Talk:Harold Strachan

A fact from Harold Strachan appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 6 December 2017 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Harold Strachan has painted pictures, written books, made bombs, served two prison sentences, and completed an ultramarathon?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2017/December. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Harold Strachan.

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PhD thesis source[edit]

As part of my research for this article I contacted the South African academic Zoë Molver, who has sent me a copy of the excellent PhD thesis she wrote on Strachan in 2010. I have asked her if she would be prepared to have a summary of her work placed online as is often done for theses. In the meantime, cognisant of WP:V and WP:BLPSOURCES, I will be cautious about what I use it to source, and can arrange to share extracts from it for any editor who wishes to see them. Does that seem ok to others? Gerda Arendt, does this sound reasonable? At the moment it's being used to cite his date for birth, dates of marriage and divorce, and that his second wife was a former student of his. --John (talk) 15:16, 2 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds fine, and exciting! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:39, 2 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I've just confirmed that there are physical and digital copies available at the university library. It'd still be nice to have at least an abstract available to editors, but I think this puts us in the clear WP:V-wise. --John (talk) 21:07, 3 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Full name not needed in lead[edit]

In this respect the MoS advice is garbage. There is no reason to include Strachan's full name, which he has never used, in bold in the first sentence of the article. --John (talk) 11:57, 6 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Until such time as the MOS changes, we use it. WP:IDONTLIKEIT isn't enough. Giant Snowman 17:12, 6 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The process to perhaps change the MOS is under way, the same question came up for Felix Mendelssohn (who should know that he also was Jakob before knowing that he was a composer??) and more generally, here. - IAR if it serves the reader. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:33, 6 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Gerda. Having a coherent answer to why would be a good start, GiantSnowman. John (talk) 17:35, 6 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

And, if I may justify my choice as the sole author, editor and researcher of this article, I chose the current wording because Strachan is not famous for his middle names, but for what he has done in his life. The full middle names are only there because he seems to have chosen his nom de guerre when sneaking back into SA from Swaziland from his middle names and his nickname. The full name only appears in some legal paperwork on one of his court cases, and there is no evidence that he has ever used it, except in the case noted. --John (talk) 18:27, 6 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Shout out to Zoë Molver[edit]

I want to place on record my extreme gratitude to Zoë Molver, who appears to be the leading academic source on Strachan's life, and who helped me immeasurably by providing a copy of her excellent PhD thesis on him which is used in references. I have requested that she consider publishing her work as a book; in the meantime, as noted above, I am happy to provide screen grabs of her reference for those who wish to verify the material but cannot visit the university library where the thesis is located. --John (talk) 16:58, 8 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]