jason-tuhs(a)shalott.net scripsit:
See, for example, this story about an author who was
told he "was
not a credible source" regarding the basis of his own writings --
Indeed. John "Lisp" McCarthy definitely couldn't remember the order
and timing of his work on Lisp without reference to his documents.
Or rather he did remember, but his memories were wrong. Primary sources
have to be used with care and caution, and while they are not outright
forbidden on Wikipedia, they are not trivial to use.
Wikipedia is by nature a *summary of the published literature*. If you
want to get some folklore, like what "cron" stands for, into Wikipedia,
then publish a folklore article in a journal, book, or similar reputable
publication. Random uncontrolled mailing lists simply do not count.
The poet may of course have some critical ability of his own, and
so be able to talk about his own work. But the Dante who writes a
commentary on the first canto of the Paradiso is merely one more
of Dante's critics. What he says has a peculiar interest, but
not a peculiar authority. It is generally accepted that a critic
is a better judge of the value of a poem than its creator, but
there is still a lingering notion that it is somehow ridiculous
to regard the critic as the final judge of its meaning, even
though in practice it is clear that he must be. The reason
for this is an inability to distinguish literature from the
descriptive or assertive writing which derives from the active
will and the conscious mind, and which is primarily concerned to
"say" something.
--Northrop Frye, _Anatomy of Criticism_
--
John Cowan
http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan(a)ccil.org
If I read "upcoming" in [the newspaper] once more, I will be downcoming
and somebody will be outgoing.