 When was John Douglas Gibson born? |
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| Detective |
 Fri 26th August 2011, 12:29pm
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#1
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Senior Member  Group: Contributors Posts: 321 Joined: Thu 9th Dec 2010, 11:17am Member No.: 35,179  |
According to Wikipedia, John Douglas Gibson lived 7 November 1924 – 21 May 1984. The original version of the article said "c.1925" but it was corrected in May 2011. The edit summary cites a Google search. Maybe I'm missing something, but that search doesn't seem to be relevant.
Every version of the article cites an obituary by Allan Sefton that says he was born in 1929, so I'm unclear why the original author said "c.1925". Also, this obituary by the same person, Allan Sefton, says he was 58 when he died. That means he was born in 1925 or 1926. So the 1929 is clearly a mistake, and the 1924 is inconsistent with what looks like a reliable source. |
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| thekohser |
Fri 26th August 2011, 3:45pm
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#2
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Member Group: Regulars Posts: 10,274 Joined: Thu 1st Feb 2007, 10:21pm Member No.: 911 |
If the wider world can't figure out his date of birth, I don't know why we'd expect to hold Wikipedia accountable.
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| Detective |
Fri 26th August 2011, 6:44pm
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Contributors Posts: 321 Joined: Thu 9th Dec 2010, 11:17am Member No.: 35,179 |
QUOTE(thekohser @ Fri 26th August 2011, 4:45pm)  If the wider world can't figure out his date of birth, I don't know why we'd expect to hold Wikipedia accountable. If there were a genuine conflict of opinion, we'd expect a list of the various opinions (with sources). However, there seems to be only one sourced fact, that he died aged 58. We can deduce (unless doing simple arithmetic amounts to original research) that he must have been born in 1925 or 1926 so c.1925 is right. There is no excuse for altering this to an exact date in 1924, which seems to be the wrong year. Doubly there is no excuse for sourcing this incorrect date via a reference (albeit only in an edit summary) that is irrelevant. |
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| EricBarbour |
Fri 26th August 2011, 10:26pm
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#4
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 blah Group: Regulars Posts: 5,919 Joined: Mon 25th Feb 2008, 2:31am Member No.: 5,066 WP user page - talk check - contribs |
Stop Googling for "references". Try going to a library.
PS, have you seen this book yet? Written by this blogger. I've got it. Full of very incisive criticism of Google (including their tendency to accept Wikipedia articles as "truth"). He must have hit a nerve....libertarian tech cheerleaders are attacking him. This post has been edited by EricBarbour: Fri 26th August 2011, 10:27pm |
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| Silver seren |
Fri 26th August 2011, 10:33pm
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#5
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 Senior Member Group: Contributors Posts: 470 Joined: Thu 30th Dec 2010, 2:09pm Member No.: 36,940 WP user page - talk check - contribs |
Well, at least it seems most of the Amazon Reviewers liked it. I wonder who the three that didn't are and if one of them is...
Oh, not surprising at all. The Adam returns. This post has been edited by Silver seren: Fri 26th August 2011, 10:33pm |
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| Detective |
Mon 29th August 2011, 5:54pm
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#6
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Senior Member Group: Contributors Posts: 321 Joined: Thu 9th Dec 2010, 11:17am Member No.: 35,179 |
QUOTE(EricBarbour @ Fri 26th August 2011, 11:26pm) Stop Googling for "references". Try going to a library. Eric, please take 30 seconds to look at the quality of my "references" before you dismiss it so contemptuously. The URL is http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file...d=MU9850135.pdf. In other words, it is a PDF of an official publication of CSIRO. This is the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency. Please feel free to go to any library in the world that you choose, and find a more authoritative reference if you can. |
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