Talk:William A. Gamson

Amazon links/SimSoc

I've again removed the amazon links, which were returned with the statement that they provided citations. In fact, a non-commercial citation for this information is already provided under the existing external link, Web page at Boston College. That said, I have created a selected bibliography section in order to bring things into line with Wikipedia's External links policy (in particular, the 'Links normally to be avoided' section). The hyperlink to Simulated Society has been eliminated as it refers to the game, not the participant's manual. If the game is being referred to in this sentence, I recommend that it be described as such and not follow a list of books. Victoriagirl 03:45, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

The game = the participants manual and the instructor's manual. Both of which are written by Gamson, and the history of editions is the history of the development of that game. Trying to seperate SimSoc, the game, from SimSoc, the book, is akin to trying to seperate the notability of Orville and Wilbur Wright from the history of early aviation. Or, more accurately, flight from aeroplanes. As for removing the specific links- apparently the ISBN links are what should have been done the first time, creating backup reference, instead of simply removing all attempt at secondary reference to those items. Darker Dreams 12:30, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't know that I've ever seen a Wiki article in which a book is cited as a reference to the selfsame book. Nor have I any come across any instances in which a bibliography of a writer has been deleted. Never mind, my intent was to remove the commercial links. That said, I maintain that the hyperlink to Simulated Society is incorrect. While I recognize that Simulated Society and SimSoc are related, the reader is expecting to be directed to an article on a book, yet ends up at an entry on a game. To draw upon the examples above, the hyperlink to the Wright Brothers does not take the reader to an article on the history of early aviation, and the hyperlink to flight does not direct the reader to aeroplanes. in short, the book SimSoc is integral to the entry, but it not the subject - or even the title - of the Simulated Society article. Victoriagirl 16:35, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Simulated Society. SimSoc. While you are correct that flight and aeroplanes are not the same article I would suggest that it is simply because there is generally more to say about those subjects- when the single Simulated Society article that already exists is a stub seperating SimSoc (the book) from SimSoc (the game) -roughly analogous to seperating flight (the act) from aeroplanes (the thing that flies))- becomes redundant. If you would like to expand that article to the point where it is worth making that distinction, feel free. I generally restrain my editing to creating redirects, basic copyediting, and an occasional stub- usually only if something seems glaringly absent. As for the reference- it is not referencing analasys of the book in question but providing external verification{fact} that the book does, in fact, exist with the named author. Better; it provides some information about said text. It is possible, if unlikely, that Dr. Gamson's biography will be removed from the linked site. Similarly, while my evidence indicates that even if his book were to never again be published Amazon would retain those links, they might eventually decay (not arguing that the ISBN link doesn't work as well or better, simply providing my justification for the original choice). Regardless, providing double the survivability to some external verification seems like something worth doing. Darker Dreams 21:05, 16 May 2007 (UTC)