In a message dated 12/18/98 6:48:18 PM Eastern Standard Time,
rgorman@telusplanet.net writes:

 Hey, if it was good enough for Hitchcock and Roger Zelazny...
 There's really nothing wrong with self insertion in general as long as it
 doesn't get in the way of telling a good story.  The problem with many
 self-inserts is that vanity and wishful thinking get in the way of plot
 and characterisation.  That's not as big a problem with cameos.
 

And Asimov.  "Murder at the ABA" has some major SI in it.