Hold your horses

Close paraphrasing in Mamman Sani

Hey Hold your horses, just wanted to request that you check over the Mamman Sani article you wrote earlier this year. I stumbled upon some close paraphrasing at best, plagarism at worst. I'll work a bit more, but I could use some help. In the future, please do not copy phrases from outside sources. Thank you. Crunchydillpickle🥒 (talk) 20:50, 22 July 2023 (UTC)

Hey @Crunchydillpickle, thanks for getting in touch about this. I will take another look at the article. I remember there being certain very basic, factual sentences like: "Mamman Sani was born in X", and things like that, which seemed like if I rephrased them it would just make the article read weirdly. Definitely curious to see the specific examples you've found that warrant your paraphrasing/plagiarism concerns. Hold your horses (talk) 13:59, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

Hi, I'm not concerned with basic sentences like "Mamman Sani was born in X." Here are three examples that I'd call plagiarism.

You wrote: “Mamman came from a privileged family: his maternal grandfather was a chief in Ghana, and his paternal grandfather was a Colonel in the first World War.” The source you cited says “He came from a privileged place in Niger society – his maternal grandfather was a chief in Ghana, his paternal grandfather a Colonel in the first World War”

You wrote: “During a UNESCO meeting, a delegate from Rwanda brought an Italian Orla electronic organ. Mamman was captivated by the sound, and convinced him to sell it.” The source you cited says “During one of the UNESCO meetings, a delegate from Rwanda had brought along his Italian “Orlo” organ. Mamman was captivated by the sound and convinced him to sell it.”

You wrote: “In coordination with the Minister of Culture, the album was released in a limited series of cassettes showcasing modern Niger music.” The source you cited says: “In coordination with the Minister of Culture, the album was released in a limited series of cassettes showcasing modern Niger music.“

Thanks and please be more mindful of this in future edits! Crunchydillpickle🥒 (talk) 16:38, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

@Crunchydillpickle thanks so much for these examples. If you have time to help me understand how to handle paraphrasing/plagiarism a bit further, I'm curious:

1) With regards to the first example, there are two simple, factual phrases: "his maternal grandfather was [profession]", and "his paternal grandfather was [profession]"

How are you deciding that those phrases need to be rewritten, but something like "[person] was born in [place]" does not?

2) Let's just say for a second that the phrasing, and repeated structure of: "maternal grandfather profession, paternal grandfather profession", is more simple to understand for people reading the article. Should I instead just quote those sentences from the source, such that the article might read more clearly? And relatedly, how do you decide how much to directly quote from the sources, and how much to re-write? Could an article theoretically be composed entirely of quotes, if they were strung together in such a way that it read very clearly?

Thanks again! Hold your horses (talk) 19:46, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

Are you asking me what plagiarism is? I mean, sometimes it's a fuzzy "I know it when I see it" scenario but your case is, to me, very clearly past the line. Instead of sharing my subjective thoughts about your specific scenario, I'll point you to some more thorough explanations. All these links are easily find-able with a two minute search or a scroll through Wikipedia:Copyright_violations#Resources — so next time, you can find them on your own :)

• Signpost dispatch on plagiarism with examples of close paraphrasing
• Wikipedia:Close_paraphrasing, an explanatory essay with a section called "When there are a limited number of ways to say the same thing"
• Earwig's Copyvio Detector, a handy tool that many Wikipedians have bookmarked. Run your stuff through here next time you're on the fence
• Copyright-related noticeboards
• "Can I copy it if I change the text a little bit?"

Thanks and good luck. Crunchydillpickle🥒 (talk) 20:06, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

Concern regarding Draft:Philip Lintilhac

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Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia. FireflyBot (talk) 19:09, 17 September 2023 (UTC)