Talk:American Biographical Institute

message: When I see that efforts at publication and biography are listed as vanity press I find it necessary to comment that vanity press usually refers to the fact that self proclaimed work and self published efforts often end up stored in boxes where they are never seen.  The fact of character references and the semiotics of commercial effort are both required in job application and illustrious as heraldry.  Before an organization such as this is can be condemned, it should be necessary to investigate that being advertised.  As mentioned, several leaders in politics hold proclamations from the ABI. 207.69.139.148 (talk) 03:43, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I am myself thinking of what will happen to me in the future when I am dead. I have my names listed in some references as an achiever and  "famous" internationally but I want a compendium of my life representing my biography in a book (before I die). So to whom shall I turn to- The ABI. Sometimes we don't like ABI but if we look at personal circumstances it is alright to be a part of it. Whether it will be stored in a box or be seen from time to time by people frequenting the libraries... at least I am not forgotten and I have done something for myself and for the world during my time. Selected to receive awards from ABI if appropriate is something to cherish... at least you are selected but you don't necessarily have to buy it. It is a rarity that one can acknowledge you in the form of awards.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.245.84.187 (talk) 19:40, 12 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Comment

message: Acts of Political, Social, Business, personal and otherwise -Defamation (is actually a basis of what you are saying, not just against the ABI but all of its participants and people whom you have chosen to declare worthy of a vanity press scam front...and this ABI is of a particular social organization as evidenced, an organization not just of 1 or 2 people but tens of thousands, if not 100's of thousands involved (each declared by this text, aka vanity press  as unworthy recipiants of their awards...be this an accusation). I would like to know if you have contacted the organization themselves or federal agents, state authorities or lawyers and persued 
'proper'legal proceedings which would be 'the right thing to do' if you truely believe and have evidence what you are telling us against thousands of people. Please take this to court as a lawsuit, persue legal action and accuse where it is right, not just by lending words as accusations.."that is defamation". Maybe you are right, or maybe you are wrong in your assesment. If you are right there is no false accusation, but if you are wrong then it gets sticky. Being a lawyer has its merits.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.162.242.164 (talk) 23:01, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Comment 2

message: I removed twenty or more titles from the very long list in the American Biographical Institute#Awards and titles sold section.  User  restored them and posted the following on my talk page: 
G'day.  Great job keeping an eye on the above article.  I reverted your deletion of the unreferenced material as I will reference it over the next few weeks.  They can all be found by a Google search.  Just give me a little time. Gillyweed (talk) 00:00, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Unreferenced items in list

message: Some people feel it is a legitmate action to be included in biographical publications, paid for or not. Societal rewards, awards, inclusions or social gatherings are sometimes part of membership as with any society or social order in the United States, Europe and throughout the world. I hope there would not be an inquisition into various governmental awards that bend favoritism in a plethoria of ways, nor would I wish that media awards in general are so heavily scrutinized that they take away the joy of their possessors. Afterall we are talking about a "private institute".  Political Correctness seems to doubt that any fee should be paid for a biography, but it is, this is just business. Books require work, the same work as all common business. Time is spent in research, printing nd paper is used in the bindings as well as the distribution of any book on any shelf in any library. It is reasonable to accept that there is a fee involved with any business transaction, unless it is non profit or charity. Since these are so rare in our scheme of influence, registres often do charge some fee. Sometimes this fee is for the listing, as in advertising. If one considers every paid incluson a scam then an aweful lot of business actions would lead to the conclusive ideas. From personal experience I dont think that paid inclusion is a "wrong" thing yet many people seem to have various thoughts on these principles. Legitimacy can be a question "always". To call Whos Who -a scam- is overlooking many of the potential uses for these books. If biography, any biography publishing  is termed a scam, we should go to church to condemn it, or continue to develop within ourselves better biographies and vett those contingincies with accuracy instead of blanket white wash, polite analysis.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.121.198.196 (talk) 01:45, 2 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Random commentary

message: I am serving as a representative of the American Biographical Institute. Much of the content in this entry is either false or so misleading that it confuses and turns away those chosen as award recipients by the Institute. There is absolutely no cost associated with accepting an award (only the commemorative, OPTIONAL merchandise, and I tried repeatedly to edit the information to indicate such) and deserving individuals who could be listing their awards on their resumes instantly grow fearful when they read untruths on the Internet. There have been individuals who have called the office just to see if the company actually exists, which it most certainly does. I'm sure there are many individuals who don't even bother to do that.
Wikipedia is apparently incredibly careful about what is posted in its entries, as is evidenced by my many edits being reversed. Yet, what I have been trying to do is edit the entry to actually be truthful! Each edit I've made has come with a detailed explanation, and yet the slander remains.
If Wikipedia is unwilling to let the American Biographical Institute be represented fairly and truthfully, please simply remove the entry. The Institute would rather have the sole source of information about itself on the Internet be its own Web site, which provides recipients with honest information rather than what some disgruntled and uninformed blogger thinks.
I've taken the liberty of saving the copy for the entry, as I've been trying to edit it to read. Most of what I did was edit claims that there are fees to accept awards, as there aren't. Rather, recipients of awards can choose to purchase the commemorative merchandise. I did, however, remove a few blatently libelous statements, as well as cleaned up some of the grammar and mechanics a bit. You'll find all of this pasted below.
Thank you.
The American Biographical Wikipedia page, as it should be presented:
The American Biographical Institute (ABI) is a biographical reference directory publisher based in Raleigh, North Carolina which has been publishing biographies since 1967.American Biographical Institute website. It generates revenue from sales of commemorative merchandise and books.
;Operations
The ABI awards various honors to deserving individuals, and may offer to include them in a specific biographical volume.
 Such honors include "International Man of the Year," "Most Admired Man of the Decade" or "Outstanding Man of the 21st Century" (see list below), or to be included in ABI publications, such as 500 Leaders of Science  or The World Book of Knowledge.  The publications can be purchased directly from the American Biographical Institute.
On its website, the publisher describes itself as "one of the world’s leading biographical reference publishers and authorities on global contemporary achievement" and claims that "inclusion in an ABI reference title is based on personal achievement alone and is not available for purchase."
The President of the ABI, Janet M. Evans, is also the president of Ivy House Publishing Group.
;World Forum
The ABI is also the co-host with the International Biographical Centre of a yearly World Forum, (previously the International Congress on Arts and Communications) which invites a group for a week of professional seminars, artistic displays and performances, and culture sharing. Host cities over the 31 yearly meetings have included: New York; Washington D.C.; New Orleans; San Francisco; Edinburgh; Cambridge, UK; Nairobi; Madrid; Lisbon; Cambridge, Mass. USA; Oxford, UK.; Singapore; and Sydney.Certificate of attendance The Maitre Artiste of Ethiopia, Afewerk Tekle is a regular attendee. No proceedings of these forums are produced except from the ABI which includes these in a newsletter.
;Awards and titles
New awards are created periodically. Recipients are welcome to purchase commemorative merchandise, such as plaques and medals.   In 2005 the Institute awarded 200 "Man of the Year" awards.
The ABI does not provide a consolidated list of all the awards, medals, diplomas and certificates it issues,  but the titles of the honors may be identified through the recipients' use of them in their résumés.
The awards and titles issued by the American Biographical Institute include:
* 2010 Man of the year in finance
*Albert Einstein Award of Excellence
*Ambassador of Grand Eminence
* American Hall of Fame 
* American Medal of HonorBiography of Celia Hall-Thur, Wenatchee Valley College
* American Order of Excellence Medal
* Commemorative Medal of Honor
* Community Leader of America
* Congressional Medal of ExcellenceObituary for Pruella Cromartie Niver Canham
* Contemporary EliteThe awards and honours of Dr. Deepak P. Nandedkar
* Continental Governor for the United States of America
* Deputy Governor of the American Biographical Institute Research Association
* Distinguished Leadership Award
* Distinguished Young Leadership AwardBiography of Murray McGibbon
* Einsteinian Chair of ScienceBiography of Dana Barry
* Gold Record of AchievementPresident of Gambia
* Genius Laureate of the United StatesDubious Awards, Sashes and Stuff
* Great Minds of the 21st Century AwardDavid Vernon - Man of the Year!
* Great Women of the 21st Century AwardMunnings among Great Women of the 21st Century - Government Press Release
* International Cultural Diploma of Honor
* International Man of the Year
* International Medal of VisionChief Minister of Sikkim
* International Peace Prize
* Key Award
* Legion of HonorPaying for Prestige 
* Man of AchievementRaymond Newkirk Biography
* Man of scienceH.Chen Biography
* Man of the Year
* Master Diploma with honors
* Member of the World Institute of Achievement
* Most Admired Man of the Decade
* One of the Genius Elite
* Order of International Ambassadors & Deputy GovernorYvanka (Ivanka) B. Raynova Biography
* Outstanding Man of the 20th Century
* Outstanding Man of the 21st Century
* Woman of Achievement
* Woman of the Year
* Woman of the Year in Medicine & Healthcare
* World Laureate of Norway
* World Lifetime Achievement Award
* World Medal of Freedom
* 25 Year Achievement Award
;Example of a letter from the American Biographical Institute
;Government leaders with ABI awards
* President of Gambia, Yahya JammehBiography of Yahya Jammeh with CV on Gambia government website.
* Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir BhuttoBiography of Benazir Bhutto on Famousmuslims.com website.
* Chief Minister of Sikkim, Dr Pawan ChamlingBiography of Pawan Chamling with CV on Sikkim National Informatics Center website.
;See also
* Author mill
* Who's Who scam
;References
;External links
* Company homepage
*  — First-hand account that exposes fraudulent who’s who publishers
Category:Companies based in Raleigh, North Carolina
Category:Companies established in 1967
Category:Publishing companies of the United States
de:American Biographical Institute
pl:The American Biographical Institute
tr:Amerikan Biyografi Enstitüsü
vi:Viện Tiểu sử Hoa Kỳ
Anfaber (talk) 20:08, 3 May 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Not done: first of all, you have an obvious conflict of interest and your desire for your site to be the only source of information on the internet is the exact reason for this guideline. If you have reliable and non-primary sources to back up your claims, we would be happy to insert them to include all sides of the issue, but simply removing the current sourced content from the article won't happen. Please point out any specific claims that are either unsourced or are not backed up by their sources and they will be removed. Thanks, — Bility (talk) 23:51, 3 May 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request from Anfaber, 3 May 2011 

message: See  "It’s a place where authors go to pay to have their work published, a kind of shop once dismissed as a “vanity publisher.” There was a stigma attached to it then,” she says. “But times have changed.” Listed as a vanity publisher here: . Whatever you call it, the author pays for the book to be published. Dougweller (talk) 20:52, 3 May 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vanity Press 

message: As one makes the journey of life, with open mind, he learns that it would be naive to take anything with Trust. That is why the dollar note says IN GOD WE TRUST, and not In this bank note we trust.
If someone attaches an expression such as Scam on something I would not take it for granted, I would also question why? The journalists, politicians and other, most probably have their reason for it. Could it be : trust only us, at which point they are attempting to compare themselves to The God ( In God We Trust)?
Nothing in this world is infallible. As for the man who entered his dog into ABI publishing - don't you think that this man actually perpetrated a 'scam' on the ABI?
To know something, is to verify it, get the content under scrutiny and verify again from many aspects, perspectives and sources etc., simply use your mind - think to the fullest potential of the mind. That is why I believe the reference to 'scam' should be eliminated.
P.S. Personally I have used some of these publications for selfish reason, to protect my work, research and achievements from plagiarism, intellectual property theft etc.
Rasto Hlavina74.210.37.164 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 13:25, 2 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Trust 

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