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==Archived==
This is a complete mess. Seems to me the original call for the link to Overstock came from Piperdown, a blatant meatpuppet of Bagley, and it's virtually impossible to purge the dead hand of Bagley from the ill-tempered and serially ] violating debate on this page. So it's time to start again. And the rules are:


==Article probation==
* ]
Restrictions...Editors are directed:
* ]
:(A) To edit on these from only a single user account, which shall be the user's sole or main account;
* ]
:(B) To edit only through a conventional ISP and not through any form of proxy configuration;
* ]
:(C) To edit in accordance with all Misplaced Pages policies and to refrain from any form of ] concerning any external controversy, dispute, allegation, or proceeding; and
* ]
:(D) To disclose on the relevant talk pages any circumstances (but not including personal identifying information) that constitute or may reasonably be perceived as constituting a conflict of interest with respect to that page.
* ].
''Do not remove this notice'' <span style="font-family: verdana;"> — ] • ] • </span> 22:16, 13 March 2008 (UTC)


If anyone wants to bring a reliable source that discusses, in properly analytical terms, some additional content we can use for this article, they are most welcome. Blogs, opinion pieces and tittle-tattle on the web are not reliable or significant enough to overcome concerns, since we know Mr Weiss has been actively harassed in real life. Individuals active on websites where Bagley is active are recommended in the strongest possible terms to leave well alone, since an ''extremely'' dim view will be taken of any suspicion of editing by proxy on his behalf.


==Weiss, Mantanmoreland, and Misplaced Pages==
And one final thing: this is '''absolutely not the place''' to rehash arguments taking place elsewhere. If you can document them by reference to properly analytical debate by independent authorities in reliable sources, then we can talk, but what has gone on here in the past is not good enough. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 17:13, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
An article in the press is stating that Weiss used an account called ] here in Misplaced Pages to push POV in the ], ], and ] articles. The article is here . I've committed not to edit this article, but anyone else should feel free to add this material and cite it to the link I posted here. ] (]) 01:58, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
:Hi Guy, I wonder if your archiving was a good call here. Aside from a few snide remarks ("stop blowing smoke out your ass") and fanciful insinuations (i.e. that Cla68 was a Bagley representative) the debate was fairly productive, policy-focused (NPF, BLP, UNDUE), and forward-looking, and there seemed to be no (Bagley) meatpuppets in sight.--] 18:05, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
:: It's the "apart from" that was the problem. Feel free to resume the debate without the bits that require "apart from". <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 19:50, 20 October 2007 (UTC) :I appreciate your enthusiasm for the article but I have doubts about its usability here, without confirmation elsewhere.--] (]) 03:44, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
:I think it should be mentioned, but... with BLP and all, we might need articles from more than one newspaper in order to include it. The end of the article talks about user SlimVirgin and she's had several hundred news articles about her and still that doesn't seem to meet BLP to put all the negative controversy in an article. Hmm the register has another thing at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/24/byrne_back_conspiracy_theory_with_cash/ which is not about Weiss, but about a wikipedia and wall street conspiracy. Unfortunately, there's no mention of the current Wall Street conspiracy of how the US government wants to give $700 billion and likely trillions more not to stimulate the economy but to purely to inflate the salaries of rich CEOs who are friends of the Bush administration and both Obama and McCain support it (but not Ron Paul). ] (]) 04:27, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
:::It was absolutely the right call. And my sysop tools are ready and waiting to enforce the list he provided. Proceed with legitimate references and encyclopedic discussion, or not at all. <font face="Verdana">]</font><sup>'']''</sup> 20:26, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
:Isn't the required 'confirmation' within the wikipedia logs and article history themselves, as documented here http://antisocialmedia.net/?p=130 - that source is obviously biased, but the substantial proof of the main thrust of The Register's allegations seem to be embedded within wikipedia already. It is unfortunate that in this case decisions resulted in Misplaced Pages 'becoming the story' rather than enabling it to be documented with NPOV - but the full naked-short/overstock/Weiss/wikipedia story is one that really SHOULD be fully covered here - treating wikipedia's part in the story dispassionately as though it were some third-party media. Short version: It's absurd, when the actual proof is right here in the logs, to pretend that it's not well-sourced.] (]) 12:27, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
::::OK, Durova. I will briefly point out that (a) Cla68's initial RfC two days ago was serious and manifestly in good faith; (b) the personal attacks (implying that Cla68 was a Bagley representative, etc.) began with the first poster but had petered out by yesterday morning; (c) the discussion section at the time of archiving ("Replies to RfC") was productive, policy-oriented, and free of personal attacks. With respect, the time for the RESET button (or other sysop intervention) was after the first posted response to Cla68's RfC two days ago, not during the constructive discussion two hours ago.--] 21:03, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
::I think ] when I say that these sources are not up to ] standards. The alleged Misplaced Pages activity should be left out of the article. Misplaced Pages's logs and history are the raw material for ], and this potentially-damaging claim has not been confirmed by reliable sources. ] '']'' 17:45, 7 December 2008 (UTC)


:I have just removed an edit inserted by an anonymous editor relating to the Register article. The content removed varied from information in the single source and thus does not meet the standards of our ] policy. I believe that this information needs to appear in more than one reliable source; it is extraordinary information and thus needs to be referenced extraordinarily well. ] (]) 01:44, 6 October 2008 (UTC)
== Full support ==


==Forbes==
Durova and Guy have my full support here. No nonsense, zero tolerance, shoot on sight. No kidding, this has gone on long enough.--] 21:03, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
is Weiss still employed by forbes? He hasn't published anything there in six months. --] 04:47, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
:Most of us usually try to give some reasoning for any action, proposed action, or threatened action that we discuss on an article's talk page. Would you mind doing the same? ] 21:17, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
::All right, you are subject to a 24 hour block for violation of ]. The reason is that this page exists for encyclopedic collaboration, not drama. <font face="Verdana">]</font><sup>'']''</sup> 21:50, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
:::While I think the block may have been a tad excessive, I did say zero tolerance and shoot on sight. Cla68, I fear that you have been manipulated by lying stalkers and trolls, and I am happy to talk to you about it privately, but I am sick of the drama around this issue on this page, and it absolutely has to come to an end. I recommend that Durova (no one else! no wheel wars please!) reduce the block as a gesture of good faith, but if Durova wants you to sit out the 24 hours, I will respect that as well. I support all reasonable efforts to clarify that the support for trolls and stalkers needs to stop.--] 01:32, 21 October 2007 (UTC)
::::I appreciate your comments and remedy and I'll respond more on your talk page. ] 09:30, 21 October 2007 (UTC)
:::You are wrong, Jimbo. A conversation ends when all the evidence is presented and people are convinced. It does not end because a godhead says it does. When you yell "stalker" while obscuring the discussion you appear no different from Bush yelling "terrorist" while asserting executive privilege (eep, shades of Godwin's law!). I am just a casual contributor to wikipedia but I have noticed increasingly that every time I make a slightly controvertial edit, I am subjected to threats. You step on someone's pet project and suddenly they're telling you how many administrators they personally know and how quickly you'll be banned if you don't drop the issue immediately. That is not a conversation about the facts, it is an ]. It didn't used to be this way. When the recent drama unfolded with Durova, I speculated that the formation of a "cabal" was responsible for this increase. Now that I have seen the words "shoot on sight," all doubt is removed. Those of us coming out of the woodwork because we are offended at this threatening tendency are not sockpuppets. By responding in a reactionary manner, you are causing even uninvolved parties to exhibit the behavior that you attribute to sock puppets. Bagley's probably a nutcase, but "shoot on sight" just proves his point. You simply cannot build an open encyclopedia based on the appeal to authority. It is vital that we retain the ability to accept content from anonymous users based on the quality of the content rather than the perceived separation between the contributor and the administration, and that is at risk when this is the example that you set for the other administrators. ] (]) 18:53, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


:I'm not clear if this is employment per se.--] (]) 04:59, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
== Register story ==


==More info==
I have protected this article for a short time due to a train of questionable edits over the last 24 hours. Aside from the Register story being straight from the Judd Bagley press pack, it is of no evident reliability, and the accompanying ] certainly don't improve it. The Register is reaosnably reliable for matters technical but is quite clearly pursuing a ] here. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 14:42, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
A thread on ] has just pointed out these articles about Weiss in reliable sources, but which aren't mentioned in this article, even in passing: . ] (]) 01:18, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
:Dunno. Two seem like minor "pissing match" stuff. The third might be important if it was instrumental in the lawsuit. Kind of old, too. Is that a representative sampling of what is in the Times?--] (]) 02:12, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
::Those could support statements like this:


::*"He also has been critical of the treatment of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, opposed astroturfing, argued against Wal-Mart's new venture in India,, criticized Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne and his campaign against naked short selling, and criticized the ethics of Mark Cuban's ], Cuban’s Web publication that investigates companies’ business practices ."
:Hello JzG, I had recently read a few articles on the Weiss controversy and, as you can see, was making an attempt to remove any bias from the article and explain the situation objectively. I don't see how that could cause the lockdown of the article. Considering this controversy is written about far beyond The Register, it meets notability and verification guidelines. ] (]) 14:43, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


::* "Weiss debated Mark R. Mitchell, an editor for Columbia Journalism Review’s blog, CJR Daily's financial column, The Audit over a story about Warren Buffet published in the Wall Street Journal."
::There is no "Weiss controversy." There is a widely publicized Overstock.com smear campaign against critics, which is dealt with in the Overstock.com article itself where it belongs. It had been previously discussed and determined (see earlier discussion and archives) that this kind of rubbish has no place in this article under BLP, specifically ]. That is separate and apart, and cumulative, with the RS issue on The Register as a source for BLPs.--] (]) 14:54, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


::*"While at ''Business Week'', Weiss and the magazine were sued by Julian H. Robertson Jr. for libel over an article authored by Weiss in 1996 titled, "Fall of the Wizard of Wall Street." The case was settled out of court. "
I don't see anything mutually exclusive between including similar information on two Misplaced Pages articles, especially if we have NYT articles writing about this. To ignore it would be almost as much POV pushing as some of the earlier edits that were reverted. Proposed section:
===Naked Short Selling Dispute===
Weiss has been a sharp critic of ] CEO ] and his opposition to short selling, which led to the creation of an originally anonymous and critical website of Weiss, later reported to be run by Overstock.com's director for social media, Judd Bagely.<ref>Mitchell, Dan. "", ''The New York Times'', January 20, 2007. Retrieved December 7, 2007.</ref> Weiss has been accused by Bagely of making biased edits to the Misplaced Pages entries on Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, and himself, but Weiss has denied ever doing so.<ref>Metz, Cade. "", ''The Register'', December 6, 2007. Retrieved December 7, 2007.</ref> ] (]) 14:58, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


:Yes, you said that already. Repetition is not the mother of invention. --] (]) 15:03, 7 December 2007 (UTC) ::That should cover what those three sources say. ] (]) 02:42, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
:: Indeed. The sources for this are a PDF of Bagley's hate site and a Register story which parrots Bagley's nonsense. Both are clearly polemical and motivated by spite. Neither is a reliable source for a ] article. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 15:12, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
That is a decision that should be made through a consensus on this talk page, but regardless, the NYT deserves citing. Smiharris, I am sorry if my repetition bothered you, I am just trying to find a solution to this. Frankly, I have never heard of any of these people before today. Please do not belittle a good faith attempt. ] (]) 15:15, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


::I think a lot would depend on the overall coverage. I looked at the Times website and there were other items, a first amendment dustup from one of his books, as well as reviews that we are not picking up. Not sure about adding blog controversies and a withdrawn lawsuit from ten years ago. Also I read the second item and I think this was after Weiss left Business Week.--] (]) 03:18, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
:What I was trying to convey, and will repeat, is that the issues you raise have been discussed lengthily and disposed of on at least three prior occasions, and that your addition was against talk page consensus (even if you include previous Bagley socks) and BLP.--] (]) 15:23, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
:::Oops, I meant to remove that from the second one. I think the most significant of the three is the libel lawsuit, because that is mentioned in more than one article in reliable sources. ] (]) 03:26, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
:::Yeah, I don't know about the Cuban/blog thing. It seems like something ] might keep out. But, there is other coverage of it. I dug up ].
:::We have to wonder whether criticizing a businessman is WEIGHTy just because the businessman criticizes the critic back. Maybe, but it's not obvious to me. ] '']'' 03:29, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
::::Cuban ended up mentioning the incident as it related to Misplaced Pages in his blog. But, if not mentioned in passing, then it probably isn't notable enough to be in the article. ] (]) 03:33, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
:::::I was wondering the same (as Cool Hand Luke). The lawsuit bothered me because it was old (11 yrs.) and withdrawn, though I see Cla's point on the two sources. --] (]) 03:38, 10 November 2008 (UTC)


==Unprotection?==
I have done a quick read through the major arguments in the archived pages. But after citing the NYT in hundreds of articles myself, I fail to see how this one should be any different. Weiss has notability in part because of his criticism of such and such persons - witness all the discussion that this has provoked here. And it so happens that the NYT reports this. I fail to comprehened that after all that archived talk, no compromise sentence or two were found. ] (]) 15:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
Can this article and talk page be unprotected now so that unregistered users can edit and make comments? We can quickly restore protection if necessary. --] 19:07, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
:The Arbitration Committee retains jurisdiction over this article based on ], so any change to the protection will be dependent on support from or appeal to the Committee. Regards, ] 19:29, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
::Um, I sprotected outside of the juridstiction of ArbCom - as I recall during the case. The juridstiction seems to relate to the consequences of edit/pov warring rather than stopping some classes of editors using the talkpages. As such, I am unsprotecting. ] (]) 23:22, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
:::I think the matter needs rather more discussion before the decision to unprotect is taken. I'm willing to protect on my own account if you no longer are, pendindg discussion. ++]: ]/] 23:47, 4 September 2009 (UTC)


:::LHvU; I posted the above comment under the advice of an arbitrator. See the AN thread for more. Regards, ] 02:15, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
* You're missing the point. We are not here to help Bagley spread his meme. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 15:39, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


I'm not talking about Bagely, I'm talking about Weiss's criticism of Byrne and others. ] (]) 15:45, 7 December 2007 (UTC) Um, what exactly are you guys talking about? The article hasn't been protected since my protection expired on October 20, 2008. I don't see any reason to have the talk page protected when the article has been freely editable, without issue, for close to a year. ] (]) 02:06, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
: Some of the comments above seem to imply a misunderstanding about the remedies proposed in the Mantanmoreland case. None of them required or implied an order to protect the article or the talk page. Only the talk pages of four related articles remained semiprotected, the article semiprotections having long ago expired or been lifted manually. --] 02:11, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
::I removed the protection completely, debating this is rather silly. ] (]) 02:14, 5 September 2009 (UTC)


==]==
:Which brings you back to Bagley. Enough already. Asked and answered a thousand times.--] (]) 15:57, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
Lawsuit involved Weiss. FYI. ] 18:01, 27 December 2009 (UTC)
:Once the AfD closes, whether kept or deleted, I think we should discuss adding a few sentences to this, and the other, related articles, about the story. ] (]) 06:57, 29 December 2009 (UTC)


:Sir, I read your comments on Misplaced Pages Review. Shouldn't you be disclosing here, as required by the article probation, that you are involved in the off-wiki battle between Overstock.com and Weiss? The article probation was politely pointed out to me very recently. COI disclosure is mandatory.
:This article should be tagged with ADV tag, since it does read like auto biography. Register does make a fair point. There is no reason for the senior editors to protect Gary. ] (]) 16:24, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


:I disclose as follows: I have in the past been a short-seller of Overstock.com. However, I have no current position in the stock, and have had no position in the stock for two years. I am a member of message boards and occasionally post on the Weiss-Overstock conflict. I am not acquainted with Mr. Weiss personally, but admire his journalism. --] (]) 23:09, 29 December 2009 (UTC)
:: No, the Register does not make a fair point, it parrots Bagley's idiocy uncritically. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 16:48, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
::: Yeah? show me a sentence in the article that references any criticism of Gary?. Please don't tell me he is perfect. It currently reads like Misplaced Pages is bowing and bending over for Gary. Even Rudy Giulliani has a controversies section. ] (]) 17:04, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


If the lawsuit had resulted in a trial or a well-publicized apology or a monetary settlement, it would be a notable event in the life of Gary Weiss. Since it did not (and since the only argument for the notability of the underlying case is the fact that it almost, but didn't, consider a notable legal technical issue that has nothing to do with Weiss), it has no business being mentioned in this article. ] (]) 00:58, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
Honestly, this situation is just a joke. I have never encountered another article where pieces of relevant and factual information (Weiss's criticism of Byrne and the reaction) are excluded without a search for a compromise. And personal attacks from Wikipedians against the persons in question, regardless of who they are or what they've done, are really uncalled for - sorry I bothered trying to help. ] (]) 17:16, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


:I'm not sure I agree. While we probably don't need level of discussion, some discussion seems appropriate, and the article should be referenced from the See Also section. The article as it stands now lacks balance, it's almost a hagiography. ++]: ]/] 01:03, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
:I guess you haven't edited too many BLPs. WP:BLP deals explicitly with these kinds of situations, and the rule is that you must be careful to include material that is relevant to a subject's notability when he or she is not generally known. The presence of a sustained corporate smear campaign, such as inspired and repeated in the Register article, underlines the need to enforce BLP strictly, and it is the reason administrators and even Jimbo have had to intervene multiple times. We have this discussion every time Judd Bagley belches, and it is becoming a bit tiresome.--] (]) 17:31, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


::If there's something to be said that isn't synthesis, I wouldn't object. I also wouldn't object to something like "While Weiss was at ''Business Week'', he and the magazine were sued for a billion dollars by Julian Robertson, the subject of one of Weiss's articles. The case settled out of court with no money changing hands," though I fail to see what that really adds to the article, and I wouldn't object to a See also. But it's UNDUE to include allegations of a lawsuit that didn't result in any damages or in apologies that weren't covered by the press. The makes it clear that Business Week viewed the result as a nuisance settlement that didn't implicate the quality of their journalism, and doesn't even mention Weiss. Was there some other source you wished to cite that I'm not aware of?
::If you look at my user page you can see that have started dozens of article's on living people, including some that could be quite controversial (see ] for one). However, it is clear that Weiss's dispute with Byrne ''is'' notable and verifiable, not just from the NYT's article, but from others, including this that described Weiss as "persistent critic of Overstock and its CEO Patrick Byrne." Google and you get 8,540 results. That's much more than the subject of many Misplaced Pages articles even get. I have no desire or intention to "smear" Weiss, just objectively explain a very public and apparently very notable dispute that involves him intimately. ] (]) 17:48, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
I'm here for the first time, but Guy, reading all this you seem to have a very personal involvement. I don't know/care who Bagley is, but I certainly know the New York Times and The Register, and they should certainly be mentioned. Far be it for any of us to judge their editorial content or sources; that is better left to the reader. Maybe its time to recuse yourself? To my eyes, I'm sorry, but you don't seem impartial. ] (]) 17:21, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


::I've toned down some ] in the article, such as removing a self-serving press release. If you think there are RS on Weiss being omitted that would balance the article further, I have no objection to including them. But it's a stretch to include the Robertson allegations as somehow damning of Weiss. Journalists get sued all the time, especially by the wealthy--it's a way that some members of the rich try to intimidate against negative press coverage. ] (]) 16:36, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
Final comment on this topic from me. I fully understand that most of us here are guests at Misplaced Pages. It is controlled by Jimmy Wales and only those people he trusts. Sorry that I tried to make Misplaced Pages better by asking for balance. I realize its your home and you guys make the rules, and as guests we just need to obey the house rules. Thats it for me on this controversy. Happy holidays. ] (]) 17:24, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


:::You were right in your first post. This lawsuit is "peripheral to Robertson," as you said in removing a reference to the suit from "Julian Robertson," and it is even more peripheral here. The only reason we're even having this discussion is that an editor who doesn't like Weiss, and who has made accusations about him in the media, is on a campaign to create articles about him and to add links about those articles everywhere in Misplaced Pages. That's what this is all about. This whole affair is a complete embarassment to Misplaced Pages. --] (]) 17:19, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
I read the Register article linked from Slashdot. I came here to see what they were talking about, and I was extremely disappointed to see that this article has been full administrator-only locked. Whatever happened to the ideals of the wisdom of crowds? It makes me think that there is indeed "something wrong with the way the project... is administered" or why would the administrators be trying to clamp down on edits from people trying to mention this newsworthy controversy? I've lost some faith in Misplaced Pages today. ] (]) 17:46, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
::That is precisely the point. You came to this article because of an article inspired by Judd Bagley, Director of Communications of Overstock.com, who has waged an on- and off-wiki campaign to influence this and other articles. That campaign has some marginal notability and is dealt with in a subbsection of ]. He is paid for the purpose of getting people like you to come to this and other articles and become disappointed, or upset, or whatever. One aspect of his jihad is to undermine and vandalize Misplaced Pages. That is why this subject periodically rears its ugly head, and it is why administrators have had to clamp down on this article a number of times.--] (]) 18:01, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


:::: Please comment on ]. The answer on content is no. The article is barely more than a stub, and seems to be shrinking. A reference to the suit or a link to the lawsuit article would be excessive emphasis of a minor settled lawsuit that truly is meaningless. ] requires that articles treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject. ] (]) 19:15, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
:I've had similar run-ins with accusatory editors, and have similarly lost faith. I think the only way to ensure that Fair and Balanced is a reality is to keep your purse strings tied together during the current fundraising endeavor; I know I will. ] (]) 17:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::The notability of the event was established by the AfD. The lawsuit was covered in at least 10 independent sources, including the '']'', '']'', and the '']'', as well as a publishing industry trade publication. So, THF's suggestion about adding two sentences or so, but no more, is appropriate. I'll suggest a two or three sentence addition shortly, which could also be used for the Julian Robertson article. ] (]) 22:57, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
::::::The issue is UNDUE, and was the last time it was the last time you brought it up as well. It is not an issue of notability or sourcing. The language you propose below would be one paragraph added to a three-paragraph section. ] (]) 02:35, 4 January 2010 (UTC)


==Suggested addition about Robertson lawsuit==
:* I would hope that Misplaced Pages is ''never'' "Fair and Balanced&trade;", at least not in the ] sense. And that, of course, is the problem here: Bagley is a vicious hatemonger whose approach to anything other than uncritical adoration is reliably to harass and attack. He's finally found someone as mad as he is in Cade; the two of them make a perfect couple. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 18:04, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
I'm going to make a similar proposal on the talk page for ]. I suggest the following be added to this article in the "Magazine articles" section:


{{Cquote|While at ''BusinessWeek'', Weiss authored a ] carried in the April 1, 1996 edition of the magazine, titled "Fall of the Wizard," that was critical of ]'s performance and behavior as manager of ] ]. In response, Robertson sued Weiss and ''BusinessWeek'' for $1 billion for ]. The suit was ] with no money changing hands.<ref>
::Can you completely forget about Bagley for one moment. Weiss is a well reported critic of Patrick Byrne, and it has been reported in many places as such. ''That should at the very least be included.'' Then, one can determine whether the reaction to Weiss's criticsims, which has also been reported, is a notable and verifiable enough event to be included. ] (]) 18:25, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
*{{cite news |url= |title= Digital, corner newsstands go head-to-head: Question of timing in magazine publishing goes to court |work= ] |first= |last= ] |publisher= |page= D14 |date=November 4, 1997}}
*{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19460270.html |title= Steep libel claims raise concerns |work= Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management |first=Jeff |last= Garigliano |publisher= ] |page= 19 |date=June 1, 1997}}
*{{cite news |url= |title= Money Aside, Manager Settles Suit |work= ] |first= Keith J. |last= Kelly |publisher= |page= 78 |date=December 18, 1997}}
*{{cite news |url= |title= Corrections |work= |first= |last= '']'' |publisher= |date= January 7, 1997}}
*{{cite news |url= |title= Investor files papers signaling intent to sue Business Week for $1 billion |work= ] |first= Patrick M. |last= Reilly |publisher= ] |date=April 4, 1997}}
*{{cite news |url= |title= Business Week Agrees to Settle Libel Suit Brought by Investor |work= |first= |last= '']'' |publisher= (]) |date=December 18, 1997}}
*{{cite web
| last = Pogrebin
| first = Robin
| date = November 3, 1997
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/03/business/publication-date-open-to-dispute-in-internet-age.html?scp=1&sq=Publication%20Date%20Open%20to%20Dispute%20In%20Internet%20Age&st=cse
| title = Publication Date Open to Dispute In Internet Age
| format = Newspaper article
| work = ]
| publisher =
| accessdate = November 11, 2009
}}
*{{cite web
| last = Truell
| first = Peter
| date = December 18, 1997
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/18/business/the-media-business-investor-settles-libel-suit-against-business-week.html?scp=1&sq=Investor%20Settles%20Libel%20Suit%20Against%20Business%20Week&st=cse
| title = The Media Business; Investor Settles Libel Suit Against Business Week
| format = Newspaper article
| work = ]
| publisher =
| accessdate = November 11, 2009
}}
*{{cite web
| last = Weiss
| first = Gary
| date = April 1, 1996
| url = http://www.businessweek.com/1996/14/b34692.htm
| title = Fall of the Wizard
| format = Magazine article
| work = ]
| publisher =]
| accessdate = November 11, 2009
}}</ref>}}
(References)
{{reflist}}
After the merge discussion is completed, a "further details" template can be added with a link to either the lawsuit article or to ]. Actually, a link could be placed now since the the link would redirect if the merge takes place. ] (]) 01:26, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
:I understand you're enthusiastic about this, but devoting one-quarter of the "magazine" section to the Robertson lawsuit is pretty darn ludicrous. ] (]) 02:35, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
::are there other notable articles the subject has written? It would seem that one that involved an actually filed lawsuit (rather than the usual legal threats to the publisher who ignores them), would be a good candidate for inclusion. --] (]) 03:19, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
::I think that if we're going to increase the size of the "magazine" section quite this substantially to add controversial derogatory information, we're going to need a clear consensus and also agreement on what to add. The haste and enthusiasm here really troubles me. ] (]) 03:29, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
:::Adding three sentences to an article of this length on a topic that has already been established as notable enough to merit its own article does not violate undue. Do you have any problems with the content of the three sentences? ] (]) 04:10, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
::::The lawsuit article is being considered for merger to ], and there it belongs. In fact, the point of the merger would be to add what's important to Tiger Management, and this lawsuit is not important. Yes, three sentences omprising a paragraph, 25% of the "magazine career" section, that is correct. I see that you recognized this raised an undue weight issue during one of the several times you've raised this issue in the past. Since the final status of the lawsuit article itself is up in the air, this discussion is premature, as is the one in ], where I you want to add a ''longer'' paragraph to a ''shorter'' section. ] (]) 04:21, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
:::::I guess comparing three sentences to the rest of its ''section'' versus the article as a whole makes it appear like more of an undue issue, but I've never seen that done before until now. Anyway, the status of the ] article is under discussion, but not the ''notability of the topic''. Now, do you have any concerns about the wording of the three suggested sentences? If not, we'll leave this discussion open for other editor input over the next day or so. ] (]) 04:27, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
::::::That's correct, it is undue when compared to the remainder of the discussion of Weiss' Business Week career, and I assume that must have been the basis of your acknowledging there would be an undue issue a few years ago. It's superfluous to discuss the content of a paragraph that undermines the neutrality of an article, as well as premature. I think you may be misconstruing the merger discussion. What's being discussed there is precisely how to place what's important in the Tiger Management article. ] (]) 04:47, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
:::::::FWIW, I agree with Stetsonharry. This is way too much about an old case that chiefly just demonstrates the ease with which lawsuits are brought in the US. How about putting this material in the article on ] instead? --] (]) 15:37, 4 January 2010 (UTC)


:Stetson asked me pff-line to take a look at this. A cover story in business week about this particular person, especially when even an inconclusive lawsuit followed, would seem to be worth a paragraph. The proposed addition does not seem disproportionate. I don;t think it violates NPOV with respect to any side of the issue. I don't think it violates BLP with respect to any person involved: the reports on it are from unquestionably RSs.. FWIW, I neither know nor care about the merits of the case or the personalities involved. ''']''' (]) 23:43, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
:::Yes, exactly. There's a faction that is determined to keep changing the subject to "Bagley is Evil!" every time the subject of this article's bias comes up. That's beside the point. If Osama bin Laden were to announce that 2+2=4, would everybody have to suppress this fact so as to not give even the appearance of agreeing with an evildoer? ] (]) 18:38, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
::::I didn't see that your quoted remark was anywhere in the ] article. If you feel that that article is POV, then I suggest you work on it to try and make it less POV.--] (]) 18:43, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


::Then in that case there should be paragraphs on all of Weiss' cover stories in Business Week to put this one in proper perspective, which would make that a long section. Then I imagine one would want to add whatever covers he did for Portfolio. Right now there are only three mentioned and this Robertson one would be four. That is why it seems disproportionate at the current length of the article. --] (]) 00:04, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
::Guy, would you care to quote your sources for stating that "Bagley is a vicious hatemonger"? ;) Seriously, the language is so strong that even if I were inclined to believe you (if I even cared) I wouldn't. One of the key ideas behind Misplaced Pages was to present a neutral viewpoint, and yet you don't want "fair and balanced"? You don't even want to quote other reputable news sources (if not The Register, certainly the New York Times)? Joshdboz is right on all counts. I'm not sure I want to stop contributing, but this is certainly making me question Misplaced Pages.] (]) 18:45, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
Just adding a note to point out that another editor has mentioning the lawsuit in this article, but prefers that it simply be listed as a "See also" link. ] (]) 01:22, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
:That would be me. Just dropped by to say that if you can't reach consensus to include details about the case, it seems the best workaround would be to include it in the see also section. Then you don' have to worry about undue weight, while still linking to the article of which Gary is the main subject. I did this but Stetsonharry kindly reverted it. For what it's worth, it seems to make ''much'' more sense to include brief details of the case in ''this'' article, as opposed to Robertson's. This is further discussed ], btw.—]] 01:29, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


Focusing on a frivolous lawsuit dating 14 years back that was settled for NO MONEY would seem to violate wikipedia rules regarding libelous comments about living persons. Judging by the long, about-to-be-deleted wikipedia article on this suit, it seems Business Week merely acknowledged (obviously under pressure from billionaire Julian Robertson) that the article in question did not predict the future with precise accuracy. This kind of stuff belongs in a law journal article, not on wikipedia. I agree with Stetsonharry's reversion.] (]) 04:54, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
::: {{Support}} - Guy, Samiharris, Your views on this discussion seem biased. I dont care who Bagley is, but it is critical to ensure that this article maintains neutrality, and include criticisms as well. Please dont quote Bagley for the reply. ] (]) 18:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
:I disagree with copyedeye, the article on the suit was 'kept' at AFD, if we are going to pretend that we are developing an encyclopedia, we need to not keep notable events out of people's biographical articles. The wee bit of text presented above seems adaquate to me. not a huge piece and not a brush off of the subject. If Mr. Weiss also wrote other articles that might generate a wikipedia article (i.e., something ], we should look at how to include them. --] (]) 16:29, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
Both and have been blocked as ], a sockpuppeteer and bad faith editor who has been banned from Misplaced Pages. I'd say we have clear consensus here to add the material and I'm going to go ahead and do so. ] (]) 22:34, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
::Cla68: I'd request that you NOT do so until I can have a word with you privately, please. ] (]) 23:12, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
::Cla68, You've gotta be kidding me. The above discussion leads you to declare a "clear consensus"? What would look like ''dissensus'' to you ... bombs bursting in air? --] (]) 00:26, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
:::Nobody, except the newly-blocked user, has raised any concerns with including the case in the see also section. As I stated in my reasoning above, that seems the best workaround, as it avoids the ] issue that is still being worked out. Remembering when this issue was in the news, this article is incomplete without any mention of the case on the page.—]] 00:40, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
::::Christofurio: If we take away Mantanmoreland's cavalcade of socks, we are left with you on one side and everyone else on the other side of the discussion. That looks like consensus to me. Hope that helps. ++]: ]/] 02:59, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
:::::It's not clear to me that THF is on your "side," but it is clear he his not one of "Mantanmoreland's cavalcade of socks." I don't see any rush on the matter. Remember ]. ] '']'' 04:43, 6 January 2010 (UTC)


As a point of personal privilege, I want to state that I was blocked last night on the basis of the alleged "misuse of multiple accounts." Because I dislike making things personal, I won't name the editor who did the blocking. I will, though, give the exact number of accounts I have used throughout my entire (six-years-long) experience with wikipedia: one. It is clear that the block didn't stay, because here I am. I will not charge that anyone here would use a false block in order to silence dissent to bolster a claim of consensus, because I assume good faith. Let us not press against the limits of the plausibility of that assumption. --] (]) 15:36, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
::: And it makes no sense that Guy has removed portions with reference to NyTimes (see the last edits by Joshboz) with a vague reference to {{tl|WP:BLP}}. Guy seems to have got this thing completely wrong. Request some one (administrators) to unblock the article, and to revert last edits. This is really hurting credibility of wikipedia. 19:11, 7 December 2007 (UTC) ] (]) 19:11, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
<br>
::::*I listed such a request at WP:RFP. ] (]) 19:13, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
<br>
The "vague reference to BLP" alludes to the extensive and long ago resolved discussions that took place on these <i>identical issues</i> in October, drawing such heat and troublemaking that Jimbo intervened. Why? Because this article is under attack from the official spokesman of Overstock.com, who will stop at nothing in his vicious campaign of villification against the subject of this article and others. Guy is under no obligation to recite for you the long history of vandalism and stalking that has plagued this article for months. It is evident in the talk page history and the archives. --] (]) 19:30, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
Because I haven't heard any objection to including the case in the See Also section, I'm going to move forward with that soon, while discussion continues about a broader mention in the article. Thoughts welcome. @Christofurio: I would be steaming; way to keep a cool head.—]] 21:37, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
:Samiharris, I've gone through the archives, and the feeling I get it is your views on this, and to keep NYT artcle away from this article is biased. You are quoting Bagley, Overstock.com etc for keeping any criticism about Gary Weiss - which is counter productive. Valid criticism from reputed sources is not vilification, and if BLP of someone does not have an iota of criticism in the article, there is something seriously wrong in the article. Any sorry to say that, from the archives, you seem to be one of those who are responsible for not including any criticism in this article. (this is not a personal attack) ] (]) 02:55, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


:Well, we just had various IPs doing lots of stuff, they check out as very likely Mantanmoreland socks. Thanks, Christofurio for reverting them. However, I've restored the See Also that sparked so much contention, because consensus seems pretty clear for its inclusion. ++]: ]/] 03:27, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
:I completely understand where you're coming from Samiharris, and I'm sorry I wasn't aware of this issue a while ago, but the actions of one rogue editor in the past have absolutely ''nothing'' to do with the information that should or should not be included in this article today. And if someone adds information in a biased way, it should be amended (as I was attempting to do this morning). ] (]) 19:37, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


::Given the merger, "See also" to an article that isn't there anymore makes little sense. Sending someone from here to the article on "Tiger Management" is simply confusing. --] (]) 16:32, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
As a neutral observer, I will admit that it is disappointing to see the results of The Register's article here. I understand the need to be careful with biographies of living people, but I completely fail to see how this means there shouldn't be any mention of the issue at all. I find it very difficult to believe that this controversy can't be mentioned in a neutral manner. Regardless of what merit individual people may feel with it, it is noteworthy. You point out the number of people that have come to this article specifically because of The Register article. Correct. Now think about the number of people that will believe everything in that article because they see a pretty-much universally positive article about Gary Weiss without any option to make an edit. The refusal of a few people to make any edits to this article will undermine the credibility of Misplaced Pages a lot more than some brief mention of the controversy IMO. -] (]) 19:58, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
:The short answer is no, a tabloid website article regurgitating ancient smears is insufficient to override BLP. Since the BLP issues have been fully discussed in the past, you may want to review the archives.--] (]) 20:22, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


== Semi-protection ==
::I dunno. "The views of critics should be represented if they are relevant to the subject's notability..." seems to fit well here, but this isn't my point. I don't really care about Weiss or Bryne. However, it is worth examining how this standpoint is affecting Misplaced Pages's credibility. People read the article, come here, and see that they can't make edits. Then they also see that two people on opposite sides of debate have two very different pages, one being mostly positive, one offering a lot of negatives. If there can be negative comments on one page, by the same logic, they can apply to the other I would feel. Otherwise this just seems to breed controversy... -] (]) 22:12, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


The article is getting trolled by a slanderous IP. As such, I've semi-protected it for a couple of weeks - ] (]) 19:44, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
Fully agree, this is ridiculous. Having been a longtime user of Misplaced Pages, I did not think the Register article had any merit to it until I actually came here. Samiharris, Guy, you guys and the statements you've made here are quite frankly the best evidence supporting the truth of the Register article and Bagley'y position. ] (]) <small>—Preceding ] was added at 20:17, 7 December 2007 (UTC)</small><!--Template:Undated--> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


== Maintenance tags ==
: Hear, hear! -] (]) 20:59, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


I removed two maintenance tags from the article as neither has a current rationale here; past involvement of the subject on this article is likely irrelevant by now given the volume of edits by editors in good standing. I have also filed a checkuser request following the recent edit war between two anonymous users: ]
:: As much as the Register article posted on Slashdot (and the other one about Durova) do seem tabloid-like, it is kind of sad to see Misplaced Pages admins working so hard to prove the points in the articles in both cases. More to the point, why is everyone here so concerned about protecting this article against any criticism, which reads like it might be a bio-blurb from his own site? It can't just be because he's a living person. After all, look at ], another living person, whose article seems to be as much the product of smearing as any I've seen on the Misplaced Pages, far worse than the anti-Misplaced Pages tabloid reporting in the Register.
:: Looking over this talk page, I see a number of fairly reasonable points from concerned people, and User:Samiharris ineffectively deflecting it with claims that this has been "fully" (fully!? what the hell is that supposed to mean) discussed in the past. Even worse is User:JzG's suggestion that we shouldn't add NYT-sourced information to the article because it would be helping Bagley spread his meme. "The terrorists have already won. . ."
:: I second the notion that User:JzG should step aside from defending the block on this article and let an admin with a leveller head be the gatekeeper for it. ] (]) 21:48, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


==edits 23 January 2010 ==
:::Indeed. I'm extremely disturbed this entire episode, and I'll be doing some deeper digging when I get the chance. It's safe to say that given what I've seen so far, any admins involved in the past controversy should not be deciding whether it is a controversy or not. We need someone from outside the circle. ] (]) 21:51, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
On the 23 January an IP (who , and geolocates to New York, Elmhurst) made changes to the article, which, basically, have stayed in the article ever since. Firstly, s/he removed parts which were discussed above, and which I cannot see there were any consensus for removing. Secondly, s/he inserted a part which I consider some of the sillier puffery I have seen on wp: in a 5-page article by Roddy Boyd, Weiss is mentioned -'''once'''- and that just as one in a long list of who the article-writer thinks as "good guys".


Now, strangely, no-one has considered inserting this ref. into the other "good-guys" who have a wp-article, (], ], ], and ]) ..... doesn´t that make people think? Hmmmmm? Use your brains here, please. Seriously. Thank you, ] (]) 03:19, 8 April 2010 (UTC)
:::You seem to be missing the point. Gary Weiss is a noteable journalist who has AFAIK wroten a lot of articles on a lot of different subjects. None of these stand out as a core area of his. Therefore, excessive coverage of controversy regarding one area that Weiss is worked in violated UNDUE. Furthermore few if any reliable sources have covered the alleged controversy surrounding Weiss. On the other hand, Patrick Bryne is primarily noted for 2 things. 1 being the founder of overstock.com. 2 being a strong critic of naked short selling. Some of his comments in particular are somewhat bizarre. In any case, for a large variety of reasons, he has attracted a significant amount of controversy particularly surrounding his anti naked short selling campaign which is covered by reliable sources. Therefore, there is a big difference between these two people and in what we should cover in the articles surrounding them. But both of them are protected by BLP ] (]) 14:06, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


=="Let Go" From Forbes==
::::''"None of these stand out as a core area of his"'' -- Nil Einne, if you read the NYT piece as well as other comments from places like the WSJ, you will find that Weiss has indeed developed a reputation as a critic of Byrne, with the NYT saying that Weiss has "made a second career out of ridiculing Mr. Byrne on his blog." How can adding one sentence about this in this article be undue weight? ] (]) 14:19, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::Yes it is a "core area" - to Judd Bagley, which is why we are having this discussion. But it is not a core area in the context of the distinguished and long career which makes him notable in the first place. The oft-quoted hyperbole in the Times article has already been debated to death long before Bagley's latest propaganda lured you to the article, so please stop the constant rehash and repetition.--] (]) 14:31, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


Someone who has no wikipedia name keeps trying to insert the statement that Weiss was "let go" from Forbes. The phrase "let go" is usually employed when there is an employment relationship in the first place and it was severed at the employer's discretion. "Let go" is a vernacular synonym of "fired." Is there any evidence that this was the case here? If not, please stop inserting it. --] (]) 16:55, 12 May 2011 (UTC)
(removed personal attack. ] (]) 22:17, 7 December 2007 (UTC))
:Look at the . Weiss stopped writing abruptly in March 2008. Was it to spend more time with his family? ] (]) 04:13, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
::We don't surmise what happened to living people based on searches of magazine articles. Without a reliable source providing a reason for departure, even saying the column ran through Mar. 08 is chancy, but I don't see the harm since nearly three years have passed. ] (]) 04:30, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
:: was unsourced and not accurate. Please exercise greater care with biographies of living people, for the rules are stringent and extensive. Also I see that this article is under special Arbitration Committee sanctions, which are described in a noticed at the top. ] (]) 13:44, 13 May 2011 (UTC)


== Article or PR Piece? ==
* Just a note to all the concerned parties here, be sure to check the discussions contained in Archive 2 as they are relevant to this discussion. They were archived even though the much of the discussions at the time were ongoing. ] (]) 00:22, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


Many of the references in this article point to the subject's own self-written website . Reading it, I found that portions of this article are taken almost verbatim from that same site. That, plus evidence suggesting the subject himself originally wrote the article makes me think it deserves a comprehensive re-writing (or elimination?).] (]) 03:53, 17 May 2011 (UTC)
No real point to counting the angel's on the pin. The "fully discussed" comment was merely Sami's way of indicating that there is a lot of illuminating material in the archived file he specified, and that instead of having the same old same old roundabout again (and again) some editors might want to look at it. Which seems fair enough to yours truly. --] (]) 00:32, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


:No, the tone here is neutral and the personal website is used appropriately. You've just returned from a 72 hour block for BLP violations in this article, for adding negative unsourced information, and appear to have a personal animosity toward this subject suggestive of a ]. Please be aware of the "Article probation" section at the top of this page applies, as it concerns adherence to site policies and disclosure of "any circumstances (but not including personal identifying information) that constitute or may reasonably be perceived as constituting a conflict of interest with respect to that page." ] (]) 17:15, 17 May 2011 (UTC)
* Fair enough. I looked over the discussion on ]. I have to say, that discussion seems to have been archived a bit prematurely, but in any case it doesn't change my picture of the situation, except that I discovered that the attempt to include the NYT reference isn't new. With or without the material buried in the archive, the situation still doesn't seem like it would look good for anyone coming over from Slashdot and/or The Register. Even though I don't intend to invest any time in fixing it, I feel it's relevant to add my two cents as others have done here. ] (]) 01:01, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::Extra extra: I can't comment on the version of 17 May 2011, but the version I saw a half an hour ago was mostly a puff-piece sourced to the subject's own site and containing a huge number of "references" that led to the subject's articles. Note: I do not have a COI with the subject, unless he's the dude who did it with my girlfriend a decade or more ago. But that seems unlikely. ] (]) 23:19, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
:::A person who appears to have a very close relationship to the article's subject has been editing the article for some time now, employing numerous socks and, unfortunately, hasn't been completely honest in his approach to the article's content. ] (]) 00:32, 12 January 2012 (UTC)
::::So the story goes. I have no reason to doubt it, but I am not privy to the evidence. As far as I'm concerned, it's just another puff piece that we should keep our eyes on. It was protected in the past (2010) because of socking. If it happens again, and you happen to see it, feel free to drop me a line if RPP isn't quick enough. Thanks, ] (]) 01:20, 12 January 2012 (UTC)


== IP ednit/source suggestion ==
== Grammar and Edit Blocking ==
I reverted an edit by an IP because (1) link was broken and (2) it was added to 'External Links' (and really doesn't fit there). The addition appears to be this if anyone wants to use it as a source (I may get back to it at some point but just wanted to flag it as a possible source and explain revision). ] (]) 15:17, 23 August 2014 (UTC)
Interesting Story on Slashdot about this article...
: article is more interesting; it mentions Gary Weiss by name. Adding that. Cheers, ] (]) 18:45, 23 August 2014 (UTC)
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/12/07/1434221.shtml
::I removed the info because the external links section is not a place to include controversial information that per discussion above seems to have been deliberately left out of the Misplaced Pages article. If you think the information should be in the article, you should start a new discussion about that. ] (]) 22:28, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
] (]) 17:05, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


== Reversal of article copy edits from 3-26-2015 ==
Given that this article is being Slashdotted, the block on general editing is perhaps understandable. But poor grammar and punctuation are still unacceptable. As just the first example, commas and other punctuation marks go INSIDE quotation marks: ''Weiss wrote a cover story called "The Mob on Wall Street", published in December 1996).'' <small>—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 19:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:As I understand it, that's a strictly American convention. I've seen punctuation outside quotation marks elsewhere on WP. Frankly, I've always thought it made more sense; the article is not called The Mob on Wall Street-comma, it's called The Mob on Wall Street. The comma is part of the sentence structure, not the title. Now, I'm saying this having been away from WP long enough that I don't recall what the MoS has to say on the topic of international punctuation conventions. --] (]) 22:36, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
::See ]. ] (]) 22:42, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


{{U|MONGO}} has every copy edit I made to improve the quality of the article yesterday. Reason for Mongo's reversal was "Massive changes best to discuss on talkpage first".
==Criticism to be included==


I broke the work up in small steps and provided edit summaries for what are mostly minor edits of layout, language, incomplete refs, or removing duplications. These kinds of edits and placing tags to point out quality issues / spots for improvement do not require discussions in advance. --] (]) 20:30, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
Any other admins here - this is the portion of criticism that Guy has removed, siting BLP. Please include the same in the article. If there are valid reasons not to include this in the article (apart from Bagleyfobia), please site the same.
- ==Naked Short Selling Controversy==
- Weiss's comments on anti-naked-shorting activists have provoked some negative responses.<ref>"Wall Street, Don't Let Customers Read This Book": Susan Antilla, Bloomberg.com</ref> Weiss has been a sharp critic of ] CEO ] and his opposition to short selling, which led to the creation of a critical website of Weiss by Overstock.com's director for social media.<ref>Mitchell, Dan. "", ''The New York Times'', January 20, 2007. Retrieved December 7, 2007.</ref> Weiss has also been accused of making biased edites to the Misplaced Pages entries on Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, and himself, though he has denied ever doing so.<ref>Metz, Cade. "", ''The Register'', December 6, 2007. Retrieved December 7, 2007.</ref>


:Sure, I understand. Can we incorporate any of the following links...
] (]) 02:28, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:This has been rehashed to death. This article is a ]. It must be extremely well sourced for any derogatory statements. In addition, any item must not violate ]. For a journalist with a long career who has written numerous pieces in mainstream publications, and who has been involved in many notable investigations, including some relating to organized crime, there are numerous well sourced issues that could be written about in his biography. At any given stage, the items that do appear in the article must be the most relevant to his overall notability. As of now, the article is fairly short, which would require only the most notable items to appear. I would suggest that anyone interested in expanding this article read Mr. Weiss's numerous articles and learn about his investigations and other activities in his career, and then prioritize them by notability. When that's done, we can decide which ones merit inclusion and which ones do not. As of now, the Overstock episode appears to be insignificant compared to the many others that seem much more important, and include virtually no details. ] (]) 02:47, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


*
::I agree. is some more information to expand the article. Someone (ofcourse an admin - the article being protected) should expand the article, and maintain a neutral point of view, including his life history, achievements, and criticism. ] (]) 03:33, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
*


--] 22:24, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Well I can do that, technically speaking. But you would have to reach a clear consensus here, that does not violate ], ], etc. The source you provide seems OK, but I suspect there are numerous others. What you should do, if you really want to expand the article properly, is pick an item, say some investigation from his career, find the relevant sources, and propose a change to the article. The best would be to start from the most notable items. If you reach consensus here, I would be happy to vet the result against BLP and UNDUE, and if all seems OK, I can insert it into the article for you. ] (]) 03:59, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


::Ouch, that's no discussion of the reversal of my edits! First the in retrospect completely false "sure, I understand" - you understood nothing, given that you reverted again today. Then you dare to bait me with "Can we incorporate any of the following links". Thats no discussion of the reversal of my clean up edits. you were basically testing if you could intimidate me !
::With due respect, I'm aware of BLP practice on wikipedia. Unfortunately, most BLPs do not get this kind of scrutiny for UNDUE weight and POV pushing. Most biographies are not reverted prior to protection for it either. For example, current dispute on ] where verifiable claims are assumed to pass BLP whether they're undue weight or not. I agree with your interpretation, but not enough articles are given this treatment. ] '']'' 23:30, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::But let me start from the beginning: do you know how to ping? {{U|MONGO}} I ping you, you ping me, clear? I watch hundreds of pages and my watch list loads slowly. if you cant ping me that isnt my problem.
::Unless you revert your last edit, I will take this to another level. --] (]) 05:05, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
:::I'm not going to self revert. I watch thousands of pages. Threatening me with this "another level" childishness is not going to do anything but get you banned from this BLP article. Yes I know how to ping....no you do not own the page....this is a wiki so your edits can be removed or altered at anytime.--] 05:14, 29 March 2015 (UTC)


I see nothing controversial in the edits {{u|Wuerzele}} made to the page. {{u|MONGO}} please list your concerns with any of the edits you reversed with diff's to the edit and reasons why they were removed. Not just that the article is under probation. ] 12:43, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
::I understand the WEIGHT point, but he does seem to blog about it a lot. The ''New York Times'' described criticizing Overstock as his second career. ] '']'' 04:23, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:Not each edit he made but the bulk of them. I have the article watched so pings are not needed. The fact that the article is under probation is exactly why the editor making sweeping changes needs to discuss why the changes are needed not me who is keeping the status quo.--] 15:46, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
::Removing edits you have no issue with by a sweeping revert is not helpful, and I asked for specifics for the edits you have reverted, reasons why they were removed. Please provide them with diffs and the reason why they were removed. Simply sighting prohibition is not enough. Looking at the edits, and , also please mention the prohibitions that were violated by the edits with diffs proving they have been violated. ] 16:02, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Cease with your pedantic nonsense. The arricle had been stable for sometime and these changes happened with nary a mention of why they were needed. I'm going to go back through them and restore those that are beneficial and keep removed those that are not. It's better in a BLP to remove any unsubstantiated statement rather than slap cite needed tags up in a BLP.--] 16:43, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
::::It is not pedantic nonsense to ask you to give reasons, if you persist in not giving reasons, you are removing material for no reason, and that is a major problem. For a third time I ask for your reasons for removing the material. As for stability, the article remained the same for 6 months. Thats stable.] 17:10, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
:::::Yes...the article WAS stable for six months which is why I reverted him. I'm working on fixing things now so chill out. It's in progress.--] 17:23, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
::::::So let me get this strait, you reverted the edits, wont discuss why, but you are going to make sweeping edits, without discussion? ] 17:39, 29 March 2015 (UTC)


===Removal of sourced claim===
==Protection==
With this edit MONGO removed "news organizations in ] and ], and" from the article. The Connecticut part of the claim is unsourced. But the Washington part is sourced to the reference at the end of the sentence. ] 17:18, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Why was this article reverted and then protected? ] '']'' 04:08, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
The Connecticut claim can be refrenced to ] 17:49, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
:I didn't do it here, but as a rule in ] articles, admins may revert to a less controversial version (or even a stub) and protect it, if in their view there is excessive tendency to insert controversial items that violate BLP into the article. ] (]) 04:13, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::Ok, I suppose that's good. I tend to be a BLP hawk myself, and not enough pages get this kind of treatment. ] '']'' 04:29, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::] was protected for a long time because of BLP concerns. He was accused by Bill O'Reilly of backing the Media Matters liberal website. That was denied by Media Matters. That situation involved a public figure, and the BLP concerns were far less significant than here. Here you have petty personal attacks, a determined corporate smear campaign and an article in the press clearly designed to influence Misplaced Pages, and even linking to this article.--] (]) 12:35, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


== Article links for possible additions ==
==Neutrality==
While the admins are correct in making the decision to lock this article. The current state of the article is not neutral and there is definitely lots of questions about the neutrality of the article,as seen from the comments in these very pages.Therefore a neutrality tag at the very least could be added to the page readers can decide what to take which ever viewpoint they want to.Refusing to even make that change will completely validate the claims of the article in the register.While accepting the view that wikipedia is not democratic it should be at least neutral in its standpoint.The so called inner circle have a enormous responsibility for guarding the information contained in these portals i hope they won't fail in that task so dismally in this first test.There should be mechanisms to deal with controversies that question the very principles of wikipedia like this.More and more people consider wikipedia to be a responsible source of information,so in the future there will be incidences like this which put the entire administrative process in question.The current mechanisms have not dealt with this problem satisfactorily as i am sure all of you will agree.SO the question is whats been done to prevent or at least deal with such events in the future.Misplaced Pages need not be a democracy jimbo but it should not be a dictatorship all administrative processes must be transparent after all this is a social project.] (]) 06:36, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:If consensus can be reached on this talk page that the current article is not neutral, in theory such a template could be added, although a much better solution would be to fix the specific problem. So if you have a specific problem you can point to, that you think violates ], please present it so it can be addressed. To save you time, if it has to do with the Overstock issues, then you'd have to show how adding it would not violate ], per the above discussion. ] (]) 06:44, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:: I thought the point of adding an NPOV tag was that the "neutrality was disputed," (from the NPOV banner itself) not that everyone agrees that it is non-neutral, and it's quite clear in this case that the neutrality of the article is disputed. As for it being non-neutral, the article seems about as neutral as it would if he had written it as his resume. I love the use of the quote "Gary is among an elite group of journalists whose zest for investigative journalism has brought real change to the subjects he's covered." That pretty much covers the tone of the article. ] (]) 07:50, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


*
:: I support this. "author of two books that critically examine the ethics and morality of Wall Street." - Statements like this could be rephrased. As of now, {{tl|NPOV}} needs to be added till someone does further research and provides a neutral tone to the article. (or someone rephrases the current content to a neutral, encyclopedic tone). ] (]) 07:56, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


*
::Crum375 the overstock issue is also a part of the overall problem with the article.Overstock issue has gained lot of press attention in part of the controversy here and because of Gary Weiss' own views as expressed in his own blog ,Infact if you do spend the time to go through it u would find that a large amount of the bandwidth is used for this issue alone.A belief so central to him should have been mentioned in the article,which is sorely lacking.Infact ] is to be applied here as undue emphasis has been given to lesser known information.Also people who come to this article would expect to know about the current controversy involving him.] (]) 08:21, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


*
:::Virtually every article or policy on Misplaced Pages has some people disputing it. If we were to tag all of them, that would only disfigure the encyclopedia and add nothing useful. The way we operate is by consensus. If there is a consensus for change X, we put in change X, assuming it does not violate our policies. I would be happy, as I noted above, to insert any change in the article once such consensus is reached here. ] (]) 08:05, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


*
:::: That seems a bit messed up. I'm guessing such a consensus is impossible, since the article is being held hostage by someone that seems to prefer the content in the state it's in now, but perhaps I'm wrong on this point. Does anyone disagree that the article as it stands does not present a neutral point of view? ] (]) 08:24, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


*
::::That is exactly the point this article violates on of the core three principles of wikipedia -neutrality evidence for this has been submitted by me and others in this section.We are not proposing a change to the article to be executed we are asking for the article to be changed in such a way that it is in conformation with wikipedia standards and principle,until such changes are made after due consensus has been reached on them a {NPOV} banner be placed .We dont need consensus for that , just evidence -which is given- i will gladly consider any debate regarding the validity of the evidence.u tell me why this evidence is insufficient.] (]) 08:32, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
Add an NPOV tag until this issue is resolved?
* '''Support''' ] (]) 08:24, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
* '''Support''' ] (]) 08:38, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
* '''Support''' ] (]) 08:58, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
* '''Support''' ] (]) 10:51, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
* '''Strong support''', per my statement above. ] (]) 16:57, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


*
* No, I won't be adding an NPOV tag. We already know that Bagley uses disinformation and harassment against anyone who does not uncritically support his company, we can scarcely say that a failure to repeat that harassment here is a failure of neutrality. I see that a couple of you are newish, and the others do nto do much on biographies. Please read up on ] (which has changed quite considerably in the last year) and ]. We do not include poorly sourced material in biographies, and polemical sources are not reliable. The Cade piece is clearly polemical, Bagley is as polemical as you can possibly get, and the material is stated in terms that are functionally indistinguishable from an outright attack. So, unless we can find better sources and better wording, we shrug it off as "vituperative piece by vituperative person" and ignore it. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 11:19, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


--] 21:23, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
* Guy / JzG - No one is asking you to add NPOV tag. You've shown complete bias of views in zealously trying to remove any criticism from this article. I would prefer you not using your administrative rights in this article - you are not maintaining a cool head in this. Some of you have been quite Bagley fobic, which has resulted in even valid criticism getting omitted from this article. <b>If you notice, the text you removed from article just before protecting it was the text from NyTimes article (not from Cade - register), with valid references. It's not right to quote Cade piece after such an action</b>. I request some other admin look into this, and take into views expressed in this talk page. To my credentials - , with 6000+ edits and more than 1 year of wikipedia experience. ] (]) 11:58, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


: I think you need to answer the questions in the previous section, or self revert your removal before moving on to any other edits. ] 02:36, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
Totally agree. It's clear that the admins protecting this page are not taking their responsibilities seriously. This needs to be looked at by admins not so personally involved in this (I assume there is such involvement because there's no other possible explanation for what I'm seeing here).] (]) 18:02, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::I see...so the other editor can make major changes without discussion first but I have to discuss any I make. Anyway, hence the reason I posted these links here first... if we are going to make changes they won't be done unilaterally, they will be done together. Nice try to bully but it will not work on me.--] 14:40, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Wrong, Per ] you reverted, but you have refused any discussion. I am about to head over to AN/I because of ownership ] issues because you revert, refuse to discuss, then inserting edits without discussion and refusal to discuss the reasons for the revert. Then without finishing the issue you want to add more, by just revealing sources without specific edits. ] 22:46, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
::::You go right ahead. I brought links here before adding them ''for discussio''. I readded much of what the other editor had altered as I said I would. Stop being ridiculous. I parked these sources here as there may or may not support current or new changes....''which YOU refuse to discuss.'' What's wrong with these links? Least I posted item here before adding them! They show mostly more recent writing contributions that this article lacks.--] 02:43, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
:Those links and the two above could be useful. We'll have to be careful not to synthesize anything controversial, but they can be used to support other sources and as external links. ] <sup>]</sup> 10:36, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
::I would like to update the existing links by making sure they are formatted correctly and to eliminate bare url links if there are no objections...I'll wait a few days before doing so to allow others time to chime in.--] 14:09, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
:::Albino and Wuerzele, see ] if you want to learn why this article has such close supervision. ] (]) 03:06, 14 September 2015 (UTC)


== Arbitration Motion ==
Guy the fact that that new members are requesting the tag has nothing whatsoever to do with whether a tag should be added or not.Just because i don't edit articles in wikipedia doesn't mean i am a newbie here,buts thats beside the point.I have read the BLP quite throughly nowhere does say that a neutrality tag should not be used.Any point any of us raise u just say bagely is making propaganda,why don't u get it into your head that bagely has nothing to do whatsoever with this section.THIS Article is violating the fundamental principles of wikipedia- thats our contention and have submitted or evidence supporting the stand.IF you are rejecting the claim and the evidence then kindly explain it in proper ,valid, just terms just don't say the same stuff about what Bagely is doing.Please stop this mindless babble repeating the same drivel.it makes u look dumber than you are .] (]) 12:33, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
The Arbitration Committee are proposing to remove sanctions related to this topic area which appear to be no longer required. Details of the proposal are at ] where your comments are invited. For the Arbitration Committee, ] <sup style="font-family:Times New Roman;">] ]</sup> 21:05, 23 September 2015 (UTC)


== Wired Article ==
(Removing comment per http://en.wikipedia.org/Wp:blp#Remove_unsourced_or_poorly_sourced_contentious_material, which specifically applies to talk page comments)
I've been asked to bring up the need to add reference to a Wired Magazine article here. I don't know what the conventions are. Can I get some guidance, or an opposing opinion to respond to? <!-- Template:Unsigned IP --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 01:56, 13 November 2016 (UTC)</small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:That piece is an opinion piece. It's speculative and draws conclusions not based in reality. See our policy on ]...one opinion piece making unsubstantiated claims is not nearly adequate. Besides, when an IP shows up to add derogatory info to a BLP that's an immediate red flag.--] 16:10, 13 November 2016 (UTC)
:: 'draws conclusions not based in reality'? Misplaced Pages doesn't do that - its called original research. Misplaced Pages quotes & references ] as frustrating as that often is for topics ignored by mainstream media or academia, or those deluged by them. ] will always overide but unless there is clearly lawsuit material (noting that threatening lawsuits is grounds for blocks & bans) then the Wired article, presented in context, is a reasonable addition. ] (]) 18:02, 13 November 2016 (UTC)
::: Edited to add (from the ArbCom summary ) =
''<blockquote> Any current or future editor who, after this decision is announced, makes substantial edits to naked short selling, Overstock.com, Patrick M. Byrne, Gary Weiss, or closely related pages or discussions on any page is directed:


(A) To edit on these from only a single user account, which shall be the user's sole or main account;
(B) To edit only through a conventional ISP and not through any form of proxy configuration;
(C) To edit in accordance with all Misplaced Pages policies and to refrain from any form of advocacy concerning any external controversy, dispute, allegation, or proceeding; and
(D) To disclose on the relevant talk pages any circumstances (but not including personal identifying information) that constitute or may reasonably be perceived as constituting a conflict of interest with respect to that page.


A note concerning these restrictions shall be placed on the talkpage of each of the affected articles. In case of any doubt concerning application or interpretation of these restrictions, the Arbitration Committee may be consulted for guidance.
:The point is whether or not Bagley or Weiss is evil or good. The point is to maintain neutrality. For me - it looks like any criticism to Weiss is getting branded as Pro-Bagley or Amateur. Trying to make an angel out of Weiss is as bad as trying to smear Weiss. ] (]) 12:14, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


Any uninvolved administrator may impose a reasonable restriction (e.g., a revert or civility limitation) or page-ban against any editor who, after receiving a warning containing a link to this decision, edits naked short selling, Overstock.com, Patrick M. Byrne, Gary Weiss, or any related page or discussion in a disruptive or uncivil fashion, who edits them in contravention of site policies and guidelines, or who attempts to reintroduce subtle or overt partisan advocacy regarding any external dispute concerning these subjects into Misplaced Pages.</blockquote>''
::This entire discussion is not just absurd, but it is ugly, with some editors repeating the smears in antisocialmedia. This is a BLP and that is just not acceptable. I agree that it is time for an administrator, Jzg or someone else, to intervene, but for the purpose of putting an end to what is becoming a really disturbing discussion. Enough is enough. This is a BLP, certain strict rules apply particularly for nonpublic figures, and those rules are being enforced. Yes, the article for this person and many other minor nonpublic figures often reads like promotional literature, because most people who qualify for Misplaced Pages have accomplished good work. Weiss, for example, has engaged in much very fine investigative reporting and was in fact commended by the FBI.
Continuation, including now lapsed warnings, here https://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Mantanmoreland Please add to anything relevant I've missed.
] (]) 18:24, 13 November 2016 (UTC)


MONGO: I have two questions. First, did the things the Wired claims happened actually happen? If so, then I don't know why it being an opinion piece (which does not appear to be the case) should matter.
::One of the many things that made the Register article absurd was that it drew an analogy between Weiss' bio and ]'s. Patrick Byrne is a controversial figure and is notable for precisely that reason. All the reliable sourcing on that person reflects his controversies and penchant for saying things that land him into trouble. Just recently became embroiled in publicity over his backing of school vouchers in Utah, and received still more negative press. He got into a spat with the NAACP by saying high school dropouts should be "burned." That is his reliably sourced coverage and that is why his bio reads differently than Weiss and other people not so controversial. Another difference is that he is the head of a public company, and is a public figure while Weiss is not, and is subject to still additional BLP protections.


Second, is Misplaced Pages itself considered an accurate source? If so, it seems like there should be a record on here of whatever led to Gary Weiss's discovery and ejection from the site. Can that be referenced? Was that an official action? <!-- Template:Unsigned IP --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 21:56, 13 November 2016 (UTC)</small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
::In reply to one editor, if he is not aware of the history of this tawdry mess, the onus is upon him to do so. The archive pages and earlier page history speak for themselves, as does the ] article itself in its section entitled "Antisocialmedia.net," which contains the reliable sourcing on this smear campaign. Elsewhere in that article you can find details on Overstock's history of campaigning against critics.--] (]) 12:30, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::Its a no and a no. The article doesn't accurately reflect what transpired.--] 00:18, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
::: Are you trying to say that Gary isn't controversial ?? the article in its current state mentions the negative criticisms he is getting for his views.So that claim dosen't hold water either.He to is controversial for your info not on just this issue but others as well his comments on Wal-Mart coming to India drew lot of flak in India which you are probably not aware of.He is controversial in more than one issue please do your research before making such statements. I don't want to get down into mudslinging but the attitude of the some of the admins on the entire issue is disgusting and tarnishing the image of the entire portal ] (]) 12:41, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::Weiss has upset the naked shorting crowd, and that is reflected in the article and given the sentence that it deserves. If you can cite some controversy in India that is reported in reliable sources, by all means provide cites here and we can see if it belongs in the article. All I see now are the same repetitive arguments that have been made many times in the past, only with more people making them because of a Bagley-planted article. --] (]) 12:54, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::Seems to me that you wouldnt let any negative statement to come in this article. Looks like a holy cow :-) Since when did NyTimes became a non-reliable source? GuY is yet to explain why he deleted that portion. ] (]) 12:57, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::Unfortunately for the Judd Bagley campaign to insert negative material in this article, BLP requires that it be reliably sourced and that it relate directly to the notability of a nonpublic person. Yes, that is going to definitely put obstacles in the path of smear campaigns, as well it should. It is designed specifically for that purpose.--] (]) 13:01, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::Thank God then! Judd Bagley is not here and the statement "Weiss has become a sharp critic of CEO Patrick Byrne and his campaign against naked short selling, which led to one of Byrne's employee's to create a critical site on Weiss himself" can be sourced to NYT and WSJ among others. And what's more, this isnt' even really negative against Weiss, just explaining where he has focused ''his criticism'' on in a very public manner. BLP does not prevent the adding of verifiable and relevant information that is important to a person's notability (both NYT and WSJ describe Weiss specifically as a known critic). ] (]) 13:04, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::: How much do you know about Bagley? His first reaction to anything short of uncritical adoration is to start attacking people; this is relevant to Bagley but not to the people he attacks. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 13:19, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::Bagles is only relevant in the creation of a critical website which directly concerns the subject of this article and which was in part a reaction to the criticisms Weiss was making. I would appreciate if you helped find a compromise solution instead of making irrelevant comments on Bagley's character. ] (]) 13:23, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::: We don't "compromise" between ] and perpetuating a harassment meme. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 13:29, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::: You're sure doing a lot to perpetuate the meme that any criticism of how we are handling this article is part of a "harassment meme". ] (]) 14:42, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::: You're sure doing a lot to give the impression that you prefer your friend Mr. Bagley to my friend Mr. Wales. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 17:02, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::: Those sorts of personal remarks don't contribute productively to this discussion and are highly un-called-for. ] (]) 20:12, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


Mongo, I'm confused. Sincerely. Please help me by answering these questions with some detail and not using all these acronyms that non wiki people don't understand.
::::::The only evidence i can give is circumstancial.that is from reliable sources.All I can give u on that controversy is his own comments in the forbes article already linked here.And the details of Wal-mart deal in India reported in many reputed news organizations,although since you don't consider NYtimes reputable I somehow doubt that.The factual inaccuracies of his comments are numerous .Wal-mart is only providing back-end support to Bharti which is going to control and own the major part of the business his comments that Indians are going to go out of jobs and starve isn't appreciated here in india.Since he is after all a minor celebrity the print media doesn't mention all this ,and any online news site i link to u ( and i can provide numerous )you would not consider reliable as it is regional and you havn't even heard of it before.MY expert opinion, as a citizen of India, and because of my following of the entire Wal-Mart deal quite throughly means nothing to you.I perfectly understand that none of this is insert able in the article i merely pointed it out as supporting evidence for the fact that he is a controversial figure for more than one reason.] (]) 13:27, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::Unfortunately, unless and until some reliable source possibles a specific criticism of Weiss's article, we can't mention it as a controversy. Indian news sources will be fine if they are reliable sources. Online only sources may be fine provided they have good editorial direction, fact checking and are sufficient noteable. (A good hint will be if there is an article about them on wikipedia). We can't add criticism just because you feel something is controversy, not even if you have pointed out flaws in his article (that's OR) we need a source that actually criticises Weiss's article ] (]) 14:26, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::I admit that i can't quote any news article actually mentioning gary's comments as controversial,there are more popular people who have made newsworthy controversial comments on the subject No news organization will choose to report about his comments given their alternatives .However i can show u many comments to that article which has been sourced on the regional websites which proves atleast i m not the only person objecting to his views on the matter. I repeat I m not requesting this issue to be posted as a part of the article.


1) You're saying there is no official record of Gary Weiss being associated with some pseudonym here?
I mentioned the entire story for two reasons ONE as a "investigative person" Gary's credibility is in question as much of his comments on this particular subject are false and made in ignorance of the actual facts for which i can give reliable evidence.TWO gary weiss is controversial person in more than issue this claim is to clear the false preconception that only the overstock issue is the reason for his controversial image.] (]) 14:59, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


2) What did the Wired article get wrong? <!-- Template:Unsigned IP --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 02:37, 15 November 2016 (UTC)</small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:::Having admins step in to shut down all further discussion will really do a lot to quash the pernicious meme that Misplaced Pages is censored in this area, won't it? ] (]) 14:44, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


== External links modified ==
::::Yes, if one is daft or naive enough to swallow the propaganda of Judd Bagley. BLPs are frozen every day, and ] was quite recently for a long time on a far less troublesome BLP issue, involving RS statements against this major public figure by another major public figure (Bill O'Reilly). Misplaced Pages is under no obligation to cater to the whims of its critics, particularly the paid corporate shills.--] (]) 15:16, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::You and your friends playing the "Bagley card" all the time got old a long time ago. It is a logical fallacy to claim that Bagley's bad actions, or who he is paid by, or what campaigns he's engaging in, prove in any way that the substance of criticisms of Weiss are false. Reportedly, ] was an obnoxious cuss, and was engaged in a smear campaign against the ]; nevertheless, he was right that the Earth went around the Sun instead of the other way around. ] (]) 15:25, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::: Another spectacularly bad analogy, Dan. we have hundreds of years of historical context and a whole world of physics to rely on there, whereas what we have to rely on for Bagley's assertions are: Bagley, Bagley, and some people who believed Bagley. I do not think it does your credibility much good to come here, as a well-known Misplaced Pages Review member, supporting Bagley, another Misplaced Pages Review member. What Bagley says about anybody is relevant to Bagley but not provably relevant to the targets of his harassment. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 15:33, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::: That is pretty bad ''ad hominem'' move there, JzG. Care to take it back? ] (]) 19:42, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::Dan, it is not our place to "prove Bagley true or false." It is our place to prevent Misplaced Pages from being a forum for his smears. The fact that he is engaged in a smear campaign against critics of Misplaced Pages is a matter of public record and is dutifully recorded in the Overstock.com article. As Misplaced Pages editors, we have an obligation to follow BLP strictly, and to exercise vigilance against introduction of negative and controversial material from dubious sources, i.e. Bagley. We also have an obligation to view with particular concern negative material pushed in BLPs by editors with an axe to grind or agenda. In this article both kinds of trouble have been in abundance. Most recently we have a spate of new editors pushing the Bagley agenda, whipped into a frenzy by a sensational article inspired by Bagley.--] (]) 15:40, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::It would do you and this discussion good, I would think, if you'd try to refrain from ''ad hominem'' smears while denouncing "smear campaigns". ] (]) 15:42, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::It's impossible to talk about Judd Bagley in this context without describing his smear campaign. If you can figure out a more polite way of referring to his smear campaign while still being accurate, please let me know. This particular article is, after all, the No. 1 target of his smear campaign. What euphemism would you suggest that I use?--] (]) 15:45, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::I was actually responding to JzG, who never seems to miss a chance to point out my affiliation with a site he dislikes, which is not only a violation of ] (where it says not to use people's associations, mainstream or extreme, to discredit their views), but is completely irrelevant to the truth or falsity of what I say. ] (]) 15:51, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::: Dan, you are living in a glass house, put the stones down. Weiss has been the subject of a vicious campaign of harassment by Judd Bagley, who makes a habit of viciously attacking his opponents, and Bagley has finally managed to find, in The Register, a place that will promote the meme for him. That makes this article a hotspot right now. What it needs most is probably not people who, rightly or wrongly, are perceived as associates of Bagley through shared participation in a site that Bagley uses to promote his agenda and his harassment meme. You ocould make yourself lok good here by walking away. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 17:07, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::::I will gladly walk away from any involvement in this article (which I don't believe I've ever actually edited) if you do too. It would benefit greatly from the recusal of all people with too heavy a personal or emotional involvement on one side or the other of it. ] (]) 17:09, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::::: There's a small flaw in your reasoning there: I've been active and monitoring here since September 18, and am a long-term ] patroller and ] volunteer. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 18:34, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


Hello fellow Wikipedians,
(restoring indent)Bagley has targeted Misplaced Pages for harassment, and he snd his chums at Misplaced Pages Review attack a number of editors quite viciously. What you're suggesting would give Bagley the power to force recusal of whomever he chooses to attack. That would increase his already substantial effort to manipulate Misplaced Pages on behalf of his employer. --] (]) 17:21, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


I have just modified one external link on ]. Please take a moment to review . If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit ] for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100714135520/http://www.businessweek.com:80/1996/14/b34691.htm to http://www.businessweek.com/1996/14/b34691.htm


When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
If anyone can show me how to make this article "more" neutral without violating BLP, then I will support adding the "neutrality contested" tag. I am willing to be open-minded about this and see if anyone can provide a concrete suggestion that won't violate BLP. I am sure we all agree that we have to comply with BLP. Surely, no one would be so disingenuous as to use NPOV to make a back-door attack against BLP? In any event such discussion would belong on the BLP talk page. For this page: what edits are proposed that do not violate BLP? ] | ] 18:06, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


{{sourcecheck|checked=false|needhelp=}}
==Proposed addition to Recent Career section (please edit)==
:"Weiss has become a sharp critic on his blog of ] CEO ] and his opposition to short selling; subsequently an anonymous and critical website of Weiss and other opponents was created, later found to be authored by Overstock.com's director for social media."
] (]) 13:14, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


Cheers.—] <span style="color:green;font-family:Rockwell">(])</span> 09:18, 8 January 2017 (UTC)
* Reject. The blog does not support the text as stated, and the NYT piece is more about overstock than Bagley (also it contains some errors, indicating less than careful fact-checking). <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 13:21, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:Guy could you please provide with the evidence that the new york times article is factually inaccurate ? your grounds for rejecting the request yet again as has no basis.Please give evidence if you are claiming that a reputed newspaper is making factual inaccurate statements] (]) 13:32, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:: I said it includes factual inaccuracy - check, for example, the link to Misplaced Pages. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 15:30, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

His blog is not notable, and cannot be referenced except as a source for himself. The suggested addition is not accurate, because the website attacks critics of Weiss and not just him and lastly it is still falls afoul of BLP and, in particular, UNDUE. Again, this identical aspect has been discussed before, and disposed of for that reason. Please go back to the archives and stop raising issues that have been previously discussed and disposed of.--] (]) 13:26, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:Good, if Weiss's blog can only be sourced for himself perhaps we should include the comments: "More on the continuing adventures of Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, whose paranoid fantasies and lengthy, self-incriminating message board rants are a fascinating spectacle. His increasingly surreal statements brought back fond memories of Baghdad Bob, the famously delusional Iraqi information minister." Thank you for your correction to the nature of Bagley's site, I have adjusted the proposed addition. ] (]) 13:30, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::On the contrary, blog comments on third parties cannot be used. You really need to read the relevant policies. --] (]) 13:33, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:You misunderstood me. I am not ''actually'' suggesting these comments be added to describe Byrne, but this is evidence of ''Weiss's'' reputation as a critic. Also I was trying to deal with your concerns about undue weight by trimming this down an placing it in the career section. ] (]) 13:36, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::Actually, Samiharris is right, the blog shouldn't be used as a reference. But, JzG is wrong, the NYTimes article can be used as a source. Do you think that that NYTimes reporter would be interested in knowing that a Misplaced Pages admin called him a liar and/or incompetent? ] (]) 13:41, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::The New York Times article can and is used as a source where it belongs, . As you know, its usage in this article was twice (or is it three times?) raised by you in the past and each time was shot down, the last time with your being blocked as an exclamation point.--] (]) 14:36, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::That does not mean that the discussion is to be halted indefinitely. I must admit I have never seen an editor so tenaciously fight the addition of verifiable information from a reputable news source, whether now or in the archives. ] (]) 14:43, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::No, but repetitive discussion of identical, multiply resolved points wastes the time of all concerned and is disruptive. The New York Times article has been discussed over and over and over again. Twice its introduction was pushed by a now-banned sock-meatpuppet of Bagley. This concerted attempt to manipulate Misplaced Pages is indeed wearisome, is indeed something that needs to be tenaciously fought, and continuing this struggle on this identical point is in my view not constructive.--] (]) 15:11, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::: I think we can all agree that these concerted attempts to manipulate Misplaced Pages are indeed wearisome. The disagreement is entirely to do with ''who'' is manipulating Misplaced Pages.
:::::: I am now quite disturbed by the fact that we are apparently so concerned about Gary Weiss' reputation on this talk page that censoring comments (via BLP) is considered the appropriate behavior, whereas near-identical allegations about Bagley are added by the same parties and left alone (do you have reliable sources for Bagley's sock-puppeting and attempts to "manipulate" the Misplaced Pages?). It's not that I have any concern about Bagley or feel that the remarks should be removed (even if I am getting tired of how often they are brought up, regardless of their relevance to the matter), it's just that it's hard to understand the double-standard. ] (]) 19:39, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:Just for the recond, I never intended to use his blog as a reference, I was merely responding to Guy's comments that "the blog does not support the text as stated" and was trying to be clever after Samiharris said that it could be used "as a source for himself." ] (]) 13:53, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::In that case I'd suggest, in as friendly a way possible, that you not "try to be clever." It's just a tad disruptive, as it has me and others responding to a point that you intended to be sarcastic or in jest.--] (]) 15:27, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::Isn't the blog only being proposed as a reference for the fact that Weiss is engaging in such criticism, not for the specific criticisms themselves, anyway? ] (]) 14:39, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:Yes, but at this point it wouldn't be necessary getting into that debate since the NYT describes what he is doing on his blog. ] (]) 14:43, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:: There's no independent source for the significance of this, the only sources are in respect of overstock, not Weiss. ] applies, attempts by Bagley to persuade people otherwise notwithstanding. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 15:27, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:::] says that if "criticism represents the views of a tiny minority, it has no place in the article." Bagley is a tiny minority of the universe, last I checked.--] (]) 16:37, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

I removed a comment from earlier today that repeated some material in antisocialmedia.net. BLP specifically states that "Editors should remove any contentious material about living persons that is unsourced, relies upon sources that do not meet standards specified in Misplaced Pages:Verifiability, or is a conjectural interpretation of a source (see Misplaced Pages:No original research)" and goes on to state in italics for emphasis: <i>"These principles apply to biographical material about living persons found anywhere in Misplaced Pages, including user and talk pages."</I> Editors, particularly those lured to this talk page from the Register piece, are urged to familiarize themselves with ], which is enforced strictly.--] (]) 16:16, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:This is correct. I want to remind editors here that by asking them to suggest changes to the article on the talk page, this does not mean that anything at all can be written here. Even on talk pages, or anywhere on Misplaced Pages, the same strict BLP sourcing rules apply. If you have a fact about a living person you want to introduce and/or discuss, it must be well sourced. ] (]) 17:30, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

That Weiss' defenders feel a need to censor any mention of those issues only adds to the suspicion that they can't actually refute Bagley's allegations. My question for a specific link to such refutation has only been met by vague referral to the archives, where I can't find any such thing. All I see is baseless talk of a "smear campaign" and claims that the accusations have been "disposed of before." According to the same BLP rules you invoke, calling Bagley's allegations a "smear campaign" is itself an unsourced negative claim about a living person that should be removed. ] (]) 17:44, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:I don't know how many times I need to repeat myself Samiharris, but this has '''nothing''' to do with Bagley. The statement that Weiss is a critic of Byrne is ''verified'' by the NYT and WSJ, and evidenced (if you would like to look) by Weiss's blog. That has '''nothing''' to do with Bagley. Can you at least grasp that? Please answer this question.

:Now, if we add the statment that an attack site was set up, in part to attack Weiss, then that concerns Bagley in the ''third person'', no one is suggesting posting his attacks as if they were established facts. However, it is verifiable that this occurred, and was ''notable'' enough to garner coverage (highlighting Weiss) in NYT and The Register. ] (]) 18:45, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

::The references to "WSJ" are mystifying, as I know of nothing in that newspaper on this. I'm not sure exactly which comment of mine you are referring to, but I am getting tired of the repetitive effort to re-insert material that is identical to that which was attempted and rejected a month and a half ago. The material that you wish to add, and I am saying this now for about the fifth time in this go-round, is unacceptable under WP:UNDUE and WP:BLP. It remains so no matter how many times you propose, and continually re-proposing and sticking lipstick on th e pig does not make it any less violative of policy.--] (]) 18:54, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:The reference to WSJ is an which wrote "Gary Weiss, a persistent critic of Overstock and its CEO Patrick Byrne, writes..." The reason I keep going over this is that the only response I get is a violation of BLP, and throwing up a policy is not an argument unless explained. Please answer this question:
:1. The statement that Weiss is a critic of Byrne is ''verified'' by the NYT and WSJ, and evidenced (if you would like to look) by Weiss's blog. Is that not '''NPOV''' (coming from NYT and Weiss himself), '''Verifiable''' (I and others have showrn the sources), '''Not-OR''' (I am not simply making this up)? Neither is this contentious material, because it literally comes from Weiss's mouth. Neither Undue weight because both the NYT and the blog at WSJ described Weiss as a critic as if it is well known (ex: a second job). Please describe why this statement is unacceptable in this article with an actual argument, not simply referring to "BPL" or "Bagley". ] (]) 19:14, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

::Whether the thought "Weiss is an Overstock critic" is properly sourced is of no consequence. We don't have to go through your proposed change word for word. The change in its entirety is at issue. To repeat for now the sixth time, the proposed change that you are making (the one at the top of this section) was discussed two or three times before and rejected because of BLP and UNDUE. No, I am not going to repeat the arguments made last month and a few months before that and a few months before that. This is has long since become tiresome, and my assumption of good faith is being tested here.--] (]) 19:27, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Sami here. I think you need to distinguish basic BLP sourcing issues from UNDUE. If you have NYT saying Weiss is a critic of X, then you can mention that, with a link to the source, on the talk page. But to include it in the article, you'd have to show it doesn't violate UNDUE. It is possible that Weiss criticized in his career some major mob figures, or Wall Street personalities, in a much more notable way. To get into his article, any item has to be shown to be significant to his overall notability, over his entire career. I don't see this prioritized notability analysis here, and until then, less is better, as is always true in BLP. ] (]) 19:28, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:The problem is that we have editors here who are fixated on one very tiny, very petty, very narrow issue that is the agenda of Judd Bagley. They don't give two bits about improving this article. They just want to make it more negative. That is becoming increasingly clear. I am sorry, but that is my opinion based upon the relentless campaign in this talk page, not just today but in the past as well. --] (]) 19:34, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:: For me, the real problem has not so much to do with the issue at hand, but the appearance of a fairly clear case of censorship, and that's certainly a very key issue on the Misplaced Pages. I suspect that more than a couple of people adding their two cents here don't really care about Gary Weiss, Bagley, or Naked Short Selling. This is entirely to do with the principles of the Misplaced Pages and its governance. Now, in the spirit of good faith, which has been in extremely short supply on both sides here, I'm going to guess that Sami/JzG don't particularly care about Gary Weiss or Naked Short Selling either, but simply see themselves as staunch defenders of biography subjects and having come out of a battle with Bagley are now in siege-mode protecting the article from these newcomers from a violation of what they see as a clear interpretation of BLP, and that this is the reason for implementing what I see as censorship and what you see as the mandate of WP:BLP and WP:UNDUE. I don't mean to put words into your mouth, but I do want to see if I understand your position correctly. How far from the mark am I?
:: If I'm right about the motivations on both sides, that would explain why, despite all effort going into the arguing, the article in question is such poor quality. One thing that is absolutely clear here, is that there are a lot of axes to grind on both sides, and Talk:Gary Weiss is the grindstone. This is why both sides are arguing so vehemently about a point that, in the scheme of the Misplaced Pages, is a pretty insignificant detail considering the quality and content of all the other BLPs out there. It's because for both sides, this is about the principle of the matter, not the detail itself. One side has what I see as pretty good but not slam-dunk case for putting in the content, and the other side has a view of BLPs and their need to be clean that sets their threshold for citeability and UNDUE higher than most. That explains why this detail is pretty much the perfect battleground for an argument about the principles of protecting BLPs versus the principles of censorship and whitewashing. If the NYT had written a feature article about the matter, for example, you would I assume back down. Similarly, if the NYT blog entry didn't exist and were not so clear about the matter, the other side would probably back down, since at that point the censorship would seem much more reasonable. ] (]) 20:22, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::Thank you for that, Jun-Dai. I think you summed this up perfectly, and is why I would be very happy to work out a compromise on this issue. That is why I have tried to break down the statements to be added, and am suggesting merely a 1-2 sentence addition within a pre-existing section. I would love it if Samiharris or Guy would like to take part in working this out. ] (]) 20:44, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:Sami, many here have opinions about the agendas of other editors, including yours, but it's best to keep a lid on these opinions per ] and ]. Crum, notability is established by the New York Times, not simply because they published an article on the issue but because they stated explicitly that Weiss had made a "second career" out of his obsession with Overstock and Patrick Byrne.--] (]) 19:44, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

::Samiharris, I have edited Misplaced Pages for over 2 years, have 4000+ edits, started over a hundred articles including one FA and numerous DYK and GA, and I only even heard of this issue (and everyone involved) yesterday. How can you possibly go back and say that I and others here are following "the agenda of Judd Bagley." I saw a controversial issue and decided to ''be bold'' and try to improve the situation.
::Now Crum, I agree that the undue is a point that should be debated. Now what is the evidence. The New York Times said that Weiss has made a second career out of criticizing Bynre. That carries some weight, especially if we're only talking about adding 1 sentence, pehaps even 1 phrase to this article, not a whole paragraph. I agree that what was on the page yesterday and what I was trying to improve may have been too much for this small article. But that doesn't mean that the information isn't signficant enough to get at least one small mention. If the criteria for every statement was that it had to cover the subjects whole career, then only the lead in this article could remain. There needs to be detail. ] (]) 19:46, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:::Again, and G-Dett as a participant in October's discussion can attest to this, the '''precise''' issue of the Times article and its "second career" hyperbole was discussed to death in October and a few months before that and a few months before that. What I find disturbing, G-Dett, and the reason my assumption of good faith is being tested here, is that the same issue is raised, always in reaction to a Judd Bagley hate campaign, again and again and again and again. How long is this going to go on? It is incredibly frustrating for the same UNDUE and BLP-violating content to be trotted out over and over and over again, sometimes by the same people, always trying to make the article more negative in very specific ways, never trying to improve the article but to damage Weiss' reputation.--] (]) 19:50, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::The question of whether the New York Times is a reliable source for this article was not "discussed to death" in October, but rather abruptly archived while underway, amid an atmosphere of extraordinary tension and mistrust and very little substantive discussion. I understand your frustration, but you need to assume good faith and realize that many editors have no wish to damage Weiss's reputation in any way, aren't interested in or sympathetic to Bagley's agenda, but are genuinely concerned about serious NPOV issues that have arisen as a result of Misplaced Pages's handling of the Weiss–Byrne&Bagley wars.--] (]) 20:08, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::It was discussed at length prior to being archived. It was archived because the discussion had become a center of BLP violations and trolling - very much the same kind of thing we have seen over the past two day. This identical issue, the Times article, had been discussed at even greater length prior to that, on at least one or two other occasions. This talk page is not a forum for unburdening yours or any person's concerns with how "wars" are being "handled." This is a forum '''solely''' for improvement of the Weiss article and I see precious little interest in that, only in making the article more negative by adding references to petty personal attacks by Judd Bagley.--] (]) 20:15, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::You've misunderstood me, and on the basis of your misunderstanding have adopted an inappropriately condescending tone. Bringing this article and related articles in line with core policy (]) would obviously constitute an improvement of content, not some sort of "unburdening" emotional catharsis; and talk pages are the right place to discuss how to bring content in line with policy.--] (]) 20:29, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::If I see a serious effort here to go through Weiss's entire career, identify the most notable issues, and prioritize them, then I would agree to add more information, based on that priority, into the article. As of now, all I see are many editors trying to get one single bit of information, with its priority relative to other notable aspects of Weiss's career unknown. Unless we get that prioritized list, and agree to it with a consensus on the talk page, nothing new of significance will get into the article, per BLP and UNDUE. ] (]) 20:00, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

::I agree Crum, that would be ideal. But I have neither the time nor the interest in spending innumerable hours combing through this man's life. But an imperfect article does not mean in any way that suitable information, even if of less a priority, cannot be added. ] (]) 20:04, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:::Our rule of thumb at Misplaced Pages re BLP articles is simple: do no harm. If we are not sure whether a piece of data, that may be controversial, meets the UNDUE requirements, it stays out by default. Same goes for any source that is of uncertain reliability. If need be, we stub a BLP article. But we certainly don't add something controversial because some editors think it's 'good enough'. ] (]) 20:39, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

::Yes, and I would argue that
::1. This is not controversial, for Weiss himself would describe himself as a Byrne critic
::2. It meets Undue requirements per the NYT article, WSJ blog, and the plethora of examples on Mr. Weiss's own site
::3. None of these sources are of uncertain reliability. ] (]) 20:48, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:::I have not myself studied Weiss's career, so I can't go into details, but it seems to me that a NYT article focusing on one topic in Weiss's career cannot do our UNDUE work for us. The only reasonable outside reference for UNDUE would be a serious and objective article or book describing Weiss's overall career in detail, which could do some of the grunt work for us. If an item appears prominently there, alongside his entire career's work, then yes, that would help establish the UNDUE requirement for that item. But a blog, or a news article focused on an issue, not his career, would naturally tend to emphasize their specific subject matter, hence would not be useful for UNDUE purposes. Again, the issue is not the reliability of "Weiss was critical of X", but where does it stand in relation to his entire career. ] (]) 21:04, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::I doubt a scholarly book "describing Weiss's overall career in detail" is in the offing. We're not talking about James Joyce here. We're not even talking about, say, Stanley Fish. We're talking about Gary Weiss, a journalist and blogger who, according to the New York Times, has made a "second career" out his feud with Byrne and Overstock.--] (]) 21:20, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::You may well be right, although we don't need a book &mdash; a neutral biographical article (not focused on any single issue) would suffice, and I have seen one posted above. In any case, such sources would only serve as input; we still need to establish the relative notabilities ourselves as editors and reach a talk page consensus. ] (]) 21:31, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::You may well be right too, Crum, but the "neutral biographical article" you've linked to is a promo blurb from Weiss's publishing company. The fact that it resembles the Misplaced Pages entry is a symptom of the larger NPOV problem at work here.--] (]) 21:46, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::I agree with you that this particular bio sounds like a promo, and even if we had a book biography it could still be POV. That's why I said we should only use such sources as input. We still need to make the final decisions as to relative notability and inclusion criteria ourselves as editors, via talk page consensus. ] (]) 21:53, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::The fact that the blurb resembles the Misplaced Pages entry does not represent a "larger NPOV problem." It represents the fact that Weiss, like most non-notable people who are in this encyclopedia, are here because of their accomplishments. The difference, and the reason we are having this conversation, is that very few of them have Bagleys stalking them and planting personal attacks and smears on anonymous websites and in tabloids. The "larger NPOV problem" is the concerted, repetitive attack on this article by editors swarming in from external websites, hot to trot to push the Bagley agenda, to the point of misrepresenting what is stated in sources and ignoring policy entirely.--] (]) 02:25, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::No, the NPOV problem is that Weiss's Misplaced Pages article reads like a promo blurb, in part because of your efforts.--] (]) 07:43, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::That is an odd statement indeed, considering that I have never added any content to this article as best I recall, but have been solely been preventing Bagley-inspired personal attacks and smears from being added, in large measure pushed in this article by a user who was banned as a Bagley sock/meatpuppet. Evidently you believe that Bagley is the cure for the imaginary "POV issue" in this article.--] (]) 16:50, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::As Mr. Weiss is a successful journalist, of course his article looks good. He's notable for more than bitter scaremongering about nonexistent conspiracies, and it shows. ] (]) 09:49, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::The issue we're discussing here, John Nevard, is not whether the article "looks good," which is a subjective matter and in this instance an irrelevant one. What we're discussing is how much weight to give to a New York Times article, on the one hand, versus a promotional blurb by Weiss's publishing company, on the other, as sources for the nature of Weiss's notability. Crum argues that we should give far greater weight to the promotional blurb, which she describes as a "neutral biographical article." I don't understand her description of a promo blurb in these terms, and disagree with her argument about the weight we should give it.--] (]) 15:42, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::::Yes, that is correct. We are discussing for the umpteenth time including a reference to a Times article that has been discussed and disposed of many times previously, including the discussion in October in which you participated. However, it is not correct that anyone is suggesting giving weight to a promotional blurb, but merely using it as a guide in judging the UNDUE issues that keep on being repetitively brought up and rejected.--] (]) 16:50, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::::So we should use a promo blurb "as a guide" but without "giving weight" to it; that is, we are to be guided by the weightless presence of the subject's promotional blurb in determining what is notable about him? I disagree.--] (]) 17:21, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
← Neutrality is not the average between Weiss's view of himself and Bagley's view of him. Bagley's attacks on people are pretty base; we should rely in every case on how reliable secondary sources describe Weiss and the dispute. This is complicated by the fact that The Register recently reprinted Bagley's view of the Misplaced Pages dispute as if it were true, which it is not. The reason Bagley was banned was because of his attempts to blackmail an administrator into allowing him to bias content to suit his agenda - the ban was and remains to my knowledge completely uncontroversial. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 10:25, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

==Minor change request==

WAS:

editor in chief

NOW:

editor-in-chief

] (]) 16:15, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
: {{done}}

==Apply POV tag to this article or fix the following==

The statement "Weiss's comments on anti-naked-shorting activists has provoked some negative responses, including threats." is not justifiable by the link provided. There is no documentation of any threats against him, unless you can produce an evidence of it, please remove this statement.

The details about Gary Weiss's degrees come from his own web page - not an independent and verifiable source. So, these details must be removed or the section needs to be marked POV.

Links 16 and 18 of the article are op-ed pieces. Per Misplaced Pages standards, op-ed pieces are not reliable sources. We should remove the op-ed pieces. The intent of Misplaced Pages is not to serve as a mouth organ of Gary Weiss.

Finally, I have a request to make to Misplaced Pages admins, can we restrict the current admins Guy and others who are waging a Jihad against OverStock and give control to other admins with a neutral point of view?. ] (]) 22:48, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

] (]) 22:48, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:'''Seconded'''. Having read through this, and related, talk pages the likelihood of this article ever attaining true NPOV status while the current overseeing admins continue their immature crusade is marginal, at best.] (]) 23:59, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

:: Xcv..., I really don't think that kind of language is going to help advance the issue in any way. There's plenty that could be called immature in terms of the behavior on all sides of the issue. ] (]) 01:13, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::: So, you're saying that any admin who expresses the view that ] trumps attempts by Bagley to spread his meme should be banned from this talk page on the assumption that it indicates bias against overstock? It's a completely absurd suggestion. We absolutely must not succumb to the paranoid fantasies of banned abusers of the project. I have no agenda whatsoever in respect of overstock, as a company it holds little interest for me. What is not acceptable is for people who have been banned from Misplaced Pages due to abuse and harassment, to be allowed to dictate who may and may not engage in respect of content. It looks to me very much as if the measure of NPOV being applied above is that the article will be NPOV when it reflects Bagley's POV. Sorry, no. His cynical manipulation of The Register (with which, admittedly, they seemed to co-operate gleefully) does not change the facts: Bagley's allegations against Weiss have no substance any more than his Holy Jihad against naked short selling is an excuse for the poor performance of overstock's stock - that was, as has been pointed out by many impartial observers, easily explained by reference to their consistent failure to show a profit. No retail company gets good stock performance by turning in loss after loss, it's not necessary to invent bizarre conspiracy theories to explain it. In the matter of naked shorting, I think that this is one of the many dubious practices which should be stopped, I also think derivatives and many of the other more overt gambling practices of the markets are abusive and should end, but that has no relevance here. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 11:13, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:::: Is it possible for you to discuss this page without bringing up totally unrelated points about other people? Every suggestion about this page has met with your screeching about how the page can't be changed "because Bagley!!!!!!". A little maturity is needed, especially from those who clearly have vested interests in this whole debacle, no? ] (]) 16:09, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::I have to agree. Guy, I tried to discuss this issue with you immediately after you locked the page and in this now very long talk page. Your continued references to Bagley and Bagley's point of view are both highly irrelevant and counterproductive to what we are trying to accomplish here. Please refrain from continuing this behavior. ] (]) 16:30, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::::: Perhaps Xcvzxcvzxcvxcvzxcv could clarify what vested interest I'm supposed to have in this article. I can excuse a certain unfamiliarity with Misplaced Pages from an editor who has fewer than two dozen edits. Joshdboz, the timing of this dispute says it all. The article has been in pretty much its present state for a while, then Bagley gets The Register to reprint his side of the story as if it's fact and suddenly we are inundated with complaints of bias from well-meaning people who apparently don't realise that what Bagley says has to be taken with three truckloads of industrial grade salt. The applicable policies here are ], ], ] and ]. There are several people who are quite prepared to support changes to the article ''if'' they can be satisfied that the changes meet these policies. Thus far, I'm not satisfied, and the others don't seem to be either. One thing we do know is that the edits which were reverted, including a citation to a copyright-violating PDF of the antisocialmedia attack on Weiss, were not acceptable. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 16:47, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::: So in response to my concern about why every criticism of this article is met with an invocation from you of "Bagley is evil!", you decide to go off on one about Bagley. I think that says it all about what "vested interests" you might have. Good observation about the number of edits I've made though. ] (]) 17:51, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Per above discussion, every article on WP has some editors who may dispute at least parts of it. If we were to add dispute templates to all of them, all we'd have is a mess. If anyone here feels that something needs correction per NPOV, please provide the proper sources, show relevance per UNDUE, and reach talk page consensus. Any admin will be happy to make that change at that point. If such consensus is not reached, it indicates the article is OK as it stands, like all others. ] (]) 00:09, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:'''Seconded'''. Crum, from the above discussions, and NPOV vote, it should be obvious that there is a dispute (which is not like other bio articles). NPOV need not have proper sources, removal of NPOV tag needs proper sources. Once you reach consensus that the article is fair and balanced, you can remove the NPOV tag. ] (]) 00:12, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:: The fundamental problem here is that the "dispute" results from The Register reprinting as fact Bagley's own assertions, which have been reviewed and put in proper context long since. We do not need to go round the same loop every time he dupes some new person into believing his story. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 11:18, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

After an external publication writes about a specific WP page, it is not unusual to get traffic on that page. That a number of people then decide the article is improper, does not make it so, nor does it indicate a dispute in the broader sense of the WP community. What is needed is for everyone to understand the ] and ] rules, and then produce the right kind of prioritized sources to allow the article to include the appropriate information at any point. This has not been done here so far, therefore there is really no information to vote on. ] (]) 00:19, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::Crum, here is the problem with your argument. If someone makes a statement 'Xyz farts too much' in the article without providing a source, per your argument, unless some one proves that Xyz does not fart too much, that statement will have to stay. ] (]) 00:21, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:If you see the edit history of this article, you can see that Guy / JsZ has been religiously removing any criticism to Gary Weiss, citing Bagely. This is a case of someone trying to tarnish the article, and overzealous admins getting overly biased the other way, resulting in the article being lopsided. 00:25, 9 December 2007 (UTC)


And, the claim that Gary Weiss is threatened is not supported by the indicated source. I am saying that this statement can not be justified with the current source. So, this statement should be removed till a proper source is found. ] (]) 00:27, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:Crum, I appreciate your efforts to resolve this, but I do find your argument somewhat lacking. Your first statement is certainly true, new editors coming to an article does not suddenly make it improper; however, that assumes that the article was "proper" beforehand, which is in dispute. Secondly, references to WP:UNDUE are important, and they will certainly be taken into account; however, the sources that have been produced, notably the NYT, demonstrate that the fact that Weiss is a critic of Byrne ''is'' worthy of at least some mention in this article. Thirdly, references to WP:BPL are of course vital, but as I have already argued, the statements proposed for addition do not conflict with this policy. Finally, I '''Support''' the addition of an NPOV tag. ] (]) 00:31, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Again, you seem to be missing the elephant in the room. The issue is not whether source X is reliable or not, but given a fairly short bio article for someone who's spent a lifetime in the public eye with numerous articles and investigations in major publications, what items should be included.
To do it properly per UNDUE, his entire career has to be laid out, and the various items prioritized by their relative notability. To just pick one item because it happens to be the news du jour, and some blog or even the NYT mentioned it, does not meet UNDUE. So if you are really concerned about doing a good job here, start with that bio link above, find others if you can, and get working on this not to try to prove a point, but to get this article into the best possible state. ] (]) 00:38, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::Crum, I am saying link 1 does not support the point being made - can't you just see it? ] (]) 00:42, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:::Sorry, I meant link 11. "Antilla, Susan (2006). Wall Street, Don't Let Customers Read This Book: Susan Antilla. Bloomberg.com. " does not support the statement that Gary Weiss was threatened. ] (]) 00:50, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:Very true, but being the news du jour does not negate it is a verifiable and notable piece of information worthy of mention. You seem to be saying that weight should be judged on a relative basis, and that is fine, but this article, whatever its caliber, is of suitable length to absorb an additional sentence. And at least for me, this ''is'' about proving a point, because I have never in two years of editing witnessed an admin simply lock down an article (without substantial explanation) because another editor was trying to add verified, notable, and worthy information in a good faith manner in line with Wiki-policies. ] (]) 00:49, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

You are still missing the point, sorry. Imagine there are 100 notable items in his career, and they are sorted from 1 to 100. Imagine the current article has 15 items in it, assume properly sorted for now. Now imagine someone finds item 97, and wants to insert it. Clearly the issue is not whether 97 is properly sourced, but where it belongs in the notability sequence. So what you need to do is lay out the items, compare their notabilities, and then add them into the article in the correct sequence, most to least notable. Not all articles are done that way, just like not all meet other rules, but that's no reason not to do it correctly here. And note that I am not saying that this item is in fact #97, for all I know it could be decided by consensus it's #1 &mdash; but that comparison process has to be carried out properly before acting. ] (]) 00:58, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

: Crum, you've just made a very good illustration about how the article could be made more NPOV (and those steps clearly haven't been taken on the existing material), and TwakTwik drew out a number of points illustrating that the article is currently quite biased and you don't have to agree with ''all'' of them to agree that the article is biased. Two of your three criteria have been met (1. a way to make the article NPOV, 2. specific points that make it POV). What's more, there is pretty much consensus that the article is POV except: you, who have avoided putting forth an opinion one way or the other; Sami, who also has not voiced an opinion; and JzG, who has voiced an opinion, but not to state that the article is NPOV, only to state that he/she won't put the POV tag on the article for unrelated reasons. That's as close to a consensus as seems possible under the circumstances. What more does it take to get the tag on there? ] (]) 01:23, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:Crum, where to layout the items and compare notabilities? in this talk page? Typically this happens in the article itself, and the information goes in has certain randomness till we have enough information for a filtering / cleanup. Anyway, your efforts in resolving this with a cool head is well appreciated. ] (]) 01:28, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Jun-Dai, consensus also requires quorum. But as I noted elsewhere, every single article on WP is POV, and every single one has someone disagreeing with something. The way to deal with problems is to fix them, not to hang signs, because otherwise all articles would have disputed templates.

Simynazareth, you can collect items and lay them out right here in a new section in this talk page, if you wish. For example, list the most notable events in his career, and use that bio link as a starting point. For each item, supply at least one good ref. Then, once the items are there, people can review them and sort by notability. Others may add items to the list. As bottom line, there has to be consensus on the list itself, the sources, and the relative notability of the items. ] (]) 01:45, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

: Okay, but (1) solutions for fixing (or at least improving) have been laid out already at the top of this section and (2) how many more do we need before we have quorum? ] (]) 02:02, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::As I noted above, it seems the main issue here is UNDUE. In this case, UNDUE would be part of BLP, and as such, you cannot decide by local talk page consensus to override it (nor any other policy). I suggested above how to go about addressing the UNDUE issue. As far as quorum, if it becomes an issue, once could file an article RfC, but I don't think we are quite there yet. First we need to address the UNDUE issue, which requires a prioritized list of Weiss's notable life and/or career highlights, and that requires work, not consensus or votes. ] (]) 02:12, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::: It sounds an awful lot like you are basically arguing that the POV tag should not exist, as the requirements are essentially that we persuade the opposing editors that they are wrong, in which case the POV tag is not necessary. Incidentally, I can't think of an instance of the POV tag that meets the requirements you've set forth. ] (]) 02:39, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

The comment at the top of the section is not true. The Antilla article most definitely '''does''' substantiate the "threats" assertion. A copy can be found on Weiss's website , as the external link doesn't seem to work. Weiss's blog also expounds on the threats he has received, and his blog is a perfectly acceptable source for information on Weiss himself, e.g., the threats he received. So that can be added as a corroborating source under BLP.

The Antilla claim and the remainder of the "NPOV tag" arguments are just a lot of utter nonsense and unwarranted. Op-ed pieces are perfectly acceptable as RS sources under policy., I really wish editors would do some due diligence and read policy before making unsupported claims and wasting everybody's time. --] (]) 02:14, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::This is rather silly Samiharris. You are allowing Gary Weiss to write his own article, by producing his blog as the independent source. He is not exactly known to speak the truth. He makes money by generating controversy, and you want to accept his blog as an independent source? Produce a NPOV source or remove the threats statement. ] (]) 02:37, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::: On second thoughts, I am ok with keeping the reference to the threats he received, but change the statement to say 'Gary has claimed that he has received threats for his work' - just don't become a replica of Gary's blog. ] (]) 02:39, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::::The Antilla article is an RS source and there is no need for the POV phrasing you suggest. Stop wasting people's time with frivolous suggestions, factual misstatements and misrepresentations of policy.--] (]) 02:41, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::I agree with Samiharris on this. Also, we've made the proper distinction between a primary and secondary source here as well, per ]. ] (]) 02:46, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::: I respectfully disagree and have provided my arguments on why this article if POV. In any case, I seem to have hit the Great Wall of Misplaced Pages, so giving up. ] (]) 02:57, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::There is no Misplaced Pages Wall unless you mean our dictum, "Verifiability not truth." Misplaced Pages articles never provide the truth. They only and always provide different views. All claims in any article are someone's view. Citations tell us whose view. It is unnecessary to wrote that "Source x claims y" when we provide the source along with the claim - what do you think a citation is? It is telling us who makes the claim! ] | ] 12:29, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::And you've failed to gain consensus so it's time for you to drop this and move along. If you're really interested in contributing productively to Misplaced Pages there are 2,120,455 other aticles not related to the Bagley affair that need editing. Demonstrate that you're not here exclusively to promote a particular POV on the Overstock affair by focusing on some of them for awhile. ] (]) 17:54, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::: Huh?. I don't need to demonstrate anything to you or anyone else. If you guys assume you own Misplaced Pages, you are totally wrong. Now, regarding consensus, what I raised has gained more support than all the support you guys could gain by using your secret mailing list. Regarding OverStock, I am no way related to them. I wanted to see if indeed a secret society of admins exists on Misplaced Pages and yes, you guys just proved it. Good luck hiding it. ] (]) 20:32, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::: Yes, the onus is on the editor seeking to include content to achieve consensus for its inclusion. That's evidently not the case here, and given the by Bagley we're going to need some pretty solid sources before we even think about letting his POV creep in here. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 20:58, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::: Guy, let me point out that I am not seeking to include new content. I disputed the citing Gary Weiss's blog as NPOV source - This has nothing to do with Bagley. This is about making this article NPOV, not about including new content. Are we so afraid of Bagley that every comment on Misplaced Pages starts to look like its from Bagley?. ] (]) 23:09, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::He's the bogeyman, the monster under your bed that you worried about as a kid. Everything that's wrong with Misplaced Pages is his fault. ] (]) 23:33, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

== Recent career ==
Weiss is a founding member of ], a global media alliance investigating the July 2004 murder of ], ] of the Russian edition of '']'' magazine, and other subjects. Project Klebnikov was organized by investigative journalist ], and among others includes journalists ] and Scott Armstrong.<ref>Stern & Co., Project Klebnikov</ref>

In November 2006, Weiss was named "]" columnist for Forbes.com. In announcing inauguration of the column, Forbes.com editor Paul Maidment said, “Gary is among an elite group of journalists whose zest for investigative journalism has brought real change to the subjects he's covered.”<ref> press release, Forbes, Inc., Nov. 2, 2006</ref>

Weiss has also been a contributor to '']'' op-ed page and to ], writing on such topics as executive pay and public ownership of newspapers.<ref> Gary Weiss Salon.com</ref><ref> Gary Weiss Salon.com</ref> He also has been critical of the treatment of World Bank president ],<ref> Gary Weiss Forbes Inc. May 3, 2007</ref> opposed ],<ref> Gary Weiss Forbes Inc. February 13, 2007 </ref> argued against Wal-Mart's new venture in India,<ref> Gary Weiss Forbes Inc. March 26, 2007</ref> and criticized Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne and his campaign against naked short selling.<ref>Gaffen, David. , The Wall Street Journal Online, February 14, 2007.</ref><ref>Mitchell, Dan. "", ''The New York Times'', January 20, 2007.</ref>

:I have taken the current recent career section, edited slightly for NPOV, and added the Byrne information. I hope, Crum, you can see that this information is certainly not being given undue weight when listed among Weiss's other recent positions. ] (]) 16:15, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::This is duplicative of what it says in the previous section about naked shorting (relating to the threats that he received from naked shorting activists). So we have an UNDUE issue again. Also you can cite articles he has written re astroturfing, Wolfowitz and such, but all we have on Byrne are blog items, which can't be cited, and articles that reference Bagley's smears. No, we are not going to link to Bagley's smears in any way, shape or form. ] expressly forbids citation of such claims, so no, they cannot be linked as a backdoor way of introducing Bagley into this article.--] (]) 16:38, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::Sami, is your position that any source – the ], for example, or ] – that references Bagley's claims (or claims Bagley has made) cannot be used for this article, regardless of its status as a reliable source?--] (]) 16:46, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::: I don't know about the NYT piece, but The Register is absolutely inappropriate. It is not even tabloid journalism, it's not journalism at all, just polemic, strongly inspired by Bagley's manipulation. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 16:54, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::G-Dett, my "position" is that the issue (the NY Times article) has been raised more than enough, and is dead and is decomposing. Let it go. You and others raising the identical issue repetitively does not give it any more merit, and is disruptive. Please stop.--] (]) 16:57, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::Please engage directly and candidly, Sami – again, is your position that any source – the ], for example, or ] – that references Bagley's claims (or claims Bagley has made) cannot be used for this article, regardless of its status as a reliable source?--] (]) 17:23, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::I've already "engaged directly and candidly" on the Times "What's Online" article, Register article, etc. more than I could have possibly dreamed. If you have any <i>new</i> Times or other articles or sources to discuss, please do so, but if you keep on bringing this same subject up over and over again, in a persistent and harassing manner as you are beginning to do, I am going to be forced to conclude that you are acting in bad faith and are being deliberately disruptive.--] (]) 17:35, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::Sami, you wrote: "all we have on Byrne are blog items, which can't be cited, and '''articles that reference Bagley's smears. No, we are not going to link to Bagley's smears in any way, shape or form.'''" I know you don't want the NYT article included – you've said so many times. But I'm not asking about that; I'm asking, is your argument for exclusion as general and categorical as you've framed it here? Does it apply, for example, to any possible ''future'' article that either (a) cites Bagley, or (b) favorably presents views known to be held by Bagley? Let's say a piece is published in the ''New Yorker'' tomorrow, and the Bagley/Byrne–Weiss dispute is referenced. Would your position be that it can't be cited, because "we are not going to link to Bagley's smears in any way, shape or form"? That is a self-evidently relevant and good-faith question. I'd still like an answer to it, and in the meantime I don't appreciate your hyperventilations about bad faith and harassment and deliberate disruption.--] (]) 17:53, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::As I said previously, the purpose of this talk page is to discuss improving the article, not to satisfy your curiosity about my or other editors' future position or how I feel about sourcing issues. The only articles of any relevancy to this talk page are the ones that have actually appeared, not the ones that may appear in the future. If you are curious about my position on sourcing issues, your curiosity is going to go unsated. That is a terrible thing I know, but one that you are going to have to live with.--] (]) 18:11, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::Well, no. You stated explicitly and categorically that ''any'' source touching on the Bagley-Weiss dispute would be unacceptable for this article. That struck me as an extraordinary position for you to take, in that it quite clearly flies in the face of core policy, so I invited you to clarify and/or refine it, which you declined to do, thereby fully sating my curiosity; thanks.--] (]) 18:22, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::No, I didn't say that, and take no "position," "extraordinary" or otherwise, about articles that may or may not appear in the future. You are welcome to distort my position as much as you wish. However, here, in a the talk page of an article, it is disruptive. But you knew that, of course.--] (]) 18:33, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::::::::Sami, what you wrote was this: "No, we are not going to link to Bagley's smears in any way, shape or form." Any reasonable literate person could understand that to be a categorical and normative statement, including but not limited to the Register and New York Times articles. All you needed to say was something like, ''G-Dett, I was referring only to the Register and NYT pieces. Any future articles touching on the Bagley-Weiss dispute in reliable sources will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. With so many variables in play, we shouldn't categorically rule things out, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise.'' Instead, you've wasted my time with ill-advised condescension, semantic games, and gratuitous insults. Please see the relevant behavioral guidelines, and avoid this in future.--] (]) 18:52, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::::I said several times that I was referring to past and not hypothetical articles, so no further "clarification" was necessary. Your intent was clearly to hound and harass. You've been trying to stir up trouble and play "gotcha" on this page, and I've told you to stop several times. This has gone on long enough.--] (]) 19:27, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::::Did you honestly expect anything that wasn't absolutely positive to ever be allowed on this page? I think the reasons are perfectly clear to any and all who view these pages. ] (]) 18:26, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::There may be other references that are better, but "What's Online" reference from the NYT has the tone of a gossip column, and seems like a blog, or a blog report. I would want to have a better reference for controversial BLP issues, per ], which states, in part:{{quotation|Any such potentially damaging information about a private person, if corroborated by multiple, highly reliable sources, may be cited if ...}}
:::::This is above and beyond UNDUE requirements that must also be met. AFAICT, the sources I have seen so far do not meet the requirement of "multiple, highly reliable sources," which to me would be serious mainstream articles outside of the blogosphere, gossip, or gossip-like columns. ] (]) 17:11, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:We're on the same page Samiharris in that Weiss's opposition is written about twice in, but the first is mentioned within the context of a book he wrote. Now, we have a second instance in which reliable third parties highlight Weiss's specific and prolific opposition to a certain member of that anti-short selling campaign. Two different instances, the second important enough to garner media attention (NYT, WSJ blog, etc), I think that speaks to significance enough to be worthy of mention, better yet if we can combine the two in the same paragraph. I think we can agree on that. Let's forget about Bagley completely. Crum, this is ''not'' a controverisal BLP issue because it is not "damaging" Weiss in any way, shape, or form. This is reporting a position ''he'' has taken. ] (]) 17:14, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::Yes you've made essentially this same argument concerning these identical sources before, and it was made before you arrived on the scene and before I arrived on the scene, at least twice. Do you have any new sourcing to bring to the discussion? If not, I would ask that you stop repetitively raising issues that have been discussed previously and have been rejected with increasing vehemence and exasperation each time. Now, on the other hand, if by "forget Bagley completely" you are saying that you simply want to link to the WSJ blog item, which makes no reference to Bagley, then that is indeed a new suggestion and one that can be considered as not a rehash of the past. ----] (]) 17:45, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

::The tone of the NYT "What's Online" piece is clearly derogatory. BLP articles can only include such material if it is published by multiple reliable sources. A blog or blog report does not constitute a "highly reliable source." Such sources would be serious articles in mainstream publications, outside of the gossip columns or blogosphere. ] (]) 17:35, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::Crum is right. ] (]) 17:55, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::: Yes. I re-read the supposed sources; they are bloggish, ephemeral and not analytical. If we can find a decently analytical piece that covers it that will be fine, I think. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 18:15, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
----
<references />

==More digging==

: : Business Week filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that New York's one-year statute of limitations for libel claims had run out when a noted stock picker, Julian H. Robertson Jr., brought a case against the magazine regarding a 1996 cover story about him entitled, ''The Fall of the Wizard of Wall Street.''

Mr. Robertson, chairman and chief executive of the Tiger Management Corporation hedge fund, began his legal action on Monday, March 24, 1997, naming as defendants the McGraw-Hill Companies, which publishes Business Week; Gary Weiss, the author of the article, and Stephen B. Shepard, Business Week's editor in chief.

Not sure if this fits into notability :-) ] (]) 18:17, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:Now we are back in the Golden Age of POV Pushing in this article, long before I arrived on the scene, when Cla68 was seeking to add a section on this long-dismissed, ancient lawsuit to the article. Again, same drill: POV push, no consensus (or in this case, agreement by all that UNDUE applied), material removed, rehashed a year later. Will this ever end, I wonder?--] (]) 18:21, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:: Not until overstock goes bust or Bagley leaves Misplaced Pages Review, is my guess. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 20:02, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

:::I think Guy said it best: "What is not acceptable is for people who have been banned from Misplaced Pages due to abuse and harassment, to be allowed to dictate who may and may not engage in" ] (]) 22:05, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::::Unfortunately, it's your and Guy's camp that's letting the banned person dictate the terms of debate here, by repeatedly playing the "guilt by association" card to quash any points of view that in any way resemble his, as if it's the subject matter that's banned, not the person. ] (]) 23:28, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::Do you really think this sort of comment is helpful? Please stick to the article's content, and do not speculate on the motives of established, responsible editors, and at the same time lets not enable disruptive editors. ] (]) 03:33, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

==Conflation of Bagley's abusive sockpuppeting, and Bagley-related RS-material==
I have a serious question I'm hoping Guy or Crum will be good enough to answer. Strictly speaking, a proper application of NPOV to Weiss-, Bagley-, or Byrne-related material should not take into consideration – indeed, should be utterly indifferent to – Bagley's abuses of Misplaced Pages protocols, correct? In other words, isn't the question of how to deal with Bagley puppets editing Misplaced Pages separate from the question of how to deal with RS-material that presents Bagley's views? It seems to me these are being conflated under a shoot-on-sight sort of policy. It's almost as if the Register itself has been declared a sort of Bagley puppet: it was "manipulated" by Bagley and "cooperated gleefully." The Register was a good enough source (for Mantanmoreland and for Samiharris , though not, obviously and hilariously, for WordBomb ) when it was writing about the "bizarre world of Patrick Byrne," and referring to Byrne personally as a "freak show," but now it suddenly fails the test of a reliable source?--] (]) 23:20, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:What sources are reliable or not seems to depend on whose ox is being gored by them. ] (]) 23:30, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

* Dan, bullshit. Let's be absolutely clear here, The Register is not a source in respect of Weiss or anything else related. The Register repeated Bagley's assertions and Cla68's assertions above - you don't get to weasel things into an article just by planting them in an online tabloid. Reliable sources can be discussed, The Register is unreliable in this instance, not only because it repeats the harassment meme that Bagley invented, but that is a factor. This is a ] article, and evenm if it weren't, openly polemical sources like the Register piece would have to be treated with extreme caution. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 23:32, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
:*Dan's point and mine (and with respect, neither of us is talking bullshit, given that what we're saying is a one-click-away verifiable fact) is that you apparently ''can'' weasel things into an article just by planting them in The Register, so long as the subject of abuse is Byrne and not Weiss.--] (]) 23:38, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
::* You're more than welcome to remove Register-sourced crap form other articles as well. It's not a source for stock market activity or related stories. I checked ], there's no Register sourced stuff there as far as I can see; I removed it from ] per your comments her,e as you are right: it's not reliable there either. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 15:04, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::*I see it's already been removed from the Overstock/Byrne/Bagley articles. That leaves however thousands of other articles across Misplaced Pages; the demotion of The Register to non-RS status is, shall we say, a rather recent and sudden development.--] (]) 15:11, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
::::* A blog is a reliable source in respect of the blogger, and if the blogger has a provable authority it may be a reliable source in respect of certain other articles, if used with care. The Register is not a bad source for geek news, though of course if any particular story is challenged then it should be the responsibility of those seeking to link it, to achieve consensus for linking. If the Reg said there was a bug in Vista I'd be inclined to believe them, even if I would look for a corroborating source before informing my user base. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 16:37, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

The link next to my name at the top of this section is from an <i>en bloc</i> reversion of blanking by a sock (]), and was obviously not an endorsement of any of the several dozen links that were blanked by Onomato and reverted by me. So that is a distortion of my "position," pardon the expression, and not the first time from this user. What is being done here is an attempt to personalize the discussion as yet again the Register article is dredged up, when it has been made quite abundantly clear that its use is obviated by ] and ]. So we do not even have to reach the point of determining the usability of the Register in this article under RS. Similarly, the commentary about whether Bagley being bad or good and whether that should influence our decision making is totally superfluous. Bagley's heinous conduct is simply icing on the cake. He could be an absolute doll and would not make any difference. The fact that various editors point out that he is not a doll is neither here nor there.--] (]) 00:11, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::I cannot believe we are wasting so much time on tabloid gossip planted by anti-Misplaced Pages wankers. What is really going on here?--] (]) 00:51, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::That is because it is not for us to pre-suppose unethical journalism in a publication just because a subject of their article has caused trouble here in the past. And please do not throw around such unproductive name calling. ] (]) 03:07, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
::::I believe the question here should really be, "Why do some admins and editors, at this juncture, still hold the belief that they have total control over what goes into this article?" ] (]) 03:35, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::No, the question is at what point is this a gigantic waste of time. The issue is not intent. The issue is outcome. The outcome here is that a tremendous amount of time and energy has been wasted because of a tiny circle of jerks planted malicious misrepresentations in a tablid gossip rag, and then manipulated the situation so that some admins and others here on Misplaced Pages have facilitated their efforts. How stupid are we? How willing are we to allow our community to be screwed over? --] (]) 03:43, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::The NYTimes is a tabloid gossip rag? They might have an issue with that statement. As for the other sources mentioned for the text under discussion, NYPost, Bloomberg, and the Register, they are all used throughout Misplaced Pages as sources. Are you going to the talk pages of all those other articles in which they're used and making the same "tablid (sic) gossip rag" assertion? If not, you better get started, it might take you awhile. I hope you have the patience for it, in spite of the statement below implying that you don't. ] (]) 03:53, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::Do you think that is a helpful or constructive comment, Cla68? I don't. In fact, I'm certain it's not; it's an oblique personal attack on trusted members of the community trying to improve this mess in good faith. I suggest you take on that view yourself and apply more than a little of latter. There's been too much disruption of the project coming from some on these pages already I'm not going to watch it devolve into biting and incivility. ] (]) 03:51, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
::::Not all sources are created equal. Discretion is always called for when determining which sources to rely upon. And Chip is right about some here wasting the community's time and patience here; there are limits to both. ] (]) 03:47, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:The Register's piece on "The bizarre world of Patrick Byrne's Overstock" was added to ] in 2006, and retained through Mantanmoreland's edit-warring. Sami has been vigilantly editing the article since March of this year and has never had an issue with it on any grounds, ] or otherwise, and indeed he restored it in the mass revert noted above. If he is now claiming that it isn't his position that the source is adequate and policy-compliant, then the distortion is his. The allusion to my previous "distortion" of his positions is equally spurious; he's referring to my polite requests for a clarification of his statement that "articles that reference Bagley's smears" can't be cited, regardless of the source; polite requests which met with insulting non sequiturs and breathless tirades about harassment. Notwithstanding the persistent accusations, the problem here has little to do with strife between editors; it turns rather on the problem of how to maintain NPOV in a situation where a siege mentality has set in.

:There is no question that Bagley (and by extension, his boss Byrne) have abused various Misplaced Pages protocols to pursue an agenda, thereby enraging a number of longtime editors. While the rage is understandable, the jettisoning of NPOV is not a proper response. The fact is that both Weiss and Bagley/Bryne have websites largely devoted to destroying the other's reputation. The media has occasionally covered the feud, and the New York Times even went so far as to say Weiss had made a "second career" out of attacking Byrne.--] (]) 03:53, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::OK, that constitutes a clear personal attack on Sami. This campaign has become disruptive. Knock it off. I've removed the personal attack. ] (]) 03:58, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::Describing my contributions as a "campaign" is unwarranted and insulting, Felonious. Sami has attacked me incessantly on this page, and I've kept my cool in the face of it. What you just deleted, moreover, was not a personal attack by any stretch of the imagination. Admin privileges or no, I suggest you back off.--] (]) 04:04, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::And my point is that the outcome is once again we are fighting amongst ourselves while the miscreants cull more text for cybersnickering.--] (]) 04:06, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::: There is definitely some merit in that view. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 17:17, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::::"''I suggest you back off''" You sure that's the tone you want to take here? You're not making yourself look reasonable. ] (]) 04:07, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::I suggest you restore what you deleted, as it was germane to the discussion and didn't constitute a personal attack. If you refuse, I suggest good-faith editors participating in this discussion read the diffs and take the deleted remarks into consideration for the purposes of ongoing discussion.--] (]) 04:11, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
::::::Stop making personal attacks and you'll have nothing to complain about. Spreading the disruption by fanning the flames is not the right response for anyone interested in serving the community's best interest. ] (]) 04:30, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::With respect, Felonious, what you deleted was germane to the discussion; indeed it was the very heart of the NPOV problem as I see it. There was a very mild ribbing of editors who are "dazzled" by Weiss and "enraged" by Bagley, but even that remark was substantively on-point, and its small sarcasm was set plainly within the context of an acknowledgment of what a pain in the ass Bagley has been. Sami has been baring his canines at me throughout this discussion, and my reciprocating nips and barks have been delivered with the feathery-light mouth of a suburban golden retriever. You showed bad judgment in deleting relevant remarks and issuing one-sided warnings; and you rather compounded the error by claiming on AN/I that I had made a "threat" when clearly I have done no such thing.--] (]) 05:05, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::: I'm certianly not "dazzled" by Weiss, I've never met the man, never exchanged emails with him and wouldn't know him form a hole in the ground. On the other hand, I will freely admit to being if not enraged then certainly disgusted by Bagley. His vile smear campaigns against people he dislikes are simply not the kind of thing that earns my respect. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 14:18, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::::::''I am not now nor have I ever been a member of the Bagley party.'' Now, can we please talk about NPOV? Can we agree to make Misplaced Pages articles touching on the law offices of Weiss, Bagley, and Byrne at least as neutral and professional in tone as, as...I don't know, say, the Misplaced Pages articles on ] and ]? How 'bout it, can we do that?--] (]) 14:50, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
If I can ask, why is the Register labeled all over as a bad source, or not a valid source as a tech rag, but is an acceptable source or external link on that Byrne article? <span style="font-variant:small-caps"><font color="#800080">]</font></span> 04:19, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:Some IP had removed it earlier. I've gone ahead and removed the Register story from there that was linked as well, about the mail lists. Will post an update there. If one article isn't a reliable source on one article, theres no reason it would be acceptable on another. <span style="font-variant:small-caps"><font color="#800080">]</font></span> 07:34, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

== Enough is enough ==

The actions of a few from these page have risen to the level of attracting the attention of many admins who were not involved in the initial content dispute. We've seen too much disruption of the project coming from supposed newbies, SPAs and some established editors that should know better at these articles which appear to be conducting campaigns to promote a particular viewpoint and creating drama when stymied. Continuing to disrupt the project by spreading and escalating drama is not going to fly. There are other admins who will be watching for any more drama coming from these editors and willing to enforce ] moving forward.

I suggest all parties step back from this article for 48 hours to let things cool down. Seriously. ] (]) 04:10, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:Would like to respectfully draw your attention to the fact that no editing has happened on the page itself for last few days. What is happening so far is a discussion on the talk page. Please don't use the threat of ] when no editing has been done by anyone. As someone who would like to see this page become NPOV, I recommend the following:

::1. Everyone who ever had a say on this page so far step back.
::2. Start an RFC from all other editors and let only folks who never spoke on this issue study and comment on how to improve the article.
::3. All of us should accept the recommendations from these non involved parties.

:Currently I see the problem as that we all have become too involved and our egos are coming in the way of moving forward.

:] (]) 04:34, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Is there a problems with outside admins? I'm not sure what you're getting at here. ] '']'' 07:59, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

: All I am suggesting is for admins who are not involved in the discussions so far to resolve it. The problem I see is there are few admins and editors who have become too attached to Gary Weiss ( positively and negatively) and are unable to think clearly. The discussion just below does seem lot more balanced and promising. ] (]) 03:28, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

== Proposed section - can we collaborate on something? ==

I think there is an NPOV way to deal with Weiss being a critic of overstock.com and Byrne (which is true and, I think, as noteworthy as the other examples from his career). And we can do this using only reliable sources (i.e. NOT The Register, which I think should not be used as a source for anything at all relating to either side of this argument).

is a good source, though written in a breezy tone. Quoting it alone in reference to Bagley's claims could easily be a problem of "undue weight", i.e. if our article makes it sound like this is a simple internet flame war with a "he said / she said" war of questionable claims on both sides. But what we have in reliable sources about ] can be repeated to some extent here, so that readers here will understand the nature of the claims coming from Bagley: "Bagley had previously created similar websites which had been condemned as "crazy and profane attacks" and "conspiracy propaganda" at The Motley Fool, an online investing website."

Could we work on a compromise version here? The idea is to write the paragraph so that the reader can understand (a) that Weiss is a critic of Overstock.com and that (b) as a result of this, Overstock launched an "attack site" against Weiss and that (c) Weiss of course denied the things claimed there and (d) this whole thing fits into a bigger story about Bagley's career (the Motley Fool example, but there are others I suppose).--] (]) 05:58, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::On what basis exactly is "The Motley Fool" a reliable source where "The Register" isn't? And for that matter, what is your basis for assuming that it is ''not'' a "he said / she said" flame war with questionable claims on both sides? Bagley may have had similar disputes with other people, but the same can be said for Weiss. And what's with this different wording: Weiss ''is a critic of'' Overstock, but Overstock ''launched an "attack site" against'' Weiss. You might as well turn this around and say Overstock is a critic of Weiss and Weiss launched an attack site against Overstock. ] (]) 17:28, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::The Motley Fool is certainly a reliable source about investing/analysis. ''The Register'', not so much. However, I agree that the reliable sources do indeed make it sound like "he said / she said." ] '']'' 18:10, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::::"Certainly"? Not to me. Do you have a reliable source for it being a reliable source (or ''The Register'' not being one)? ] (]) 18:19, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::''In the area of investing'', the Motley Fool is one of the best-known names, having thousands of paid subscribers to their newsletters, hundreds of staff, and years of experience. I think the ''Register'' could have some credibility for technology, but they won't have comparable chops judging whether naked shorts are a serious problem or a reckless conspiracy theory. Most investment analysis has been quite negative toward Byrne and Bagley's claims of conspiracy, although the question about the propriety naked short selling is unresolved (see Hedge World article below). ] '']'' 18:29, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::::::Being one of the best-known names, etc. does not establish reliability. Misplaced Pages is also very well known, but not a reliable source. The whole field of investment advice is largely alchemy anyway. Monkeys typically fare better than those "analysts". If most comment has in fact been negative toward Overstock, then this can be mentioned if there are multiple independent examples of such, and so long as no one finds a counter-example of positive comment. But in any case, the issue here is not just about the naked short-selling per se. Bagley's allegations against Weiss should be mentioned in this article, seeing that they have been reported on by ''The Register'' and, if true, put the neutrality of the whole article in question as being written by Weiss himself. Of course those allegations should be directly and openly investigated, but apparently Weiss has been given a free pass because Bagley has been identified as the "bad guy" and now Jimbo & Co. can't admit that he may actually be right about Weiss. ] (]) 20:52, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::::No one is "Jimbo & Co," and certainly not me. In fact, I get the distinct impression that I'm one of the regular users who should "know better" referred to above. I don't have an agenda here&mdash;I just want to get the article right as we must per BLP.
:::::::The Motley Fool is absolutely a reliable source when it comes to investment analysis. We're not to judge whether analysts are even experts&mdash;it might be alchemy, but that's not our debate to resolve or even have. Reliable sources indicate that they're respected authorities in the field, and that's what we must use as an encyclopedia. We would certainly be willing to attribute them for something like "Motley Fool picked Overstock.com as the worst stock for 2007" However, it looks like this article is very editorial in nature, and I don't think it cuts mustard for BLP claims. In parts it looks like a message board moderator's post. I didn't previously look at it, but you're probably right. ] '']'' 23:10, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:Sounds good, but note that it's not a blog post (if it was, I would be more hesitant to include it). It was published January 20, 2007, section C page 5. ] '']'' 07:05, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::Then I think that you need to add similar language to ], which makes no reference to ASM. It is surely at least as relevant to Byrne as to Weiss. Also I think that this bio is going to have to be expanded, as I am still troubled by the WEIGHT issue, unless this is to be a brief mention. There doesn't seem to be much appetite for expanding this article, except of course to add the Bagley material.--] (]) 13:02, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

===Non-Register sources===
Incidentally, a publication called Hedgeword.com wrote a story on this very ''NYT'' piece. It looks independent to me, but I don't know about the publisher. Still cached by google Have we already discussed this? I think it helps establish WEIGHT for his views on naked shorts and Byrne, at the least.

Have we also discussed the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' piece? Mark Cuban "stepped right up to the edge of accusing" him of editing wikipedia. August 28, 2006:

::Cuban, critics escalate feud

::Mark Cuban escalated his blogging feud over Sharesleuth.com with two critics last week. Sharesleuth, which Star-Telegram reporter Heather Landy wrote about on Aug. 13, was created to publish investigative reports with a twist: Cuban is aiming to make money by trading in the stocks the site investigates. Cuban took a short position in a company called Xethanol, the target of Sharesleuth's first report, which appeared Aug. 7, before he announced his plans for Sharesleuth.

::The critics, Gary Weiss and Jeff Jarvis, had already gotten Cuban's attention by calling Sharesleuth's business plan unethical. So Aug. 21, the Dallas Mavericks owner devoted 600-plus words to questioning Jarvis' ethics even as he declared, "I usually try to stay away from Blogwars" and "I couldn't care less what he has to say." Then on Tuesday, he stepped right up to the edge of accusing Weiss of editing Cuban's Misplaced Pages entry. Cuban said he made his own fixes on his entry, then someone with the username "Mantanmoreland" came right along and unfixed the fixes. Of course, Cuban also wrote that "little 'Wikiwars' are inconsequential in the big scheme of things."

::Cuban's site is www.blogmaverick.com. Weiss is at garyweiss.blogspot.com, Jarvis at buzzmachine.com. The witty repartee will transport you back to the elementary-school playground, except there are no teachers around to end recess.

I think that this is the kind of idle speculation that BLP must exclude, but if there is other coverage (that doesn't merely "up to the edge of" accusations), it might not be undue weight in my view. I'm just tired of seeing the same lame sources and arguments. ] '']'' 07:24, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:Looking at the chronology, Cuban probably got his suspicion from ASN; I severely doubt it was his independent conclusion. The timeline on an earlier version of ASN says that Cuban was "alerted" to the edits, presumably by Bagley. ] '']'' 07:47, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
::It is certainly a closed loop from ASM.--] (]) 13:02, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::Regardless of accusations of Misplaced Pages editing, between the NYT, the followup from Hedgeworld, and a motely of other sources (WSJ blog, all of Weiss's own posts), I think we can add the "critic of Byrne" line. Now Samiharris, I think you have to understand that references to ASM are in no way meant to give credibility to Bagley's attacks or undue weight. However, when you have the NYT and Hedge World writing about the dispute, and a multi-page expose in ] (yes, it may be a tabloid, but much closer to NYT than the ]), the site becomes news ''in itself'', which is intimately connected to Weiss. Such information would be added to this article not as "criticism", for which there are very stringent and appropriate guidelines, but as an ''event'' of enough significance that it has showed up in major publications. ] (]) 18:09, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
:::: I think that's in the realm of a distinction without a difference. At bottom the ASM attacks are criticism and quite a bit more than that, and by definition by a tiny minority: the management of Overstock.com. That puts it out of the article under BLP :

::::"The views of critics should be represented if they are relevant to the subject's notability and can be sourced to reliable secondary sources, and so long as the material is written in a manner that does not overwhelm the article or appear to side with the critics; rather, it needs to be presented responsibly, conservatively, and in a neutral, encyclopedic tone. Be careful not to give a disproportionate amount of space to critics, to avoid the effect of representing a minority view as if it were the majority one. '''If the criticism represents the views of a tiny minority, it has no place in the article.'''"

::::What's troubled me about this from the beginning is that this is not ordinary criticism, actually a step lower, in being a personal attack of a peculiarly petty and nasty kind. In other words, a "smear." The term is indeed used in the Antilla piece, the most comprehensive source we cite, to characterize ASM. It is also characterized in that article as a "creepy" campaign. I think that makes this "criticism" section of BLP stand out as applicable in this situation, along with the usual caveats of "do no harm" etc. etc. In addition to this, I am also troubled by the tactics that Bagley has used to try to get his way in this article. The very fact that we are having this conversation is a reflection of that. It concerns me that Misplaced Pages is giving extra attention to this bio and is being pressured to ignore BLP by outside sources, and it gives me the, pardon the expression, "the creeps." --] (]) 19:29, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::::No, we're not talking about the Misplaced Pages sockpuppet accusations (at lease I assume we're not). As Jimbo outlines, we would just be reporting his criticism of Overstock and their anti-naked short campaign. Plenty of commentators have called his views critical. It's not a minority POV at all. Hedge World even adds analysis drawn from his book and believes Weiss criticism is very important among hedge funds (that makes sense, because hedge funds managers are practically the ones who can engage in naked short selling). We don't have to rely upon ASN or the ''Register'' to conclude that Weiss is critical of these things. ] '']'' 20:31, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::::::Actually I was referring to the criticism of/attacks on Weiss by Overstock. Weiss's criticism of Overstock etc. is, as you point out, definitely not a minority POV.--] (]) 20:39, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::Samiharris, I am now fully convinced (and was always except for the Misplaced Pages editing report in the beginning) that any accusations originating from ASM (and/or relayed through the press) have no place in this article without further mainstream sources of verifiable information. However, there is a distinction in reporting the actions of a critic when it garners such attention without giving any credence or undue weight to the accusations. If we can't agree on that for the time being, that's fine, but we can surely all agree on what Luke just noted, that Weiss is a well reported critic of Byrne - then I think we can call it a day. ] (]) 22:50, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

::::Not sure I totally follow you, but yes on your final point, he most definitely is reliably reported as a critic of Byrne. That certainly is a neutral fact and not in dispute. I'm glad you understand why this business is troubling to myself and other editors.--] (]) 23:23, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

:::So can we agreee on ] with the additional Hedge World ref? ] (]) 12:13, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

::::Yes, the text is agreeable but not the three cites you propose. The Times column item subsection is just a snippet, negative and gossipy in tone and not analytical. All you need is the WSJ piece as a cite. We can add the Antilla one, which is more analytical and is the most detailed assessment of the Bagley situation, but that is not necessary either to establish that point. --] (]) 12:34, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
I appreciate that Jimbo has set some ground rules for this content dispute. Although I don't agree with all of his rules, I'm accepting them in the spirit of compromise. I've also decided not to take further part in the discussion here, because I think enough concerned outside editors are here to finish the job. I would also encourage Samiharris to take a step back and let these other editor's "new eyes", who don't seem to be as emotionally involved as me or him, finish the work here. ] (]) 12:49, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::However, while I'd not object to that sentence being added, since trolling remains a problem in this article and talk page, I would not favor removing protection for the time being.--] (]) 13:51, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

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Article probation

Restrictions...Editors are directed:

(A) To edit on these from only a single user account, which shall be the user's sole or main account;
(B) To edit only through a conventional ISP and not through any form of proxy configuration;
(C) To edit in accordance with all Misplaced Pages policies and to refrain from any form of advocacy concerning any external controversy, dispute, allegation, or proceeding; and
(D) To disclose on the relevant talk pages any circumstances (but not including personal identifying information) that constitute or may reasonably be perceived as constituting a conflict of interest with respect to that page.

Do not remove this noticeRlevseTalk22:16, 13 March 2008 (UTC)


Weiss, Mantanmoreland, and Misplaced Pages

An article in the press is stating that Weiss used an account called User:Mantanmoreland here in Misplaced Pages to push POV in the Naked Short Selling, Patrick Byrne, and Overstock.com articles. The article is here . I've committed not to edit this article, but anyone else should feel free to add this material and cite it to the link I posted here. Cla68 (talk) 01:58, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the article but I have doubts about its usability here, without confirmation elsewhere.--Stetsonharry (talk) 03:44, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
I think it should be mentioned, but... with BLP and all, we might need articles from more than one newspaper in order to include it. The end of the article talks about user SlimVirgin and she's had several hundred news articles about her and still that doesn't seem to meet BLP to put all the negative controversy in an article. Hmm the register has another thing at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/24/byrne_back_conspiracy_theory_with_cash/ which is not about Weiss, but about a wikipedia and wall street conspiracy. Unfortunately, there's no mention of the current Wall Street conspiracy of how the US government wants to give $700 billion and likely trillions more not to stimulate the economy but to purely to inflate the salaries of rich CEOs who are friends of the Bush administration and both Obama and McCain support it (but not Ron Paul). Are you ready for IPv6? (talk) 04:27, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
Isn't the required 'confirmation' within the wikipedia logs and article history themselves, as documented here http://antisocialmedia.net/?p=130 - that source is obviously biased, but the substantial proof of the main thrust of The Register's allegations seem to be embedded within wikipedia already. It is unfortunate that in this case decisions resulted in Misplaced Pages 'becoming the story' rather than enabling it to be documented with NPOV - but the full naked-short/overstock/Weiss/wikipedia story is one that really SHOULD be fully covered here - treating wikipedia's part in the story dispassionately as though it were some third-party media. Short version: It's absurd, when the actual proof is right here in the logs, to pretend that it's not well-sourced.Jaymax (talk) 12:27, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
I think I can speak on some authority when I say that these sources are not up to WP:BLP standards. The alleged Misplaced Pages activity should be left out of the article. Misplaced Pages's logs and history are the raw material for original research, and this potentially-damaging claim has not been confirmed by reliable sources. Cool Hand Luke 17:45, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
I have just removed an edit inserted by an anonymous editor relating to the Register article. The content removed varied from information in the single source and thus does not meet the standards of our biography of living persons policy. I believe that this information needs to appear in more than one reliable source; it is extraordinary information and thus needs to be referenced extraordinarily well. Risker (talk) 01:44, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Forbes

is Weiss still employed by forbes? He hasn't published anything there in six months. --Duk 04:47, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm not clear if this is employment per se.--Stetsonharry (talk) 04:59, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

More info

A thread on Misplaced Pages Review has just pointed out these articles about Weiss in reliable sources, but which aren't mentioned in this article, even in passing: . Cla68 (talk) 01:18, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Dunno. Two seem like minor "pissing match" stuff. The third might be important if it was instrumental in the lawsuit. Kind of old, too. Is that a representative sampling of what is in the Times?--Stetsonharry (talk) 02:12, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
Those could support statements like this:
  • "He also has been critical of the treatment of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, opposed astroturfing, argued against Wal-Mart's new venture in India,, criticized Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne and his campaign against naked short selling, and criticized the ethics of Mark Cuban's Sharesleuth, Cuban’s Web publication that investigates companies’ business practices ."
  • "Weiss debated Mark R. Mitchell, an editor for Columbia Journalism Review’s blog, CJR Daily's financial column, The Audit over a story about Warren Buffet published in the Wall Street Journal."
  • "While at Business Week, Weiss and the magazine were sued by Julian H. Robertson Jr. for libel over an article authored by Weiss in 1996 titled, "Fall of the Wizard of Wall Street." The case was settled out of court. "
That should cover what those three sources say. Cla68 (talk) 02:42, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
I think a lot would depend on the overall coverage. I looked at the Times website and there were other items, a first amendment dustup from one of his books, as well as reviews that we are not picking up. Not sure about adding blog controversies and a withdrawn lawsuit from ten years ago. Also I read the second item and I think this was after Weiss left Business Week.--Stetsonharry (talk) 03:18, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
Oops, I meant to remove that from the second one. I think the most significant of the three is the libel lawsuit, because that is mentioned in more than one article in reliable sources. Cla68 (talk) 03:26, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
Yeah, I don't know about the Cuban/blog thing. It seems like something WP:BLP might keep out. But, there is other coverage of it. I dug up one print story some time ago.
We have to wonder whether criticizing a businessman is WEIGHTy just because the businessman criticizes the critic back. Maybe, but it's not obvious to me. Cool Hand Luke 03:29, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
Cuban ended up mentioning the incident as it related to Misplaced Pages in his blog. But, if not mentioned in passing, then it probably isn't notable enough to be in the article. Cla68 (talk) 03:33, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
I was wondering the same (as Cool Hand Luke). The lawsuit bothered me because it was old (11 yrs.) and withdrawn, though I see Cla's point on the two sources. --Stetsonharry (talk) 03:38, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Unprotection?

Can this article and talk page be unprotected now so that unregistered users can edit and make comments? We can quickly restore protection if necessary. --TS 19:07, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

The Arbitration Committee retains jurisdiction over this article based on Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Mantanmoreland, so any change to the protection will be dependent on support from or appeal to the Committee. Regards,  Skomorokh  19:29, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
Um, I sprotected outside of the juridstiction of ArbCom - as I recall during the case. The juridstiction seems to relate to the consequences of edit/pov warring rather than stopping some classes of editors using the talkpages. As such, I am unsprotecting. LessHeard vanU (talk) 23:22, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
I think the matter needs rather more discussion before the decision to unprotect is taken. I'm willing to protect on my own account if you no longer are, pendindg discussion. ++Lar: t/c 23:47, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
LHvU; I posted the above comment under the advice of an arbitrator. See the AN thread for more. Regards,  Skomorokh  02:15, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Um, what exactly are you guys talking about? The article hasn't been protected since my protection expired on October 20, 2008. I don't see any reason to have the talk page protected when the article has been freely editable, without issue, for close to a year. Brandon (talk) 02:06, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Some of the comments above seem to imply a misunderstanding about the remedies proposed in the Mantanmoreland case. None of them required or implied an order to protect the article or the talk page. Only the talk pages of four related articles remained semiprotected, the article semiprotections having long ago expired or been lifted manually. --TS 02:11, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
I removed the protection completely, debating this is rather silly. Brandon (talk) 02:14, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/Robertson v. McGraw-Hill Co., Weiss, and Shepard

Lawsuit involved Weiss. FYI. Ikip 18:01, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Once the AfD closes, whether kept or deleted, I think we should discuss adding a few sentences to this, and the other, related articles, about the story. Cla68 (talk) 06:57, 29 December 2009 (UTC)
Sir, I read your comments on Misplaced Pages Review. Shouldn't you be disclosing here, as required by the article probation, that you are involved in the off-wiki battle between Overstock.com and Weiss? The article probation was politely pointed out to me very recently. COI disclosure is mandatory.
I disclose as follows: I have in the past been a short-seller of Overstock.com. However, I have no current position in the stock, and have had no position in the stock for two years. I am a member of message boards and occasionally post on the Weiss-Overstock conflict. I am not acquainted with Mr. Weiss personally, but admire his journalism. --AmishPete (talk) 23:09, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

If the lawsuit had resulted in a trial or a well-publicized apology or a monetary settlement, it would be a notable event in the life of Gary Weiss. Since it did not (and since the only argument for the notability of the underlying case is the fact that it almost, but didn't, consider a notable legal technical issue that has nothing to do with Weiss), it has no business being mentioned in this article. THF (talk) 00:58, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure I agree. While we probably don't need this level of discussion, some discussion seems appropriate, and the article should be referenced from the See Also section. The article as it stands now lacks balance, it's almost a hagiography. ++Lar: t/c 01:03, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
If there's something to be said that isn't synthesis, I wouldn't object. I also wouldn't object to something like "While Weiss was at Business Week, he and the magazine were sued for a billion dollars by Julian Robertson, the subject of one of Weiss's articles. The case settled out of court with no money changing hands," though I fail to see what that really adds to the article, and I wouldn't object to a See also. But it's UNDUE to include allegations of a lawsuit that didn't result in any damages or in apologies that weren't covered by the press. The Truell article makes it clear that Business Week viewed the result as a nuisance settlement that didn't implicate the quality of their journalism, and doesn't even mention Weiss. Was there some other source you wished to cite that I'm not aware of?
I've toned down some WP:PUFF in the article, such as removing a self-serving press release. If you think there are RS on Weiss being omitted that would balance the article further, I have no objection to including them. But it's a stretch to include the Robertson allegations as somehow damning of Weiss. Journalists get sued all the time, especially by the wealthy--it's a way that some members of the rich try to intimidate against negative press coverage. THF (talk) 16:36, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
You were right in your first post. This lawsuit is "peripheral to Robertson," as you said in removing a reference to the suit from "Julian Robertson," and it is even more peripheral here. The only reason we're even having this discussion is that an editor who doesn't like Weiss, and who has made accusations about him in the media, is on a campaign to create articles about him and to add links about those articles everywhere in Misplaced Pages. That's what this is all about. This whole affair is a complete embarassment to Misplaced Pages. --AmishPete (talk) 17:19, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
Please comment on content not contributors. The answer on content is no. The article is barely more than a stub, and seems to be shrinking. A reference to the suit or a link to the lawsuit article would be excessive emphasis of a minor settled lawsuit that truly is meaningless. WP:UNDUE requires that articles treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject. Stetsonharry (talk) 19:15, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
The notability of the event was established by the AfD. The lawsuit was covered in at least 10 independent sources, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Daily News, as well as a publishing industry trade publication. So, THF's suggestion about adding two sentences or so, but no more, is appropriate. I'll suggest a two or three sentence addition shortly, which could also be used for the Julian Robertson article. Cla68 (talk) 22:57, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
The issue is UNDUE, and was the last time it was the last time you brought it up as well. It is not an issue of notability or sourcing. The language you propose below would be one paragraph added to a three-paragraph section. Stetsonharry (talk) 02:35, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Suggested addition about Robertson lawsuit

I'm going to make a similar proposal on the talk page for Julian Robertson. I suggest the following be added to this article in the "Magazine articles" section:


While at BusinessWeek, Weiss authored a cover story carried in the April 1, 1996 edition of the magazine, titled "Fall of the Wizard," that was critical of Julian Robertson's performance and behavior as manager of hedge fund Tiger Management. In response, Robertson sued Weiss and BusinessWeek for $1 billion for defamation. The suit was settled with no money changing hands.

(References)

After the merge discussion is completed, a "further details" template can be added with a link to either the lawsuit article or to Tiger Management. Actually, a link could be placed now since the the link would redirect if the merge takes place. Cla68 (talk) 01:26, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

I understand you're enthusiastic about this, but devoting one-quarter of the "magazine" section to the Robertson lawsuit is pretty darn ludicrous. Stetsonharry (talk) 02:35, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
are there other notable articles the subject has written? It would seem that one that involved an actually filed lawsuit (rather than the usual legal threats to the publisher who ignores them), would be a good candidate for inclusion. --Rocksanddirt (talk) 03:19, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
I think that if we're going to increase the size of the "magazine" section quite this substantially to add controversial derogatory information, we're going to need a clear consensus and also agreement on what to add. The haste and enthusiasm here really troubles me. Stetsonharry (talk) 03:29, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
Adding three sentences to an article of this length on a topic that has already been established as notable enough to merit its own article does not violate undue. Do you have any problems with the content of the three sentences? Cla68 (talk) 04:10, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
The lawsuit article is being considered for merger to Tiger Management, and there it belongs. In fact, the point of the merger would be to add what's important to Tiger Management, and this lawsuit is not important. Yes, three sentences omprising a paragraph, 25% of the "magazine career" section, that is correct. I see that you recognized this raised an undue weight issue during one of the several times you've raised this issue in the past. Since the final status of the lawsuit article itself is up in the air, this discussion is premature, as is the one in Julian Robertson, where I you want to add a longer paragraph to a shorter section. Stetsonharry (talk) 04:21, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
I guess comparing three sentences to the rest of its section versus the article as a whole makes it appear like more of an undue issue, but I've never seen that done before until now. Anyway, the status of the Robertson v. McGraw-Hill Co. article is under discussion, but not the notability of the topic. Now, do you have any concerns about the wording of the three suggested sentences? If not, we'll leave this discussion open for other editor input over the next day or so. Cla68 (talk) 04:27, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
That's correct, it is undue when compared to the remainder of the discussion of Weiss' Business Week career, and I assume that must have been the basis of your acknowledging there would be an undue issue a few years ago. It's superfluous to discuss the content of a paragraph that undermines the neutrality of an article, as well as premature. I think you may be misconstruing the merger discussion. What's being discussed there is precisely how to place what's important in the Tiger Management article. Stetsonharry (talk) 04:47, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
FWIW, I agree with Stetsonharry. This is way too much about an old case that chiefly just demonstrates the ease with which lawsuits are brought in the US. How about putting this material in the article on tort reform instead? --Christofurio (talk) 15:37, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
Stetson asked me pff-line to take a look at this. A cover story in business week about this particular person, especially when even an inconclusive lawsuit followed, would seem to be worth a paragraph. The proposed addition does not seem disproportionate. I don;t think it violates NPOV with respect to any side of the issue. I don't think it violates BLP with respect to any person involved: the reports on it are from unquestionably RSs.. FWIW, I neither know nor care about the merits of the case or the personalities involved. DGG ( talk ) 23:43, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
Then in that case there should be paragraphs on all of Weiss' cover stories in Business Week to put this one in proper perspective, which would make that a long section. Then I imagine one would want to add whatever covers he did for Portfolio. Right now there are only three mentioned and this Robertson one would be four. That is why it seems disproportionate at the current length of the article. --AmishPete (talk) 00:04, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Just adding a note to point out that another editor has supported mentioning the lawsuit in this article, but prefers that it simply be listed as a "See also" link. Cla68 (talk) 01:22, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

That would be me. Just dropped by to say that if you can't reach consensus to include details about the case, it seems the best workaround would be to include it in the see also section. Then you don' have to worry about undue weight, while still linking to the article of which Gary is the main subject. I did this but Stetsonharry kindly reverted it. For what it's worth, it seems to make much more sense to include brief details of the case in this article, as opposed to Robertson's. This is further discussed in the page Cla68 linked to, btw.—DMCer 01:29, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Focusing on a frivolous lawsuit dating 14 years back that was settled for NO MONEY would seem to violate wikipedia rules regarding libelous comments about living persons. Judging by the long, about-to-be-deleted wikipedia article on this suit, it seems Business Week merely acknowledged (obviously under pressure from billionaire Julian Robertson) that the article in question did not predict the future with precise accuracy. This kind of stuff belongs in a law journal article, not on wikipedia. I agree with Stetsonharry's reversion.Copyedeye (talk) 04:54, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

I disagree with copyedeye, the article on the suit was 'kept' at AFD, if we are going to pretend that we are developing an encyclopedia, we need to not keep notable events out of people's biographical articles. The wee bit of text presented above seems adaquate to me. not a huge piece and not a brush off of the subject. If Mr. Weiss also wrote other articles that might generate a wikipedia article (i.e., something notable, we should look at how to include them. --Rocksanddirt (talk) 16:29, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Both StetsonHarry and AmishPete have been blocked as sockpuppets of Mantanmoreland, a sockpuppeteer and bad faith editor who has been banned from Misplaced Pages. I'd say we have clear consensus here to add the material and I'm going to go ahead and do so. Cla68 (talk) 22:34, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Cla68: I'd request that you NOT do so until I can have a word with you privately, please. SirFozzie (talk) 23:12, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
Cla68, You've gotta be kidding me. The above discussion leads you to declare a "clear consensus"? What would look like dissensus to you ... bombs bursting in air? --Christofurio (talk) 00:26, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
Nobody, except the newly-blocked user, has raised any concerns with including the case in the see also section. As I stated in my reasoning above, that seems the best workaround, as it avoids the WP:UNDUE issue that is still being worked out. Remembering when this issue was in the news, this article is incomplete without any mention of the case on the page.—DMCer 00:40, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
Christofurio: If we take away Mantanmoreland's cavalcade of socks, we are left with you on one side and everyone else on the other side of the discussion. That looks like consensus to me. Hope that helps. ++Lar: t/c 02:59, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
It's not clear to me that THF is on your "side," but it is clear he his not one of "Mantanmoreland's cavalcade of socks." I don't see any rush on the matter. Remember WP:BATTLE. Cool Hand Luke 04:43, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

As a point of personal privilege, I want to state that I was blocked last night on the basis of the alleged "misuse of multiple accounts." Because I dislike making things personal, I won't name the editor who did the blocking. I will, though, give the exact number of accounts I have used throughout my entire (six-years-long) experience with wikipedia: one. It is clear that the block didn't stay, because here I am. I will not charge that anyone here would use a false block in order to silence dissent to bolster a claim of consensus, because I assume good faith. Let us not press against the limits of the plausibility of that assumption. --Christofurio (talk) 15:36, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Because I haven't heard any objection to including the case in the See Also section, I'm going to move forward with that soon, while discussion continues about a broader mention in the article. Thoughts welcome. @Christofurio: I would be steaming; way to keep a cool head.—DMCer 21:37, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Well, we just had various IPs doing lots of stuff, they check out as very likely Mantanmoreland socks. Thanks, Christofurio for reverting them. However, I've restored the See Also that sparked so much contention, because consensus seems pretty clear for its inclusion. ++Lar: t/c 03:27, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
Given the merger, "See also" to an article that isn't there anymore makes little sense. Sending someone from here to the article on "Tiger Management" is simply confusing. --Christofurio (talk) 16:32, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Semi-protection

The article is getting trolled by a slanderous IP. As such, I've semi-protected it for a couple of weeks - David Gerard (talk) 19:44, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Maintenance tags

I removed two maintenance tags from the article as neither has a current rationale here; past involvement of the subject on this article is likely irrelevant by now given the volume of edits by editors in good standing. I have also filed a checkuser request following the recent edit war between two anonymous users: Misplaced Pages:Sockpuppet investigations/WordBomb, Mantanmoreland

edits 23 January 2010

On the 23 January an IP (who only edited this article and nothing else, and geolocates to New York, Elmhurst) made these changes to the article, which, basically, have stayed in the article ever since. Firstly, s/he removed parts which were discussed above, and which I cannot see there were any consensus for removing. Secondly, s/he inserted a part which I consider some of the sillier puffery I have seen on wp: in a 5-page article by Roddy Boyd, Weiss is mentioned -once- and that just as one in a long list of who the article-writer thinks as "good guys".

Now, strangely, no-one has considered inserting this ref. into the other "good-guys" who have a wp-article, (Herb Greenberg, Carol Remond, Joe Nocera, and Floyd Norris) ..... doesn´t that make people think? Hmmmmm? Use your brains here, please. Seriously. Thank you, Huldra (talk) 03:19, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

"Let Go" From Forbes

Someone who has no wikipedia name keeps trying to insert the statement that Weiss was "let go" from Forbes. The phrase "let go" is usually employed when there is an employment relationship in the first place and it was severed at the employer's discretion. "Let go" is a vernacular synonym of "fired." Is there any evidence that this was the case here? If not, please stop inserting it. --Christofurio (talk) 16:55, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Look at the Forbes website. Weiss stopped writing abruptly in March 2008. Was it to spend more time with his family? 174.253.170.12 (talk) 04:13, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
We don't surmise what happened to living people based on searches of magazine articles. Without a reliable source providing a reason for departure, even saying the column ran through Mar. 08 is chancy, but I don't see the harm since nearly three years have passed. ScottyBerg (talk) 04:30, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
This edit was unsourced and not accurate. Please exercise greater care with biographies of living people, for the rules are stringent and extensive. Also I see that this article is under special Arbitration Committee sanctions, which are described in a noticed at the top. ScottyBerg (talk) 13:44, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Article or PR Piece?

Many of the references in this article point to the subject's own self-written website . Reading it, I found that portions of this article are taken almost verbatim from that same site. That, plus evidence suggesting the subject himself originally wrote the article makes me think it deserves a comprehensive re-writing (or elimination?).174.253.190.211 (talk) 03:53, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

No, the tone here is neutral and the personal website is used appropriately. You've just returned from a 72 hour block for BLP violations in this article, for adding negative unsourced information, and appear to have a personal animosity toward this subject suggestive of a conflict of interest. Please be aware of the "Article probation" section at the top of this page applies, as it concerns adherence to site policies and disclosure of "any circumstances (but not including personal identifying information) that constitute or may reasonably be perceived as constituting a conflict of interest with respect to that page." ScottyBerg (talk) 17:15, 17 May 2011 (UTC)
Extra extra: I can't comment on the version of 17 May 2011, but the version I saw a half an hour ago was mostly a puff-piece sourced to the subject's own site and containing a huge number of "references" that led to the subject's articles. Note: I do not have a COI with the subject, unless he's the dude who did it with my girlfriend a decade or more ago. But that seems unlikely. Drmies (talk) 23:19, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
A person who appears to have a very close relationship to the article's subject has been editing the article for some time now, employing numerous socks and, unfortunately, hasn't been completely honest in his approach to the article's content. Cla68 (talk) 00:32, 12 January 2012 (UTC)
So the story goes. I have no reason to doubt it, but I am not privy to the evidence. As far as I'm concerned, it's just another puff piece that we should keep our eyes on. It was protected in the past (2010) because of socking. If it happens again, and you happen to see it, feel free to drop me a line if RPP isn't quick enough. Thanks, Drmies (talk) 01:20, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

IP ednit/source suggestion

I reverted an edit by an IP because (1) link was broken and (2) it was added to 'External Links' (and really doesn't fit there). The addition appears to be this 2007 Register article if anyone wants to use it as a source (I may get back to it at some point but just wanted to flag it as a possible source and explain revision). AnonNep (talk) 15:17, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

This article is more interesting; it mentions Gary Weiss by name. Adding that. Cheers, Huldra (talk) 18:45, 23 August 2014 (UTC)
I removed the info because the external links section is not a place to include controversial information that per discussion above seems to have been deliberately left out of the Misplaced Pages article. If you think the information should be in the article, you should start a new discussion about that. Iselilja (talk) 22:28, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Reversal of article copy edits from 3-26-2015

MONGO has reverted every copy edit I made to improve the quality of the article yesterday. Reason for Mongo's reversal was "Massive changes best to discuss on talkpage first".

I broke the work up in small steps and provided edit summaries for what are mostly minor edits of layout, language, incomplete refs, or removing duplications. These kinds of edits and placing tags to point out quality issues / spots for improvement do not require discussions in advance. --Wuerzele (talk) 20:30, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Sure, I understand. Can we incorporate any of the following links...

--MONGO 22:24, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Ouch, that's no discussion of the reversal of my edits! First the in retrospect completely false "sure, I understand" - you understood nothing, given that you reverted again today. Then you dare to bait me with "Can we incorporate any of the following links". Thats no discussion of the reversal of my clean up edits. you were basically testing if you could intimidate me !
But let me start from the beginning: do you know how to ping? MONGO I ping you, you ping me, clear? I watch hundreds of pages and my watch list loads slowly. if you cant ping me that isnt my problem.
Unless you revert your last edit, I will take this to another level. --Wuerzele (talk) 05:05, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
I'm not going to self revert. I watch thousands of pages. Threatening me with this "another level" childishness is not going to do anything but get you banned from this BLP article. Yes I know how to ping....no you do not own the page....this is a wiki so your edits can be removed or altered at anytime.--MONGO 05:14, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

I see nothing controversial in the edits Wuerzele made to the page. MONGO please list your concerns with any of the edits you reversed with diff's to the edit and reasons why they were removed. Not just that the article is under probation. AlbinoFerret 12:43, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

Not each edit he made but the bulk of them. I have the article watched so pings are not needed. The fact that the article is under probation is exactly why the editor making sweeping changes needs to discuss why the changes are needed not me who is keeping the status quo.--MONGO 15:46, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Removing edits you have no issue with by a sweeping revert is not helpful, and I asked for specifics for the edits you have reverted, reasons why they were removed. Please provide them with diffs and the reason why they were removed. Simply sighting prohibition is not enough. Looking at the edits, and the restrictions placed on the article, also please mention the prohibitions that were violated by the edits with diffs proving they have been violated. AlbinoFerret 16:02, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Cease with your pedantic nonsense. The arricle had been stable for sometime and these changes happened with nary a mention of why they were needed. I'm going to go back through them and restore those that are beneficial and keep removed those that are not. It's better in a BLP to remove any unsubstantiated statement rather than slap cite needed tags up in a BLP.--MONGO 16:43, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
It is not pedantic nonsense to ask you to give reasons, if you persist in not giving reasons, you are removing material for no reason, and that is a major problem. For a third time I ask for your reasons for removing the material. As for stability, the article remained the same for 6 months. Thats stable.AlbinoFerret 17:10, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Yes...the article WAS stable for six months which is why I reverted him. I'm working on fixing things now so chill out. It's in progress.--MONGO 17:23, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
So let me get this strait, you reverted the edits, wont discuss why, but you are going to make sweeping edits, without discussion? AlbinoFerret 17:39, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

Removal of sourced claim

With this edit diff MONGO removed "news organizations in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., and" from the article. The Connecticut part of the claim is unsourced. But the Washington part is sourced to the reference at the end of the sentence. AlbinoFerret 17:18, 29 March 2015 (UTC) The Connecticut claim can be refrenced to here AlbinoFerret 17:49, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

Article links for possible additions

--MONGO 21:23, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

I think you need to answer the questions in the previous section, or self revert your removal before moving on to any other edits. AlbinoFerret 02:36, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
I see...so the other editor can make major changes without discussion first but I have to discuss any I make. Anyway, hence the reason I posted these links here first... if we are going to make changes they won't be done unilaterally, they will be done together. Nice try to bully but it will not work on me.--MONGO 14:40, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
Wrong, Per WP:BRD you reverted, but you have refused any discussion. I am about to head over to AN/I because of ownership WP:OWN issues because you revert, refuse to discuss, then inserting edits without discussion and refusal to discuss the reasons for the revert. Then without finishing the issue you want to add more, by just revealing sources without specific edits. AlbinoFerret 22:46, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
You go right ahead. I brought links here before adding them for discussio. I readded much of what the other editor had altered as I said I would. Stop being ridiculous. I parked these sources here as there may or may not support current or new changes....which YOU refuse to discuss. What's wrong with these links? Least I posted item here before adding them! They show mostly more recent writing contributions that this article lacks.--MONGO 02:43, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
Those links and the two above could be useful. We'll have to be careful not to synthesize anything controversial, but they can be used to support other sources and as external links. Tom Harrison 10:36, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
I would like to update the existing links by making sure they are formatted correctly and to eliminate bare url links if there are no objections...I'll wait a few days before doing so to allow others time to chime in.--MONGO 14:09, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
Albino and Wuerzele, see here if you want to learn why this article has such close supervision. Cla68 (talk) 03:06, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Arbitration Motion

The Arbitration Committee are proposing to remove sanctions related to this topic area which appear to be no longer required. Details of the proposal are at Misplaced Pages:Arbitration/Requests/Motions#Motion: Removal of Unused Sanctions where your comments are invited. For the Arbitration Committee, Liz 21:05, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

Wired Article

I've been asked to bring up the need to add reference to a Wired Magazine article here. I don't know what the conventions are. Can I get some guidance, or an opposing opinion to respond to? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:100E:B138:CFC4:F45E:23E5:B0A:DBF9 (talk) 01:56, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

That piece is an opinion piece. It's speculative and draws conclusions not based in reality. See our policy on biographies of living people...one opinion piece making unsubstantiated claims is not nearly adequate. Besides, when an IP shows up to add derogatory info to a BLP that's an immediate red flag.--MONGO 16:10, 13 November 2016 (UTC)
'draws conclusions not based in reality'? Misplaced Pages doesn't do that - its called original research. Misplaced Pages quotes & references WP:RS as frustrating as that often is for topics ignored by mainstream media or academia, or those deluged by them. WP:BLP will always overide but unless there is clearly lawsuit material (noting that threatening lawsuits is grounds for blocks & bans) then the Wired article, presented in context, is a reasonable addition. AnonNep (talk) 18:02, 13 November 2016 (UTC)
Edited to add (from the ArbCom summary ) =

Any current or future editor who, after this decision is announced, makes substantial edits to naked short selling, Overstock.com, Patrick M. Byrne, Gary Weiss, or closely related pages or discussions on any page is directed:

(A) To edit on these from only a single user account, which shall be the user's sole or main account; (B) To edit only through a conventional ISP and not through any form of proxy configuration; (C) To edit in accordance with all Misplaced Pages policies and to refrain from any form of advocacy concerning any external controversy, dispute, allegation, or proceeding; and (D) To disclose on the relevant talk pages any circumstances (but not including personal identifying information) that constitute or may reasonably be perceived as constituting a conflict of interest with respect to that page.

A note concerning these restrictions shall be placed on the talkpage of each of the affected articles. In case of any doubt concerning application or interpretation of these restrictions, the Arbitration Committee may be consulted for guidance.

Any uninvolved administrator may impose a reasonable restriction (e.g., a revert or civility limitation) or page-ban against any editor who, after receiving a warning containing a link to this decision, edits naked short selling, Overstock.com, Patrick M. Byrne, Gary Weiss, or any related page or discussion in a disruptive or uncivil fashion, who edits them in contravention of site policies and guidelines, or who attempts to reintroduce subtle or overt partisan advocacy regarding any external dispute concerning these subjects into Misplaced Pages.

Continuation, including now lapsed warnings, here https://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Mantanmoreland Please add to anything relevant I've missed. AnonNep (talk) 18:24, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

MONGO: I have two questions. First, did the things the Wired claims happened actually happen? If so, then I don't know why it being an opinion piece (which does not appear to be the case) should matter.

Second, is Misplaced Pages itself considered an accurate source? If so, it seems like there should be a record on here of whatever led to Gary Weiss's discovery and ejection from the site. Can that be referenced? Was that an official action? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:100E:B14F:E41:8DD9:CB04:6053:962B (talk) 21:56, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

Its a no and a no. The article doesn't accurately reflect what transpired.--MONGO 00:18, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Mongo, I'm confused. Sincerely. Please help me by answering these questions with some detail and not using all these acronyms that non wiki people don't understand.

1) You're saying there is no official record of Gary Weiss being associated with some pseudonym here?

2) What did the Wired article get wrong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:100E:B135:41A0:B5AA:B8A4:1031:33CA (talk) 02:37, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

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