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Untitled
editContentious and improperly sourced material was removed on behalf of the subject of this biography. We request that neutral editors review and confirm that the contentious material was properly removed and should not be reinserted in this article.
- This is not an edit request. In the future, I'd advise you to either wait until the request is approved before making it, or follow the instructions on Wikipedia:Contact us - Subjects to report the problem. While your removal of the content was within the guidelines, it is still advisable to refrain from editing articles where you have a FCOI, as you are less likely to be able to make an objective judgement on the content. Since the material does seem to be poorly sourced and I can't find any other sourced, I have left the edit in place. — crh 23 (Talk) 08:20, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
Removal of contentious material regarding accident and lawsuit relying on self-published source
editOn December 9, 2015 a paragraph was inserted in this BLP article purporting to describe a vehicle accident and ensuing litigation involving the subject of this biography, former U.S. Ambassador Fay Hartog Levin. The description of both the accident and lawsuit are disputed, and the only cited source was the self-published blog posting of the attorney who represented the party who sued Amb. Hartog Levin. The contentious material was removed from the article shortly after it was posted (apparently by an editor unconnected to Amb. Hartog Levin), but subsequently re-inserted. I am an attorney who represents Amb. Hartog Levin, although not in connection with the lawsuit described in the text at issue. Consistent with the guidlines on biographies of living persons, on behalf of Amb. Hartog Levin I have removed the contentious and improperly sourced material. A more detailed explanation of the basis for removal follows:
The removed text purporting to describe a traffic accident and resulting lawsuit involving Ambassador Hartog Levin is factually inaccurate and inconsistent with several Wikipedia policies, including those governing the biographies of living persons and prohibitions against the use of self-published sources.
First, the entire passage describing the incident and lawsuit cites to a single self-published source. That source is a blog entry authored by Brendan Kevenides, who was the attorney for the plaintiff in the personal injury lawsuit described in the removed text. [1]. In that promotional blog post, Mr. Kevenides inaccurately describes the events of the accident (which he did not witness), gives a first-person account of the history of the lawsuit, including depositions he took in the case, makes ad hominem attacks on Ambassador Hartog Levin and her husband, and touts the settlement that he obtained for his client. The blog itself is maintained by “Bike Law,” a self-described “network of independent lawyers and law firms who share a common approach to the law and to helping cyclists.” The blog appears to be a marketing tool for attorneys, like Mr. Kevenides [2], who represent bicyclists in personal injury cases. Mr. Kevenides posts regularly on the “Bike Law” blog about his cases [3].
Mr. Kevenides authored his blog post on the accident and lawsuit on December 8, 2015. The next day, December 9, 2015, the offending text citing to that blog post was added to Ambassador Hartog Levin’s biographical Wikipedia article. Whether the December 9 revision to the biography was done by Mr. Kevenides, his client, or a third-party, there is no question that the only cited source for that text is the self-published blog post of the inherently biased advocate for the plaintiff in the litigation described.
The sole reliance on a self-published and biased source is particularly egregious here because the article at issue comprises the biography of Ambassador Hartog Levin, a living person. Wikipedia policy on changes to such entries provides that information about living persons “adhere strictly to all applicable laws in the United States, to this policy, and to Wikipedia’s three content Policies: neutral point of view (NPOV); verifiability (V); and no original research (NOR). [4]. The content purporting to describe the accident and lawsuit involving Ambassador Hartog Levin violates several of those policies. The description of the accident and lawsuit taken from Mr. Kevenides’ marketing blog is not remotely neutral, relaying the self-promotional narrative of the advocate for one of the parties to the lawsuit. Additionally, it describes disputed facts that cannot be verified independently, including the false allegation that Ambassador Hartog Levin “fled the scene,” when in fact she stopped and sought to exchange information with Mr. Kevenides’ client, who declined to provide his name and told her that he was alright and that the accident was his fault. Ambassador Hartog Levin called the police the evening of the incident to report it, but was told that no report would be taken.
The policy on “Biographies of living persons” goes on to state that any contentious material about a living person that is (1) “unsourced or poorly sourced,” (2) a conjectural interpretation of a source, (3) “relies on self-published sources,” or (4) relies on sources “that fail in some other way to meet Verifiability standards” should be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion. Accordingly, the removal of this paragraph is sanctioned, and in fact mandated, by Wikipedia policy.
External links modified
editHello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to one external link on Fay Hartog-Levin. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
- Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20100201071250/http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/128423.htm to http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/128423.htm
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).
An editor has reviewed this edit and fixed any errors that were found.
- If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
- If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool. - Ryk72 'c.s.n.s.' 02:18, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 06:39, 22 March 2016 (UTC)