User talk:RichardDawkins

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[edit] Welcome

Welcome!

Hello, RichardDawkins, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!  Al 21:29, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Richard Dawkins

I noticed that you changed Richard Dawkins to lower the number of journals edited from four to two and to drop any mention of Episteme Journal. Do you have any citations to support this change? Al 21:30, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

It is unreasonable to ask for a positive citation to demonstrate that I did NOT found a journal called Episteme. I am telling you that I never founded a journal called Episteme. I didn't even know that a journal called Episteme existed. To the best of my recollection, I have only ever edited two journals, Animal Behaviour Monographs, and Animal Behaviour. I am on the Editorial Board of various other journals, but that doesn't count. Even if it turns out that I am on the Editorial Board of Episteme (it is possible to forget such things), I most certainly did not found it.
Richard Dawkins
RichardDawkins 12:51, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

This is an excercise in journalism, where all facts have to be checkable, not an exercise in frustration, so I did some research. It turns out that the CV on the web site lists "Founding Editor, Episteme Journal" in 2002. Off-hand, I would think that the founding editor is the first editor, not necessarily the founder of the periodical as a whole, so unless I find some evidence to the contrary, this matter is settled.

One of the basic requirements on Wikipedia is that all facts are checkable, which leads to another issue. If you do happen to be the subject of that article, then Wikipedia encourages you to contribute to it indirectly, but strongly discourages you from directly editing your own biography. The stated purpose of this policy is to ensure that "the subject of such articles do[es] not have any improper influence over their content". Fortunately, you can correct errors quite effectively just by leaving comments on the Talk page of the article.

Al 14:08, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

This is actually getting mildly interesting. The Episteme journal (ISSN 1472-3600) was founded in 2004, not 2002. Dawkins' name doesn't appear anywhere in the first five issues. The founding editors were Leslie Marsh and Christian Onof.—Laurence Boyce 15:14, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

We have a mystery on our hands, clearly. One likely possibility is that there's been more than one Episteme Journal. Another is that the CV is in error. In either case, no source supports the original claim that Dawkins founded the journal, so this may not be an issue that we have to resolve. Al 02:10, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Richard Dawkins...

...or just someone with his name? If yes, I loved The Selfish Gene... --Yossarian 00:47, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Confirmation of identity

I confirmed by email that this is in fact Richard Dawkins. He responded to a query sent to the official email address, and the headers of the response all check out.

Here's the text of the message:

I did edit it. The reason is that they said I founded a journal called Episteme in 2002. I have never even HEARD OF episteme and I certainly didn't found it.
So, yes, the person who purported to be me is indeed me! But thank you very much for checking. I am bowled over by how good Wikipedia generally is.
Richard

Al 12:58, 5 July 2006 (UTC)


I have just received independent confirmation that this user is Richard Dawkins. I have forwarded the email to Jimbo Wales.—Laurence Boyce 10:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikimedia Commons

Hello Professor Dawkins, and welcome to Wikipedia! I apologise for your hitherto lukewarm reception, but you would surely wish us to be sceptical. I do hope you enjoy the place and decide to stay.

I have just created a primitive Richard Dawkins article on Wikimedia Commons. The purpose is to encourage you (or anyone else) to contribute quality images, over time, to this resource. The images could be simply of you, or they could be of you with other famous, or indeed infamous, people. It would be nice to have some pictures of Lalla too, as the ones we have are a little out of date – but of course it's all as and when you wish.

There are loads of examples to look at: Charles Darwin or our esteemed Prime Minister should give you the idea. I'm not an expert on copyright issues, but I know that the bar is much higher for Commons than it is for Wikipedia. All rights would have to be released; book covers don't belong there for instance. I don't suppose editing your own Commons article is half the faux pas that editing your own Wikipedia article would be, but someone will surely put me right otherwise.

By the way, you can't imagine how delighted we are to see you!

Laurence Boyce 19:12, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

As a quick explanation, Wikimedia Commons is a repository for freely-licensed images, videos, and audio clips, though it is by far used mostly for images. Also, let me pile on in welcoming you here. --Cyde↔Weys 19:21, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing articles on your books

Wow! I can't believe what I am seeing. Is it really you professor Dawkins? I was just editing an article on one of your books. Now I need to go back to remove the few bad things I said about your book, among the hundreds of good things I said about it ;) Fred Hsu 03:11, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Any comments re R.D. and God Delusion articles

Dear Prof Dawkins. As you may see there has been some lively debate on the Richard Dawkins and The God Delusion articles. We'd all appreciate any comments you might have time to make. NBeale 12:08, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

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