Talk:Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

notability
This appears to be a vanity entry and should be deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.204.8.198 (talk • contribs) 16:30, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

It seems to me that this article is very much a vanity article as the person above noted. Taking into account the fact that the entire article was written by one person and is completely uncited, it seems likely to me that the main contributer to this article is actually Hrdy or someone close to her, though I guess there is a chance it is someone just horribly bad at recording where they obtained their information from. I an unable to find any non wiki entries on the internet(Yes, I know there are other sources than the internet, but bare with me) for much of the information contained on this page. It seems that many statements are made through personal research. Additionally, this article does not read like an encyclopedia article all, at times it seems mote like an A&E autobiography than an encyclopedia entry. Even though this is still quite apparent, it its even worse if one goes back and looks at the original entries made by "Donna Curtis". Although I am not an expert on notability guidelines on Wikipedia, I do believe that it is reasonable for Hrdy to have an article, but an article that sources nothing and seems like a vanity article is not the way to have the article. This article needs to have some serious work on it. I was going to just remove everything that I that did not have citations, then I realized NOTHING was cited, then I decided to try to cite some things and then delete whatever I could not find but then I found that I was unable to find citations for large portions of the article and I decided to just leave it be until I got someone else's opinion on what should be done to this article. --Awhislyle 18:14, 15 June 2007 (UTC) I agree with Lquilter that she is notable, although Awhislyle is right about the article's not being high quality.Espertus (talk) 04:13, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
 * No, Hrdy is notable and well cited. I'll dig up some cites over the next few days. --Lquilter (talk) 19:48, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
 * She's notable all right. Maikel (talk) 21:06, 17 February 2015 (UTC)

Pronunciation
We need a pronunciation note after her name. How is Hrdy pronounced? Richard001 (talk) 05:54, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It looks Czech (oh, yeah it said that): they are cavalier about writing vowels. (I understand there's a whole sentence in Czech with no vowels, that could be translated "stick a spoon down your throat", and kinda sounds like doing just that.) While i've never asked for details, it wouldn't surprise me if they consider schwa too neutral to be called a vowel or written down. People as ignorant as i probably pronounce it like Hardy or Hərdy if they don't know a second language, and that's likely to be the best that foreigners can manage without long study and practice. My knowing a second language (not especially closely related) may have to do with my imagining that if ever called upon to refer to her, i'd go with Hərrry, make the schwa as short as possible, & roll and voice the Rs so hard you can actually hear D sounds in it. But that's just my imagination. --Jerzy•t 07:07, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
 * It's a syllabic /r/. Auvon (talk) 22:08, 24 November 2016 (UTC)


 * One who acuses a whole nation of being "cavalier" about writing vowels and lightly refers to "foreigners" (blind to the fact that he is a foreigner to most of the world) ought first to look at their own attempts at written language... "kinda", "i've", "i", "i'd". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.180.11.217 (talk) 10:48, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Suggestions for improving this article
I think Hrdy is certainly notable enough to merit a WP page. The question is: what should its focus be? I'd like to see some of her theories explored here in more than superficial terms. At present, the article reads like a vanity piece with few in-text citations. Counter-evidence and her rebuttals are completely absent. Thus, we get the impression that she is so brilliant that Trivers just gave in! The WP reader interested in her theories deserves to see some give-and-take in the scientific process of consensus, rather than simply seeing Hrdy's theories declared accurate (appeal to authority).

Here are some specific comments and suggestions, section by section.

Education

The words "hoping" and "disappointed" in paragraph 2 need reference(s).

Langurs

Paragraph 1 needs reference(s), especially in regard to "forever change her life".

Paragraph 2 is a well-written summary but also needs to reference specific research. I corrected the confusion of "possibly" / "proved" and removed the sentence about counter-strategies which was out of place (and covered in detail in next paragraph).

In paragraph 4, the Trivers quote (is it his coinage? reference?) seems out of place -- unclear how it relates to the other sentences. Also, the qualification "seemingly" implies that some primate species (if not orders) do not have infanticide. A mention of counter-examples and alternative ideas, along with Hrdy's rebuttal, would greatly improve the explication of her theory here.

Paragraph 5 (about her second book) again refers to "infanticidal gene" making me wonder if the final sentence in the preceding paragraph is chronologically out of place and thus redundant. Also, references are needed for "mistakenly assumed" and the begrudging support of Trivers.

In paragraph 6, the term "credibility" appears to be poor word choice. Was Hrdy writing about the credibility of female researchers, or the *influence* of females in general? It seems like the latter word is more appropriate for the context of this paragraph.

Paragraph 7 sounds more speculative than the preceding ones. Should be rewritten to improve conceptual flow, with references as needed. Be careful not to rely on anecdotal evidence in the rewrite -- I recall an excerpt in which Hrdy observes *one* mother in *one* group of *one* species mourning over a dead child, and then draws "conclusions" about certain aspects of primate behavior based on this single incident.

Family Life

The article is about Hrdy, not her kids. We don't need more than their names and years of birth, along with aspects of *her* life at the time of birth (e.g., mother's age).

In sum, I'd like to see Awhislyle's objections addressed fully. In particular, the person who created this page ought to be forthright about her/his relationship to Hrdy. Martindo (talk) 04:05, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

The New York Review of Books resource
From Talk:Understanding ... It Does Take a Village December 8, 2011 The New York Review of Books Melvin Konner. Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding

99.181.142.144 (talk) 05:27, 28 November 2011 (UTC)