Talk:Richard Crawford White

Initial composition was a memorial
Wikipedia is not a place for memorials. I've removed the more 'memorialesque' elements, but the article still needs a complete re-write. I am satisfied of the person's notability as having been elected to national office in the United States. Part of the re-write must include sufficient reference material to support this supposition. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 00:37, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

From Brian White - 3/17/2008 I am This person's child and attempting to create a testimonial, rather than a memorial. please assist me with presenting a solid and beneficial statement of his facts that are objective and educational. Part of my request tends towards the inherent issue of supporting first-hand knowledge on an online account; how can one testify here? Must we first publish, then cite? I ask in honesty, rather than contention. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.138.165.104 (talk) 06:21, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

This article has an incredibly inappropriate tone and content to it for several reasons. First, yes, it still reads as a memorial/testimonial. While I understand that Rep. White's family with it to be this, this is not within the intent of the WP project. Second, a huge amount (e.e., he slept with a sword above his bed, he struggled to complete his memoirs because of X, etc.) is completely uncited, and must therefore be cited or excised. To Brian White, while your desire to provide information regarding your father is laudable, it is impossible, as you guessed, to include those reminiscences if they are only your first-hand account. They would have to appear as notations of secondary sources. Even then, they would be cited to note that this is only your version of events you witnessed or passed down to you. Had there been multiple, verifiable reports of your father sleeping under the sword, for example, "One might write, "White slept under a sword upon his return from war." If only you witnessed it (difficult, prior to your birth, I know), the entry might read, "Brian White, son of the future representative, said his father often slept under a sword upon his return from war."  And if your father told you this but you did not witness it, it might read, "White told his children that readjustment to civilian life was so traumatic that..."  In fact, due to WP's policy against original research, you would not be able to quote from your father's diary or letters as a source.  However, were you to write a book on your father or have a collection of the letters published, we could then draw upon these resources as secondary sources.  Also, Congressional Record, an excellent source for floor speeches and the like, might well have a great deal of citable info on him. (Best of all, it's online!) Just a quick online check led to a notation about the federal building named after your father and the fact that Fr. Paul Tipton, the Jesuit priest who famously helped uncover the murder of six other priests in El Salvador, worked for your father prior to taking vows. Should be a lot of great stuff to round out the article in the proper format, though much of the data that you personally know but can't be cited would probably have to go for the time being. (It's both a weakness and a strength of the format.) In about a week I'll check the article for proper format and citations, and begin adjusting to WP standards. --ThtrWrtr (talk) 18:58, 15 December 2008 (UTC)