Talk:Terry Fossum

Proposed revisions to lead, infobox, and Boy Scouts role

I am the subject of this article. Per WP:COI I disclose my conflict of interest and request the three edits below.

Edit 1: Lead paragraph

Extended content

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Terry Fossum is an American actor, writer, public speaker, businessperson and philanthropist. He is best known as the winner of the 2017 reality television series Kicking and Screaming.

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Terry Fossum is an American actor, author, public speaker, and reality television personality. He is best known as the winner of the 2017 Fox reality television series Kicking and Screaming and as the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller The Oxcart Technique: Blueprint for Personal Success.

No new sources required: the bestseller is already cited at existing reference [2] (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-09-01), and the reality show winner claim is already cited at existing reference [1].

Edit 2: Infobox occupations field

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Actor, producer, and businessperson

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Actor, author, public speaker, businessperson

No new sources required: "author" is supported by the existing Books section and "public speaker" is supported in the existing lead.

Edit 3: Boy Scouts role (currently sourced to a 2018 article and out of date)

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Fossum has continued to be involved in the Boy Scouts of America, first as a scoutmaster, and eventually as the vice president for programs for the Washington State's Inland Northwest Council.

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Fossum has continued to be involved in the Boy Scouts of America, first as a scoutmaster, then as vice president for programs for the Inland Northwest Council, then as president of the Council, and as of 2026 serves as President and Chairman of the Council's Endowment.

The proposed replacement should be followed by two new inline citations (one after "president of the Council," one after "Endowment"):

<ref>{{cite news |last=Willenbrock |first=Fred |title=How area Boy Scout camps survived coronavirus closures |work=The Spokesman-Review |date=November 6, 2022 |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/nov/06/how-area-boy-scout-camps-survived-coronavirus-clos/ |access-date=April 30, 2026}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite news |title=New pavilion to be built where Finch Lodge stood |work=The Miner |location=Newport, WA |date=April 15, 2026 |url=https://www.pendoreillerivervalley.com/article/5367,new-pavilion-to-be-built-where-finch-lodge-stood |access-date=April 30, 2026}}</ref>

The 2022 Spokesman-Review article identifies him as "outgoing council president" of the Inland Northwest Council. The 2026 Miner article (a regional newspaper) identifies him as "President and Chairman of the Scout Endowment." A live demonstration of how the proposed sentence will render with both citations appears below:

Fossum has continued to be involved in the Boy Scouts of America, first as a scoutmaster, then as vice president for programs for the Inland Northwest Council, then as president of the Council, and as of 2026 serves as President and Chairman of the Council's Endowment.

References

Tlfossum (talk) 18:19, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

H. I'm a bit confused as we already have mention of the book in the lead paragraph. The otehr changes look fine, I'll see about implementing them once you've clarified re the first paragraph. Morwen (talk) 19:16, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi Morwen — apologies for the confusion. You're right that the book is already in the current third sentence. My intent was to consolidate the book mention up to the second sentence and tighten the third. I should have shown the complete

  intended replacement rather than just the first two sentences.

  Here is the full proposed replacement for the entire lead paragraph:

 

Extended content

  Current:

  Terry Fossum is an American actor, writer, public speaker, businessperson and philanthropist. He is best known as the winner of the 2017 reality television series Kicking and Screaming. Fossum has written several books including the "#1 Wall

  Street Journal bestseller, The Oxcart Technique: Blueprint for Personal Success" and he is recognized as "one of 30 most influential TEDx Talks of the Century" with his TEDx Talk ranking number two in the world.

  Proposed:

  Terry Fossum is an American actor, author, public speaker, businessperson and philanthropist. He is best known as the winner of Fox's 2017 reality competition Kicking & Screaming and as the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller The

  Oxcart Technique: Blueprint for Personal Success. His TEDx Talk Why You Didn't Reach That Goal… Again (TEDxSpokane) debuted as the #2-ranked TEDx Talk in the world, based on the most-watched new TEDx Talks released in April 2024.[a][b]

  [a] Powell, Elaine. "Top 10 World's TEDx Chart for Most Watched TEDx Talks Released on YouTube in April 2024." LinkedIn, 1 May 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-worlds-tedx-chart-most-watched-talks-released-elaine-powell-9db4c/

  [b] La Desk. "Terry L. Fossum: From the 'Fat, Old Scoutmaster' to Los Angeles Magazine's Person of the Year." Los Angeles Magazine, 30 Dec 2024.

  https://losangelesmag.com/terry-l-fossum-from-the-fat-old-scoutmaster-to-los-angeles-magazines-person-of-the-year/

  One additional note: on reviewing existing citation [3] (Entrepreneur Times, "Top Speakers + Talks To Watch Out For in 2026"), I cannot locate my name within the article's content (the URL returns a 403 to my browser, but a site-indexed search

  of theentrepreneur-times.com returns no results for "Fossum"). The new citations above provide direct primary and secondary sourcing for the ranking claim; [3] may warrant verification or removal at your discretion.

  Edits #2 (infobox) and #3 (BSA roles) remain as originally proposed. Thank you again for your time. — Tlfossum Tlfossum (talk) 20:27, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

A response has not yet been received for this question.

Reply 12-JUN-2026

  Request closed for inactivity  

• The above edit request has not received any responses over the past 3 weeks (22 days in total).
• Discussion is a key component to implementing edits, and as a result, requests can be adversely affected when they fail to garner input from either reviewing or requesting editors. In light of this — and as a safeguard — this request has been declined as needing more discussion.
• The COI editor is urged to revive stalled communications by making contact with local editors on those editor's own talk pages, and then by moving those discussions back to this talk page.
• The COI editor may also wish to broadcast requests for edits at the talk pages of the WikiProjects which give advice on this article. Those projects are usually listed at the top of an article's talk page.

Regards,  Spintendo  11:01, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

References