Lynn Gilderdale and notability
A few months ago I put together a Wikipedia page on Lynn Gilderdale. It contained a potted history of her life, her illness, the events leading up to her death and her mother's trial, sourced from various newspapers, articles reproduced on various ME-related websites and a couple of the transcripts which are available on my blog. Although I found some comments she posted on others' blogs (she had her own, but it was friends only) describing her condition as it had been and as it was then (2005-8), I didn't use any of them as they were on pretty obscure blogs by people who might not want the exposure.
Now, someone (who, like a lot of those on Wikipedia, doesn't give his real name) has added a "notability" warning to the entry, which means that the subject might not have been important enough to merit inclusion. Lynn having been a wonderful person and a great friend to people all over the world doesn't mean she merits inclusion, but having been the focus of a major news story in the UK (not sure which country the person recommending deletion is in) and an important debate about the assisted dying issue, and being the subject of an upcoming book, do. Sophia Mirza (another severe ME sufferer who died in 2005) already has a page and nobody is suggesting that she isn't notable enough.
I intend to try and add more content regarding the post-trial assisted dying debate and the upcoming book in the next few days. It's not the first time someone has tried to trash my Wikipedia work - I did a whole page on Kesgrave Hall, where my old school (the really bad one) was situated, only for it to be carved up and for someone to insert a sneering note about me into one of them. The same person (an old school "friend") also posted a somewhat hostile biography of me on Wikipedia, and justified my notability on the grounds that I'd been mentioned (in passing, and not by name) in the Spectator. The editors of Wikipedia have since seen sense and deleted it.
This entry was originally posted at http://indigojo.dreamwidth.org/1820.html ; you can also comment there, using your LJ username to log in with OpenID.
Now, someone (who, like a lot of those on Wikipedia, doesn't give his real name) has added a "notability" warning to the entry, which means that the subject might not have been important enough to merit inclusion. Lynn having been a wonderful person and a great friend to people all over the world doesn't mean she merits inclusion, but having been the focus of a major news story in the UK (not sure which country the person recommending deletion is in) and an important debate about the assisted dying issue, and being the subject of an upcoming book, do. Sophia Mirza (another severe ME sufferer who died in 2005) already has a page and nobody is suggesting that she isn't notable enough.
I intend to try and add more content regarding the post-trial assisted dying debate and the upcoming book in the next few days. It's not the first time someone has tried to trash my Wikipedia work - I did a whole page on Kesgrave Hall, where my old school (the really bad one) was situated, only for it to be carved up and for someone to insert a sneering note about me into one of them. The same person (an old school "friend") also posted a somewhat hostile biography of me on Wikipedia, and justified my notability on the grounds that I'd been mentioned (in passing, and not by name) in the Spectator. The editors of Wikipedia have since seen sense and deleted it.
This entry was originally posted at http://indigojo.dreamwidth.org/1820.html ; you can also comment there, using your LJ username to log in with OpenID.