User talk:Haisch

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Happy Editing. --Blainster 19:44, 28 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

God Theory book

It's possible I was too quick to remove you link. If you restore it I won't take it out again until others have had a chance to look at it. You could also put something on the article talk page asking what people think of including the link. Tom Harrison ^Talk 18:48, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Your participation is encouraged, but there are two problems with the link which you supplied to The God Theory. Links to external websites of a promotional nature, even for books, are deprecated on Wikipedia. The npov way to provide access information is to supply the ISBN number like this: ISBN 1578633745 (note no intervening colon). This creates an autolink to a Wikipedia page that in turn links to the book's target pages on a large number of worldwide libraries and commercial suppliers (including both new and used book sources). The second issue is that some editors may interpret the action by the author himself placing links to his own webpage as either subtle or blatant self-promotion. It would be better to seek a third party to place pointers to your work into Wikipedia. Best wishes. --Blainster 19:43, 28 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Bernard Haisch, Ph. D.

Chief Science Officer
ManyOne Network, Inc.
100 Enterprise Way, G-370
Scotts Valley, CA, 95066
Phone: 831.227.2601, FAX: 650.595.4466
[email protected]

Curriculum Vitae

Publications, like Blainster and Tom Harrison, I presume that in real life you are Bernard Haisch, author of The God Theory and the author of work discussed in such articles as Polarizable vacuum, Stochastic electrodynamics and Zero point energy, and partner in the venture discussed in Digital Universe. Is that correct?

I independently noticed the fact that you added citations of Haisch's recent book (that is, to your own book?) to many articles. While I can see that the book might be valuable to someone researching Relationship between religion and science, it am not sure it was a good idea to add it in an article like Religion, since given the huge number of books which could in principle be cited on such a broad topic I think it makes good sense to focus on citing classic sources such as the book by Will Durant.

Also, while I recognize from your choice of "handle" that when editing as Bernard Haisch, Ph. D.

Chief Science Officer
ManyOne Network, Inc.
100 Enterprise Way, G-370
Scotts Valley, CA, 95066
Phone: 831.227.2601, FAX: 650.595.4466
[email protected]

Curriculum Vitae

Publications you are not attempting to hide your identity (again assuming that in real life you are indeed Bernard Haisch), it seems that you may also have edited as an anon using the pltn13.pacbell.net domain. If it was indeed you who added a list of your own papers to an article like Stochastic electrodynamics (and IIRC some other articles) as this anon, these edits were probably not a good idea. For one thing, we are writing encyclopedia articles, not review articles, so it makes sense to choose the clearest or most recent paper, or if possible to cite a review paper.

For another, presuming that you did indeed sometimes edit as an anon using the pltn13.pacbell.net domain, while my best current guess you were briefly an "anon" before registering your Wikipedia user account, editing as an anon an article on a controversial topic in which you are personally involved without disclosing your personal connection is rarely if ever a good idea--- much better to register a user and disclose your connection. You can probably see why this kind of anon edit can raise eyebrows and lead to awkward questions.

It probably didn't help that the pltn13.pacbell.net domain has also been suspected of being used by (apparently) Jack Sarfatti to issue various threats and abuse regarding edits by other users (including myself) of his wikibiography. Please note that I am not accusing you of making any of those edits, and in fact I do not even suspect you of having made those edits. I suspect it was Jack Sarfatti who made those other edits, which incidently resulted in his being permabanned from editing the Wikipedia, from which you can infer (correctly) that they were far more objectionable than anything you are suspected of having done. Although we are aware that you happen to be acquainted with Sarfatti, AFAIK no-one suspects you of any involvement in that affair.

Over the past few days, I have had a thoughtful discussion with several other experienced Wikipedians concerning general lessons which can be drawn from the recent incident (that is, the cluster of recent anon edits which may have been made by you). We seem to generally agree that there is a need for clearer guidelines for a user who wishes to edit pages on a controversial topic to which he has a personal connection. We agree that unbiased and well-informed edits are always welcome, whatever the source, but we mostly agree that, at least in sci/math articles, following traditional scholarly values, full and complete disclosure of any personal connection (in a talk page comment or at least in an edit line or one a registered user page) is highly desirable to avoid the appearance of having done something deceptive. The model of the journalistic code of professional behavior also seems relevant, since writing an encyclopedia article on a topic of current interest arguably is more related to journalism than to writing a scholarly research paper.

We generally agree on the need to try to make Wikipedia readers aware of possible biases on the part of authors contributing to a given article, such as by mentioning evidence of a suspicious patterns of anonymous edits linked by domain, topic, and point of view, and suggestive of shilling, a clearly deceptive practice which has been alarmingly common at WP, and which some Wikipedians are trying to combat. However, we agree that such considerations must be balanced against legitimate privacy concerns.

As you may already be aware, I initially expressed my concern (not the same thing as making an accusation, as I tried to make clear!) in some article talk pages. (I just removed most of those comments.) There was never any question of posting personal contact information (as one Wikipedian briefly feared), so you need not be concerned about that, but some specific edits were cited and the domain name pltn13.pacbell.net, its geolocation in San Jose, CA and some other publically available information was mentioned. Following my discussion with the others, I have recognized that leaving an inquiry in your talk page is a more appropriate way to express my concern in this matter, so here is that inquiry. ---CH 03:55, 28 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There is now a DrMorelos (talk · contribs) who has also posted, as 69.109.222.23 (talk · contribs), from the pltn13.pacbell.net domain), in Talk:Gene Ray. "DrMorelos" says he holds a Ph.D. from an accredited university from the US and that he changed his name to "Dr.". If that is you, the humor wasn't lost, but see WP:SOCK. I hope you do plan to respond (politely) to my comment above.

I hope it is clear that I have no objection whatever to your having a WP account, I am just urging you to try to play by our rules, and because of the past problems, you may be asked more questions than most about anything which appears odd--- until you establish a pattern of good edits, which I hope you will do! ---CH 03:39, 5 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your detailed reply to my query at my user talk page. I will make the factual corrections and address the NPOV issues you mentioned. ---CH 21:20, 6 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I was unable to find time last night to address the issues you mentioned. I see you have modified the biography. It would have been better to let me do that (which I am about to do). You said in the edit line that you consider me "apparently hostile". Your impression from the above is more accurate. I am just about to revert to the earlier version, put up an {{inuse}} flag (to fend off Wikipedia:Edit conflicts, compare with your version from last night, and summarize on the talk page. When I have a chance I also want to comment on some of the information you provided in the message you left in my user talk page. I expect that all this should allay your fears concerning my motivation.---CH 20:21, 7 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have provided a new version which avoids concerns re WP:AUTO-WP:NPOV while addressing, I believe, the concerns you raised. See Talk:Bernard Haisch for a summary of the changes. ---CH 21:55, 7 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]