Talk:Francois-Eugene Vidocq

Cleanup
This article needs cleaning up. It also needs to read less like a eulogy. "His looks can be compared to a matinee-idol type and girls swarmed in his arms"! -- Necrothesp 11:39, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

I edit this article and I am the one who write that part. I got the information from some pages of the January 1978 issue of Reader's Digest Magazine -about Vidocq. What really says there (on page 31 of the magazine) is this: "By the time he was 14, he was a master swordsman and, by his own account, practically the physical embodiment of the male hormone. Girls from far and near swarmed into his arms." So you see, I need to rearrange some of the writings so that it won't violate the copyrights of the said article. --Elyu 3:54, 12 April 2006


 * Reader's Digest tends to write in a sensational and emotional style.

Some of the language needs to be refined for flow. And, furthermore, even if some of the information in this page is taken from that Reader's Digest article and paraphrased into your own words, it still needs to be cited. Paraphrasing an article is still infringing on copyright. So, to the author of this page, please include citations to that article from Reader's Digest.

If you don't like what's written in it, why don't you just edit or erase it yourselves?! I already told you that I only got that from some pages of the Reader's Digest magazine and I don't know how and where to find the citation of this article. --Elyu

many parents?
The first sentence makes it sound as though he had nine parents (a baker, businessman, etc.).

Merge
It's been proposed that the article should be merged. Well, it should be and fast, but there's no discussion about it. How about this for title: Eugène-François Vidocq? It's used in French Wiki.--SylwiaS | talk 00:54, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I edited the first few lines of the paragraph about the detective bureau but this article has some major issues: grammer and tense agreement are at the top of the list.

I'll be honest in my opinions, and I apologize as it will more than likely offend the author of one of the two articles. I do realize that time and effort did go into both articles, so offense is not my intent here, as I am merely stating the truth as I see it. I can honestly say that the same information is provided in the "Francois-Eugene Vidocq" and "Eugène François Vidocq" entries of Wikipedia. However, the "Francois-Eugene Vidocq" entry is more emotional than factual, as it contains such statements as "He died at 82, in one bright peacefully morning;", "so Vidocq spent 21 months in prison, serving as an informer to Henry who was thus able to effect a remarkable series of arrests.", "His success in these roles was instantaneous and explosives.", and "Some say that his looks could have been compared to a matinee-idol type and girls swarmed in his arms." With the exception of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors which I take to be from the author of this entry alone, I do recognize that this is a normal writing style for the Reader's Digest versions of history. Honestly, it just further illustrates why I have never turned to Reader's Digest for factual information and have always found a secondary reference source for any points of interest I have found therein. In closing, I do not believe the articles should be merged, as it would just give us a repetition of the same data, one well written with reliable resources, and one badly written with a single questionable resource. In my opinion, the "Francois-Eugene Vidocq" entry should be deleted, leaving the "Eugène François Vidocq" entry to stand and be edited as we readers see fit and can find solid resources for. -Nilanthos 18:55, 11 October 2006 (UTC)