User talk:Dcthorburn

Doug Thorburn Article
Hi, You keep adding the fact that you are not the same person as an author at Doug_Thorburn. It seems strange that you should feel the need to point out that are not the same person as your namesake when it is perfectly clear from the article who the Doug Thornurn in question is. I would request therefore that you stop adding the sentence in, and that if you feel that it should be there you should make a request for comments on the page's discussion page. StuartDouglas 19:55, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Response to StuartDouglas
Hi I appreciate your inquiry. I have never communicated before on a Wikipedia site so please forgive any foolishness.

Assume, hypothetically that you are a member of Alcoholics Anonymous who has attended and knows members all over the United States and Canada.

Assume you have read your own writings and poetry in the same places.

Some people in AA think the methods of Doug Thorburn the author of several books on alcoholism, violated the confidentiality of AA.

Assume that the first you heard of the article was from E-mails and phone calls demonstrating suspicion and possible resentments against you, and had to spend time explaining what seem obvious differences.

Hypothetically it seemed more time could be available to help other alcoholics by distinguishing the difference.

I don't have any resentment about this and probably am related to "Doug Thorburn".

I feel somewhat awed responding to anyone with the name "Stuart Douglas" as I am also an amateur historian.

Doug Thorburn


 * Hi Doug, I can see your point completely, but the problem is that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, for all that it's online and, as with a print encyclopedia, content has to be...well, encyclopedic. While I take everything you've said on baord, and can understand the frustration and annoyance it may cause you to be confused with your namesake, his article should be treated in may ways as though it were in a copy of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.  Otherwise, anyone who objects to, say, the political viewpoint of a namesake could come along and fill their pages with complaints (not that I'm suggesting yours is a complaint per se) - or even pretend to have the same name purely in order to deface the page of someone they do not like or approve of.


 * Of course I could be wrong and no-one else objects, so you should certainly go to Talk:Doug_Thorburn and explain your side of things in the Request for Comments section (just edit the page as here and add your comments on the bottom, adding at the end of your comment to note the time (although not your name).


 * Finally, I can't help but ask (as someone who did their undergraduate degree in History) - what famous Stuart Douglas has there ever been? StuartDouglas 14:55, 15 March 2007 (UTC)