# Talk:Stanley Casson

Hi @UndercoverClassicist: Is Wills 2014 a reliable source? Cambridge Scholars Publishing always raises red flags for me. Eddie891  Talk Work  06:25, 21 May 2025 (UTC)

Unrelated, but I'm also wondering whether the first para of the lede would benefit from being focused on the most notable aspects of Casson's career, and then discuss his education later? Eddie891  Talk Work  06:42, 21 May 2025 (UTC)
Hi Eddie -- a couple of levels to this one:
The "problems" with CSP, as I understand the complaints made about them, are mostly from a few years back (I think it was sold about 10 years ago), about its journals, and about how it treats authors -- as I remember, it gets on Beall's List because it apparently had a practice of head-hunting early-career researchers to publish their work in its journals, and there was a perception that they might have been able to secure better terms and more prestige had they waited and gone for bigger-name presses. I don't think people have raised concerns about the reliability of its book-publishing, but very happy to be corrected here.
Wills is an independent researcher, but is also fairly widely published in established academic presses, so I think the balance is in his favour there.
The source is only supporting Leigh Fermor's involvement with Casson -- he was a prolific writer of memoirs and I imagine it would be trivial to cross-reference with those, though I admit I haven't actually done that. It's also recorded here, which I suppose I could add if the CSP source is felt to be compromised: the latter includes the nice detail that Casson insisted on speaking to Leigh Fermor in Greek.
I think you're right on the lead: I've thrown something together, but am not particularly wedded to the content or the phrasing. UndercoverClassicist T·C 07:51, 21 May 2025 (UTC)
Thanks for the response! I might question it a bit more at FAC, but your explanation does make sense. My impression of CSP was mostly shaped by my reading a few years of sources linked in the AfD, where at least one review are cited that didn't seem to think that the press had high quality editing practice. But their reputation may well have improved. Eddie891  Talk Work  08:14, 21 May 2025 (UTC)
There are some useful points made there -- I might shore this up later, and certainly would take a good look at it if an FAC run becomes likely. UndercoverClassicist T·C 08:20, 21 May 2025 (UTC)
The most recent assessment that I could find was from 2022:
Using print on demand technology, it publishes a large number of academic monographs (80% of submissions are accepted), provides relatively little editorial direction, and expects only a few of its books to sell in significant number
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of quality. Eddie891  Talk Work  08:24, 21 May 2025 (UTC)
Indeed not. With a slight rephrase, I think I can swap it for Artemis Cooper's biography of Leigh Fermor, perhaps supplemented by LF's memoirs (which I assume are Cooper's source anyway), but I'll need to track down a copy of each of those. I still think Wills is respected enough to swing it towards RS if not HQRS, but I wouldn't want to go into an FAC having to rely on that, especially given that it's holding such a minor part of the article. UndercoverClassicist T·C 08:31, 21 May 2025 (UTC)
I've now made that swap. UndercoverClassicist T·C 21:50, 22 May 2025 (UTC)