[WikiEN-l] Anonymous quote in article

Thu Jan 23 17:28:36 UTC 2003

I haven't insisted on it having the anonymous quote, nor have I
engaged in any edit wars.  I have maintained, on the talk pages only,
that there's little or no harm in a sentimental quotation in an
article that is largely sentimental.  I decided to drop out of the
discussion out of fear that any further contributions from me might
take on the appearance of trolling.  

I did notice in some of the news stories about this lady, who really
did some amazing things as she was heading toward certain death, also
included anonymous quotations.  In poking around, it seems to me that
the article needs beefing up as regards her genuine actions, and
really belongs in the Wikipedia, while other 9-11 victims are more
doubtful as encyclopedia subject.  

Better to spend time on improving the article, and, say, working on an
article, nonexistent at the moment, on the role of stewards and
stewardesses on airliners.  In the early days, they were required to
be nurses, then the job became "waitress in the sky" as the song by
The Replacements put it, then, post 9-11, the security role was thrust
upon them, in large part because of the instinctive, responsible
actions of people like Madeline Amy Sweeney.

Tom Parmenter
Ortolan88

|From: Erik Moeller <erik_moeller at gmx.de>
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|Sender: wikien-l-admin at wikipedia.org
|Reply-To: wikien-l at wikipedia.org
|Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 10:20:58 +0100 (MET)
|
|Hi,
|
|there's a problem with the article [[Madeline Amy Sweeney]], about a victim
|of the Sep 11 attacks. This started out as an anonymous contribution:
|
|"Amy was a wonderful person to wrok with. She inspired me to enjoy my life,
|work hard and have fun with my job as an American Airlines Flight Attendant,
|because it was the best of the best."
|
|It was expanded, and the quote was removed. Oliver Perreira and Tom
|Parmenter have insisted on keeping that quote in the article. The latest variant used
|by Oliver is this:
|
|--
|The Wikipedia article on Madeline Amy Sweeney was started on November 28,
|2001, with the following anonymous sentiment:- "Amy was a wonderful person to
|wrok with. She inspired me to enjoy my life, work hard and have fun with my
|job as an American Airlines Flight Attendant, because it was the best of the
|best." 
|--
|
|A new contributor named Arno also wants to keep the quote in, with the
|remark "SPECIAL NOTE". Because he is encouraged by Tom and Oliver, he is now ready
|to start an "edit war".
|
|My position is that, however touching this may be, there are several reasons
|not to have the quote in the article:
|
|* We have a precedent here. On [[Wilson Flagg]] we have kept the comment on
|the Talk page and linked to it, with the link name "Tributes and Comments".
|* The anonymous quote is unverifiable. I could easily come along and add
|another, similar quote to the article under an anonymous IP. Should that then,
|too, be included because of its sentimental value? Or does the first quote get
|priority because it was "the quote that started this article"? In that case,
|can I come along and add new articles about Sep 11 victims with fake
|anonymous quotes that are destined to remain in them forever?
|* Any self-reference of the type "The Wikipedia article .." is
|non-encyclopedic to the extreme and should be avoided whenever possible.
|
|In conclusion, I think it is obvious that we should keep the anonymous
|comment on the Talk page, and not in the article. It would set an extremely bad
|precedent if we allowed these kind of unverifiable comments in articles. I'd
|like to hear more opinions on, preferably on the Talk page of the article 
|[[Madeline Amy Sweeney]].
|
|Regards,
|
|Erik
|
|-- 
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