Fred Bauder wrote:
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]]).
I'm not impressed by the person, and reading the article doesn't help. When something like this has been clearly contributed under a person's own name, I support moving it to a user page. Anonymous contributors put themselves at a disadvantage because there is no one to contact to ask for information. This one sat unnoticed since January of last year! When I think of Thomas Jackson the image that comes to mind is of the Canadian singer, actor and native activist
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]]
I support the approach of making reasonable efforts to save these from deletion. A little help from the subject helps!
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.
I still prefer finding some way to save them in an appropriate controlled context. I've never been a fan of VfD. That process is just too confrontational, and seems based on a presumption of guilt.
Ec