Talk:Eric Francis (journalist)

Cusp of Eric Francis disambiguation page?

This article is about this Eric Francis.

The book The Dartmouth Murders (ISBN 0312982313) was written by a different Eric Francis.

Keesiewonder ^talk 11:10, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• It's not wholly clear cut yet. Notice that the one was manually generated by its subject, and the other was machine-generated, from references that include the manually-generated one's book. They could yet be one and the same. Uncle G 11:33, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Agreed ... which is why I didn't set up the disambiguation yet ... I'll keep looking ... Keesiewonder ^talk 11:36, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
• This is Eric Francis Coppolino, a/k/a Eric Francis, checking in from New York State - with some notes. I am the subject of the Wiki page this Talk is attached to. There are at least two people called Eric Francis who are photographers (one is a wedding photog; there is also an accident simulation guy), and a few who are journalists (one is the Dartmouth guy and then there is a sports writer in Calgary). We have pretty distinct careers. 68.237.178.201 14:11, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
  • You can help us, M. Francis, by giving us some sources, i.e. biographies of you written by other people. Sources are the way to sort this out. Wikipedia articles are required to be based upon them. With sources, documenting who you are, your career can be disentangled from those of other people. Without sources, we cannot justify even having an article in the first place. Uncle G 15:24, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Thanks, M. Francis/68.237.178.201. That is a step toward confirming my post that starts this page is correct, right? I'm looking forward to the materials Uncle G has asked you for. --Keesiewonder ^talk 16:50, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

• • Hi ladies/gents. This article is accurate, and reasonably thorough. It appears many valid references are listed as off-site links rather than as proper footnotes.

Other materials are available, some of which are referenced. The New York Times has done two pieces on my investigative reporting and litigation against the State of New York. They were published in 1992 and 1994, both by Michael Winerip. They were written about "Eric F. Coppolino," my legal name and then by-line. In addition, a Dow Jones paper called the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, NY did a series of articles on the same subject between 1993 and 1994, all of which establish my investigative reporting track record on PCBs and organochlorines. Both appeared on page B-1. Last summer, The Wall Street Journal published a front-page article on the reclassification of Pluto that identifies me as a minor planet specialist and as publisher of Planet Waves. I republished that here; it can be easily authenticated:

http://www.planetwaves.net/contents/wsj.html

A newspaper on Vashon Island, Washington documents my career as an astrologer, in an article published around 2001. I would need to get you a cite reference on that. My only copy is actually on the island.

In terms of older information, a 1990 article by the Associated Press written by David Bauder identifes me as the founder and publisher of Student Leader News Service (SLNS). Bauder's article is on the history of the news service. That, too is searchable, though it predates the Net, and may be able to obtain a copy. I happen to be in possession of some of my archives, including one edition of SLNS, which has a masthead. In addition, the New York Times articles both reference SLNS, including information that dates the years the service was in operation (1989-1992).

I happen to be in the New York area and many of my archives are stored in my father's basement - I can retrieve other materials as well. I hope this helps get you started.66.108.53.91 02:29, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

PS, Here is an older interview about the origins of my astrology career. The reprint is hosted on my server, as The Mining Co. is out of business, but the Snip URL below at least verifies that the author did in fact cover astrology for The Mining Co.

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/resources/starnavigator/geewhiz.html

-- Eric Francis Coppolino66.108.53.91 02:45, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

• Thank you. Those are exactly the sort of things that we need, although precise dates, titles, publications, and bylines are always best for locating articles. This is a volunteer, collaborative, project, of course. So don't expect immediate changes. However, you have yourself just done a small bit of collaborative Wikipedia editing, finding some sources, which work other editors can in turn build upon. Uncle G 03:13, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

• Thanks back. I've asked for some help from my staff and others who may have these cuttings and references. My career is pretty well documented by the mainstream press, even though I've spent a lot of time off to the side.
  • Excellent; I would like to distinguish this Eric Francis from the author of ISBN 0312982313 with a disambiguation page (or whatever's best). I'm convinced the one in dialog with us here is not the author of The Dartmouth Murders. My original goal was to prevent folks from linking to this article from the "AP" articles. Good to go, Uncle G? Keesiewonder ^talk 09:16, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
    • You don't need my permission to be bold. ☺ I'm simply another editor. What title should we give to this article, do you think? Eric Francis Coppolino? Eric Francis (journalist)? Eric Francis (astrologer)? Eric Francis (journalist and astrologer)? (I think that neither the second nor the third are good choices.) And do we have enough sources for writing the other article? (If we don't actually have two articles, we don't have a reason to disambiguate between them.) Uncle G 11:18, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
      • You are right; I could be more bold and generally am, thus getting myself in trouble. Maybe that's in real life, though, and not in the Wikiworld. This one could be, Eric Francis Coppolino as you suggest, or Eric Francis (Coppolino) if it is not too unconventional a name for a WP article. This one could also be Eric Francis (investigative reporter) with the other one being Eric Francis (freelance writer) or Eric Francis (journalist) ... but I don't really like that approach since I don't want to be implying any kind of comparison between the two EFs in their article name. I'll work on digging up some material on the other EF as you're right that we don't have much of anything on him yet ... Keesiewonder ^talk 11:33, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
      • If I may chime in on this discussion: I am not really any one thing; neither "astrologer" or "[some kind of] reporter" would say much because I am just as much a photographer and publisher, nor would it do that much to disambiguate me from the others, since there are several overlaps (which is why I started using my full name again). But I am uniquely my name -- still legally Eric Francis Coppolino, listed as such on the Planet Waves masthead. "Eric Francis" is an abbreviation of my name that I've used since the early 1980s to disginguish my astrology, artwork and poetry from my more conventinoal journalism and editing. However, that distinction has grown pointless and even confusing, as we can see, but I was not ever expecting to have an encyclopedia listing debated. Thankfully it's not the Conservapedia.66.108.53.91 12:58, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
        • What we're discussing is not an article summary, but what disambiguator to use. The tension is between making the disambiguator short, and making it not conflict with other potential disambiguators. You've made a good case for not using disambiguators at all and going for Eric Francis Coppolino instead. Uncle G 13:46, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

The other Eric Francis

A start ... Search for ISBN 978-0312982317 on Amazon, opt to search inside the book, search for the word "border," and you'll see a mini-bio under the link "from Back Matter." It isn't really anything more than we've already seen ... but is a start ... I'll find more. Keesiewonder ^talk 10:00, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

mentioning me as a source for ephemeris

I just want to confirm, that it is true that Eric visited me (Robert von Heeren) in Germany and got some of my ephemerides about 1992 QB1 and Pholus. the Pholus ephemeris is also included in a German book "Pholus, Wandler zwischen Saturn and Neptun", Chiron Verlag Tübignen, for which I and Dieter Koch are the authors. Maybe this helps here for verification. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pianorob (talk • contribs) 08:45, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

Not notable

No way. Moreover, it does seem possible that the subject had a hand in creating this article. He certainly comments freely here on talk page.

I suppose there's little actual harm being done here. Other than Wikipedia being used for an 'astrologer's" vanity project.

35.8.219.234 (talk) 23:14, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Not seeing much in the way of notability here. Does anyone have any support for notability? - - MrBill3 (talk) 11:45, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

No personal life info? And why would an astrologer hide his actual birth date? Does he have something to hide? Most astrologers freely post their birth dates. Just wondering.:::: Linda Bree (talk) 07:47, 3 February 2015 (UTC) Linda Bree

I also concur that this subject not suitably notable for Wiki. I checked in to correct claims that the subject was writing for publications that do not employ him. Find this whole page odd and concur that this was likely created by the subject himself as many, many other astrologers and writers of substantial note or record simply do not have wiki pages. Also, there is a lack of supporting info as to claims of being an investigative reporter that does not come from web sources directly created or owned by the subject himself. LeeBarretti (talk) 17:36, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Although Francis may not be widely known beyond the Hudson Valley, a counterpoint to the above comments is that his sexual misconduct scandals have increased his notoriety in the region. In 2018, the Kingston Times wrote a two-part story about Francis and his alleged improprieties; a freelance journalist within the region also referred to Francis as the Harvey Weinstein of the Hudson Valley. Query whether one can be likened to famed producer Harvey Weinstein without some degree of notoriety himself. In fact, some of the reporting in the Kingston Times story explains how Francis used his reputation within the astrology community to prey on his alleged victims.

So much Promo Cruft

I'm afraid that this person is actually notable. [1] But the article is a total mess. It should be two or three paragraphs. Right now it is a nightmare of promo cruft. --Theredproject (talk) 02:37, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 July 2018

Additional source in the #MeToo Allegations section: https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2018/07/20/controversy-over-local-astrologer-brings-metoo-movement-home-to-ulster/ Killalillah (talk) 16:51, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

 Done Danski454 (talk) 10:13, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 22 July 2018

Requested Changes:

Please remove "New York Daily News" as employer.

Please update "#MeToo allegations and dismissal" section to "#MeToo allegations and dismissals" (plural), as there have been multiple dismissals, which he has shared on his web site.

Please add the following sentence to the #MeToo section:

"Other media outlets and organizations to dismiss Coppolino in 2018 include Radio Kingston, New York Daily News, and Omega Institute for Holistic Studies."

Reason:

Subject is no longer employed by New York Daily News.

If you review the history of http://www.nydailynews.com/horoscopes/ on the Internet Archive, you will see they replaced his long tenure between July 17th 2018 and July 21st 2018.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180717201348/http://www.nydailynews.com/horoscopes/

The additional dismissals can be verified on his own web site: http://ericfrancis.com/wicked-game.html

Thank you!

2604:2000:2707:3900:E5E6:4DC0:8BA1:2CFF (talk) 00:09, 23 July 2018 (UTC) 2604:2000:2707:3900:E5E6:4DC0:8BA1:2CFF (talk) 00:09, 23 July 2018 (UTC)

 Partly done: I've made the title of the section plural. Also, I've mentioned Radio Kingston and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies as part of Killalillah's July 30 edit request. However, I didn't make any changes regarding the New York Daily News because the link you provided to his website doesn't explicitly mention that Francis ended his employment there. Using the horoscopes section to infer his departure would be original research, which is prohibited by Wikipedia's policy. If you can find a reliable source that directly documents Francis's departure from the New York Daily News, I'll gladly make this change. — Newslinger talk 21:58, 3 August 2018 (UTC)

QUESTION

What is "metoo" allegation? Can someone be alleged to "metoo"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Psycherotica (talk • contribs) 02:31, 6 June 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 30 July 2018

In 2018, after an internal investigation involving multiple #MeToo allegations, Chronogram severed ties with Francis. The astrologer was let go from his positions at Omega Institute and Radio Kingston in the same time period. [4][8][9][10] Editorial director Brian K. Mahoney published a statement in the July 2018 issue. Kingston Times Reporter Jesse Smith covered the allegations and dismissals in a two-part article in July 2018.

https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2018/07/20/controversy-over-local-astrologer-brings-metoo-movement-home-to-ulster/

https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2018/07/28/bad-moon-rising-part-2-sex-positive-feminism-or-sexual-misconduct-and-manipulation/ Killalillah (talk) 14:30, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

 Done​ — Newslinger talk 21:50, 3 August 2018 (UTC)

==

July 2018 rewrites to this page violate NPOV. There is no basis to compare this person to Harvey Weinstein. An editor removed the fact that he was accused of asking to pet a dog. There are people editing this page who are attempting to take sides on the issue. That specifically violates NPOV. Additionally, Kingston Times is not a reliable source. Its various claims have been corroborated nowhere. Nobody else would touch this story for fear of litigation.

Someone should take note of this article that challenges BLPs and NPOV. This page has serious problems, as do the sources being used. Additionally, no secondary source has published the RESULTS of the investigation, though articles by the subject, cited as references, do.

https://medium.com/@ericfranciscoppolino/hey-wikipedia-about-your-biographical-guidelines-c1c167561ab1

Semi-protected edit request on 30 July 2018

Change Employer section from "Planet Waves, Inc., New York Daily News" to Employer "Planet Waves, Inc."

Reason: Eric Francis was laid off from the New York Daily News in July 2018. https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/new-york-daily-news-layoffs-50-percent-1202880868/ Killalillah (talk) 14:38, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

 Not done: @Killalillah: The Variety article doesn't mention Eric Francis. If you have a source that specifically says Eric Francis is no longer working at the New York Daily News, I'll be happy to make the change. — Newslinger talk 07:02, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• Kingston-times-2018-07-19.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:51, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

Removing sourced material

We have an editor who is removed sourced material stating that it is libelous. The editor has been reverted multiple times. As this is sourced information this appears to be whitewashing.--VViking_TalkEdits 15:15, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

Removing libelous links

Several of the articles cited are libelous, on their face. Additionally, from what I have read, Coppolino was let go from the Daily News the day that it was taken over by Tronc/Tribune. In fact his coverage of the MeToo movement begins IN the daily news as he was the first male survivor to come out publicly. It is probable that the whole MeToo scene was retaliatory and that should be included in the article. As it stands now, the article sides with who or whatever "metoo" is and does not even quote his articles on the issue — Preceding unsigned comment added by Psycherotica (talk • contribs) 02:34, 6 June 2023 (UTC)