Talk:William Thetford

[Untitled]
Most of the article's information is found in the books, Skutch, Journey Without Distance, and Wapnick, Absence from Felicity. Added them as external references as well as some footnotes to the text. Perhaps we should leave the anecdotes out, imho they are too narrative to be taken in an encyclopedia.

Valentinus 22:25, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Began this page based primarily on info from the miraclestudies.net website. Also used some info from Absence of Felicity by Wapnick, and other related sources. If you might have any additional helpful info, please feel free.

Scott P. July 8, 2005 17:50 (UTC)

ANOTHER SOURCE --- There is a biography by Carole Howe that provides much more detail - http://www.neverforgettolaugh.com

Krokinol (talk) 17:58, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Analysis for deletion
The following reasoning is given to suggest that this is original research:

The article is recursive rather than informative. It hasn't any reputible sources which specifically address the content it states. Sources for this article are apparently recursive circular references to themselves.

The following verifiability tests were performed per WP:VER:


 * A check on miraclestudies.net found the site to be a small collection of books centralized on a specific theme, rather than on information about William Thetford himself. In order to be verifiable information, This article is required to have reputible sources.

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com) Domain Name: MIRACLESTUDIES.NET Created on: 27-Jul-01 Expires on: 27-Jul-08 Last Updated on: 01-Apr-05
 * The internet site has an anonymous and unverifiable owner per information available through internet registry services and is therefore unverifiable:

Administrative Contact: Private, Registration MIRACLESTUDIES.NET@domainsbyproxy.com Domains by Proxy, Inc.     DomainsByProxy.com 15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260

The following tests were performed to check for notability of the subject per WP:BIO:


 * The person has made no widely recognized contribution that is part of the enduring historical record in their specific field.
 * The person is not a political figures holding international, national or statewide/provincewide office or a member of a national, state or provincial legislature.
 * The person is not a major local political figure who receive significant press coverage.
 * The person is not widely recognized as an entertainment personality or opinion maker.
 * The person is not a reputible athlete.
 * The person is not a notable actor or television personality who has appeared in well-known films or television productions.
 * The person is not a published author, editor or photographer who has received multiple independent reviews of or awards for their work.
 * The person is not a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, or other professional whose work is widely recognized (for better or worse) and is unlikely to become a part of the enduring historical record in their field.
 * The persons has not achieved renown or notoriety for their involvement in newsworthy events.
 * The person has not been the primary subject of multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the person.
 * The person is not a notable musician.

Alternative Analysis (not necessarily supported by consensus):

Other tests for inclusion that have been proposed (but haven't necessarily received consensus support) include:


 * The professor test -- fails test as psychologist
 * Verifiability -- Can all information in the article be independently verified now? (some say) 10 years from now? -- Unverifiable without due original research.
 * Expandability -- Will the article ever be more than a stub? Could the perfect article be written on this subject? -- The article appears to be autobiographical information.
 * Autobiography -- Has this been written by the subject or someone closely involved with the subject? -- Assume Good Faith
 * Google Test -- Does the subject get lots of distinguishable hits on Google or another well known search mechanism?
 * Google: 70,100  very low.
 * Alexa web search: 1,955
 * Alexa traffic rating: INVALID

Determination: This person is therefore not-notable, the information unverifiable, and the article is written in a POV sytle. The article hasn't cited any reputible resources and is therefore wholly original research. This article will be nominated for consensus to delete. Comments on this analysis may be made during the AfD consensus. Ste4k 04:11, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Homosexual
I provided the information that Dr. Thetford was a gay man. See List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people/P-T, which includes one of several references to this fact. Cheers, --Alienlifeformz 00:11, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

External links modified
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POV concerns
Hi all -

Much of the language in the article appears to endorse the contents of the sources, presenting it as factual, despite the risk for bias inherent in the fact that many authors of said sources appear to have been involved in the development of "A Course in Miracles". The issue seems pervasive.

Just to call out a few examples (emphasis mine):

Title of section: "Invitation" for A Course in Miracles - Is it factual that there was an "invitation"? Is there any reputable, neutral source that states that?

"This “invitation” came in the form of an exclamation by Thetford one day, in the midst of one of their periodic difficulties, in which Thetford exclaimed, “There must be another way!”"

"The next four months were filled with a number of unusually vivid dream sequences and even some unusual waking experiences for Schucman. Amongst her vivid dream sequences, she began to become familiar with a certain internal character who spoke to her as Jesus in her dreams. Little did she know that the voice of this dream character would soon come to dominate the rest of her life."

Title of section: A Course in Miracles transcription - Is it factual that A Course in Miracles is a Transcription? Is there any reputable, neutral source that states that?

"According to Thetford, Schucman was sitting at home on the night of October 21, 1965, when she heard an internal 'voice' say to her, 'This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.'"

"On the following morning, after Thetford's review of the notes, he was so impressed with what she read to him that he encouraged Schucman to continue with the note taking. Schucman was initially taken aback by Thetford's reaction, but then apparently after giving herself enough time to recover from her initial jitters to honestly review the notes herself, she agreed. Soon they recognized that the notes, which eventually became A Course in Miracles (referred to as The Course by ACIM students), was their answer, the 'other way' that they had agreed to find together four months earlier."

Paolodm (talk)