Talk:Heinrich Baermann

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Name

It seems to me that the most common spelling of his name is "Baermann"; he is so listed in Grove. I suggest to modify and move the article accordingly. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 04:50, 15 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Spamming of undergrad student papers as ELs

User:Ssumkhu is indiscriminately spamming Wikipedia articles with external links to his school's project, adding school papers written by undergraduate students. See his edit history here and his many warnings from multiple editors on his talk page. He apparently registered an account for the sole purpose of effecting this spam. I reverted his spam here and a few other articles; other editors have reverted the spam on other articles.

I don't think an undergrad student's school paper meets the requirements of WP:EL. An undergraduate paper is not a reliable source, and without vetting that the student is a "knowledgeable source", it is not clear that the paper "contain[s] information about the subject of the article from knowledgeable sources." Furthermore, the link is "mainly intended to promote a website."

If someone can verify the statements in the paper, they certainly might be worthy additions to the article, cited to a reliable source; but it's not appropriate as an external link. TJRC (talk) 20:39, 29 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I understand your argument; however, the paper was added under "External links", not under "References". WP:EL does not mandate reliable sources; WP:ELMAYBE#4 explicitly permits them. I read the paper, and while it clearly doesn't reach PhD thesis standards, it is a supervised paper from a reputable institution with a reasonable bibliography. Its description of Baermann's life and times and the development of his instrument goes beyond the current material in this article.

Despite the deplorable edit pattern by Ssumkhu, each case deserves to be judged on its merit – how it furthers the readers' knowledge about the subject. I believe this paper does and the link should be reinstated. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 03:49, 30 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I addressed WP:ELMAYBE#4 above: it permits them where the link "contain[s] information about the subject of the article from knowledgeable sources." Essentially, it downgrades the requirement from "reliable source" to "knowledgeable source." I don't think this undergrad student has been vetted to be such a knowledgeable source. However, if you have sufficient knowledge of Baermann's life to make the assessment that the student is sufficiently knowledgeable to qualify, go ahead and re-add it. My concern is that the original spammer clearly made no attempt to consider this distinction; if you have, I have no further objection. TJRC (talk) 16:13, 30 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]