Talk:Tim Patterson

This article was nominated for deletion on 3 October 2022. The result of the discussion was keep.

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There are also lots of incorrect biographical data put on this page, in particular, someone claiming that Dr. Patterson is an American, born in Calais, Maine, in 1969. None of these are correct. Dr. Patterson has tried to update and correct this page, only to have it reverted by someone else. At some point, Wikipedia should consider contacting Carleton University or Dr. Patterson directly, or put a lock on this page to stop the blatantly false information being posted on the page. The science stuff is one thing, but getting basic biographical information incorrect (and it being put there on purpose) really degrades the quality of this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.164.187.115 (talk) 03:24, 5 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are all sorts of claims in this article that are unsourced. I'm hesitant to remove everything but this page is in pretty bad shape. The "Research" section is particularly bad. --El Brodeur (talk) 18:50, 13 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Section = 109 BLP articles labelled "Climate Change Deniers" all at once. This article was placed in a "climate change deniers" category. After discussion on WP:BLPN and WP:CFD the category was deleted. Peter Gulutzan (talk) 17:14, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Wikipedia articles are supposed to be based on secondary, reliable sources that are independent of the subject, not sources that the subject or his employer wrote. Do these sources exist? I'm wondering if Patterson qualifies for a standalone article under either the notability guideline for general biographies or the notability guideline for professors. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 16:55, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I did a search in the Canadian Newsstand database and found one source that would qualify: The End is Not Near; Tim Patterson is one of few scientists who doesn't believe humans are warming the climate.' The Ottawa Citizen; Ottawa, Ont. [Ottawa, Ont]. 16 Sep 2007: B4. Our notability guidelines require multiple such sources, so I will propose that this article be deleted. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 05:24, 2 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This article has a long history of being edited by WP:Single-purpose accounts. From the page history statistics, the top editors to this page include the following pro-Patterson SPAs:

1. Nigrummortem (talk · contribs)
2. Neogloboquadrina (talk · contribs)
3. Abditodentrix (talk · contribs)
4. 79.10.106.132 (talk · contribs)
5. 72.139.27.11 (talk · contribs)
6. User:Borneobobster (talk · contribs)
7. Deep Climate (talk · contribs)

Some of these have been used to downplay Patterson's association with climate denial, e.g. [1]

All contributors to Wikipedia are expected to follow WP:Conflict of interest guidelines. If you have a close connection to Patterson, please propose changes on the Talk page rather than editing the article directly. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 15:15, 23 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Neogloboquadrina, you have re-instated whitewashing and redwashing.[2] Please revert yourself. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 15:46, 23 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I see that after my comment above and being warned about COI on your Talk page, you've continued to edit the article directly. I have tagged the article as autobiographical. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 16:06, 23 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This page is in dire need of an update. About the latest reference that I could find to Patterson and climate activism in a google search dates from about the time of the National Post article. In the 15 years since that article was published he seems to have moved on. The information added in the proposed Climate and Environment section is publicly available in the peer-reviewed literature and has received extensive media coverage. Correcting a typo in an article does not seem to be constitute tampering. Why would having up-to-date knowledge of the research of Patterson be considered autobiographical? Neogloboquadrina (talk) 21:35, 23 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If Patterson were to make a public statement about his current views on the cause of climate change, we could include that statement. We could consider giving more weight to his current views than his past views. When an article has been mostly written by users who write almost exclusively about one person and nothing else, and when some of those users also remove the unflattering content added by other people, at Wikipedia we call that an autobiography. These users might not actually be Tim Patterson, but for Wikipedia's purposes it doesn't matter. If a biography is written by people close to the subject rather than by independent people, it's an autobiography. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 22:04, 23 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Neogloboquadrina you removed the following content.[3] Please either put it back or explain yourself on this Talk page. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 16:58, 23 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

"Patterson has publicly criticized the concept that burning fossil fuels causes global warming.^[1] He has promoted the view that changes in the Earth's climate are influenced less by carbon dioxide than by solar cycles, changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun, and cosmic rays.^[1] Patterson is associated with the Heartland Institute, an American climate denial organization.^[2]"