I'm a big fan of autobio. As someone who sometimes focuses on connections, I'm often working to build out a tree and not really doing much with the bio, It's fantastic to be able to give a solid basic bio to what might be an otherwise mostly empty profile.
BUT, it's SO easy, I do feel like there are times when people rely on it too much. I recently had an exchange with someone who had overwritten an entire profile with AutoBio. The bio I had written definitely had pieces missing (some children, a later marriage), but there was also some intentionally composed content (specific research issues, some facts around the estimated date of death).
I reverted and contacted the person and asked them to add but not overwrite what was already there. They went back and did autobio again and added some of my elements but not all, and again removed much of my content.
I just wish people were clear that autobio isn't really preferred to original content. The inclusion of the old bio is clearly designed to help with the merging of the two bios...but where there is already and existing bio, I wish the options were flipped....and the autobio appears at the bottom, and then you can cut and paste additions from the autobio to the existing one.
I realize this is mostly a collaboration/honor code consideration, and autobio is a great tool when used correctly. Just wanted to put out a reminder that it should be used thoughtfully and not be autobio on autopilot.
