can download this document.

I am also wondering, as you are for some reason so interested with the ICD, whether you are in direct contact with them, for example in order to ask them for their assistance in referring you to already published reliable sources? Have you? If you did not contact them, it could imply that you are not an objective user that is interested and willing to do a serious research as reasonably required. The first source to search for information about an organization is to contact the organization itself (especially in cases like this where doubts/concerns are raised), because they can assist you and also can refer at the same time to any concern you or others may have (every professional write/journalist would do so). As you never mentioned did nor published any information about the ICD (except these negative posts and the work made by Mako, which actually simply deleted all text in the page) I assume that you did not contact them and are not interested to be in dialogue with the ICD. This strength my concerns about your motives and interests in editing the ICD wiki article, and my feeling here is that probably you cannot really remove the anonymity of your users, as you have a serious conflict of interest . I would suggest that firstly you will contact the ICD, to try to get all of the material you are interested in from them, I feel it will be much more efficient, appropriate, right and fast. You wanted to be in contact with me, but not with the source directly (the ICD) for some reason, why?

Once viewing the video clips of lectures, and events of the ICD, as well as reading in full other press articles, one can learn that there are many legitimate independent resources that can support this page. In addition, once viewing similar organizations wiki pages you can notice that the wiki articles for other organizations are not in any different standards, to say the least. I wonder and will be very interested to know, why you have chosen the ICD wiki page from all these thousands of organizations, and if you are planning to show such same care and concerns about the pages of other organizations, or you keep this privilege of dedicating your full attention, free time and devotion to the ICD only. From the first place, I could not understand what is the big fuss about the ICD, an organization like many hundreds of thousands across the world, that according to their website, and the publications, such as videos, reports, etc. are simply trying to promote their very legitimate agenda and achieve their objectives and why should be so many talks about this. I’m also surprised to see how such talented people are wasting their days to run such a campaign.

My dear Wikipedia colleagues, all of these activities are seem to be lone-sided and will not be able to be supported by Wikipedia standards. Excuse me, but it doesn't look like a work of a regular user who has honest intentions, it is simply does not make any sense to me. I think that Wikipedia administrators and staffers should be reported about this activity and of the above concerns of using Wikipedia for personal Agenda of a campaign against the ICD, compromising Wikipedia’s standards and reputation.. As mentioned above I am currently working to restore and to publish the page according to the best practices/rules/norms/guidance of Wikipedia.

--Hessin fahem (talk) 09:30, 16 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Wikipedia colleagues, I have spent some hours over the past days and collected some independent, objective and reliable sources by reading the ICD online information and then google-ing the events and the conference speaker names to check other sources. As I understand it from the ICD website, ICD events are not public and by invitation only and even do not include invitations to the press or media, this is indicated on the ICD webpage. However despite that, I managed to find a serious amount of material (relative to an NGO) as you will see below, assessing WP:V and also WP:NPOV.

At the bottom of this page I have raised concern to many negative remarks and comments made by Skara B and Media Hound on the ICD Wikipedia page. My major concern here is that it looks like that no matter what material is posted on this Wikipedia page, it will always attract immediately negative reactions of Skara B and Media Hound and they will annul them and say that they not be good enough for them.

Therefore and in order to keep the work on this page as neutral as possible, I decided not to upload material to the Wikipedia page myself, but to post the resources in this talk page. My goal is to provide you with information that, to the best of my opinion, is reliable, objective, and supported by only a AAA sources, such as governmental institutions, top media organizations, high-level speakers (such as Heads of State) and to post them in this talk page to enable those who are interested, to use that for improving the page once and for all.

As the activity of the ICD is very wide and continues over many years, I decided to start with investigating ICD conferences and events firstly and then move to other activities of the ICD as well as to include confirmations from governmental institutions where ICD is registered or able to conduct activities (which I will upload to the talk page in the next days).

However, before we start with the conferences, I would like to draw your attention to the page on the website of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, where the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy is presented, please see the link below:

http://www.kooperation-international.de/detail/info/icd-institute-for-cultural-diplomacy.html

Now, I will move on to the conferences:

14 Conferences in total – As it seems, the ICD is normally organizing international conferences that are taking place mostly in Berlin, but not only. Usually you can see all of the lectures and interactive discussions and interviews with the speakers in the YouTube page of the ICD. After spending hours watching some of the clips (and there are many) I find that actually this YouTube page can stand alone by itself to provide a proof that all of the ICD conferences did in fact happen and all of the speakers mentioned on the ICD pages did in fact speak at the event, and in time some of them have even paid tribute to the ICD for allowing them the possibility to speak in the ICD. It clearly shows that Mark Donfried is always moderating all lectures and panel discussions and from watching the clips you can clearly see all banners of the ICD in the background verifying that the event is an ICD event. In many cases the speakers are also greeting the institute for its events.

I would start with a prominent example, which can be found below:

Conference Title: The Berlin Freedom of Expression Forum - "Censorship and Freedom in Traditional and New Media: The Revolution of Media as a tool of Freedom of Expression" (Berlin, February 28th - March 2nd, 2012) Link to conference lectures on YouTube (in total 33 lectures): http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL40E07B72E759D5C6&feature=plop Link to Conference Interviews: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1FAFAD40CEFB4E0D&feature=plcp

Link to Kathleen Carroll (Executive Editor, Associated Press; Co-Chair Pulitzer Board) speech can be found here: http://www.ap.org/Content/Press-Release/2012/Kathleen-Carroll-discusses-the-challenges-of-getting-public-information

You can see the AP article about Kathleen Carroll's participation here: http://www.ap.org/Content/Press-Release/2012/Kathleen-Carroll-discusses-the-challenges-of-getting-public-information

You can even watch Kathleen Carroll's speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Z38vByUaI&list=PL40E07B72E759D5C6&index=22&feature=plpp_video

Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/gphr/index.php?en_rifef-2012

More on this event:

The Organization for Democracy and Freedom in Syria reports on the speech of Ribal Al-Assad which was delivered on March 1st in the context of: “The Berlin Freedom of Expression Forum - "Censorship and Freedom in Traditional and New Media: The Revolution of Media as a tool of Freedom of Expression" (Berlin, February 28th - March 2nd, 2012):

Link to the ODFS page:

http://www.odf-syria.org/news/news/berlin-ribal-alassad-calls-for-freedom-in-syria-in-speech-at-the-brandenburg-gate

A Selection of Additional Examples can be found here:

a). The German Missions in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland published a report about the ICD event: The Rise of Africa - "Africa and the Global Economy: The Future of Nation Branding, Tourism and International Investment on the African Continent" (Berlin, 09 - 12 March 2011)

Link to conference on the German Missions page: http://www.southafrica.diplo.de/Vertretung/suedafrika/en/__pr/1__GIC/2011/03/03__ICD__Seminar__March__2011.html

Link to conference on ICD Webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?en_the-rise-of-africa

b). The German Missions in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland publishwd a report about the ICD event: The Power of Africa 2012 - "Africa as a Stronger Actor on the International Stage" (Paris, May 2nd - 4th, 2012):

Link to conference on the German Missions page: http://www.southafrica.diplo.de/Vertretung/suedafrika/en/__pr/1__GIC/2012/04/04-ICD-power-of-Africa.html

Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?en_roa2011

c). The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UCTAD) reports on the lecture of Mr. Petko Draganov (Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD) on 28 May 2010 at the ICD event: The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy 2010 (Berlin, 23 - 30 May, 2010) Link to the conference on the UNCTAD webpage: http://archive.unctad.org/templates/webflyer.asp?docid=13349&intItemID=4899&lang=1 Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_symposium2010_reviews

d.) The US Embassy in Berlin reports on the participation of H. E. Amb. Philip Murphy (Ambassador of the USA to Germany) on May 28, 2010 during the ICD Event: "Understanding Afghanistan and Central Asia: Supporting Democracy and Stability - The Path Ahead" (Berlin, 28th – 30th May 2010)

Link on the Embassy of USA webpage: http://germany.usembassy.gov/murphy_052810.html

In addition, please see here a report by the NATO organization referring to this event of the ICD and also mentioning that NATO supported this event, please see the link the below and scroll down: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_63992.htm?selectedLocale=en

Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_symposium2010_understanding-afghanistan

e). The US Embassy in Berlin reports on the participation of H. E. Amb. Philip D. Murphy (Ambassador of the USA to Germany) on September 10, 2010 in the ICD opening of the Floodwall Exhibition (Berlin September 10 - October 15, 2010)

Link on the Embassy of USA webpage: http://germany.usembassy.gov/about/ambassador/speeches/2010/09/10/floodwall/ Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_conferences_loam_floodwall-exhibition

f). H.E. Dr. Makase Nyaphisi (Ambassador of Lesotho to Germany) participates on the 07th March, 2012 during the ICD Berlin International Economics Congress

Link on the Embassy of Lesotho webpage: http://www.lesothoembassy.de/news/2012_Berlin_IEC.php

Link to the Lecture on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkw_26gsQOQ&list=PLDF7421E5B334B421&index=3&feature=plpp_video

Link to Conference Reviews on ICD Webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/culturaldiplomacyandtheeconomy/index.php?en_biec-2012_review

Link to conference on ICD webpage: www.biec.de

g). The Honorable Alfred Sant (Former Prime Minister of Malta; Currently Member of Malta’s Parliament) delivers a lecture on 8 November 2009 in Berlin at "A World without Walls: An International Congress on Interdependence and CD“(Berlin, 06 - 09 November, 2009)

Link on the Alfred Sant webpage: http://www.alfredsant.org/pages/dassingle.asp?id=203

Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_symposium_world-without-walls

For the same event:

The Honorable Sir James Mancham (Founding President of the Seychelles) delivers a lecture on the 6th of November, 2009 "A World without Walls: An International Congress on Interdependence and CD“ (Berlin, 06 - 09 November, 2009) Link the lecture on Sir James Mancham's webpage: http://jamesmancham.com/activities.php Link to photos of the lecture on Sir James Mancham's webpage: http://jamesmancham.com/gallery.php?&start=60 Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_symposium_world-without-walls

For the same event:

The French renowned newspapers La Tribune and La Post covering the participation of Ségolène Royal in the event: http://www.latribune.fr/actualites/economie/international/20091110trib000442141/segolene-royal-si-sarkozy-redoute-un-president-europeen-fort-il-a-tort.html

http://archives-lepost.huffingtonpost.fr/article/2009/11/08/1780554_segolene-royal-invitee-d-honneur-de-l-institute-for-cultural-diplomacy-a-berlin-pour-le-20e-anniversaire-de-la-chute-du-mur.html

For the same event:

President Email Constantinescu (Former President of Romania) has uploaded a number of the speeches that he has delivered at the ICD in recent years including the above mentioned event – the first link):

http://www.constantinescu.ro/en/discursuri/speeches30.htm

Please see additional speeches of President Constantinescu which were held at other ICD events below:

http://www.constantinescu.ro/en/discursuri/speeches43.htm#_ftn1 http://www.constantinescu.ro/en/discursuri/speeches44.htm http://www.constantinescu.ro/en/discursuri/speeches37.htm

h). The Goethe Institute in Ljubljana reports on the ICD program "Germany Meets Slovenia – A Forum for Young Leaders (Slovenia, June 13th - 17th, 2012): Link to the program in the ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/germanymeetsslovenia/index.php?en Link to the Goethe Institute in Ljubljana page: http://www.goethe.de/ins/si/lju/ver/de9107644v.htm

i). Conference Title: The Ankara Conference on Peace building & Conflict Resolution – “Using Cultural Diplomacy as a Tool to Build Sustainable Peace” (Ankara, April 17th - 19th, 2012)

Please find below a link to the Slovenian Embassy in Turkey, which reported about the event:

http://ankara.embassy.si/index.php?id=1320&L=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=12834&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=16&cHash=22ad97d142

More links: http://www.ecmi.de/press/details/the-ankara-conference-on-peacebuilding-and-conflict-resolution-469/

Link to conference lectures (in total 45 lectures) on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE5CB2F7A6D8123AF&feature=plcp Link to conference on ICD webpage (where you can see the program and list of speakers): www.ankara-conference.org

J). The German Federal Agency for Political Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung – BPB) published reports and documentation about the ICD Event Series "Black History Month 2009" (Berlin, January 20-Febrauary 29th, 2009): Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/blackhistorymonth/index.php?de Link to the reports BPB website: http://www.bpb.de/veranstaltungen/dokumentation/127381/black-history-month

k). Conference Title: The International Conference on Cultural Diplomacy & the UN - "Cultural Diplomacy & Soft Power in an Interdependent World: The Opportunities for Global Governance" (New York City & Washington D.C., February 21st - 24th, 2012)

Link to NYU (Law Department) University reporting on the event: http://www.law.nyu.edu/news/ALVAREZ_JOSE_ICD_CONFERENCE

More: http://www.mville.edu/news-a-events/news/news-features/3133-kendra-white.html

Link to conference lectures on YouTube (in total 34 lectures): http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB91A1240BACCCE81&feature=plcp Link to conference on ICD webpage: www.un-culturaldiplomacy-conference.org

l). Conference Title: The ICD Annual Academic Conference on Cultural Diplomacy 2011 “Cultural Diplomacy and International Relations: New Actors, New Initiatives, New Targets” (Berlin, December 15th - 18th, 2011)

Link to a protest against the Greek Government and the Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. Thodoros Pangalos, who participated in the event and was confronted by protestors; the protesters filmed the event themselves and published on YouTube with over 28,000 views:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzEI3XFvUCM

Link to conference lectures on YouTube (in total 29 lectures) http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBF4062F093F322E4&feature=plcp Link to conference on ICD webpage: www.icd-academy.org

m). The German Federal Agency for Political Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung – BPB) published reports and documentation about the ICD Event Series "Black History Month 2009" (Berlin, January 20-Febrauary 29th, 2009): Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/blackhistorymonth/index.php?de Link to the reports BPB website: http://www.bpb.de/veranstaltungen/dokumentation/127381/black-history-month

n). The Honorable Sir James Mancham (Founding President of the Seychelles) delivers a lecture on the April 15, 2010 as a part of the "USA meets Europe Forum” from April 22-25 in New York City. Link the lecture on Sir James Mancham's webpage: http://www.eturbonews.com/15484/former-seychelles-president-heads-new-york-deliver-lecture-pirac Link to conference on ICD webpage: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/index.php?event-review-usame-2010-04

I think that the sources provided here are sufficient, but I will continue to find more and to provide more neutral verified information about ICD activities.

--Hessin fahem (talk) 19:18, 16 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have looked into the criteria for a musician being notable, and I do think Neversink qualifies; his music has been rated highly by South-African newspapers, he has played the major festivals, and a Dutch journalist has included a portrait of him in a book which includes some of South Africa's most famous artists. The fact that his new CD is produced by Richard Lloyd and will be promoted internationally should also generate some interest outside of South Africa. Given that I have a conflict of interest I was afraid of quoting enthusiastic reviewers, but in fact I have never seen a bad review of anything he has done.

I will see how I can add something to the lead about "the accomplishment giving rise to notability" in the lead. I was afraid that might sound like promotion - but I guess these are the facts that justify the entry, so nothing wrong with that!

You are quite right, I will move it to "Jim neversink" - I deleted the self-referential link! I also use

now, it was mentioned as one of two options, if you think it's the better one, I'll use it.

Best, SkaraB

SkaraB (talk) 13:53, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You have no idea how timely your response is. I spend a fair amount of time at the help desk, and I was literally thinking that I had tried to help several people and hadn't heard a peep from them, so your note was perfectly timed. For future use, if you post on MY talk page, next time I do anything, I'll see a box telling me I have a message. I don't know to come here, except that I saw your note. It can be confusing, don't worry about it.

As I said, I'm not much of a music expert, we do have quite a few, who could probably instantly said he was notable - I thought that was the case, but if there is a challenge, you are now forearmed with the guidelines.

Good luck with the article, I see that it is already listed in Google.--SPhilbrickT 00:56, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:Jim Neversink playing the lapsteel.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. FileBot (talk) 00:29, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:JimneversinkCD.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. FileBot (talk) 00:29, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your e-mail.
All I did was correct the spelling of Retreived to Retrieved. (i before e except after c - although this is a lousy rule - their, height, vein etc.)

I am what is sometimes called a WikiGnome
I found I had mis-spelt retrieved, "ei", three times in an article I had written (One mistake, copied & pasted)
As a pedant, I was embarrassed, and set myself a "penance" (nothing like a bit of masochism) of correcting the "ei" versions in Wikipedia articles (Talk & User pages would take forever) I only intended to do the 100 there were at the time, but I have now adopted "retreived"

You said you were not sure what changes I had made - you obviously found the History tab to find out I had made a change.
To find out what the change was:-

1. Click the dot to the left of the line before, i.e. below, my alteration
2. Then the right hand of the two dots in line with my alteration
3. Then the "Compare selected revisions" bar at the top of the list

This will show you what was changed in red.
Arjayay (talk) 17:14, 27 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Skara - Thanks for (both) replies, and the removal (!)
If you look back at my page now, SineBot has found that you did not sign your post, so has done it automatically.
You should sign your post, on article talk pages and user talk pages, with 4 tildes i.e. ~~~~
This will automatically give your user-name, the date and time of your post.
Arjayay (talk) 07:46, 28 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. In case you didn't know, when you add content to talk pages and Wikipedia pages that have open discussion, you should sign your posts by typing four tildes ( ~~~~ ) at the end of your comment. You may also click on the signature button located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your username or IP address and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when. Thank you. --SineBot (talk) 08:19, 28 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

there is a policy about not repeating links and wp:mos also notes not to repeat article title in section headers Tom B (talk) 20:51, 20 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK - thanks for the corrections! --SkaraB 08:18, 21 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And thank you for the kind words you've left on my talk page. Happy editing! :) -- WikHead (talk) 21:23, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

South African alternative country singers is a sub-category of alternative country singers, so Jim Neversink is still included. Category:Alternative country singers is divided by nationality and doesn't contain individual articles. Eric444 (talk) 07:38, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for uploading File:Rian Malan by Beowulf Sheehan.jpg. However, it currently is missing information on its copyright status. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously. It may be deleted soon, unless we can determine the license and the source of the file. If you know this information, then you can add a copyright tag to the image description page.

If you have uploaded other files, consider checking that you have specified their license and tagged them, too. You can find a list of files you have uploaded by following this link.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at the media copyright questions page. Thanks again for your cooperation. FASTILY_sock^(TALK) 21:30, 17 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:Jim Neversink Album Cover.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. J Milburn (talk) 22:06, 18 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:Jim Neversink Shakey Is Good Album Cover.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. J Milburn (talk) 22:06, 18 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:CD jim neversink sgat cover.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. J Milburn (talk) 22:07, 18 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hey. There is a general consensus that a single cover image on the article about the album is fine- this doesn't extend to artist biographies, discographies and the like (though covers may occasionally be justified anyway if they themselves are significant, as per our non-free content criteria). If you were to split the album articles out, giving each an individual article, I wouldn't oppose the use of the covers in the respective articles, but, of course, if it makes more sense to keep the content in the artist article (I've got no opinion on that) then the covers probably shouldn't be used. J Milburn (talk) 22:28, 19 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for bringing Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Institute for Cultural Diplomacy to my attention. I'm glad somebody else is taking an interest in the article and for trying to shepard things along toward some sort of conclusion (either deletion or an quality encyclopedic article). The article has certainly been a mess in the past and I'm really happy to see progress and interest from people who are plausibly not connected to the organization. —mako๛ 14:36, 12 June 2012 (UTC) Likewise - thanks to you! This sort of cooperation makes me love Wikipedia! SkaraB 15:07, 12 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I've declined your request for a copy edit of that article at present for two reasons. One is that I'm convinced that your addition of the copypaste tag was correct, and we don't copy edit articles until any copyright violation has been cleared. The other is that I believe the article needs development rather than copy editing at this stage, especially the provision of proper secondary sources. If these things are resolved at some time in the future, we'd be glad to copy edit it. Best regards, --Stfg (talk) 18:01, 22 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OK! Come to think of it, I guess the copy-editors guild wasn't the right place to ask, what the article really needs is an expert author. Sorry, am just learning the ropes...

SkaraB 10:38, 23 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, especially a good researcher. Please don't be sorry. You caused no trouble, and we'd be glad to copy edit for you in future. Rgds, --Stfg (talk) 13:11, 23 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there Skara- sorry but I'm up to me eyeballs in other wiki content at the moment. I'm loath to get involved with the Cultural Diplomacy page due to the past activity of editors over the AFD for Institute for Cultural Diplomacy - so I will be standing back from this one. I have better things to do than deal with another barrage of innuendo and fall out. If I see anything I can add of value, I will - but actually it all looks pretty cut and dry. It just needs clarity for other editors and consensus.

Tips and Observations

NB - there is a direct cut and paste from the Cultural Diplomacy page to Diplomacy#Cultural_diplomacy - if that content is copy right violation on Cultural Diplomacy, the same applies on the Diplomacy page. I did highlight that back in May on the talkpage for Institute for Cultural Diplomacy - now deleted.

There is also another potential WP:COI issue that I have spotted linked to a group under the name "Association of Certified Commercial Diplomats - " and that may also need some checking for Copyright violations and or WP:COI. Not immediately apparent as an issue - but having been over the edit history and found some broken Url's that needed checking, it leads to the above group. Details in the WayBack machine [1]

Where there is significant WP:PLAGIARISM call it that - the same for "Close Paraphrasing" - be specific. Here there is a mixture of Copyright Violations. I have scanned across the source and the wiki page and I too can see clear patterns that to me look like WP:PLAGIARISM and "Close Paraphrasing" - Copy and edit with some minor alteration and padding, down to:

• Exact paragraph content
• Similarity of paragraph numbers and structure
• Punctuation
• Words used and the word order
• Headings and subheadings presented as bullet points
• Overall structure is a direct analogue from one to the other - minimal alteration.

Where there are sections or subsections that also show copyright violation and/or WP:PLAGIARISM, It may be helpful for other editors if you highlight each individual section of text. Use a two cell table to show the issues side by side - and highlighting text similarity or even copy and paste that has been padded out with some minor additions This example from paras one in both sources appears - Links to allow other editors to rapidly verify are a courtesy and useful.

The Duplication Detector bot does not help with deliberate Close Paraphrasing - Human eyes are better. I suspect there is a lot more than just readily observed copy and paste + padding. There may be a lot of reading involved. Be careful too! I have seen cases where the Bot has been confused due to deliberate changes between US and UK spelling - it's a trick that does get pulled to hide cut and paste. In such cases human eyes are still required. Playing with tenses can also be an issue (Present Simple Vs Present Continuous Vs Present Prefect), as well as shifting from active to passive voice (A does Vs It is done Vs It has been done vs Something is going on etc. ).

I would start a Talk Page heading Copyright Violation Examples and Sub - === Wiki Page Heading - Copyright Violation === for each Wiki page section found that has copyright violations. Use tables to highlight the issues - that allows other editors to asses rapidly and comment. If there are multiple and ongoing cumulative Copyright Violations, it will need that depth of analysis to allow other editors to see any bigger picture and extent. You may not agree - maybe I'm being too cautious given past activity when page content has been raised.

You may also want to highlight the page sections which lack citation {{Unreferenced section|date=?????}}. Again it helps with rapid assessment and getting to see issues.

Also - clarity as to the copyright violations and lack of referenced content will assist any editor who wants to rework the page, so they can clearly see the extent of issues. As Stfg says it may all result in the page ending up a stub - I don't think deletion of the whole page will be needed, but it will need careful research and valid citations from multiple sources to rebuild any form of valid page content. On the other hand - there may be nothing coherent left.

Anyone interested may want to

• start with Plato's Republic - it does seem to be the first Thesis or Source on the subject, and there are multiple references to that as the root of the subject.
• the chapter "Cultural Diplomacy - Bronze Age to World War 1" The First Resort Of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy In The Twentieth Century - Richard T. Arndt - Potomac Books, Inc. 2005 - ISBN 978-1-57488-587-3 .... well it may allow some expansion on the subject. [2] - hard to figure out how it's been missed.
• Google books is littered with sources and references and examples that can be used to rebuild the page. Should allow full WP:V + WP:NPOV across multiple sources, with a valid expansion of the subject over history, diverse cultures and globally.

The lack of citation on this subject from any source other than the "Institute for Cultural Diplomacy" is a long standing issue.

The page references are a mess - 1 and 2 are to images and should not be there - the first remotely correct in line reference is half way down the page - the majority are bare url to ICD - the rest are incorrectly formatted as bullets, connect to nothing, lacking page numbers or any connection to the page. Most of the page is simply unreferenced and needs to be culled.

1. Why are they apparently the only source on the subject?
2. Is there such a lack of sources that show a depth of understanding that is WP:NOTE and WP:V?
3. If you look at the page history and at editors involved there is that spectre of WP:COI all over. To me it reads WP:OWN.

Hence my reticence and standing back. I have better things to do with my time. I will watch at a distance.

Good luck.

Media-Hound 'D 3rd P^) (talk) 21:52, 23 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there and thanks for the meticulous response!

I understand why you don't want to get involved; it's for the same reasons that I don't want to edit the article. I also don't have any more time to spend on it, but will simply reflag it. I will leave it up to to others to decide if there is a copyright violation or just close paraphrasing. Since there are no references to reliable sources anyhow, I don't think think the nitpicking is worth the while. Sorry if this is not the correct approach, I've just run out of diplomatic energy. Good luck with your work, too!

SkaraB 22:28, 23 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Diplomatic fatigue all round ? I do prefer Culture - Yoghurt! P^)
Media-Hound 'D 3rd P^) (talk) 23:12, 23 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Have updated page Diplomacy and removed questionable materials to ensure it does not get lost in the mix. See Talk:Diplomacy#Cultural_Diplomacy_-_section_removed_-_copyright_violations

There are strong correlations between material in the wayback machine and questionable content with both WP:COI and WP:Copyright - link [3] - ongoing WP:SOAP since 2007.
Media-Hound 'D 3rd P^) (talk) 11:07, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Great! If noone else takes action I will look at the cultural diplomacy article, following your advice...

SkaraB 21:51, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry to see that you seemed to burn out after the RfD for Institute for Cultural Diplomacy and haven't edited since then! I hope all is going well with you and that you've enjoyed your wikibreak!

I thought you might want to know that a new user recreated a page under The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. I'm just marked it for speedy deletion might it be nice to bring some folks with experience with the previous discussion. —mako๛ 02:56, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mako!

No worries, I think I just got busy with other stuff! Thanks for the heads up, I will have a look at the page right now.

SkaraB 17:12, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:03, 24 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:04, 24 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Dear SkaraB, thank you so much for your kind words. My apologies for my tardiness in replying; sometimes I suffer from attacks of debilitating shyness (nothing personal). With my own weaknesses in mind, I often feel there is not community spirit around here; there are editors who are difficult and unpleasant, but I prefer to stress the positive and those who do good work should be thanked. I still have a work of work to do on Gobineau, but your edits helped that article and I appreciate your kind words. Please have a wonderful day!--A.S. Brown (talk) 21:11, 21 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, SkaraB. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:Rian Malan Alien Inboorling CD cover.jpeg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:06, 15 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, SkaraB. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, SkaraB. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Voting in the 2019 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 on Monday, 2 December 2019. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate in the 2019 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:12, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Voting in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 12 December 2022. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2022 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:40, 29 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Voting in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 11 December 2023. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2023 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:32, 28 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, and thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. A page you recently created, Trinelise Væring, may not conform to some of Wikipedia's guidelines for new pages, so it has been moved to Draft:Trinelise Væring where you can continue to work on it. Please consider using the Article Wizard or the Articles for Creation procedure. For more information about creating articles, you may want to read "Your first article". You may also want to read our introduction page to learn more about contributing. Thank you. SunloungerFrog (talk) 14:58, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hello SunloungerFrog!

It has been a while since I last created an article, so I'm finding everything extremely difficult. Sorry if I messed up! SkaraB (talk) 15:25, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No probs! You should be able to work on it in peace and quiet in Draft space, and then publish it to main space when it's all complete. Sorry for any confusion about the deletion of the redirect: your article is certainly still safe. Cheers, SunloungerFrog (talk) 15:33, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]