User talk:MrOllie

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Thank you!

Northern line signalling

I don't understand your revert to Northern line. The reason you gave is "Rv thales spam IP" which makes no sense. The reference was to Thales Group web site which sources the information in the article. Before I undo your reversion I wanted to check I'd not misunderstood anything. Regards, Bazza (talk) 20:45, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

Check the IP's contribs. They've been repetitively adding that same content to dozens of articles (including a photo of a train in Singapore no matter where the train line actually is), trying to remove mentions of controversies involving Thales from various places. Typical undisclosed paid editing stuff. - MrOllie (talk) 22:01, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for that. I had come across the same on another page, and removed the odd photo from this one. However, the actual reference information is good, so I shall aim to reinstate it, reword the mention of Thales, and add another non-Thales reference alongside once I've found one. Bazza (talk) 09:59, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

What do you know about Mehndi?

I don't understand about your knowledge about Mehndi. You do not know about Indian culture and what people really love to know. You removed Informative Reference which one is loved by people. I don't understand who authorized you to edit the unrelated topics by you. I strongly object your Un Ethic act and an unwanted message left for me. Please be in your limit. venkat — Preceding unsigned comment added by Venkatam (talk • contribs) 18:31, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for cluing me in

I'm still new and didn't realize those links I added weren't helpful. Is there a style guide or something similar that I can consult to give me more info on what kinds of additions to pages are actually helpful/preferred? ThanksE6slidefilm (talk) 20:29, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

You can find the guideline specific to external links at Wikipedia:External links. For which kinds of sources we prefer, see Wikipedia:Reliable sources. There are lots and lots of policies, so don't feel overwhelmed, no one expects you to know everything right away. The best simple introduction with links to more detail is probably Wikipedia:Five pillars. There's also a tutorial kind of thing you can do at Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure. - MrOllie (talk) 20:37, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Franc Roddam

Hello.

I think that was a good reference you deleted from the Franc Roddam Page. Could It Be reverted? CardinalK9 (talk) 19:12, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

No. See Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive1005#Linkspam_citing_Eoghan_Lyng..._Filter? - MrOllie (talk) 19:42, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

Open Data

Can you tell me why my revision was reverted in Open data? - SylviaPage (talk) 22:34, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

It was factually incorrect (Wikipedia is prose text, not data), it had incorrect grammar, and example lists don't belong in lead article sections. - MrOllie (talk) 22:44, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

RefSpam question

I noticed that you appear to be removing references citing pieces by Michael Simkovic, including this edit. Am I missing something? Some of the references using him are indeed to questionable sources, but this one is to a fairly high-level law review. bd2412 T 16:29, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

He is indeed a real law professor, and he does indeed publish in real outlets. It also appears that he has been adding references to his work from a series of sockpuppets for years. I noticed User:Mbs6446 today, which got me looking further. The one who originally added the edit you cite was User:TaxMaven99 used over a span of a few months a few years ago - there are more accounts. I'm in the process of collecting a full list for a WP:COIN post. This also caught some external attention here. - MrOllie (talk) 16:37, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

Please see wikipedia's page on reliable sources re: Mortgage Securitization

Dear MrOllie,

You recently reverted edits to articles about mortgage securitization, the GSEs, and the subprime mortgage crisis. I believe these revisions reduced the substantive quality of the wikipedia articles and the edits should be restored. My explanation is below. I look forward to working with you amicably to reach consensus. I believe that our goal should be to improve the article and cite to high quality, relevant sources whenever possible.

The edits you reverted included substantive improvements to the articles and cited an award-winning (see also here), widely-cited, widely-read academic journal article by a tenured professor at a leading research university with relevant expertise.

According to Wikipedia's policy on reliable sources:

″Many Wikipedia articles rely on scholarly material. When available, academic and peer-reviewed publications, scholarly monographs, and textbooks are usually the most reliable sources. . . . Material such as an article, book, monograph, or research paper that has been vetted by the scholarly community is regarded as reliable, where the material has been published in reputable peer-reviewed sources or by well-regarded academic presses. . . . One can confirm that discussion of the source has entered mainstream academic discourse by checking the scholarly citations it has received in citation indexes.″

Thus, the source cited is among the most reliable sources under Wikipedia's definition of reliable sources. You reverted it while suggesting that it might be reference-spamming, but given the relevance of the academic article to the wikipedia article, and the high quality of the academic article--demonstrated by its placement, its citations, its readership, its awards and the institutional affiliation and status of its author--it is not a form of spam but rather a legitimate effort to improve the article.

Please note that news articles in journals with an ideological valence, think tank reports and other materials are considered less reliable sources than academic research. See Biased or Opinionated Sources Many of the other sources in the article are editorials and think tank reports, not academic articles, and the inclusion of more high quality and up-to-date academic articles would therefore improve the article.

Many of the think tank reports cited in the article are written by organizations that receive financial sponsorship from private lenders and therefore have an interest in portraying the financial crisis as having been caused by government policies rather than by private financial institutions. One of the few academic reports cited is years out of date, claims to provide a "comprehensive" bibliography of articles, but was published in 2012. Much has been written in the ensuing 7 years--the article is no longer a comprehensive review, if it ever was. And indeed, the author claiming otherwise has a think-tank affiliation.

In addition, self-published material is generally considered an unreliable source, except when published by well-published academic experts. Per Wikipedia policy, self-published material:

″are largely not acceptable as sources. Self-published expert sources may be considered reliable when produced by an established expert on the subject matter, whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable third-party publications.″"

You cited to self-published blog by a self-employed blogger / part time document reviewer which contains an off-wikipedia criticism of a scholar with whom he disagrees about the benefits of legal education.

It may be helpful to understand the context of this post. The blogger apparently posted this criticism as a form of revenge for having been made to appear foolish for making substantive mistakes about legal education and student loans --subjects about which the blogger purports to be an expert--even in a publication to which he has contributed.

Citing to the post you cited violates wikipedia policies including Wikipedia:No_personal_attacks and [[1]]. Indeed, the author of the post you cited acknowledged "that this post might be construed as an “off-wiki attack” ... that Wikipedians may perceive as harmful to their community."

Edits are supposed to be evaluated on substance based on established wikipedia policies about reliable sources, not based on snap decisions based on [[2]]

I recognize that my edits only added one source and that it would be better to include multiple sources. If you would like to add additional high quality academic sources rather than deleting the few high quality citations that are in the wikipedia article, I would encourage you to do so. I have reviewed Wikipedia's Conflict of Interest policies and I am in compliance.

--Mbs6446 (talk) 16:38, 31 March 2019 (UTC)