Talk:Tony De Nonno

Conflict with Article Subject

Hello, Wikipedians. I think I should set the record straight with the article on Tony De Nonno. It's the only article, so far, I've put a lot of effort into, but it hasn't brought any happy returns.

I was asked by De Nonno himself in January 2017 to write and research the article for him, considering his extensive body of work. He offered to pay me for my services and I thought: "he's paying me to research him and base the Wikipedia article on what relevant articles I find. Not bad, right?" From the get go, I felt that it was a lost cause. My personal dealings with him have given me the impression that he's very defensive about himself at any chance he gets. I essentially told him: "if this turns into a self-serving hagiography, then I quit. You can keep the money." The first draft of the article I had published on January 8, 2017 was met with De Nonno being defensive, saying that "there's a lot more sources about me." At that time, I couldn't find any backing or citation for the reviews of his films listed on his website. De Nonno even went as far as asking me to delete the whole article and start again from scratch; I tried to do so, albeit improperly, thinking it could be started over. I abandoned my efforts with the article, thinking it wasn't worth it.

De Nonno and I had not spoken with each other until July 5, 2018, positioning me to resume my efforts. After some chit-chat and pay negotiations, we agreed that I'd research and write the article more extensively with a larger collection of resources at hand. Most of the work on De Nonno's Wikipedia page had been completed this past week: July 12-13. In e-mail correspondence, De Nonno had stated that his written entries on Folkstreams were collected from various newspaper interviews, despite there being no citation to any sources on that page. The situation had mostly been the same as before: I'd write the article with what resources I believed were best, De Nonno would review my work and say that there were "holes" to be fixed, not specifying or giving credence as to where those "holes" were.

The breaking point was in the only review of his work I could find: a negative one on De Nonno's Heaven Touches Brooklyn In July from Joseph Sciorra, Ph.D., Director for Academic and Cultural Programs at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College. Sciorra's review was published in 2004 as part of the Journal of American Folklore, lambasting De Nonno's work over numerous inaccuracies, what Sciorra described as "poor scholarship." In speaking with De Nonno earlier today, July 14, he had asked me to remove any mention of this review, citing personal disagreements between him and Sciorra. I refused as it was the only review of his work I could substantiate online. The most I could find with his quoted positive reviews were on his website, in a gallery of his work available for purchase. I had researched where some of these people had been quoted from, such as Richard Fliegel of USC Dornsife and Fred Gardraphe of Queens College, but there were no mentions of them commending De Nonno on any other website, nor could I find any mention of Pauline Kael commending his work, which set this whole conflict in motion. De Nonno has maintained that he has stored numerous newspaper and magazine articles on him over the decades, but not one of them could be found online.

Finding no way to properly remedy the situation with him, I've decided to cut ties with De Nonno and discontinue my work on this article. Personally, I believe De Nonno has not exercised enough caution throughout his career to warrant the exhaustive research he desires for this article. While his work exists and I do commend him for having the long career he's had, his attitude makes me believe he wants this article to be a tribute to him rather than a neutral, informational work. I believe that Joseph Sciorra's aforementioned review, which called his film "extremely problematic and ultimately dishonest," has done more to shape my perception of Mr. De Nonno than any ten other articles mentioning him that I've seen or been recommended to.

I apologize to the Wikipedian body if my decision at first conflicted with any policies regarding neutrality. To date, I have received no remuneration from Mr. De Nonno or anyone related to De Nonno Productions.

MysticEclectic (talk) 18:51, 14 July 2018 (UTC)