On 19 Jan 2007, at 09:30, Guy Chapman aka JzG wrote:
On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:51:33 -0800 (PST), zero 0000
<nought_0000(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> if there has never been a reputably published
biography or profile,
> then I don't believe we can have an article.
This would include minor actors and exclude
famous scientists.
Even scientists who have a large number of scientific achievements
are rarely the subjects of published biographies. Being famous
enough to get a mention in newspapers doesn't help either, since
such articles rarely provide information like place of birth.
Many notable scientists are profiled in pop science and other
journals. And a fair number of those who have not, really should not
be on Wikipedia. Take Piotr Blass, for example. He re-created his
article about ten times before we finally banned him.
I've had some experience of this from the other end.
A lot of the content of the article about me is sourced
from my father's website. When you look at the list of
publications to his name you might conclude that he
is a reliable source for the information he gives, more
so than the official alternative, which is also available:
I have also had dozens of articles published about me
in the press and on the internet, which I can locate far
more easily than the average editor, particularly those
that predate Google and even the Web.
I have been toying with the idea of whether to drop
some hints, or to let sleeping dogs lie.