Talk:Vaclav Smil

Untitled
I cannot remove the policy violations of wikilinks in the title, because of WP:3RR. It is, however, inappropriate, even the addition of the book title were appropriate. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 07:17, 15 March 2010 (UTC) Furthermore, amazon.com links should not be used for the book; either a standard bibliographic reference or cite book should be used. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 07:19, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

I should add that I've attempted to warn the 99.* IPs about edit warring, but it's not easy with a dynamic IP.

"Nuvola apps important.svg You currently appear to be engaged in an edit war. Note that the three-revert rule prohibits making more than three reversions on a single page within a 24-hour period. Additionally, users who perform several reversions in content disputes may be blocked for edit warring even if they do not technically violate the three-revert rule. When in dispute with another editor you should first try to discuss controversial changes to work towards wording and content that gains a consensus among editors. Should that prove unsuccessful, you are encouraged to seek dispute resolution, and in some cases it may be appropriate to request page protection. Please stop the disruption, otherwise you may be blocked from editing."

— Arthur Rubin (talk) 07:29, 15 March 2010 (UTC)


 * See The Most Important Thing Possible

The Most Important Thing Possible
The Most Important Thing Possible 99.155.156.82 (talk) 18:10, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Constructive discussion
References:
 * 1) Ross, Greg. Scientists' Nightstand: Vaclav Smil. American Scientist.
 * Claims to be an interview. It's not clear the reason why he was selected by American Scientist, nor whether that organization has any reputation for fact-checking.  There are probable better sources for the claim that he's a scientist at the University of Manitoba, namely the department faculty page.
 * MIT Press is a real publisher, but why do we list his latest book? A reasonable approach would be to list all his books (copying the list from the Amazon.com site), but list them without Amazon.com links.
 * MIT Press is a real publisher, but why do we list his latest book? A reasonable approach would be to list all his books (copying the list from the Amazon.com site), but list them without Amazon.com links.

Furthermore, the bizarre Wikilinks in the title, which the 99.* anons insist on adding, constitute a WP:BLP violation, in that they put words into the subject's mouth, without any evidence that that's the intent. Wikilinking within quotes or titles is frowned upon, anyway. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 14:19, 16 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Mostly fixed for the moment; but I clarified Category:Scientists to Category:Canadian science writers. If anyone can classify what kind of scientist he is, you might also add that category.  I'm not convinced he is a scientist, so I'm not qualified to determine what specialty he may have.  — Arthur Rubin  (talk) 17:06, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

"America" was clarified by Names for U.S. citizens not Americas and Ancient Rome not Rome; for further discussion see fr:Vaclav Smil
"America" was clarified by Names for U.S. citizens not Americas and Ancient Rome not Rome; for further discussion see fr:Vaclav Smil, otherwise please take a moment to breath slowly before inconsiderate knee-jerk shotgun deletions. 99.155.154.231 (talk) 05:38, 17 March 2010 (UTC)


 * There is nothing in Wikipedia policies and guidelines which allows Wikilinking inside of a title. If you can find a separate source for the meaning of the title, it might be appropriate to supply their commentary.  — Arthur Rubin  (talk) 20:03, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Disputed
It appears that only his page calls him "Distinguished", not the official department page. Now, it could be that the official department page hasn't been updated, and he lately acquired the title "Distinguished Professor". But we don't have a source. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 19:13, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Relevant
Why is an award from the marginally notable Population Council important enough to list? — Arthur Rubin (talk) 19:15, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Place of birth
If he both self-identifies as Canadian and lives in Canada, his nationality should probably be listed as "Canadian". However, as his name is Czech and he graduated from a university in Prague, I wonder if either he or his parents were born in the Czech Republic. If that is true, it should be noted somewhere in the article. Does anybody know? --Aqwis (talk) 21:33, 25 April 2011 (UTC)