hi btphelps the most important thing in any article on a historical person whether it is for wikipedia or an old fashioned encyclopedia is accuracy that accuracy goes beyond just the facts and dates that are presented and goes on to include any photographic images that are purported to be the individual in question recently someone who signs off as osmond phillips has been adding a large group of what are clearly phony photos represented as wild west historical figures to articles on wyatt earp john clum bat masterson mysterious dave mather luke short and billy the kid among others this osmond phillips cites robert g mccubbin the noted wild west photo authority and collector as being someone similar to how this osmond phillips would like to be viewed what makes this interesting is that my longtime friend bob mccubbin would be the very first to tell you that the entire collection submitted by osmond phillips to various wikipedia articles are not the people they are represented as without exception bob mccubbin allowed me to use a photo of ben thompson for a book of mine that was published back in bob mccubbin also provided additional photos for my biography co authored with chuck parsons the notorious luke short sporting man of the wild west osmond philips would like to portray me as someone who is not qualified to judge a phony photo alleged to be a figure from the wild west well those who are familiar with my non fiction books and articles know that i have had a concurrent career as an artist a portrait artist these portraits are noted for their photographic realism examples of my portraits were given in my series gunfighters of the real west a series of articles that appeared in real west between january and december other examples of my portrait work of wild west figures always based upon authenticated photos of wild west figures can be found in each of my seven books the fact is that you don't have to be an esteemed photo collected like bob mccubbin or a portrait artist wild west historian like myself to identify these photos from osmond phillips as fakes anyone off the street should be able to do it it each and every case by being shown an authenticated photo of the wild west person in question when placed side by side with one of the osmond phillips photos so why does osmond phillips do this i think that individual has provided the answer by claiming that they have some kind of tv show coming up on national geographic and discovery you want to talk about a conflict of interest this person isn't interested in promoting a accurate information or photos for wikipedia but is very interested in promoting a tv show and undoubtedly sales of these fake photos to gullible buyers i think time will show which one of us has the best interest of wikipedia at heart on one side you have an individual peppering wikipedia articles on wild west figures with photos that have no provenance beyond their unsupported say so most photos from that era of the photos that have been submitted bear a photographers imprint or logo along with the place that the photo was taken the photos submitted by osmond phillips most likely have these logos with the photographers address but don't expect to see them any time soon on my side you have a historian and artist who has authored books that have forewords by noted wild west historians such as joseph g rosa leon metz and rick miller i have also co authored a book with robert k dearment considered by many to be the greatest of all living wild west historians and more recently chuck parsons also a noted wild west historian and author i stand on my credentials this happens to be my th year being involved in wild west history during that time my reputation for honest and accuracy has been a constant on those occasions when i've found some errors in my earlier work i have made every attempt to correct it i stand on my record and i use my real name which is probably something osmond phillips can't claim on a final note i am very disappointed it what just happened to my updates that were being written for the existing article on billy the kid i spent a lot of time on this trying to provide a lot of missing information that other historians and students of the subject would have benefited from well someone decided to revert to a previous version which not only obliterated just about all of my work but restored the phony photos by osmond phillips i challenge anyone particularly those with an interest in billy the kid to take a look at my version which was still a work in progress that i was planning on getting to conform to the wikipedia format and style and compare it to what you have now the person who reverted this claimed that my version was unreadable i ask anyone without an agenda