User talk:ForayHistory

Hello ForayHistory! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Happy editing! Hipal (talk) 15:55, 10 May 2025 (UTC)[reply] Getting Started Wikipedia Tutorial • The five pillars of Wikipedia How to: edit a page • upload an image Getting Help Frequently Asked Questions Where to ask questions or make comments Request administrator attention Policies and Guidelines Neutral point of view • Reliable sources Verifiability • Citing sources • No original research What Wikipedia is not • Biographies of living persons Manual of Style • Three-revert rule • Sock puppetry Copyrights • Fair use • Image use policy External links • Spam • Vandalism Deletion policy • Conflict of interest • Notability The Community Build consensus • Resolving disputes Assume good faith • Civility • Etiquette No personal attacks • No legal threats Community Portal • Village pump Signpost • IRC channels • Mailing lists Things to do Be bold in editing • Help develop an article Pages needing attention • Peer review Join a WikiProject • Translating articles Cleaning up: General • Spam • Vandalism Miscellaneous Useful templates • Categories • Stubs User pages • Talk pages Tools • User scripts

Please help me with... Help improving draft article on Fr James Higgins SMA, MFR

Hi! I’ve created a draft article about Fr James Higgins, a Catholic missionary priest from Ireland who served in Nigeria for over 60 years. He was awarded the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) by the Nigerian government and also received a papal honour. Furthermore he authored two published books as well as featuring in other historical books. He has been reported as the longest-serving Irish missionary in Nigeria.

The draft was declined due to insufficient independent sources. I’ve included references from SMA, oral histories, and obituary notices, but would like help:

How can I strengthen the article with more reliable, independent sources?

Would adding awards (like the MFR) require a government source, and where could I find this?

What tags or templates can I use to help reviewers understand this is a historically significant religious figure?

Here’s the draft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ForayHistory/sandbox

Thanks so much for any advice! ForayHistory (talk) 02:04, 26 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there! You can strengthen the article by adding more reliable, independent sources. Adding awards does not require a government source - an independent published reliable source can be used. You don't use tags or templates to help reviewers - you use independent published reliable sources. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 03:02, 26 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi ForayHistory! I noticed that you recently made an edit at Goffs Academy and marked it as "minor", but it may not have been. "Minor edit" has a specific definition on Wikipedia: it refers only to superficial edits that could never be the subject of a dispute, such as typo corrections or reverting obvious vandalism. Any edit that changes the meaning of an article is not a minor edit, even if it only concerns a single word. Thank you. fifteen thousand two hundred twenty four (talk) 09:20, 3 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi ForayHistory. Welcome to Wikipedia. I've added a welcome message to the top of this page that gives a great deal of information about Wikipedia. I hope you find it useful.

Additionally, I hope you don't mind if I share some of my thoughts on starting out as a new editor on Wikipedia: If I could get editors in your situation to follow just one piece of advice, it would be this: Learn Wikipedia by working only on non-contentious topics until you have a feel for the normal editing process and the policies that usually come up when editing casually. You'll find editing to be fun, easy, and rewarding. The rare disputes are resolved quickly and easily in collaboration.

Working on biographical information about living persons is far more difficult. Wikipedia's Biographies of living persons policy requires strict adherence to multiple content policies, and applies to all information about living persons including talk pages.

If you have a relationship with the topics you want to edit, then you will need to review Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, which may require you to disclose your relationship and restrict your editing depending upon how you are affiliated with the subject matter. Regardless, editing in a manner that promotes an entity or viewpoint over others can appear to be detrimental to the purpose of Wikipedia and the neutrality required in articles.

Some topic areas within Wikipedia have special editing restrictions that apply to all editors. It's best to avoid these topics until you are extremely familiar with all relevant policies and guidelines.

If you work from reliable, independent sources, you shouldn't go far wrong. WP:RSP and WP:RSN are helpful in determining if a source is reliable.

If you find yourself in a disagreement with another editor, it's best to discuss the matter on the relevant talk page.

I hope you find some useful information in all this, and welcome again. --Hipal (talk) 15:55, 10 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the advice- I'm looking forward to becoming more familiar with wiki policies. ForayHistory (talk) 01:54, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]