Talk:Spirit of the Times

Frontier folklore

There is no evidence in either the Spirit itself or the secondary literature to suggest that the humorous tales Porter published were based on, or reflected, any kind of folklore. I have therefore removed the assertion that they were from the opening paragraph. I can provide more references to support this contention if necessary. Ferntowerpoet 18:57, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

40,000 Subscribers

I am wary of this figure. As far as I know, there is no evidence other than Porter's (probably unreliable) pronouncement that the Spirit had this number of subscribers. Since scholars have, since the 1950s, been quoting this figure willy-nilly, it's gained some sort of currency - but for no good reason. So, if nobody objects, I'll remove it. Ferntowerpoet 18:48, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

I object to both your changes. They are supported by sources, but you have not backed your changes with sources. If you can do so, I have less of a problem with it. — Brian (talk) 22:31, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, I should clarify. You did cite sources, so thanks. But we need to now indicate that sources are in disagreement, not just declare that your sources are superior to other sources. I will recheck my notes sometime this weekend and reinstate some of the things you have removed, indicating this disagreement. — Brian (talk) 22:34, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

I've provided the citations requested, and I'll check my books for the folklore stuff once I get home from work. — Brian (talk) 02:00, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for all this. This debate about the circulation is bugging me, though. All the books/articles I've read which quote this figure either quote each other, in a circular fashion, or refer to an issue of the Spirit (can't remember which one off the top of my head) in which Porter makes the claim himself. Neither of these is satisfactory - which is what made me want to delete the figure in the article. However, in order to prove this, we would have to engage in a very long de-bunking of all the relevant sources - which would take some time and might even count as original research (?). Ferntowerpoet 12:10, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

On/of/near the frontier

This might seem a bit pedantic, but I think it's important to emphasize the difference (in the first para) between settlers on or of the frontier with settlers near the frontier. The Spirit's most famous humorous writing was contributed by men who lived just behind the frontier (as usually defined). The stories they contributed were not typically stories of frontier adventures, but encounters between settlers/visitors just behind it. I've changed the paragraph to reflect this. - Ferntowerpoet 12:20, 10 April 2007 (UTC)