Talk:Timothy Insoll

Notability

Hello User:Richard Nevell - I added the Notability tag to this article as none of the current references show us that this person in notable. Being a prof or publishing some papers is not enough, as I am sure you are aware. Can you please add something which does show us this person is notable? Thank you.--الدبوني (talk) 14:21, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

I disagree that being a professor is not enough to demonstrate notability as in the UK that is a senior academic position. However, that aside Insoll has authored or co-authored 11 monographs so his works have been covered by secondary sources eg: 1, 2, 3. Richard Nevell (talk) 17:04, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Thank you User:Richard Nevell. I had a quick look at Wikipedia:Notability (academics) and honestly still think this page does not meet the criteria. It is subjective of course, but can we say this guy has "had a significant impact in their scholarly discipline" and can we back this by independent sources? In any case I will not add the tag again and I do not know how these matters are dealt with nowadays but thanks again for your response.--الدبوني (talk) 11:04, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

The guideline is written with a US-focus, but as a general rule a professorship in the UK is an indicator of significant impact in their discipline (point 1 in WP:PROF). On top of that, he was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2001 (point 3 in WP:PROF). While WP:PROF provides specific guidance, the range of sources, specifically book reviews, engaging with Insoll's work demonstrates notability. Notability can often be tricky to demonstrate for academics and there is sometimes an element of subjectivity, but that really shouldn't be the case here. Richard Nevell (talk) 19:01, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

Planned edits to the article

Over the next few days I'll work on the article in a sandbox to address the issues (mostly around detail as far as I can tell) and then post the results here so the community can comment on them. Usually, I'd get stuck straight into an article but as I have an (honorary) affiliation with the University of Exeter I figure it's better to go about it that way to make sure the community has an opportunity to have some input. Richard Nevell (talk) 20:19, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

Here is the sandbox, and here are the proposed changes. As you can see, I've pruned some detail, adjusted some wording (though only a little), and added a couple of references. Richard Nevell (talk) 10:10, 26 May 2023 (UTC)