Talk:John Rainwater - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk | contribs) at 10:05, 2 April 2012 (→Clarification: Perhaps you can contact Math Reviews and ask them to remove the "confusing" entry about John Rainwater?). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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A fact from John Rainwater appeared on Misplaced Pages's Main Page in the Did you know column on 1 April 2012 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that a University of Washington fake mathematician created as a student prank became the author of several well-received papers in research journals?

A record of the entry may be seen at Misplaced Pages:Recent additions/2012/April.

Misplaced Pages

John Rainwater is immortal

Rumors of Rainwater's demise are unfounded:

Where does John Rainwater go from here? It would be a shame if he were to die. It is to be hoped that someone will be able to help John Rainwater carry on, so that in the future people won't ask "Who killed J.R.?"

Quoting from Phelps (2002) ( Kiefer.Wolfowitz (Discussion) 17:33, 2 April 2011 (UTC)). 17:03, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Coda

This very serious comment responds to the change in assessment status from "living=yes" to "living=no"! Kiefer.Wolfowitz (Discussion) 14:35, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

We don't really have a code to indicate a pseudonym of living or non-living people. Perhaps a note to Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Biography would help. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 15:32, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Done! Kiefer.Wolfowitz (Discussion) 15:54, 3 April 2011 (UTC) 17:01, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Clarification

Currently the text is a bit confusing and it's hard to figure out whether he was fictional or not. The infobox and categories present him as a real prototype, yet the text suggests he is fictitious. Brandmeister 21:36, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

You're right. I have trimmed the infobox, removing birth date and nationality and residence, for that reason. I think the whole infobox should go, actually, unless it can be altered to show immediately that Rainwater is fictitious. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 00:31, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

You can learn by recognizing confusion, if you want to know the truth and can be honest about being confused.

Removing an information box is less drastic than an auto-lobotomy, but does suffice to remove the irritation about confusion.

Perhaps you can contact Math Reviews and ask them to remove the "confusing" entry about John Rainwater?

Kiefer.Wolfowitz 10:05, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

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