DTDelaney

Tom Delaney obituary

Hello,

I see you've added an obituary to the Tom Delaney article, which I originally wrote (thinking it rather poor that there was not one already; I saw him race once or twice at Donington, and he was definitely considered "notable" by the crowd there!). Thank you very much; there's a lot of excellent information in there and I'm grateful to you... but do you have (written) sources we can mention for the content you added? "Personal knowledge" isn't inependently verifiable by readers, so written sources are very much preferred for Wikipedia articles if at all possible.

I notice the disparity in dates of death: I was going by Autosport, which said 1 September, but you've written 31 August. I'm not sure what to do about that - as it was over the end of a month we can't just say "August" or "September", and if we change it to 31 August then sooner or later another editor will come along and change it back on the basis of what Autosport said. 1 September has a checkable source (Autosport), so to use the 31 August date instead, we'll need some sort of a written, verifiable reference for that.

I'd also better say that I've edited your additions a bit to fit in with Wikipedia style, and merged the new information with what was already there to create a single article, as well as slightly lessening the amount of information about Tom's father - the article is about Tom himself, after all. I've also changed your wording slightly on a couple of occasions so as to conform to Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, which requires that we avoid language which betrays personal views (good or bad) of our subjects.

I couldn't help noticing your username, as you'd expect. If you are indeed a member of Tom Delaney's family, then I hope none of what I've said above has caused any offence or upset: it's simply that Wikipedia, as an encyclopedia, cannot rely entirely on personal contributions that can't be independently sourced - and yes, that does mean that on occasion we have to leave interesting information out. Please don't hesitate to mention if in editing the article I've made a mistake or said something that doesn't ring true with you.

All the above being said, your contributions to the article were much appreciated and very valuable. Thank you very much. Loganberry (Talk) 14:54, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi

I am Tom Delaney's eldest son and was present at his hospital bedside when he died at 3:06pm on Thursday 31 August. I can send a copy of the death certificate if you want. The date will be otherwise verifiable in next week's Daily Telegraph. I do not know exactly which day they will print the obituary. As for written sources I recommend "The Lea Francis Story" by Barry Price.

I have no objection to you changing what I wrote. I have no comprehension of Wikipedia protocols. I came across your item by means of a Google Alert.

Regards

David Delaney

Update on obituary

I found the Daily Telegraph obituary mentioned above. See here, and have updated Tom Delaney accordingly. This was after watching tonight's BBC1 program (ONE Life) about elderly drivers, which featured Tom Delaney among other drivers. My condolences on your loss. Carcharoth 22:42, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Thank you; I must admit I was uneasy about the 1 September date after what David Delaney said above, and I'm much more comfortable with it now that the Telegraph obituary exists. I've added a notice on Talk:Tom Delaney mentioning that Autosport got the date wrong, which I hope will forestall any "correction" back to the 1 September date. And I certainly echo your condolences to Mr Delaney. Loganberry (Talk) 22:59, 18 October 2006 (UTC)