From: Nikola Smolenski smolensk@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