Talk:Alastair Driver

Refs
There is a problem with refs. i can't fix. JohnSmith678 (talk) 22:51, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

Autobiographical? Suggestion
This article seems to be autobiographical with strong issues with COI. It's well-written and relatively well-cited, and the author (Alidriver) did a fine job at keeping it neutral. The only issue is, well, it's an autobiography, and WP:AB is pretty clear that it's not a-okay to do so. Thoughts? ɯ ɐ ɔ 💬 23:52, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

This is a fair challenge, and I absolutely agree with Wikipedia principles on self-promotion etc - otherwise I wouldn't use it as a reference - but I would just like to explain what happened here and the rationale before editors much more experienced than me, decide whether to take down the article or not. Firstly the idea and initiation of the article was actually through one of my sons, who uses Wikipedia a lot and felt strongly that I definitely merited mention on it given that I am well known in my field in the UK and have various major national and international honours recognising that. Of course he is closely connected to me and I know that Wikipedia advises against people close to the subject from writing articles. My son initiated the article on my computer using a login he created for me so that I could edit this and other articles (one of which I have already done for significant accuracy reasons). My role in my own article was then to edit it for factual correction purposes and add the citations and references, which to be honest took me quite a bit of time as a novice! Secondly, unlike celebrities, politicians, sportspeople etc, those of us in the environmental world do not have fan clubs, supporters, agents and PR machines behind us and we are very poor at promotion of anything other than our own environmental causes, so information about significant environmentalists is notoriously weak and under-represented in reference sources like Wikipedia. Without people like my son doing this, I think the entries on Wikipedia for celebrities/politicians/sportpeople etc will be disproportionately much more numerous and substantive than for equally/more influential people from less celebrated walks of life. Thirdly I would just like to flag that according to the guidance I read when my son first set this page up, the advice is that biographies by people closely connected to articles is to be avoided, but it doesn't as far as I know, preclude them completely. I would have hoped that as long as the article is completely neutral, which I think is the case with mine, then in certain circumstances it would be considered acceptable. Anyway I will of course accept the decision of seasoned expert Wikipedia editors on this. What I would ask is that if you do agree with my rationale above, that the warnings which are currently at the top of my article are removed asap and that if the general consensus is that my rationale is not strong enough to keep the article that it is taken down asap. Hope that makes sense!Alidriver (talk) 11:13, 31 January 2017 (UTC)Alidriver


 * I think the article is OK, and of value, but do bear WP:COI in mind. This article is not for the promotion or celebration of Driver. It's also not a CV - it's an encyclopedia entry. I have knocked back some of the puff. Anna (talk) 11:55, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
 * While the factual/nPOV tone is largely maintained, readers should be aware of the subject's inputs to the article about him; I feel it warrants a COI template on both the main article and its Talk page, which I have added. Paul W (talk) 10:36, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

Expeditions section
I have removed the detail (below) as it's too much CV minutae that isn't relevant for the average reader of the article. It might be useful to turn it into condensed prose with added references. I'm not sure about the 'Voluntary Roles' chunk of the article. It's not usual to list these in detail, but it may have value, showing realtionships with major UK institutions. As someone in Driver's position, we would expect him to be advising on various panels and boards. I'm not sure if these are notable enough to include.


 * Expedition team member – Western Australian coast and Pilbara region – 1996.
 * Expedition team member and wildlife studies lead for Scientific Exploration Society – Colombian Amazonas – May 2017
 * Expedition team member and wildlife studies lead for Scientific Exploration Society Bardia National Park, SW Nepal – March 2019.

In addition to the above he has advised on environmental issues around the world including:
 * Expert Advisor to the Russian authorities on the establishment and management of the Meshchyora National Park – Russia’s first wetland national park – in 1992.
 * Government training tutor on environmental legislation and priorities for the Commonwealth Secretariat in the Pacific and Asian regions (2006)
 * Senior expert on stakeholder engagement for the EU-China partnership, China (2011)
 * Adviser on ecotourism and sustainable management to the 3rd Crown Princess of Perak, Malaysia (2012)
 * Adviser on ecotourism and sustainable management for Grasshopper (environmental NGO), Kaziranga National Park, India (2013)

Anna (talk) 12:03, 24 June 2023 (UTC)