:Talk:Eleanor Robson

{{WikiProject banner shell|class=C|blp=yes|listas=Robson, Eleanor|1=

{{WikiProject Women}}

{{WikiProject Biography|s&a-priority=low|s&a-work-group=yes}}

{{WikiProject University of Oxford|importance=|auto=yes}}

{{WikiProject Assyria|importance=Low}}

{{WikiProject United Kingdom|importance=Low}}

{{WikiProject Women writers|importance=mid}}

}}

Publicity blurbs - Why does this entry even exist?

This reads like a collection of self-serving book blurbs written by the author herself. This needs to be properly edited or deleted. Besides, she is not a famous scholar in any field (Assyriology, history of mathematics, etc.), just a minor figure, so why is she here? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anzu1939 (talkcontribs)

:Please read WP:RS and come back when you can distinguish a reliably published independent review of a publication from a "publicity blurb". WP:PROF might be helpful reading as well. —David Eppstein (talk) 04:49, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Publicity blurbs for books also include positive highlights from published reviews. No need to be sarcastic; I could also say that you (Mr. Epstein) don't seem to know much about the publishing industry. The point is that (a) this bio corresponds to a scholar with no public profile beyond her small field (Mesopotamian mathematics), and (b) it reads like a press release written by her literary agent: it's simply a collection of praising remarks. There are equally negative reviews of this person's work. This is almost certainly written by the scholar herself or a close disciple. This person has no footprint outside her small subfield to deserve such a detailed bio -- a list of publications with selected words of praise for each item, something you almost never see in Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anzu1939 (talkcontribs) 00:49, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

:(1) Most of the text in question was written by me, as you should have been able to determine for yourself by looking at the article history. I have no connection to Robson nor to her publishers, as a little more research would have told you. Please review WP:AGF and stop tossing around unjustified accusations of conflicts of interest. (2) It was intended as a factual description of what her works are about, not as praise for them, and if there are reliably published and factual critiques of her work that are inadequately represented here, I would be happy to include them as well. (3) I think that many of Wikipedia's articles on academics, limited as they are to the career milestones of the person in question, are sadly inadequate. I think we should have a lot more descriptive coverage of their actual accomplishments and works. So I find your argument that many other articles don't have this sort of thing to be completely unpersuasive. The correct solution to that problem is to fix up the other articles, not to lobotomize this one. —David Eppstein (talk) 20:10, 3 August 2013 (UTC)