Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard

Welcome – report issues regarding biographies of living persons here.
This noticeboard is for discussing the application of the biographies of living people (BLP) policy to article content. Please seek to resolve issues on the article talk page first, and only post here if that discussion requires additional input. Do not copy and paste defamatory material here; instead, link to a diff showing the problem. Search this noticeboard & archives Sections older than 7 days are archived by Lowercase sigmabot III. Additional notes: Edits by the subject of an article may be welcome in some cases. For general content disputes regarding biographical articles, try Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Biographies instead. Editors are encouraged to assist editors regarding the reports below. Administrators may impose contentious topic restrictions to enforce policies.

Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert's page identifies him as an American criminal (as an identity). Hastert was never convicted of a sex offense, and he is notable for being Speaker, not for being a "structurer". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2606:A000:6284:E000:4518:B936:15E2:9005 (talk) 19:30, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

I fixed it. Stuff like this that is obviously unappropriate, editors are encouraged to just fix on the spot. If the editor persists, that's different. Herostratus (talk) 20:04, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Irene Taylor Brodsky

Irene Taylor Brodsky (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Unverified source information has been included in Irene Taylor Brodsky's page as well as the page of her film Beware the Slenderman, regarding her and HBO's supposed unauthorized usage of copyrighted material in the Beware the Slenderman film. No sources seem to exist that back up this information beyond possible first-hand research.

["Beware the Slenderman" uses footage from other filmmakers without their permission while she and HBO continue to refuse to credit the original creators.]— Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.72.153.8 (talk) 23:05, February 24, 2017‎

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Stewart_(politician)#cite_note-8

This link has been hacked and redirects to a sex site. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.149.195.35 (talk) 11:15, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

Not as far as I can see. Bishonen | talk 21:55, 10 March 2017 (UTC).

Cite note #8 (Pink News) in the Stewart article is not a sex site. PinkNews covers politics, entertainment, religion and community news for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the UK and worldwide. Maineartists (talk) 00:26, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

Fabio D'Andrea

Fabio D'Andrea (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Biography is hugely inaccurate and quotes unrelated press articles.

1) By the time he was 12 he had taken the Grade 8 of Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music exams and had also sung before the Queen and Prince Phillip at the Royal Albert Hall.[1]

There is no evidence to suggest he reached this grade at 12 and the news article does not relate to him singing for the Queen.

2) and continued his education, studying music at Kings College London and The Royal Academy of Music, specialising in composition

The references only cite him studying at Kings College London

3)D'Andrea released a debut solo piano album Reflection in 2012[2] which became album of the week[3] on Classic FM in the UK and subsequently a top ten classical album.[4] The reference does not cooborate that he was album of the week on classic fm

4)D'Andrea had his debut commission for a ballet production premiered at the Royal Opera House[6] in 2013. The commission by Ballet Black, an associate company of the Royal Ballet, was composed for Royal Ballet dancer and choreographer Ludovic Ondiviela and the orchestral piece, Perpetuum, featured in the dance Dopamine which toured both in the UK and internationally.

There is no record of Fabio D'Andrea composition being used in this performance. http://balletblack.co.uk/history/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.144.247.237 (talk) 12:39, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

You may want to double-check some of your claims. Just checking your statement that " the news article does not relate to him singing for the Queen" overlooks the fact that that page does include the statement "Fabio [...] has played for the Queen", so it can be used as a source for that statement (although, well, Daily Mail is not our favorite source of biographies.) This appears to be a column of news bits, not all of which are reflected in the title. Some of your concerns may be handled better by using the Template:citation needed tag rather than deletion. --Nat Gertler (talk) 15:17, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

Carlo M. Croce

Operator873 has consistently added information on the biography of Carlo M. Croce that violate the guidelines of wikipedia's BLP. His entries on Croce's personal are not written from a neutral point of view and are based on gossip. Operator 873's entry is not written conservatively and has absolutely no regard for the subject's privacy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Telemachos1 (talk • contribs) 17:17, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

The edits in question cite the New York Times and Smithsonian; neither is noted for basing content on gossip.

That said, this article probably does need extra eyes on it. A number of editors—some with declared conflicts of interest, some single-purpose accounts—have been removing the controversy-related material from the article. —C.Fred (talk) 17:55, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

Steve King

Steve King (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Representative Steve King of Iowa's wiki entry should be updated to include his most recent public thoughts on ethno-nationalism ASAP. He is threat to American Democracy, a White Supremicist, and Wiki should share the following with readers:

"Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."

References

Gillian Small

There is only one citation for the article, to a CUNY site that is no longer active. I found several other sources with information about Small but they do not contain all of the information referenced in the article.

Is it best to rewrite the article so that is now only includes information in the still active sources?

Thank you!

Unapersonacuriosa (talk) 03:12, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Archive.org has a snapshot from 2016. [1]. --MASEM (t) 03:24, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

References

may i ask you to please delete the highly aggressive, politically motivated reference to my novel about walt disney

dear ladies and gentlemen, may i ask you to please delete the highly aggressive, politically motivated reference to my novel about walt disney: this is the wiki re. my bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Stephan_Jungk, and this is the reference in question: References[edit] Jump up ^ "What's New" Archives: February 2012 – "The Imperfect Perfect American", blog by Michael Barrier

thank you very much in advance,

peter stephan jungk — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.51.117.64 (talk) 13:41, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Content removed per WP:BLPSPS. --Francis Schonken (talk) 13:53, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Note – this doesn't solve the (many) other problems with the article: too much of a PR-job to my taste, and total lack of references. Not even too sure this would pass WP:GNG (if the only independent source would be an unusable blog...). --Francis Schonken (talk) 14:07, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

One of the external links is useable as a reference for his novel being turned into an Opera, and from a quick googling there are others out there (It looks like quite a few are in German). Only in death does duty end (talk) 14:32, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

• The NYT article (if that is what you mean) covers about half of the sentence that is in the article about that topic (the first staging of the work apparently having been in another continent as what was is mentioned in the NYT article). A BLP with a potential reference for half a sentence doesn't cut it.
• The same NYT article doesn't do much in terms of WP:GNG: the author (subject of the BLP) is mentioned in passing without other biographical data than that he wrote a book of which the title is mentioned. Is there any article in a reliable independent source which has Peter Stephan Jungk as main topic? If so, please add it as a reference to the article. Currently the article doesn't assert notability in the intro, and there is no reference in the body that demonstrates notability. The whole content is now presented as deriving from thin air, or, at best, from sources closely related to the subject. --Francis Schonken (talk) 14:58, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

I dont speak German :) From what I can tell the majority of the English sources are related to the novel being made into an opera. Everything else I find about him appears to be a German source - which I cant judge how much is about him, what its about, and am generally not happy using Google-Translate to answer those questions. From his body of work that I can see, I think he *should* be notable, I just personally cant reference it. Only in death does duty end (talk) 15:16, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

This (German) article mentions a favourable (German) recension of his 1987 Franz Werfel biography (which, in its 1990 English translation, is used as source in the English Wikipedia article on that author). Let's say that I assume, too, that there is probably more, and enough for a solid GNG – but not apparent in the article yet. --Francis Schonken (talk) 15:33, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

• I think me and Francis both went at that at the same time. Either way its gone. Just to lay out a few problems with it. 1)Self-published blog. 2)No indication as to why this SPS is reliable for his opinion on this subject (animation historian, not an opera critic, and I dont hold he magically becomes better at being an opera critic because the subject is Walt Disney). 3)Its factually wrong in any case, as he was describing the novel, not the opera. Only in death does duty end (talk) 13:58, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

I added a ref from an international literature festival, which supports some, + a 2011 prize, I also added authority control - will not understand how any article about an author can do without, and duplicated the entry for the German National Library. No time for more, but I am sure he's notable, for example a FAZ review of his Werfel book is mentioned in the ref. (I see I am not the first to say so.) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:17, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

His books are used as a reference, example [2], [3] [4]. - Can't fint the university entry, but these. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:26, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Steve_Hillier

There is a "Steve Hillier" British Musician page, I can see it has been used blatantly for self-promotion as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Roger_8_Roger points out. The fact is that the page subject is not notable enough in it's own right, the bulk of it is duplicated on the Dubstar band page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstar, and this individual page in itself is of no merit to us as a comunity.

Delete recommended, since anything we need to know is available on relevant band pages, this person is not a solo artist and not worthy of a wikipedia page, the self-publicity is clearly the only motivating factor (even their personal web site http://www.stevehillier.net/ is dead reflecting the need to delete the Wikipedia)... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.175.137.102 (talk) 18:03, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Submitted to AfD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Steve Hillier --Crystallizedcarbon (talk) 19:42, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Floyd McKissick Jr.

Floyd McKissick Jr. (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Re. "Professional misconduct charges"

I would like further opinions on whether this section is WP:UNDUE, whether it should be trimmed-down or removed.

Background: Delphine63 (talk · contribs) had tried to remove this, and other sections, from the article - but due to them "blanking" and not explaining why, their edits were reverted. I have removed some uncited negative info from the article, but left this part for now, pending further opinions.

Thanks, 86.20.193.222 (talk) 20:30, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

I would agree that this case is not only undue weight; but really is not notable enough for inclusion. It was only covered locally (and not that in-depth). If it had received expansive coverage in more prestigious media outlets, I would say: yes, include. But under these circumstances; no. Furthermore, the lede does not mention this one specific case; which implies that the subject is not notable on WP for this life event. In addition, the undue weight occurs in mentioning names that are not notable and should not be mentioned in this article; as the case itself is not note worthy. I would support reducing this to a single sentence in Education and Career or removal altogether. IMHO Maineartists (talk) 23:56, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. I agree.

I'm going to remove it altogether for now, explaining why on the talk page, and if anyone objects we can discuss it further there.

Thanks again, 86.20.193.222 (talk) 01:03, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Good luck. Ping me or at least reference this discussion on the talk page. I'll be happy to support. Maineartists (talk) 01:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Annica Nsiah Apau

Annica Nsiah Apau (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I'm concerned about this new article, but I'm not sure how to deal with it.

It seems to be tabloid crap, but I guess it has a 'credible claim of significance', and it does have references; however, I do not think that her having sex every day, or having a large bottom, is encyclopaedic. 86.20.193.222 (talk) 21:56, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Boldly redirected to Okyeame Kwame as I think he - rather than his wife - is the notable party here. Fyddlestix (talk) 22:11, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Seems like a good idea to me, thx 86.20.193.222 (talk) 23:44, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Melanie_Chandra

Melanie Chandra

Continuous vandalism of birth year.

WP:RS found in Chicago Tribune corroborating 1984 birth year.

Melanie (née Kannokada) was 17 (HS Junior) in 2001, per cited source, and HS Sophomore in 2000, per 2nd source.

References

— Preceding unsigned comment added by BillieReed (talk • contribs) 14 March 2017 (UTC+9) (UTC)

Michael Karkoc

Michael Karkoc (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I've just reverted what I think is a BLP vio here and in another edit at that article. Extradition for war crimes has not actually been requested and, worse, the person has not in fact been officially identified by name, only by Associated Press "inquiries". I am no expert regarding the nuances of BLP/BLPCRIME etc so some additional eyes would probably be useful. Thanks. - Sitush (talk) 09:27, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Actually, I am not even sure we should be mentioning a possible link between the alleged war criminal and some guy in Minnesota who bears the same name. All our sources for the connection seem to originate with the Associated Press. - Sitush (talk) 09:39, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

The Associated Press is a reliable source. We should of course take care in what we write on the basis of what that source offers -- but there's no reason to reject the source itself, nor to reject other sources that use the AP. Nomoskedasticity (talk) 09:59, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

It is generally considered reliable but it is in practical terms the only source here. That is what concerns me. Even two reliable sources - The Sunday Times and Der Spiegel, for example - get things terribly wrong when it comes to events surrounding the period in question, so relying on a single source for such a BLP allegation doesn't sit well with me. - Sitush (talk) 10:03, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

It was AP investigative reporting. So generally we would take it as reliable and attribute it to them (as has been done in most of the article). Is the specifics you have linked a BLP violation? I would say probably not. Its a long-standing allegation that has been covered by numerous press organsations, has been taken seriously enough by the German and Polish governments to the point where they actively want to put him on trial.... BLPCRIME is iffy in this situation as it applies only to people who are relatively unknown. Karkoc is only well known due to the high profile allegations. The relevant guidance here is at WP:CRIME Only in death does duty end (talk) 11:33, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

I've cleaned up some other stuff since filing here. Someone may wish to review my edits - no problem with them being reverted and I'll pop back here later today to see if there are any queries re: what I have done. - Sitush (talk) 11:36, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

BTW, the opening diff is most definitely wrong. The sources do not say what we claimed. Could be reworded, though, if the consensus is that this is not a BLP issue. - Sitush (talk) 11:38, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Sitush this is from the Washington Post Poland announced Monday that it will seek the arrest and extradition of Michael Karkoc, a 98-year-old U.S. citizen who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.. [5]. There is reliable source coverage for the intent of the Polish government to seek extradition, and I think it probably should be included in the article. TonyBallioni (talk) 18:35, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

No. That report is also rehashing the AP report which specifically says that the Polish government have not identified him by full name. AP says that their own sources indicated the govt's "Michael K" is in fact Michael Karkoc and, yes, I realise that the likelihood is high. But for whatever reason, AP is fluffing up the substance of what the Polish govt have said. Your source is just another variant on the ones I removed in the diff I provided in my opening post here. - Sitush (talk) 19:24, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

The original source, which I removed per my opening post, said Prosecutor Robert Janicki said evidence gathered over years of investigation into U.S. citizen Michael K. confirmed "100 percent" that he was a commander of a unit in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion. He did not release the last name in line with privacy laws but the AP has identified the man as 98-year-old Michael Karkoc, from Minneapolis. And therein lies my concern. I suspect we could say something provided that we clearly attribute the naming to AP, not the government. - Sitush (talk) 19:33, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

WaPo byline is different and doesn't cite the AP for the quote I cited above, which they are normally good about. I get the point though. I've made a BOLD attempt at attributing it to the AP per your suggestion above [6]. Please feel free to edit or revert, but I thought it would be easier to work off of something rather than keep discussing the framework for what we can cite. TonyBallioni (talk) 19:50, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Mike Godwin dead?

Can anyone verify whether Mike Godwin has died? An IP made this edit to the article, but I have not been able to find a corroborating source. The same IP made the same edit before, but it was reverted as well. Not sure if this is some just messing around or some other death hoax. -- Marchjuly (talk) 13:59, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Seems unlikely. Only in death does duty end (talk) 14:07, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

He tweeted 52 mins ago.·maunus · snunɐɯ· 14:08, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Definitely not dead. Alive and well and eyerolling on Facebook. Guy (Help!) 14:12, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

OK. The IP who added the information is claiming that Godwin is his uncle. Most likely they will be back, so is there anything to do but warn them once again. -- Marchjuly (talk) 14:17, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

William Dunlap Cannon, III

Hello. I have just put a CSD tag on this page. I'm posting here in case the tag is removed. The page should be deleted asap. Thanks and regards, Biwom (talk) 14:39, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

The daily mail

The Daily Mail

Regarding the singling out of this newspaper for carpet banning as a reliable source. Can we not create some kind of NEW standard for WP:BLP controversial or possibly contentious additions - for all tabloid style publications? None of them are instantly wp:reliable for any controversial or possibly contentious additions and as such a talk page discussion is a great idea anyway. They are all imo generally reliable for basic reports. We could remove the blanket banning of any publication and replace it with a new standard that covers all publications. We do regularly use sources in biographies of living people that are no better or no worse than the Daily Mail. Suggestions welcome, such as if there is a better location for such a discussion. Thanks for any input. Govindaharihari (talk) 19:42, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Your proposal builds upon an incorrect premise, i.e., "the singling out of this newspaper for carpet banning as a reliable source." There are many prior and ongoing discussions of this matter (some of which you already have participated in); the benefit of adding yet another discussion thread on this matter is not obvious. Shock Brigade Harvester Boris (talk) 20:10, 14 March 2017 (UTC)