Talk:William Bulger

message: When editing a page, please use the Show Preview button so that we don't have twenty edits spaced a minute apart. Irish Hermit 03:32, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edits 

message: To get more information on Bulger, here are some basic sources:
*Biography of William Bulger posted on the official website of the  University of Massachusetts Boston Public Library
*Biography of William Bulger posted on the official website of the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston.]
*"Despite travails of last year, 400 honor Bulger at 70th bash," Boston Globe article, March 13, 2003
*Associated Press story, May 17, 2003
*"FBI used killers as informants" New York Times article, November 21, 2003
*"Families want to hear Bulger testimony" Associated Press story in the Oakland Tribune,  Apr 13, 2003
Noroton 00:34, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The first link goes to a webpage of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Public Library, not the University of Massachusetts.  See amended "External links" section.  Previously, this link was mis-identified.  "Bpl"=Boston Public Library. --NYScholar 01:19, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Basic information sources

message: Has anyone else noticed this article is, um, absurdly positive?  Apparently everything he ever did was awesome, except concealing the whereabouts of his brother.  And his rise to power is, of course, not due in any way to his connection with organized crime.  On the other hand, he's on the board of Citizen's Bank!  Funny, I always wondered how they got those ads on the fastlanes.
*I've tried to add a bit more information. I think the article has both positive and negative info in it now.Noroton 02:45, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: About positive and negative information

message: I may have been remiss in my reading of the paragraph that included the sentence
: His younger brother John "Jackie" Bulger was convicted in April 2003 of perjuring himself to two grand juries regarding testimony he had given about contact he'd had with Whitey.
when i came away believing Billy was convicted. But i was set up for it; that sentence has no legitimate role in the paragraph as it stood.  The third brother only belongs in the same paragraph when his connection to the resignation and/or investigation is clearly stated.--Jerzy•t 07:02, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  3rd brother 

message: I apologize but this article is a hatchet job and ask others for their opinion. William Bulger was a State Representative for nine years, State Senator for 26 years of which he was Senate President for 18 years. He has received 21 honorary degrees and served as President of the Boston Public Library Board of Trustees, this nation's first public library. Does Osama bin Laden's name really need to be in the first paragraph? Half the article is about his brother who already has his own. This should be reduced to one section of William Bulger's article. I just ask that others judge for themselves. --Costoa 02:57, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I made most of those changes after seeing an version of the article that (to use inflammatory language equivalent to "hatchet job") could be fairly described as a "white wash." The scandal was enormous -- involving a compromised FBI agent now in prison and a gangster who appeared to be given (by the local FBI) a pass to kill. That the gangster was still connected to his powerful brother, even to the extent of the brother pushing for a high law-enforcement job for one of the gangster's accomplices, makes it utterly enormous. I left his two top jobs at the top of the article, but raised the mention of the scandal as high as it was worth -- very, very high. I would have put it at the very top if Billy Bulger were charged, arrested and convicted. I don't know all the details or Billy Bulger's exact connection, but the information I inserted is extremely important to understanding Bulger's overall legacy. I kept ALL the positive information in the article, but holding an elective or appointive office, even to the Boston Public Library Board of Trustees doesn't top trying to get a criminal appointed to a top law-enforcement position -- no how, no way.Noroton 03:38, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, I guess others might want to take the above comment in consideration of the article. William Bulger as far as I know has never been indicted. Thank you for your input. --Costoa 04:38, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  POV-check 

message: While normally not used for most biographies I propose that a section be added called "Criticism of William Bulger" where criticism of him may be layed out in an orderly fashion. Personally I would be surprised if this section was smaller than all other sections combined. --Costoa 00:17, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not sure that would work, since what's disputed here is not whether he's right or wrong or good or bad (at least that's not disputed on the surface, but I guess my suspicions aren't shared by everyone) but whether certain (so far undisputed) information is worthy of the emphasis given it. I'm going to remove the reference to Osama bin Ladin in the article, since it's not really necessary and some may think it's overly inflammatory. At some point it might be worth adding some of the quotes on this discussion page to the article.Noroton 06:01, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: As I think about it, I like your idea more, Costoa. If, instead of saying "criticism of" we had a section saying "Suspicion of" or "Questions raised about the behavior of" I think it would work. I might put some of the quotes I used on this discussion page into that article. Thanks for the suggestion.Noroton 06:09, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  New section: Criticism of  

message: This article needs many more citations to Wikipedia:Reliable Sources; it appears to be overly dependent on a single source, and thus needs corroboration from additional biographical sources.  Otherwise, it does not seem to follow WP:NPOV.  Most of the statements presented as facts in the article remain unsourced, or lacking citations; see WP:Cite. --NYScholar 01:23, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: With all the apparent controversy over Billy Bulger, no one has ever disputed whether he served in the State Senate for X years, or that he joined Boston College faculty at year Y.  If there is an actual dispute, then go ahead and put 'citation needed'.  Otherwise, basic biographical facts like Nixon ran for President in 1960 need not be tagged. Huangdi 07:00, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

text: See also W:Reliable citations: People come to Wikipedia to learn about subjects about which and whom they may not know anything.  There is no "general knowledge" about figures like this subject.  Some people have no "general knowledge" about him.  That is why they come to an encyclopedia.  Sources to "facts" are needed so that they can be verified by other Wikipedia editors and other users of the encyclopedia.  Don't remove a cleanup tag until the article is cleaned up. Bulger is hardly as well known a subject as President Nixon.  But even statements about Nixon which might have diction or emphasis that is questionable need sourcing through reliable citations and the use of multiple sources and citations when the "facts" are disputed or at all controversial.  See WP:NPOV. There is still too much dependence on the same sources and also the appearance of advertising for the source by Carr.  Wikipedia has a policy of not allowing advertisements (no ads allowed) in articles.  Some of the citations verge on ads due to the links going to ads for books. If one uses sources in writing an article, one needs to cite the source used (in notes and references list).  See also WP:NOR.  Without the citations, the information in the article is not verifiable. --NYScholar 23:59, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Added cleanup tag

message: Each statement that you draw attention to in this article is corroborated if you care to click on the reference at the end of each section.  These are, in fact, accurate contributions to an encyclopedia - not a set of legal dispositions in a court of law!  Mr Bulger's autobiography is the reference point for my inputs and if you care to refer to this you will find that everything is in order.
Duf 18:47, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: [Need for citations in] William Bulger

message: I removed the  template from the sentence about Bulger's appointment--it is common knowledge that Bulger was appointed president in 1996, that he was a Democrat, that Weld was governor in 1996, and that Weld was a Republican.  What needs citing, exactly? Chick Bowen 00:54, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: UMass citation

message: :Image:Bill Bulger.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is  other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot (talk) 04:21, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Bill Bulger.jpg

message: I hink there shold be a section on the controversy surrounding his pension. 75.67.134.245 (talk) 21:29, 18 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: U Mass pension controversy

message: This recent NY Times article says: 
It was this silence that cost William Bulger his university position 10 years ago and deepened suspicions that he knew more about his brother’s exploits than he let on. After all, William lived right next door to a house owned by one of Whitey’s partners in crime, where the gang hatched plots, stored an arsenal of weapons and even committed murder.
This seems quite significant and I'm sure there are further reliable sources to back it up if necessary. Does inclusion of a sentence about this violate WP:BLP? I don't see anything in that policy that would seem to bear on it, aside from perhaps WP:BLPCRIME, but I'm not particularly proficient with BLP issues. I'm concerned because adding this material might be seen as inferring guilt by association. Perhaps the material can be added along with curative language saying that Bill was never suspected/indicted for any crime. I welcome comments. --Dr. Fleischman (talk) 18:57, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lived next door to mob property 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on William Bulger. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232442/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02585292.htm to http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02585292.htm
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 15:40, 9 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I check pages listed in :Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of :William Bulger's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.
Reference named "Carr":
From Winter Hill Gang: Howie Carr, The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century
From Whitey Bulger: 
I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 17:26, 23 July 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Orphaned references in [[:William Bulger]]