Retroversion

Re: Jennifer Batten

Just letting you know that I have no problem with your reverting my recent edits on her instrumentation. The only reason I listed some of them is because I've seen other articles for musicians which seem to list every instrument they've ever used (however minor) on their infobox. I didn't necessarily think it was right, but I nonetheless sheepishly followed suit by plucking out everything and anything listed on her album liner notes. Looking at it now, it indeed makes no sense to list trivial stuff like vocals and whatnot because she is primarily a guitarist who plays electric and synth guitar. Mac Dreamstate (talk) 15:00, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The only album in which she's listed as playing keyboard is Tribal Rage. "Keys" is pretty much all it says on her instrumentation section of the liner notes (amongst the other stuff credited to her). Maybe it means her synth guitar keys, but since there's no disambiguation on that part I'll have to assume "keys" means a standard keyboard. To me, liner notes are the most solid reference when it comes to album articles; therefore unless she has stated elsewhere—in print or otherwise—that she has never used a keyboard, I can't remove it from her Tribal Rage credits. Mac Dreamstate (talk) 19:22, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Absolutely, I do realise a lot of the things written in the liner notes for her albums is intended to be humorous. Considering some of the weird stuff listed in the Tribal Rage credits such as "dentist drill guitar" and "free electricity" (pic taken just now), it is indeed possible that "keys" actually means a set of house/car keys. Nevertheless, let me know how you get on with her response. Mac Dreamstate (talk) 20:40, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Unfortunately, first-hand information isn't usually recommended for use on Wikipedia unless it's been published reliably (see WP:primary sources). Since the only correspondence you've had with Batten is through e-mail, there is no way Wikipedia would allow for that to be used as a source. Anything she's said would have to have been published officially in some capacity, such as a website or magazine. Sucks, I know, but that's how this place works. If e-mails were allowed to be sourced, anyone could start adding stuff to peoples' bio articles and claim that they got the information through an e-mail. Mac Dreamstate (talk) 14:22, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Just linking you to a new Batten interview from Ultimate-Guitar. It probably has a lot of stuff you're already aware of, but maybe there's something new in there. All the best! Mac Dreamstate (talk) 22:26, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

That's really good to hear. I had hoped there'd be even a small tidbit or two that could be included in the article, so it looks like it was useful after all. I know full well how frustrating it can be when you have interesting information at hand, or simply know something to be true, but can't use it as a source due to Wikipedia's verifiability rules (or limitations, rather). Mac Dreamstate (talk) 23:37, 9 December 2011 (UTC)