From: Nikola Smolenski <smolensk(a)eunet.yu>
I don't really understand what is the problem with
autobiographies and why are
they more unverifiable then biographies written by someone else. If we write
an article about a dead person, for facts on its life we might consult
person's autobiography, or biography, and biographies are often in large part
written by biographer talking to person about person's life. I don't see how
is it different then person writing about itself - it's the same source at
the end.
An autobiography is a good primary source, but it embodies the very essence
of point of view and must be used with that in mind, as are interviews with
the person or with family members and friends or a diary. Most of the
problem with the alleged autobiographies which end up listed on votes for
deletion is that they are usually submitted by an anonymous user, contain
only information postive about the subject, often exaggerating
accomplishments, and a defining characteristic, cute material, like "he
always wears a monocle over an eyepatch", (an actual example from the
current vfd, see [[Thomas Jackson]]). They are in Jungian terms, portraits
of the persona, the self-image of the person as they project themselves.
This is part of the problem, as folks are sensitive about their persona and
"deleting" it does not go down well, nor does critical editing.
When you google the name you sometimes find nothing [[Thomas Jackson]], or
maybe a nice personal website (but Wikipedia is not a web directory). If
there are books published, they are self-published, with no reviews. Other
times you find a little bit [[Joseph Buford Cox]] and [[R. Joe Brandon]],
occasionaly a lot [[Florentin Smarandache]]. In some cases you can write a
bit of an article or maybe a sustantial one, and perhaps save it from
deletion as I tried with [[Joseph Buford Cox]] and [[R. Joe Brandon]]
As I posted before, I believe the best policy is gently but firmly say no to
all of them. However, in practice, I find it fun to see if I can dig up
enough info to save them. But that will pass. But maybe someone else will
take it up from time to time.
Fred
Fred