Talk:Wayne Howard

Categories & IRC

Tenebrae, do you think Wayne Howard should be placed into the "American Christians" and "Deaths by myocardial infarction" categories? Regarding his Christianity, your source would be the obituary on the funeral home page (which is indeed an accurate statement), but I am not sure if any official sources state his cause of death. We (that is, members of his IRC channel) do know he died of a heart attack, though.

Also, regarding that channel, he spent the final ten or so years of his life maintaining an IRC community called #Wing-Commander. Is this worth mentioning on his article? http://members.iconn.net/~whoward/ (And this was his website for the community.)

Thanks. Baastuul (talk) 18:22, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

I'm not an arbiter or anything, but I'd say that unless the article has a citation from an authoritative source, such as a newspaper obit, for his having died of a heart attack, then we can't really categorize that. It's part of a larger Wikipedia issue about blogs and forums stating things as fact when — and I'm certainly not referring to this particular case — it's hearsay or what someone believes they heard or know.

I can't really say one way or the other about the notability of his being a Christian — I think that encompasses about one billion people, maybe more. But this does have a citation, so that much is covered. As for the Wing Commander site, that kinda seems like a hobby, and I'm not sure Wikipedia bios list hobbies. I would check out WP:BIO for more guidance. I hope this has been of some help. --Tenebrae (talk) 04:25, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

RE: Posting about his supposed death

I've been Googling and it seems that the only source that people are citing for his death is the Wikipedia entry itself -- which is unsourced. Jimbo Wales himself has issued the strictest dictum that such major unsourced material be removed immediately. See WP:LIVING#Remove unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material. We have no choice but to remove it, under Wiki policy. If this is, sadly, true, than we simply wait a week for it to be confirmed on the Social Security Death Index. --Tenebrae (talk) 02:42, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

I'm a personal friend of Mr. Howard and I can confirm that he did indeed pass away this Sunday following a sudden illness. -Jumper —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.127.171.83 (talk) 07:23, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

You could be anyone. Wikipedia is prone to both pranks and to well-intentioned people adding rumors. I'm sure you can understand why Wikipedia can't take everyone at their word. You're probably well-intentioned, but I'm wondering if you've even read Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, especially the one linked above. We're required to wait until we have confirmable, public proof. In the absence of an obit, that usually means waiting 5-7 days for the Social Security Death Index to register the death.--Tenebrae (talk) 18:24, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Please note that blogs and forums are disallowed as sources under Wikipedia guidelines. If it's true, there will probably be a newspaper obit. --Tenebrae (talk) 02:52, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Jumper is correct as Wayne ran an IRC game channel of which we are members. Wayne's wife came to the channel to inform us... but we will wait for confirmation and understand the reasons for accuracy. Wayne was dearly loved by all of us, and someone from the channel will come by to post a picture of him. Triana

Another of Wayne's friends from IRC, where he's sorely missed. For what it's worth, there's an obituary here: http://www.funeralplan2.com/hullfh/obituaries?id=115850 - LocoMan -

That's all that was needed. I'll ask the admin to unprotect, now that his tragic death has been confirmed by the funeral home. For what it's worth, I remember how gracious Wayne was to my young self many, many a moon ago. And, yes, he did wear that bush jacket. --Tenebrae (talk) 01:50, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

RIP Wayne Howard —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.220.13.61 (talk) 07:11, 13 December 2007 (UTC)