Talk:Texas A&M Foundation

Citing and POV

I've removed quite a few comments from this article that are uncited and not of a neutral point of view. There are probably more that need to be removed. We absolutely must have a specific citation to any statement that boasts an opinion. For example, we cannot just say that something is "critical" - we must instead say that "so-and-so says", or at the very least provide an inline citation to prove that statement. Otherwise, it comes across as being a biased article. This guideline on citing sources might be helpful. Karanacs (talk) 20:16, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

I've also just restored citation needed tags to several statistics. Statistics need to be cited inline (at the sentence) so that they can be verified. Please don't remove the tags until the facts can be cited in the sentence. Karanacs (talk) 20:18, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Karanacsw: -- sorry about the citations issues. The person who created the Texas A&M Foundation information has quit, and I was asked to re-examine the information. I was just trying to shorten and streamline. Many of our statistics come from our annual report (current one, with cumulative disbursement information is being printed; it will be posted at our Web site and we have an independent auditor who verifies all of our financial data). I will work to determine how to cite it the way it needs to be done. In the meantime, I am looking over the Wikipedia rules in an effort to understand them better ... I would just like to get all of the Texas A&M Foundation acceptable and keep it in Wikipedia, but knowing that we are up for "speedy deletion" worries me. I believe we can get "critical" attributed to either Dr. Ed Davis (Foundation president) or Dr. Elsa Murano (Texas A&M president). Is there a way to just call and talk to get this squared away? The Texas A&M Foundation is "the" academic fundraising organization for A&M ... that's absolutely objective, so I think it's just a matter of getting the descriptive information acceptable to you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Foundationperson (talk • contribs) 16:54, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

The article is not currently up for deletion, so you don't have to worry too much yet! It really, really needs to cite sources that are outside of A&M, though, or it could be nominated for deletion. The reliable sources guideline likes sources to be completely independent; self-published sources (like those from the Foundation itself) should be used very sparingly, and quotes from the university and its administrators are not likely enough to show notability. If you can find newspaper or magazine articles that discuss the foundation, that would be the very best. Karanacs (talk) 17:25, 15 January 2009 (UTC)