User talk:Hippychippy

Keith Nolan
I really appreciate your additions to this page, but it would be much better if you could add reliable sources (usually defined on Wikipedia as secondary sources) for the information. An obituary or notice in a Vietnam veterans' magazine would be a good place to start. Intothatdarkness 01:22, 14 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Intothatdarkness! I appreciate your advice. But can I ask you how to proceed other than an obituary or magazine? I spent the last 3 years of Keith’s life with him and he actually passed away at my house. Took him to every single doctor appointment, chemo, or hospital treatment he had after being diagnosed with cancer. I know his family and I still speak to his mother a few times per year. Tbh, I’ve never edited anything on Wiki prior to this; but seeing so little written about him or his end-of-life experience is hard to see. Keith was known & loved by so many people for his talent at telling their stories - I’m not sure I’m qualified to tell anyone’s life story, you know? It’s just… Keith was so talented. I can’t believe how little is there! He has a daughter who is now in her early twenties, and I know she would like to see this expanded. The issue with her editing is that her memories of her father are very few & far between as she was very traumatized around her father’s untimely passing. His mother is now well into her eighties, & his brother was struggling with late-stage cancer the last time I spoke to Keith’s mother a few months ago. His father passed from cancer a few years after Keith. So there aren’t many people left that truly knew Keith and are able to contribute to his information, as far as secondary sources…
 * I do have documentation of some things from a personal collection of Keith’s that was bequeathed to me; among them are personal letters, books, and Vietnam War memorabilia. But I don’t think most of it is like, quotable in regards to being about Keith Nolan personally. I even have a very kind personal letter from former Secretary of State, John Kerry, written to Keith after word got out that he had terminal cancer. But it was of a personal nature so I wouldn’t truly be certain how to quote it. As much as I want to add to this page, I don’t want anything he would have considered to be too personal posted on wiki either.
 * Can you possibly suggest how I can lend my own first-hand, personal knowledge of the topic in a way that would assist in my edits being approved? I don’t really have any ‘paper references’, so-to-speak, other than quoting from our email conversations, which were typically of a more personal nature. Because Keith was a story-teller, he performed hundreds of interviews with war veterans & spent many hours in the Library of Congress in order to accurately & factually convey those stories. Shouldn’t someone tell HIS story? Or at least add text to his wiki, in this case? :) I jest, but all kidding aside, I think you just unwittingly put the idea in my head to start my own manuscript about him. I’m not even kidding. He was such an interesting & accomplished person. But I, as a complete newb here, am struggling on how to properly push on with the wiki updates. There was just so little written about the personal life & accomplishments of this person, it’s nearly impossible to quote things like that from print. I know of one article in the STL Post Dispatch & an obit, that’s it. Ok I’m obviously overly chatty. Sorry. No kids at the moment! I truly appreciate you taking the time to reach out to me, thank you so very much! Any advice you can offer to help me advance this wiki page would be greatly appreciated. Have a fantastic day! I’m Kristin, by the way. Take care Hippychippy (talk) 19:18, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I've been looking for stuff to add to his page and found the same issue. In fact, the VVA article announcing his passing even got his name wrong (William Keith Nolan...). The problem is Wikipedia only uses published secondary sources and some primary published sources. The catch is it has to be published somewhere. Now if you were to write his story and get it published by the VVA magazine or something similar, that could be used to add to the page. I looked at the online obituary, and the number of veterans who commented was impressive. Maybe you could contact one of the veterans magazines (Vietnam Veterans of America is an obvious choice, although Military Times might be interested as well) and see if they'd be interested in an article. Once it's published, someone (not you, though...conflict of interest stuff) could use it to add to the page.
 * I hope that's of some help. I always enjoyed Keith's work, and think he's greatly under appreciated as a historian of Vietnam. Intothatdarkness 22:03, 25 July 2023 (UTC)