Hi Iyalawo! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia. Come join experienced editors at the Teahouse! The Teahouse is a space where new editors can get help from experienced editors. These editors have been around for a long time and have extensive knowledge about how Wikipedia works. Come share your experiences, ask questions, and get advice from experts. I hope to see you there! Rosiestep (I'm a Teahouse host) Visit the Teahouse This message was delivered automatically by your robot friend, HostBot (talk) 16:24, 13 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that some edits performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. They are as follows:

• On the Babalawo page, your edit caused an ISBN error (help). (Fix | Ask for help)
• On the Ifá page, your edit caused a URL error (help). (Fix | Ask for help)

Please check these pages and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, ReferenceBot (talk) 00:22, 30 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Alaafia,

I want to let you know that I have created the article Iyalawo (Iyanifa being a redirect). Omo Obatalá ^(talk) 10:36, 31 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Iyalawo. You have new messages at Omo Obatalá's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

The Mediation Committee has received a request for formal mediation of the dispute relating to "Iyalawo". As an editor concerned in this dispute, you are invited to participate in the mediation. Mediation is a voluntary process which resolves a dispute over article content by facilitation, consensus-building, and compromise among the involved editors. After reviewing the request page, the formal mediation policy, and the guide to formal mediation, please indicate in the "party agreement" section whether you agree to participate. Because requests must be responded to by the Mediation Committee within seven days, please respond to the request by 25 January 2015.

The request for formal mediation concerning Iyalawo, to which you were listed as a party, has been declined. To read an explanation by the Mediation Committee for the rejection of this request, see the mediation request page, which will be deleted by an administrator after a reasonable time. Please direct questions relating to this request to the Chairman of the Committee, or to the mailing list. For more information on forms of dispute resolution, other than formal mediation, that are available, see Wikipedia:Dispute resolution.

Welcome to Wikipedia. At least one of your recent edits did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed. Although everyone is welcome to contribute to Wikipedia, please take some time to familiarise yourself with our policies and guidelines. You can find information about these at the welcome page which also provides further information about contributing constructively to this encyclopedia. If you only meant to make some test edits, please use the sandbox for that. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you may leave a message on my talk page. Thank you. Omo Obatalá ^(talk) 23:31, 19 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Please refrain from making unconstructive edits to Wikipedia. Your edits appear to constitute vandalism and have been reverted or removed. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Administrators have the ability to block users from editing if they repeatedly engage in vandalism. Thank you. Omo Obatalá ^(talk) 23:50, 19 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Please stop your disruptive editing. If you continue to vandalize Wikipedia, you may be blocked from editing. Omo Obatalá ^(talk) 23:53, 19 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Please realize that my imposing page protection was not an indication that I favor your stance over the other person's stance. It was an indication that edit wars are problematic and are to be avoided. When the protection expires, I expect you and the other person to have reached a consensus. DS (talk) 18:50, 25 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I just responded on your talk page. I didn't perceive the protection to side with me. I requested the page protection from several admin myself. I'm just not as familiar with the protocols of Wikipedia. I am learning them. I only wished to protect the information about my profession and that of hundreds of women from those in another religion who wish to sabotage our work. It would be like allowing Baptist to speak on Catholic beliefs and practices and count it as valid. 

I'm not sure which comment you got since my first was accidently placed elsewhere. So here is my comment:

=======I would like to thank you for protecting the page. Because the Cuban sect does not recognize Iyalawos, there has been a constant opposition to anyone else who does. To offer a background, there is quite a lucrative system in Cuba that places a few Babalawos or male Ifa priest, in control of almost all of the lineages in Cuba and those who migrate to America. Anyone who is initiated must pay quite a bit of money sometimes 20 to 30 thousand dollars and the Babalawo gets a cut of all of it. Since the tradition is mostly maintained by women, allowing Iyanifas would make women in charge of their own houses and Babalawos would lose control and the watershed income they had. As a result there is a concerted campaign to discredit Iyalawos to control the growth among women in the tradition particularly among Cuban and Cuban American Women. I'm sure you can now understand the strong interest in limiting information and trying to influence public opinion. I must ask however that the assertion that they are not recognized in the greater community be removed in the article. Ifa is practiced in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Gambia, South America, Central America, North America, and Europe. There are practicing Iyalawos in every place that Traditional Ifa is practiced. I am one and personally know hundreds of of women who also are. Cuban Lucumi and 2 towns in Nigeria are the only places in the world they are not recognized. One of those Nigerian towns had a history of them until recently when a political dispute erupted with another group of women, Iyami. . That being the case, Cuban Lucumi in addition to being an entirely different religion, is hardly the greater community. Further given Lucumi is an entirely different religion with a different history, priesthood, protocol, and interpretations, and since Cuban Babalawos are not recognized by Traditional priests in Africa, I suggest that the controversy on the page be limited to less than 10 % of the entire page to not allow for undue weight on a mute point by another religion. Iyalawo (talk) 19:03, 25 March 2015 (UTC)iyalawo[reply]