Describe Users/KimberlyYarris here.
2013-02-09 21:35:23 Hi Kimberly,
re: the comment you left on my page.
The first thing to realize is that the wiki is collaboratively edited. So, when AaronWedra recently made updates to The Davis Enterprise page, that was great; however, he combined those edits with a "whitewashing" of the page that deleted the contributions of other editors. That makes a lot of work for another editor to have to go back in and figure out which edits are good and which are not, and given that I had already tried to explain things to Aaron once or twice, it was more work than I was prepared to do. I now see that DonShor has kindly taken his time to make those updates and more. I encourage you and Aaron to continue to make these sorts of updates, although keep in mind that the wiki also documents history. So, for example, if someone was a longstanding contributor to the paper, their name should be recorded in some form; when Bob Dunning retires, that he was a columnist for the Enterprise for XX years surely ought to be noted.
However, as you may have seen in the comment that StevenDaubert left on my page, there is no rule that opinions must be banished to the lower part of the page. On the contrary — the practice of the wiki has been, from the very beginning, to incorporate the varied opinions of Davisites within the main body of the article. This was the other thing that I tried to explain to Aaron, that I would really have expected the Enterprise to learn about and respect the practices of another media site, recognizing that not all media sites have the same practices. The Enterprise has its practices, Wikipedia has practices that are different from those, and the Davis Wiki has practices that are different from both. As does Facebook, as does Twitter... etc. I hope you stick around to edit other pages and contribute to the Davis Wiki as a Davisite and not just someone who present the business they are associated with in a certain light.
Finally, you are encouraged to respond to the opinions you disagree with and present things as you see them. That is the preferred practice — not deleting the contributions of others. As with Aaron, I encourage you to read Welcome to the wiki/Business Owner if you have not already. —CovertProfessor
2013-02-20 14:57:57 Thank you for the reply.
I am still confused about why incorrect information is so hard to change. I am not trying to promote The Enterprise by using this space as an ad; I am not asking anyone to like us; I am not asking anyone to call and spend money on a subscription... I am trying to update the current content with actual facts.
I did receive SD's comment (thank you, too @StevenDaubert) about processing changes one at a time - this seems like it will take much longer for everyone than the 10 minutes it would take to read through both the current content and suggested content and come to a relevant merge of descriptions of our business.
I have read the welcome page for business owners. I believe I understand it. It is exactly what I have issues with as it seems to not be true. It says, "Each editor (including you!) has equal say over the page's form and content. " Yet, my content gets deleted. It says, "Deleting information, unless it's outright wrong, is frowned upon." Yet when I want to replace 'outright wrong' information it gets reverted to the old incorrect content. It says, "If something's incorrect, you can fix it!" Yet, I have been unable to fix incorrect information.
I appreciate the updates that Don Shor made to our contributors list- but there again is some incorrect information- Debra DeAngelo is actively STILL the editor at The Winters Express. I like Don as far as I know him, though he does not know he has met me or that I like him- he's helped me at his place of business in the past. I read his column in our paper and I personally shop at his nursery; it's a nice little place and I like shopping other local businesses.
The write up of current information I submitted is simply a compilation of facts about our business, based directly on the format and incorrect information on the current page; it is no more 'promotional' or 'white washed' than that of the Redwood Barn Nursery's page- nor that of Dagon Jones, DDS. I know staff here that have seen Dr. Jones as patients and many that regularly shop at Redwood Barn- again, we are LOCAL people too who use services in this town. Some of the content currently on our page is as relevant to our business as if I went to Don's page and wrote that, "You can buy trees here, but be super duper careful because one time when I was a kid I climbed a tree and I fell and broke my arm and was in a cast for a long time. And besides, some people are allergic to trees." Or if on Dr. Jones page I entered, "I went to a dentist once and got a shot in the mouth and it was a scary experience for me. But Dr. Jones can just give you a sedative so you won't be scared." Dr. Jones' page says it much nicer though, don't you think? And both of these statements are better personal comments than a description of the business.
Keeping and continually reverting to outdated (definitely non-historic) and completely incorrect information just dilutes and degrades the usefulness of DavisWiki. As with any business in town, our information changes over time and if those changes are not reflected on your site, then your site becomes an outdated source of information for the community. At this point, the information on our page is so outdated that it does need a rewrite to be relevant.
Thanks for listening. -k —KimberlyYarris
2013-02-20 15:49:56 Let's distinguish between different types of changes to the page.
First, you say that Debra DeAngelo is actively still the editor at The Winters Express. Great. Fix that, and any other sort of change like that. No one is going to object to those sorts of changes, least of all me.
Second, the sorts of changes that Aaron made went far beyond correcting information; for example, he deleted the reference to the "Empty-prise." You might not like that nickname. I'm sure if I was in your position, I would not like it. Yet surely you also realize that it is a widely used nickname, and having it on the page reflects the community's perspective. Deleting it looks like whitewashing. I don't know of a better term for it than whitewashing.
Third are little anecdotes like someone's personal experience as a newspaper carrier. Here you might note what it says on the front page about the wiki documenting "the little, enjoyable things." My own opinion is that those little tidbits make a page more interesting, but this might be more controversial (please see what I say about Talk pages below).
Fourth, Aaron (perhaps inadvertently, as he is a relatively new editor) deleted links to other pages. Those links are part of what make the wiki useful and interesting. They need to stay.
So, where do we go from here? You seem to dismiss SD's suggestion, but I highly recommend it. Make changes one (or a very few) at a time, so that other editors can easily see what has changed. If a disagreement arises about a particular change, click on the "Talk" button at the top of the page and start a discussion about it (as the Welcome page recommends).
I hope you take me up on these suggestions and also, contribute to the wiki in other ways, perhaps by editing pages for those other local businesses you frequent, or sharing your experiences at a local park, or taking a picture of your favorite part of Davis.
2013-02-21 10:01:38 Sounds like a plan! —KimberlyYarris
2013-02-21 21:56:41 Great! Changes to the page look good. I made a few other changes, mostly in the way of trying to clean up the page, plus a couple of additions. To see the changes that I made, one at a time, you can click the "Info" button at the top of the page and compare versions; once you are comparing versions you can click the link in the upper right of the page to see the changes in sequence. (Apologies if you'd figured this out already). —CovertProfessor
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