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Please stay calm and civil while commenting or presenting evidence, and do not make personal attacks. Be patient when approaching solutions to any issues. If consensus is not reached, other solutions exist to draw attention and ensure that more editors mediate or comment on the dispute.

This article was nominated for deletion on 30 August 2006. The result of the discussion was Keep.

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This Sweetest Day Article Reads Like A Promotional Advertisement

The introduction is straight from the promotional websites of Retail Confectioners International, American Greetings and Hallmark. The purpose of these websites is to promote Sweetest Day. Most of the references for this page are also promotional in nature. Here are sourcing guidelines. The following statements in the article are questionable:

• Sweetest Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the Great Lakes region and parts of the Northeast United States (with Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, New York being the biggest Sweetest Day cities ) on the third Saturday in October. It is described by Retail Confectioners International as an "occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged and orphaned, but also friends, relatives and associates whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed."

• The origin of Sweetest day is frequently attributed to candy company employee Herbert Birch Kingston as an act of philanthropy.

• This tradition now largely involves giving small presents such as greeting cards, candy, and flowers to loved ones. While it is not as large or widely observed as Valentine's Day, it is still celebrated in parts of the United States, despite persistent allegations of being a Hallmark holiday.

These statements should be properly and reliably sourced, or removed from the article.

Again, American Greetings, Hallmark, Retail Confectioners International and other Sweetest Day websites are not reliable sources for facts about Sweetest Day, because they are promotional in nature.

There is plenty of sourced/factual information about Sweetest Day out there. Just look here. Miracleimpulse 07:25, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment, first off Miracleimpulse, don't blank a talk page when you add comments... it is bad form. Second, I removed the tags (I presume you added). This has already been exhaustively covered and I'm sure you will dispute this, but the section is reliably sourced. The "disputed" tag in particular was originally removed by the admin who blocked you for POV edit warring on this article diff. This article is absolutely neutral POV and is not advertising as it explicitly states the source of all statements as well as contains a section demonstrating several sources who dispute the Herbert Birch Kingston popular mythology of this day. If you disagree I strongly encourage you to submit this article for a Rfc or RfM.--Isotope23 14:15, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment Let's take these one at a time...
  • Sweetest Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the Great Lakes region and parts of the Northeast United States (with Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, New York being the biggest Sweetest Day cities) on the third Saturday in October. It is described by Retail Confectioners International as an "occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged and orphaned, but also friends, relatives and associates whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed."
    • There is plenty of sourcing on when and where the holiday is celebrated. The second statement from Retail Confectioners International is sourced and clearly attributed as well. Just because you don't agree with thier statement does not mean it should be removed from the article.
  • The origin of Sweetest day is frequently attributed to candy company employee Herbert Birch Kingston as an act of philanthropy.
    • Mr. Kingston is named as the founder of Sweetest Day on several websites. If you can find a source that specifically says he did not found Sweetest Day feel free to add it.
  • This tradition now largely involves giving small presents such as greeting cards, candy, and flowers to loved ones. While it is not as large or widely observed as Valentine's Day, it is still celebrated in parts of the United States, despite persistent allegations of being a Hallmark holiday.
    • What is wrong with this part?

--Transfinite 17:53, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Response to Isotope/Transfinite: First off, Isotope/Transfinite, I did not blank the talk page. It was archived according to Misplaced Pages guidelines . Second, this article is definitely disputed and has been for some time. No concensus has ever been reached in the discussions on these pages. Most of the references on the Sweetest day page are advertising websites which are not reliable sources for factual information. Further, these advertising websites list no primary source for the information being promoted. The article is not NPOV compliant because of these sources. Commercial sources cannot but result in commercial bias. Finally, the Herbert Birch Kingston story of the origins of Sweetest Day is not popular mythology. It is industry hype intended to deceive and sell product.

Let's take the article one line at a time:

• Sweetest Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the Great Lakes region and parts of the Northeast United States (with Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, New York being the biggest Sweetest Day cities) on the third Saturday in October. It is described by Retail Confectioners International as an "occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged and orphaned, but also friends, relatives and associates whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed."

First of all, Sweetest Day is not a holiday; it meets none of the criteria for being considered a holiday. Sweetest Day is not a holy day, nor is it set aside for observance by any nation or culture. Furthermore, Sweetest Day is not recognized by the states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois or New York as an official holiday and is not mentioned on their websites. Nor do the websites of the City of Cleveland, Detroit or Buffalo recognize Sweetest Day as an official holiday. There is an excellent reason for this: Sweetest Day is not a holiday. Sweetest Day is an annual promotional event sponsored by industry and media.

• The origin of Sweetest day is frequently attributed to candy company employee Herbert Birch Kingston as an act of philanthropy.

No primary source of information links Herbert Birch Kingston to the origins of Sweetest Day. American Greetings, Hallmark and Retail Confectioners International do not source the statements on their websites about Herbert Birch Kingston in any way. Further, news articles from The Cleveland Plain Dealer confirm that the details of Cleveland's first and second Sweetest Day promotions were arranged and planned by a committee of 12 candymakers chaired by C. C. Hartsell . The primary source information from The Cleveland Plain Dealer clearly contradicts the claims made on the websites of American Greetings, Hallmark, Retail Confectioners International, and other internet websites which promote Sweetest Day using the story of Herbert Birch Kingston. Further, the Cuyahoga Census from 1920 shows that a mortgage was in place on Mr. Kingston's home, and there is zero evidence that Mr. Kingston provided the 19,500 boxes of candy which were distributed on Cleveland's first Sweetest Day . Although the statement may be true that the origins of Sweetest Day are frequently attributed to Mr. Kingston, it by no means warrants being the lead sentence in the section entitled The Origins of Sweetest Day.

• This tradition now largely involves giving small presents such as greeting cards, candy, and flowers to loved ones. While it is not as large or widely observed as Valentine's Day, it is still celebrated in parts of the United States, despite persistent allegations of being a Hallmark holiday.

It has not been established that Sweetest Day is a tradition anywhere. The only tradtion which seems apparent about Sweetest Day is that it is an annual and somewhat deceptive promotional event sponsored by various related industries (greeting card, candy, flower, etc.) and media. This would mean that the tradition largely involves promotion of disinformation and deception of consumers into buying gift-related products. In 1937, The New York Times clearly indicated that the purpose of Sweetest Day was to exploit gift-giving by related industries .

To be continued. In the mean time, it is obvious that this article remains disputed and should remain tagged as such until some concensus can be reached, if ever. Miracleimpulse 08:26, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Comment I feel there is a consensus on the current version of the article. Consensus does not mean unanimous, it means "a general agreement among the members of a given group or community". I would also like to remind you NPOV cuts both ways. The article should not be overly sympathetic to candy/greeting card industry, but neither should it be an attack piece on those companies. If you want to "expose the real truth" about Sweetest Day, that is fine, but Misplaced Pages is not the place to do so. Write a letter to your local newspaper, or start a website. --Transfinite 18:07, 12 October 2006

• Comment and I agree with Transfinite. As the admin who originally removed the tag stated, one editor does not constitute a dispute, particularly when said editor is trying to advance a point of view agenda and is dead set on their own version of the article that is full of POV and original research. I suspect that Mediation will be the only way to ever solve this.--Isotope23 18:55, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Disputed Tag

I believe the article as-is does not need the {{disputed}} tag, since only one editor (Miracleimpulse) is disputing it, and most of the facts are either sourced or simply semantics (such as calling Sweetest Day a holiday). However, I'll post it here before I do any more reverts, so I do not run afoul of WP:3RR. --Transfinite 17:44, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment I've asked the mediation cabal to weigh in on this if they will. I hate taking something so trivial there, but an edit war isn't going to solve anything and this is simply a case of 1 editor essentially denying the consensus version of this article. Hopefully mediation can bring a fresh perspective into this.--Isotope23 19:21, 13 October 2006 (UTC)
• Comment It seems Miracleimpulse has added a {{hoax}} tag and a {{NPOV}} tag to the article, both of which has since been removed. The hoax tag is mostly for hoaxes that start on Misplaced Pages. Since this is a verfiable holiday/event/whatever, the hoax tag is inappropriate. If I were to, for example, start an article stating the second Thursday in August was Upside-Down Day that would be a hoax, should be tagged as such, and listed in AfD. Secondly, concerning the NPOV tag, I believe there is a consensus that the article is NPOV, so that tag can go as well. However, I would still welcome an outside opinion from the Mediation Cabal on if this article is really NPOV. --Transfinite 03:26, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Featured Article Nomination

Wow this article got fantastic overnight. How about a Featured Article Nomination for next Saturday? Miracleimpulse 11:00, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment stop making disruptive edits Miracleimpulse. Tacking your POV version on the end isn't a viable solution.--Isotope23 15:02, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

A comment on this whole issue...

You know, even if the whole thing started as an industry-generated holiday, that doesn't preclude its existance as a valid minor modern holiday. All holidays must start somewhere, whether that's a government declaration, religious mandate, or candy industry promotion. The bottom line for its status as a holiday should be whether or not it's verifiably observed. --tjstrf 22:00, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Advertising References

I still have a problem with references #1,2,3 and 4. These websites are promotional in nature; they sell merchandise for Sweetest Day and do not reference their statements in any way. All statements referenced to these sources should be re-referenced or removed from the article. Miracleimpulse 11:43, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment you have a problem with them but nobody else does. They source the statments they reference. There is no reason to remove the sources or statements, or have a tag on the article.--Isotope23 12:21, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

The Candy Companies That Helped Start Sweetest Day

Isotope I notice that you edited out the names of the Sweetest Day Founders (except for Mr. Kimberly) and the names of the Candy Companies which participated in the origins of Sweetest Day. You have also edited out this information in the past. The companies involved in the creation of Sweetest Day are significant facts in the article, as many of these companies still exist today, although it seems like none of them even mention Sweetest Day on their websites. Here is the list of companies which participated in the creation of Sweetest Day:

Companies and organizations advertised in The Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Cleveland Press which participated in the first two Sweetest Days included:

The Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper, The Cleveland Business Exchange, The Cleveland Advertising Club, Hotel Statler, Whitman's Candies, Loew's Park Theater, Loew's State Theater, The Ohio Theater, Apollo Chocolates, F.H. Roberts Company, Crane's Party Box, Ohio Confection Company, Euclid's Chocolates, Nimburger Hahn (Louis Hahn?) Candies, Shoot's Chocolates, Thurston's Magic Box Candies, Johnston's Candies, Hoffman's Candy And Ice Cream Companies, H.M.D Candies, Midland Candy Boxes, Standard Drug Stores (16 locations), Troughton's Sugar Jar Candies, Weideman's Candies, Addison Pharmacy, Alpha Pharmacy, The Bank Lunch, Benfield And Benfield (Benfield Drug Company), Bruggator And Ripley, H.D. Butler, W.W. Brown Company, Buckstein Drug Company, Cleveland Pharmacy, Deklyn's Candies, Deutch And Rosengarten, Fischer Rohr Company, Cedar Drug Company, Geiger Moss Drug Company, Geraldine Ferrar Company, Gerson Drug Company, Glick's Candies, Gordon Square Pharmacy, Hough Avenue Drug Company, The J.M. Gasser Company, Kappus Drug Store, Lakewood Pharmacy, Lake Shore Pharmacy, Liggett's Pharmacy, Marshall's Drug Stores (26 locations), Maxixe Cherries, Miller's Drug Stores, Parkgate Pharmacy, Price Drug Company, J.G. Reed And Company, M. Rinzler, Ritter's Candies, Seltzer Drug Company, G. Schneider-Richards Company, The Superior Peanut Company, H.M. Stage Company, Andrew E. Walleck Company, Weinberger-Euclid Drug Company, J.L. Westaway Company, Winton Hotel Drug Company, W.L.Wilson Company, Wyandotte Pharmacy, Wrigleys Gum, Reymer's Chocolates and BonBons, Edwards Candies, MacDiarmids Candies, Phelp's Candy, Mary Lincoln Candy Company, The Cross Candy Company, Forbes Chocolate Company, M. S. Stores, Romance Chocolates by The Wynne Wood, The Orient Company (baskets for candy), The Geo. H. Bowman Company, The May Company, Bailey's Department Store, Benedict's (dancing), Huyler's Candies, Martha Washington Candies, Bordens Chocolates, Schrafft's Chocolates, Playhouse Chocolates, Stranahan Brothers Company, Jackson-Trace Company, Beeman's Pepsin Gum, The Handy Service Store, and Ex-Lax (The Sweet Chocolate Laxative), Fanny Farmer Candies, The Loft, Inc.

Again, Isotope, it appears that you are spinning this article in favor of Industry. Please reinsert the facts. Thank you. Miracleimpulse 15:44, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment Despite your assertion that this is somehow significant, this is an unnecessary level of detail. I edited out those names because they are not notable individuals. Mr. Kimberly is mentioned becuase there is a direct quote attributed to him. The fact that the rest of the commitee was made up of candy company employees/owners is succintly summarized by the statement: "Candy Men Set Oct 21 for Event to Be Called 'Sweetest Day'". The same is true for the list of sponsor companies you've listed above. Again, the article states "Dozens of Cleveland's top candy makers concocted the promotion 84 years ago..." The specific companies who underwrote the celebration are not terribly important; it doesn't add anything of value to the article to list every single sponsor here. This is an encyclopedia article Robb, not an expose. I think it is sufficiently stated and sourced in the article that both the Cleveland and NYC Sweetest Day committees were chaired by candy company personnel and that the advertisers for the Cleveland Sweetest Day were candy makers as well.

As for the header you keep adding in, I think it is unecessary and interrupts the flow of the article. All that information pertains to the origin of Sweetest Day and should be listed under the origin section.--Isotope23 17:42, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Today is Sweetest Day

...in Cleveland, and there is no mention of Sweetest Day on The Cleveland Plain Dealer's website. Not even one story about Sweetest Day in the Cleveland news this year? Maybe Cleveland isn't such a big Sweetest Day City after all... Miracleimpulse 14:56, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

So it's not a particularly big or important holiday, and perhaps it's on the downswing in degree of observance rather than a growing trend. That doesn't make it a "hoax". Anyway, there have been many past articles in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, as you yourself have pointed out. *Dan T.* 15:03, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes *Dan T.* ...loads of articles, editorials, advertisements...but in 2006 nothing. Maybe the intro to this article needs to be rewritten? Miracleimpulse 15:09, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

• I don't think the intro needs to be altered. It is a minor holiday. — Reinyday, 02:33, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

The greeting card industry's methods of promoting Sweetest Day

Request for comment

Template:ActiveDiscuss

• This section details some of the methods used by the Greeting Card Industry to take the Sweetest Day promotion national. Other Misplaced Pages editors are invited to expand this section of the article (in an NPOV manner of course) and post it into the current Sweetest Day page.

Over the past several weeks these methods have been used by Industry in the marketing of Sweetest Day in order to sell tens of millions of products to Americans. The actions of Industry are documented and verified by tens of millions of copyrighted statements (greeting cards which contain the verisimilitudes). This is in no way a new synthesis of Sweetest Day being a Hallmark Holiday. Please make your comments at the bottom of the page. No personal attacks! 08:28, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Verisimilitude

The following two verisimilitudes are from the back of millions of Hallmark Sweetest Day Cards marketed in 2006:

• Ever wonder how Sweetest Day got it's start? It began in Cleveland during the Great Depression when a kindhearted candy worker decided to do something nice to make the tough times a little easier. He got some of his pals together and delivered little gifts and treats to people in need. Over time, Sweetest Day became more about connecting with friends and sweethearts. We now celebrate this special day on the third Saturday in October. --Hallmark Cards 2006

• Sweetest Day was established in the 1920s by a Cleveland candy company employee who wanted to bring happiness to shut-ins, orphans, and other individuals who were often forgotten. Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in October and has become a day for remembering loved ones and friends who enrich our lives with their thoughtfulness. --Hallmark Cards 2006

The verisimilitude printed on the back of millions of greeting cards published in 2006 by American Greetings reads as follows:

• Celebrated on the third Saturday in October, Sweetest Day started in 1922, when a candy company employee organized a group to help deliver candy and small gifts to orphans and others whose lives needed brightening. Today, lovers and romantics embrace the day as well, but it is still a time to remember those who bring happiness to our lives." -- American Greetings 2006

The following is from Hallmark's website:

• BACKGROUND & HISTORY

Sweetest Day was established around 1922 by a Cleveland, Ohio, candy company employee. Seeking to bring happiness to the lives of those who often were forgotten, Herbert Birch Kingston and a handful of others who supported his efforts distributed candy and small gifts to orphans, shut-ins and others to show them that someone cared.

Even celebrities got involved. In the early 1930s, movie star presented 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys with boxes of candy to express gratitude for their service to the public. Another movie star, Theda Bara, gave candy to those who came to watch her films at a local theater and then distributed 10,000 additional boxes of candy to patients in Cleveland hospitals.

In time, the Sweetest Day idea of spreading cheer to the underprivileged was broadened to include everyone from family members to sweethearts, and co-workers to acquaintances.

Hallmark first made Sweetest Day cards in the mid-1960s.

--Hallmark Cards website 2006

Dissimulation

Sock Puppetry

American Greetings sock puppetry of Hallmark's website 2006.

More sock puppetry from American Greetings' website.

Even more...

Let's talk about it. Miracleimpulse 23:30, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

• Hi, I don't understand what you're saying. Could you please explain what you mean? While I'm here, I have a few comments for you. To link to a Misplaced Pages article, you can type ] instead of . Second, section headings in articles have the first word capitalized and subsequent words in lower case (unless they are proper nouns), so a section heading would read "Candy companies create Sweetest Day" instead of "Candy Companies Create Sweetest Day". However, a section heading such a "Origin" is a clearer way of indicating to the reader that you will be discussing the origin of the holiday. Third, it is very obvious that you are unhappy about the existence of Sweetest Day, which is fine. However, your edits to make the article have a negative view of the holiday are going to be reverted as having a point of view (POV) because Misplaced Pages articles try to have a more inclusive approach to subjects, and there is obviously conflicting information about this subject. Lastly, I thought the inclusion of census records was a great touch! — Reinyday, 02:41, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

• Thank you for the editing tips Reinyday! It's very simple. The Herbert Birch Kingston story of the origins of origins of Sweetest Day is a verisimilitude which replaces the truth through dissimulation. Sock puppet companies then repeat the distortion endlessly and there you have it: a legend which never occurred. Some would like this to be perceived as a popular mythology, but it is not. It is industry-generated, highly deceptive and used to sell products. Do not think of it as a little white lie. American Greetings and Hallmark just issued tens of millions of Sweetest Day products with this distortion printed right on the back of every card. Now do you see where I am coming from? Every day will be equally sweet when this type of market and consumer manipulation comes to an end. Miracleimpulse 09:54, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment got evidence from a reliable source? If so, then please link it here and we have something to discuss; otherwise this is more theorizing and conjecture and there really is no point in having a discussion. Like it or not, this version of events has been widely reported, enough that regardless of whatever the truth may be, the HBK story is still the most widely reported origin. If you have solid evidence that a particular company started the HBK story, I'd love to see it; otherwise this whole discussion is a waste of time.--Isotope23 13:27, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Lots of companies have promoted "histories" that are at least partly bogus, and actually, Misplaced Pages is pretty good at cutting through them and giving the real facts when they can be verified. Look at the articles on Monopoly (game) (it wasn't invented by Charles Darrow), McDonald's (it wasn't started by Ray Kroc), and Skippy peanut butter (they'd rather you didn't know about the decades-long battle over how they allegedly ripped off a cartoonist who created a character named Skippy in order to get the trademark on the name). Similarly, the article on Sweetest Day gives some skeptical scrutiny to its origin story rather than merely parroting the corporate propaganda. On the other hand, we're not a scandal sheet or a political rant site either; it's not proper to have our articles be dominated by long rants about how evil the corporations are. I think we've got decent balance in these articles, giving both the corporations' side and that of the critics, with well-referenced facts. *Dan T.* 13:33, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Response to Isotope and Dan: Dan says, "Lots of companies have promoted "histories" that are at least partly bogus," and this is exactly why the statements and references attributed to Hallmark, American Greetings, and Retail Confectioners International should immediately be removed from this Sweetest Day article. Dan goes on to say, "I think we've got decent balance in these articles, giving both the corporations' side and that of the critics, with well-referenced facts." How can Dan maintain that both of these statements are true in the same paragraph? Actually, neither the critics nor the corporations' side is well-referenced at all. This is why we need to post just the facts, and not from company or trade organization websites.

Isotope says, "got evidence from a reliable source? If you have solid evidence that a particular company started the HBK story, I'd love to see it; otherwise this whole discussion is a waste of time." The HBK story is not primarily sourced in any way anywhere. And you are correct: it is a waste of time to talk about it. Just remove the HBK statement and reference from the article until it is reliably sourced. Miracleimpulse 14:58, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

• Comment, it doesn't need to be primarily sourced and if you'd take the time to read the policies and guidelines for sourcing you would see that secondary sources are preferable to primary sources. The statements in the article are adequately sourced and state exactly what is verifiable based on the sources. Just because you dislike the sources being used is no reason to remove the text that has consensus agreement.--Isotope23 17:41, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Revert

I reverted your changes Miracleimpulse. Don't use the article as a sandbox for your changes. Adding empty sections is not the correct way to edit an article.. The section you added about New York has already been merged into "Origins" by multiple editors and there is no consensus to break it out. The HBK section is original research, is editorial/expose in nature, and doesn't add anything of value to the article. This is exactly the sort of editing behavior that has led to your previous blocks. I'm asking you nicely to please stop being disruptive here.--Isotope23 15:22, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

MedCab case

Hi, I'm Addhoc from the mediation-cabal. Could we start by discussing whether the following paragraph is covered by WP:NOR...

"Countless internet websites including those of American Greetings, Hallmark and Retail Confectioners International attribute the origins of Sweetest Day to candy store employee and philanthropist Herbert Birch Kingston. A Google search for Herbert Birch Kingston returns over 100,000 results. A Google image search, however, returns zero results. Cuyahoga County, Ohio census results from the year prior to the first Sweetest Day show Herbert Birch Kingston's occupation as advertiser. The census also shows that Mr. Kingston owned his home, but that a mortgage was in place on the property. To date, no primary source of information links Mr. Kingston to the origins of Sweetest Day in any way."

Addhoc 18:58, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

• That is as good a place to start as any. In my opinion, it is covered by WP:NOR insomuch that the purpose of it is to suggest that Herbert Birch Kingston did not have any part in the inception of Sweetest Day (and if that is not the case then it is simply a series of factoids better collected at an article about Herbert Birch Kingston as it would be off-topic to Sweetest Day). While this may be true, it is not verifiable from the circumstantial evidence presented in this paragraph and to me it runs afoul of WP:NOR:

1. It introduces original ideas;
2. It introduces an argument, without citing a reputable source for that argument, that purports to refute or support another idea, theory, argument, or position;

I don't see any reliable source at this time specifically stating that Herbert Birch Kingston didn't have a hand in the creation of Sweetest Day. Lubinger, Schmidt, et al don't say anything about Kingston. The statements in the above paragraph are circumstantial evidence. No Google image of HBK doesn't in any way "prove" he had no part in the inception of Sweetest Day. In fact the members of the 1921 Sweetest Day of the Year Committee in Cleveland also get no Google image hits. The census and mortgage information is proof that Mr. Kingston existed, worked as an advertiser, owned a confectinary, and owned a home (with a mortgage on it) but in no way is precludes his involvement in the inception of Sweetest Day. Indeed, for all anyone knows, Kingston was an advertiser tasked with coming up with a promotion to sell more candy and he accomplished this with a promotion tied to a giveaway of candy to the less fortunate. I'm of course not suggesting that be added to the article because it is pure speculation, but so is the speculation that the Herbert Birch Kingston story is a complete fabrication. Neither would constitute verifiable, reliably sourced information. The comment about primary sources is irrelevant as per WP:RS "In general, Misplaced Pages articles should rely on reliable secondary sources." The only part that isn't OR is the first sentence and that is somewhat redundant with the first sentence of the Origins section: "The origin of Sweetest Day is frequently attributed to candy company employee Herbert Birch Kingston as an act of philanthropy."--Isotope23 19:59, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

• I'll take this paragraph a sentence or two at a time:
  • "Countless internet websites including those of American Greetings, Hallmark and Retail Confectioners International attribute the origins of Sweetest Day to candy store employee and philanthropist Herbert Birch Kingston." - This is verifiable.
  • "A Google search for Herbert Birch Kingston returns over 100,000 results. A Google image search, however, returns zero results." This is original research. Easy to do research, but original none the less. This info is not very relevant either.
  • "Cuyahoga County, Ohio census results from the year prior to the first Sweetest Day show Herbert Birch Kingston's occupation as advertiser. The census also shows that Mr. Kingston owned his home, but that a mortgage was in place on the property." - Borderline original research. These are primary sources, which should be used carefully. However, this passage implies that Sweetest Day is primarily advertising, which is original research.
  • "To date, no primary source of information links Mr. Kingston to the origins of Sweetest Day in any way." This is definitely Original research. Besides, what is wrong with secondary sources?
  • Two things bug me about this passage. One, the heading over it is "The Mischaracterization of Herbert Birch Kingston", which is a new synthethis of existing sources. The other is I don't see the point of all this, if not for original research conclusion that Sweetest Day is simply advertising. So there aren't any images on Google Image Search. So what? There is one picture for Harry F. Klemfuss (the creator of Secretary's Day), which is just generic clipart. Two hits for Patricia Bays Haroski (creator of Boss's Day), one of which looks like stock photography. 26 for Sonora Smart Dodd , founder of Father's Day. Anna Jarvis , who had a large part in founding Mother's Day, has 441 images. Peter J. McGuire, who "is credited with first proposing the idea of Labor Day as a national holiday", gets 71 hits. For comparision, a Google image search for Britney Spears gets you 127,000 images. All the census records show is that HBK existed, and had a mortgage on his house. Whoop-de-doo. --Transfinite 02:10, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

(apologies to Addhoc I wasn't finished)

• Who knew that editing a simple article like Sweetest Day on Misplaced Pages would turn into such a controversy! It has been a remarkable if not completely pleasant experience. I first decided to investigate the origins of Sweetest Day as a result of this message thread on the Yahoo American Greetings Message Board. The message exchange began in September 2005, and it was soon obvious that something was screwy about Sweetest Day. To date, although the message thread contains 263 messages, no-one has posted any factual information confirming Mr. Kingston's involvement in the origins of Sweetest Day. When the Bill Lubinger article was posted to the thread, it made me want to investigate further. I requested microfilm of the October 8, 1921 issue of The Cleveland Plain Dealer referenced in the Lubinger article so I could see for myself. Surprisingly, almost none of the information in Mr. Lubinger's article was mentioned in the October 8, 1921 issue of The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mr. Lubinger's article seemed like more disinformation about Sweetest Day than fact. This made me even more curious about what really happened. I returned to The Center for Research Libraries several more times to read subsequent editions of The Cleveland Plain Dealer published in October of 1922, 23, 24, 25, etc. The results of my investigation were astounding. Not only was there absolutely no mention of Herbert Birch Kingston in the newspapers, the exact origins were extremely well-covered by The Cleveland Plain Dealer. In fact it became apparent that The Cleveland Plain Dealer was a very active participant in the promotion of the first Sweetest Days in Cleveland. The 12 Founders of Sweetest Day used The Cleveland Plain Dealer to deliver their Sweetest Day promotional articles, editorials and advertisements to hundreds of thousands of Clevelanders each and every year of the first Sweetest Day Promotions. Anyone can go to the library and see this documentation of the origins of Sweetest Day.

Then one day I became aware of Misplaced Pages and decided to see what the controversial online encyclopedia had to say about Sweetest Day. The Sweetest Day article read like a blurb on the back of a Hallmark Sweetest Day card. The article was completely unsourced and read exactly like every other verisimilitude being used to promote Sweetest Day on the internet. It became clear to me that Misplaced Pages was being used for advertising purposes on the topic of Sweetest Day. And so I decided to edit the Misplaced Pages article and add the facts uncovered on my investigation. On 25 May 2006 I made my first attempt at contributing to the Sweetest Day article: a link to a fun slideshow I had made about Sweetest Day from photocopies of The Cleveland Plain Dealer made on my various trips to the Center for Research Libraries. As I had no idea whatsoever what I was doing, the link didn't work. On 9 June 2006 I added a more bold edit, this time trying to explain what I had discovered in my investigation of Sweetest Day thus far. My edit was reversed within 2 minutes by HappyCamper as "confusing." No attempt was made by HappyCamper to improve my edit. He simply added a disputed tag and removed my edit completely. This struck me as very odd, even though I was totally new at editing Misplaced Pages.

To make a long story shorter, I continued adding my edits to the page, and at first they seemed well-received and several editors made improvements to the article. Then as Sweetest Day 2006 approached, things got more intense. All of my edits were removed regularly by Transfinite and Isotope23, who continually reverted to the original industry spin of the origins of Sweetest Day. It soon became apparent that Transfinite, Isotope23 and others did not want the true story of Sweetest Day, based on historical news articles, to be posted on Misplaced Pages! As Sweetest Day 2006 approached, the editing on the Sweetest Day page got frenzied and rather ugly. I was blocked twice from editing due to "disruption." It certainly seemed as though a cabal of industry spindoctors, including admins, was attempting to control the information being posted on Misplaced Pages about Sweetest Day prior to Sweetest Day 2006. And still the information is being controlled. Advertisers and promoters of Sweetest Day are being used as sources for the article. Images, editorials and news articles are being blocked in an obvious attempt to keep the true story of how Sweetest Day originated at a bare minimum or as close to the industry spin as possible. My doubts about Misplaced Pages remain.

I suppose time will add clarity and context to what has happened here on the Sweetest Day page at Misplaced Pages. A really excellent and comprehensive article about Sweetest Day could be constructed here on Misplaced Pages, but not while information is being managed and suppressed by anonymous heros. RT Miracleimpulse 12:36, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments Miracleimpulse, in the current version of the article there is already some discussion of the involvement of "'The Cleveland Plain Dealer". Reviewing the disputed sentences individually:

• "Countless internet websites including those of American Greetings, Hallmark and Retail Confectioners International attribute the origins of Sweetest Day to "candy store employee and philanthropist Herbert Birch Kingston" - agree with Transfinite this is verifiable information.
• "A Google search for Herbert Birch Kingston returns over 100,000 results. A Google image search, however, returns zero results." - agree this is original research.
• "Cuyahoga County, Ohio census results from the year prior to the first Sweetest Day show Herbert Birch Kingston's occupation as advertiser. The census also shows that Mr. Kingston owned his home, but that a mortgage was in place on the property." - agree this is borderline original research using primary sources.
• "To date, no primary source of information links Mr. Kingston to the origins of Sweetest Day in any way." - agree this is original research.

Addhoc 11:28, 26 October 2006 (UTC)