Talk:Matthew Taylor (Labour politician)
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[edit] Autobiography Tag ?
User:Twospoonfuls describes this article as an Autobiography but provides no evidence to support that assertion. While some editors have made sneering remarks about the subject (Taylor) to the effect that this article is indeed a puff piece written by Taylor or some other acolyte of 10 Downing St, these sneers should not be read as if they are literally true. Rather, they should be regarded as part of a normal party-political discourse, common in the United Kingdom, and especially in the closing years of a political career, or in the closing years of a government. In this example, the closing years of Tony Blair's administration. Rarely are these sneers and other backbiting seriously meant, or intended to be personally hurtful. They are merely the stuff of political discourse in the UK. Other countries do it differently, but this is the UK's tradition, and possibly not understood by non-UK editors.
A cursory study of the article history log shows that many editors have contributed to the article, so it seems from this evidence that an assertion that this was written by Taylor alone cannot stand-up. A definition of "autobiography" is that it is an account writtten by and about the subject. It is precisely because Twospoonfuls has not backed-up his/her assertion that Taylor wrote this piece himself (an Autobiography) that the Autobiography tag has been removed. There may of course, be other more suitable tags to attach. 217.44.80.8 13:09, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
- I put an autobiography tag on this page because the two facts presented in the article, that he failed his O Level 3 times and that he "eloped" with a girl called Pandora are not facts that can be readily verified in the public domain. Indeed unless someone can present a verifiable source for this information it is a reasonable assumption that only Taylor (or Pandora!) could know of this and that he placed them there himself. To remove the autobiography tag without supplying sources is to imply that these remarks are true or at least come from a third party.
- Wikipedia is not a political gossip column, it is a serious encyclopedia and deserves to be treated as such. Petulantly calling challenges "smears" is not good enough. Either delete those "facts" or supply sources or allow readers to see that the information on this article may be tainted.Twospoonfuls 15:25, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
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- Agreed, its not a gossip column. I did not refer to your challenge as a "smear", petulant or otherwise. Read my post again. You will see that I referred to such personal insults (or smears) as being part of the UK press and political culture. If you believed that I was referring to you personally you were mistaken, or possess a very thin skin. I was not aware that your objection was to the reference to Pandora, but you could have avoided that confusion by being precisely specific about what you objection was. This is after all, not a gossip column.
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- I'm not the editor who uploaded the info about Pandora, or the alleged O-Level failures so I'm not in a position to determine whether its true or not, although I knew Taylor at Southampton Uni. Although I can imagine that if such events occured, people other than the elopers would have been aware of them, contrary to your assertion. A better way for you to challenge it though, would have been to insert a [verification needed] tag in the article. However, if you read the quotation attributed to the political journalist Kevin McGuire of the New Statesman, you will see that there is the verifiable published source for the Pandora episode. If you want to contest their version you will need to take the matter up with them, or withdraw your subscription to the New Statesman (if any). 217.44.80.8 16:32, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Neutral tone
Please review Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons: "Biographies of living people should be written responsibly, conservatively, and in a neutral, encyclopedic tone." Fred Bauder 14:00, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
