@Nick-D: blogs have their own thing (Wikipedia:Wikipedia in blogs), that section is only for Wikipedia:Press coverage. Besides being a blog post and not press coverage its riddled with factual errors some such as "Two other users who have edited the ASPI page, Festerhauer and Telsho, have also been identified as sockpuppets of the Waskerton account.” User:Telsho is an ineedtostopforgetting sock not a Waskerton sock. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 00:32, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
Horse Eye's Back What's the issue with the source? The same piece has been published in two sources, once in the journalist's own publication, and once in a more reputable independent media source. Onetwothreeip (talk) 01:34, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- @Onetwothreeip: Its an opinion piece... In the more reputable of the two sources (which probably doesn't meet our WP:RS standards) its clearly labeled as commentary. Even if it did meet our reliability requirements we would not have WP:DUEWEIGHT with just an opinion piece. Also note that if this wasn’t labelled as commentary its so error riddled that it would sink the reliability of whoever published it. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 01:37, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- There is nothing wrong with it being an opinion piece, although I cannot see evidence that it is. Nowhere in WP:DUEWEIGHT does it state opinion pieces can't have due weight, it only says opinions should not be portrayed as facts. Horse Eye's Back, please state how opinion articles, or the relevant source itself, violates DUEWEIGHT. Onetwothreeip (talk) 01:52, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- Look at the top of the article, its published as “Comment.” In regard to due weight its very simple "Neutrality requires that mainspace articles and pages fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by reliable sources, in proportion to the prominence of each viewpoint in the published, reliable sources.” we don’t currently have have any reliable sources which express this viewpoint. See WP:RSOPINION, again the opinion piece would have to be published in a reliable source for us to even consider using it and this one has not been. Are you really not worried that the core argument of the piece is based on mistaken attributions made by the author? You appear to be operating as if its reliable and well written. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 02:00, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- If you have evidence that the information in the news article is wrong, you should explain that here. Michael West Media is clearly reliable enough for such an article and its criticisms to be noted here, and particularly as written by an established Australia journalist, Marcus Reubenstein. This is clearly a significant viewpoint that we do not need to characterise as objectively correct or good, so the contention is simply in how we write about the news article here. Onetwothreeip (talk) 02:06, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- I already did... You can easily verify yourself that User:Telsho is a suspected ineedtostopforgetting sock not a Waskerton sock. Michael West Media appears to be a fringe blog, I’m not seeing any indication of reliability. I would also note that the author is clearly new to wikipedia as they make some rather glaring errors in regard to our article rating system and how discussions work... Did you not notice any of those? They’re hard to miss if you read it. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 02:12, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- MichaelWestMedia is an established news website and certainly not a fringe source. It has a very clear perspective, which should be accounted when we use MichaelWestMedia or West himself as a source. It's clearly not a blog, but we also don't ban blogs from being used as sources as long as they meet our standards, same as opinion articles. The news article seems to be referring to the wrong ASPI sockpuppet when describing the user Telsho. This is a relatively minor inaccuracy, and does not affect the Wikipedia article as we do not go into that level of detail. Onetwothreeip (talk) 02:21, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- What ASPI sockpuppet? The article never establishes that the ASPI used sockpuppets, they just say that the ASPI has edited the page and that sockpuppets have and heavily imply that theres a connection there but there isn’t any evidence of one. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 02:25, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- The User:Waskerton sockpuppet. Onetwothreeip (talk) 02:33, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- Waskerton has never been connected to ASPI, either formally or informally. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 02:35, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- The Waskerton sockpuppets have edited the ASPI article. Onetwothreeip (talk) 02:48, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) I'd suggest that any discussion of sockpuppets be limited to WP:SPI. Re: the Michael West media article, I agree that it's probably not suitable for inclusion as the source of a notable opinion in the article, but the discussion of this article on it seems worth noting on this talk page. It is a fairly prominent website and is operated by the professional journalist Michael West (journalist). The author of the article in question here, Marcus Rubenstein, is also a professional journalist . Nick-D (talk) 02:53, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
The article by Marcus Reubenstein makes some good points:
- The large number of references on the page that come directly from the ASPI.
- This paragraph has been in and out of the article a few times:
- "The former diplomat and commentator Bruce Haigh wrote in May 2021 that ASPI is the “preferred source of advice on China” for the Liberal–National Coalition, ahead of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Defence. He also argued that ASPI is exaggerating the threat China poses to Australia and its advice has resulted in China freezing Australia out of “significant bilateral trade, economic and diplomatic relationships"."
- It is sourced to an Opinion article by Bruce Haigh in the Canberra Times. Other opinions are included in the Reception section. For example, The Corner has been used for two opinions in the Reception section. It is described as an "Up-to-the-minute news blog featuring conservative commentary & debate on politics, culture, current events, and breaking news". The Strategist, which is the ASPI Blog, is also used as a source in the Reception section.
- Reubenstein suggests we include reference to an AFR article which says: “A report from influential think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute that criticised government departments for giving too much business to a dominant provider of cloud computing capacity was paid for by a lobbying firm engaged by three of the market leader’s rivals”.[1]
Burrobert (talk) 03:27, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
- Both the articles from the Canberra Times and the Financial Review should be included here, but especially the Canberra Times piece. The AFR's article is a narrow criticism of the ASPI, while the Canberra Times' article is a substantive analysis of ASPI which contains criticism. Onetwothreeip (talk) 04:06, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
Cheers legends, I believe reception is about how the subject is received in public light? Criticism should be included in that. Further, Marcus does provide evidence to highlight the editorialization of this Wikipedia article. --Ultranova1337 (talk) 05:24, 22 August 2021 (UTC) — Ultranova1337 (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. — Mikehawk10 (talk) 03:35, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
- Mikehawk10 what are you on about champion? This isn't a single purpose account. In fact, I'm considering authoring my first article soon. Ultranova1337 (talk) 01:40, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
Just to be clear: Marcus Reubenstein is not an established journalist. His opinion is not notable. He is most notable for being repeatedly accused of being linked to the Communist Party of China. If you agree with Marcus' blog that this Wikipedia page isn't balanced, great, edit it for balance. Adding the criticism of a Wikipedia article in a blog of a non-notable, likely bad faith actor is definitely not it. Cjhard (talk) 23:26, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
- There are many instances of mainstream media sources describing Marcus Reubenstein as a journalist. Any cursory search of him finds that he is established. What makes the opinion notable is that it has been published in a prominent news website, Michael West Media. If Reubenstein has been accused of being "linked" to the Communist Party of China, that would make him even more notable, as that's a very significant accusation. Onetwothreeip (talk) 23:43, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
- And importantly, there is clear consensus for inclusion. Onetwothreeip (talk) 23:44, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
- @Onetwothreeip: in your edit summary you say "Talk page consensus supports inclusion” but I see no such consensus on this talk page, is there another talk page that you’re referring to? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 23:45, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
- @Onetwothreeip: this edit summary says “Source reliability has been satisfied” but I don’t see that being true anywhere, what are you talking about? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 23:50, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
- On the basis of the RSN discussion and my own checks (especially finding that The Guardian often references stories first reported on the Michael West website), I think that this warrants inclusion. Nick-D (talk) 01:12, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- 1. This article's talk page. 2. The source reliability has been satisfied by being a notable and prominent website, which is accepted as such by other reliable sources. This has established on this article's talk page, this article's edit summaries and the reliable sources noticeboard. Onetwothreeip (talk) 02:21, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- 1. Be specific, as far as I can see there isn’t a consensus here. The discussion is still open and very much split. 2. There is no consensus to that effect so its never been “satisfied” Horse Eye's Back (talk) 02:39, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- The source satisfies reliability and suitability on its qualities. Can you explain what you mean by "failed verification"? Onetwothreeip (talk) 03:53, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- We don’t have a consensus on that yet. Failed verification means that the information can’t be found in the source provided, you will note that the source doesn’t actually say what we’re saying they say... It only implies it. See Wikipedia:Verifiability. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 03:57, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- Which information in particular fails verification? Onetwothreeip (talk) 07:40, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- Why am I beginning to get the feeling that you’ve never actually read the article? If you had you might have noticed that "for censorship of ASPI's own Wikipedia article using "sock puppet” accounts” is not in there... Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:10, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- While the APAC News source describes it as censorship, the Michael News Media source only heavily implies it, so I will change that. Onetwothreeip (talk) 23:15, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- What are you talking about? The articles appear to be identical to me, where are you seeing a difference? Also it still fails verification, the source does not say that. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 23:42, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- Yeah, it's literally the same article. It doesn't bode well that that participants didn't notice that, and are using both as different references within the Wikipedia article. --Cjhard (talk) 02:04, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- From APAC News:
ASPI's censorship sneaks
. This does not appear on the Michael News Media article, despite being almost identical in content. Onetwothreeip (talk) 02:29, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- It's the same article with a different title - are you being serious here? Cjhard (talk) 05:30, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- The difference is in the title. Onetwothreeip (talk) 07:05, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- We don’t use titles at all, you must have become aware of that at some point given how long you’ve been editing. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:59, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- You should probably be aware that I am advocating we do not use the title here. Onetwothreeip (talk) 23:05, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- Then what exactly are you advocating? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 23:22, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- You would have to be more specific, but please make sure you follow the thread. Onetwothreeip (talk) 00:02, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- If you aren’t advocating that we use the title to support the information then what are you suggesting we use to support the information? As you said "From APAC News:
ASPI's censorship sneaks
” and "The difference is in the title” Horse Eye's Back (talk) 00:06, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- The article, of course. Onetwothreeip (talk) 01:23, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- You were previously asked which part of the article and you responded the title... Which part of the article are you referring to now? Please be specific and use direct quotes. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 01:27, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- You were asking which part of the article describes censorship. The part of the article that describes censorship is the title, which I have quoted and you have quoted me quoting. What is the point of this? Onetwothreeip (talk) 01:40, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- But you just said "You should probably be aware that I am advocating we do not use the title here” and yet here you are saying that your argument is entirely based on the title. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 01:42, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- What argument? Onetwothreeip (talk) 01:43, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- That the source supports the text you added to the page. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 01:46, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- I've only rewritten the text, but the entire sentence currently is supported by the sources. Because "censorship" was not supported by the Michael West Media source, I removed that claim from the article. I've made several edits so you would have to be specific, but it would be better to look at the current version. Onetwothreeip (talk) 01:52, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- Actually restoring it gives you full responsibility for it as well as authorship, surprised you aren’t aware of that. The part which is unsupported by the text is "In August 2021, ASPI was criticised by Michael West Media contributor Marcus Reubenstein for removing criticism from its Wikipedia article by using "sockpuppet" accounts.” as Reubenstein does not actually make the contention that ASPI used sockpuppet accounts remove criticism from its wikipedia article. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 01:58, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- I don't actually have authorship, no. I've updated the text to separate the use of sockpuppet accounts from ASPI directly. Onetwothreeip (talk) 04:00, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- While I appreciate you acknowledging that it failed verification "In August 2021, ASPI was criticised by Michael West Media contributor Marcus Reubenstein for removing criticism from its Wikipedia article, and the use of "sockpuppet" accounts.” doesn’t work any better, Reubenstein doesn’t say that ASPI used sockpupper accounts. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 04:04, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- @Onetwothreeip: The source also doesn’t say "for the use of "sockpuppet" accounts on its Wikipedia article.” That isn’t any better. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 21:33, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
Please stop lying, I've not once acknowledged anything about "failed verification". The source does criticise the use of sockpuppet accounts.
Onetwothreeip (
talk) 23:06, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
- No it doesn’t, the source doesn't say that ASPI used sock puppets. If you disagree then we need to see some diffs. Also note that this is a WP:BLP because you invoke the author. I’m sorry if I misinterpreted you but WP:PA are not welcome. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 00:22, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- The text doesn't say ASPI used sockpuppets. Onetwothreeip (talk) 06:25, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- So which of us has been lying then? Because you’ve been inserting text which says that ASPI used sockpuppets since the 22nd of August . Thats a long time to edit war over something you apparently know isn’t true? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:03, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- That's not the current text. Onetwothreeip (talk) 22:56, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- We aren’t talking about the current text... We’re talking about the text you spent more than two weeks edit warring back onto the page... The text which had to be replaced by the current text because it failed WP:V aka it failed verification. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 00:02, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
- I'm talking about the current text, because that is what the talk page is for. I have progressively changed the current text and have reverted attempts to remove parts of the article. Onetwothreeip (talk) 00:20, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
- So we are in agreement that the current text is (reliability concerns aside) verifiable and the text which you repeatedly reverted and edited onto the page was not? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 00:26, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
- I have no intention of changing the article text for now. Onetwothreeip (talk) 00:35, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
This seems pretty undue, given that this accusation has received no coverage of comment from other outlets. Hemiauchenia (talk) 06:00, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- Given that the source is a reliable source, I don't see why that matters. Out of interest, what brought you to this discussion? Nick-D (talk) 07:05, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- We don’t appear to have a consensus on reliability so you would appear to be begging the question. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:59, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
- @Horse Eye's Back:
removing this material yet again on the grounds that you now reckon that it's a BLP violation is absurd and well and truly disruptive editing. No people are named or even vaguely identified in the article and the content that was added to this article reflected the source accurately - including by noting that it was criticism from a journalist rather than an undisputed fact, so there are no BLP issues. This kind of bad faith editing is really unhelpful - accusations of BLP violations should not be thrown around like this. Nick-D (talk) 00:57, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- Actually, on closer reading I see your point - the text does go beyond the source. Please accept my apologies for the above, which I've struck (I think that this is a WP:V issue rather than a BLP issue though). I think that this can be resolved by re-wording the material, which I'll do now. I'd also posted notifications at WT:AUSTRALIA and WT:MILHIST (as the two most relevant projects) seeking extra input per WP:DR. Nick-D (talk) 01:10, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- Thank you so much... I was starting to think I was going crazy or missing something massive in the article... Horse Eye's Back (talk) 01:19, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- It has no broader coverage, the source is not of sufficient quality to give notability to any claim it posts, and the particular person concerned has zero notability of their own. This sort of thing reeks of promotionalism by wannabe internet personalities. The Drover's Wife (talk) 07:48, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
- The source is reliable so this should have a minimal mention in the article. Onetwothreeip (talk) 22:57, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
@Onetwothreeip: you failed to get consensus on reliability at RSN and you’ve failed to get consensus for inclusion on this talk page, its over. Stop edit warring the content back onto the page. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 02:58, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- I didn't start any discussion on the reliable sources noticeboard, that is what you did. If consensus for your proposal wasn't reached there, whatever that may be, I have little to do with it other than being one of the participants. The text for the Michael West Media news article has evolved and has been altered many times, and has settled on strong wording which hasn't been contested. Onetwothreeip (talk) 03:32, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- Dude... If you don’t have consensus thats is a reliable source and you don’t have consensus on this talk page to include it then it can’t be included... The entire inclusion has been challenged, not just the wording... And you have no consensus for inclusion.Horse Eye's Back (talk) 03:58, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- There has been extensive discussion which has resulted in consensus to include the text, and there has been extensive scrutiny on the text which I welcome. Your claims that the source is unreliable are unfounded, and there is certainly no consensus for that claim. Michael West Media has a prominent readership, and has been relied upon by The New Daily and The Guardian. If you want to challenge the inclusion of the text, you need to start with a reason other than you don't like it. Onetwothreeip (talk) 04:16, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- Where are you seeing a consensus to include the text? I also don’t dislike the source, it just isn’t reliable. Also just FYI I don’t need a consensus not to include or thats its unreliable... Its you who needs to get consensus per WP:BURDEN and WP:ONUS. If no consensus is achieved then the disputed text is not included. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 04:19, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- This talk page and the article history. No other source used in this article has been established to be reliable, so it's blatantly incorrect that anybody has to show a source is reliable before it can be used. Nonetheless, it has been shown thoroughly here and elsewhere that the source is reliable. If you wish to dispute the text based on what is written, then you should do so. Onetwothreeip (talk) 05:10, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- You’re talking WP:IDHT to new levels... You can’t point to a consensus of reliability and you must know that. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:34, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- The consensus is very apparent with even a brief reading of this talk page. Onetwothreeip (talk) 03:34, 26 September 2021 (UTC)
After reading the article, having never heard of MichaelWestMedia before encountering them in the context of their piece ASPI, I'm not sure that I trust them to do accurate reporting on Wikipedia. They seem to have misreported the suspected sockmaster of Telsho, described the talk page as an open forum page
, and engages in some spinning that would have a reader believe that C-class articles are the worst articles that have been established on Wikipedia. While journalists get details wrong at times, these are basic things that are used in the MWM article that probably should have been caught before it went to print. (The misreporting of the sockmaster of Telsho is particularly egregious, as it's really easy to click on their user page and see whom their sockmaster is suspected by the community to be, and you don't need all that much knowledge of Wikipedia policy to be able to do that. And, the company should probably issue a correction when a basic mistake-of-fact is discovered, which does not appear to have yet been done in this case.) Additionally, while past journalistic experience certainly does provide some reason to believe that a newer source may be reliable, it's also the case that journalists going their own way sometimes doesn't quite work out as far as reliability is concerned—The Grayzone (RSP entry) is one such case. And, when the MWM article itself was brought up at WP:RSN, it seems that editors were split between considering whether the article was opinion content, the reliability of MichaelWestMedia itself, and/or the implications of the publisher's reliability for inclusion in the article in light of WP:WEIGHT. It may be worthwhile to start an RfC on the content's inclusion, so as to bring a more formal method of determining where community consensus lies. It seems like there's still fundamental disagreement as to the reliability of the source, so an RfC on RSN might also help in resolving that. — Mikehawk10 (talk) 06:07, 25 September 2021 (UTC)
- As this material has been stable for weeks, I've just restored it per WP:BRD. Endless slow paced edit wars are tedious. Nick-D (talk) 06:33, 25 September 2021 (UTC)
- I don't think that a reading of the page history would result in this content being deemed "stable"; it's been contested on this talk page the whole time, while no consensus was ever achieved to insert it. — Mikehawk10 (talk) 01:40, 26 September 2021 (UTC)
- You have repeatedly referred to there being multiple errors in the Michael West Media article by Marcus Reubenstein, but you have only specified that an error was made in reporting a sockpuppet account user. This would be a problem if we were using the MWM article to identify the sockpuppet account user in this Wikipedia article, but we are not. You are entitled to think that Reubenstein should have made changes to the article he wrote, but that is simply irrelevant to this discussion, which is about content in the Wikipedia article. The issues you have with the MWM article are irrelevant here as they have nothing to do with what is written in this Wikipedia article. Onetwothreeip (talk) 03:47, 26 September 2021 (UTC)
Note: I've opened up an RfC regarding this on the Neutral Point-of-View noticeboard regarding this, which you can find here.— Mikehawk10 (talk) 01:40, 26 September 2021 (UTC)
- "ASPI has also been criticised by John Menadue, Geoff Raby and Jordan Shanks.[3][19]" You're fighting an uphill battle here, Mike. This article needs a lot more attention or it will end up looking like it was co-authored by Paul Keating and Wang Xining. Cjhard (talk) 04:05, 30 September 2021 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.