Talk:James A. Jensen

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Talk: James A. Jensen

I deleted the reference to an error that Jensen made in inaccurately erecting a new genus on the basis of one vertebra which was from brachiosaurus. Inserting one negative with half a dozen positives gives the negative inappropriate weight. You are referred to his website <http://www.Dinosaurjim.com> for details of his life. Jim Jensen (a son)

While I respect very much your wish that there should not be imbalance, I feel that it is important that we do not censor information on Wikipedia. Is there a form of words that would enable you to restore this information yet retain the proportionality that you so understandably seek? - Ballista 05:49, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm...thanks for chance to 'talk' about this. I appreciate that greatly. It obviously feels like censorship, what I did. However, I am not squelching a fact - it is a fact. Indeed, he made others as well. Should we list them all? If so, how far back would we go in enumerating people's errors? When one is in grad school? Or do we wait till after they are employed in the field, or do we give them 5 years grace before starting? Do we report everyone's errors? I'm not being sarcastic, just extending the issue logically. I bet that if you look at the wikipages for Mr. Cope or Mr. Marsh -I forget which- that you won't find a discussion of one of the most famous paleo errors of all time, assigning the wrong skull to good ol' apatosaurus? Why not. I don't know why not but I'll bet a buck. However, if you believe that this error should be listed, please provide an explanation of the benefit it provides to readers to see it listed and I'll reinsert it -and will expect that everyone's pages will start listing their errors. :) Thanks again for giving me a chance to talk about this before making a change. Jim Jensen 05:21, 26 October 2006