User:MIDI/Auntie Mabel
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: It should not be assumed that the date an individual's death is announced is the date they died. Make no presumptions about the date (or the month) – wait for sources to explicitly state the date of death. |
An Auntie Mabel edit is where an editor adds the date of death of a recently deceased person despite there being no verifiable date of death. The edit comes about because the subject's death is announced and the editor infers that the date of the announcement is the same as the date of death. Such edits, despite almost always being made in good faith, are violations of the verifiability policy.
Although the date of death is sometimes (if not often) the same as the date of the announcement, there have been cases where Auntie Mabel edits have been made to articles and it has later transpired that the subject died on a different date.[a] For this reason, editors should be vigilant and avoid edits that state (or imply) something that is not yet verified by reliable sources.
The name "Auntie Mabel" comes from a 1990s children's TV character portrayed by Lynda Baron. Baron's death was reported on 7 March 2022, and her article updated to state that she died on 7 March. Crucially, none of the sourced used explicitly stated when Baron died. The following day, it was announced that Baron had died on 5 March.
Dealing with Auntie Mabel edits[edit]
Omission[edit]
A failsafe way of responding to Auntie Mabel edits is to omit any specific dates. Depending on what information is known (i.e. when the person is last known to have been alive) it might be possible to just state the month and year:
- Joe Bloggs (1 January 1951 – May 2024)...
- and in the body:
- Bloggs died in May 2024.
If the month of death is in any doubt, the next best thing would be to state when the death was reported:
- Bloggs's death was announced on 25 May 2024.
With this method, editors may not understand the rationale for the omission. It is good practise to leave a message on the article's talk page to explain (and encourage discussion). It may also be worth adding hidden text to the article, with a brief explanation. These can be strategically placed at three main points in the article where incorrect information may be added – in the lead (both in the opening sentence as well as any references to the death in the lead as a whole), in the infobox, and in any article body section (such as "Personal life" or "Death") that may cover the circumstances and date of death. For example:
'''Joe Bloggs''' (1 January 1951 – <!-- Please do not add a date of death without providing a source that explicitly states the date -->May 2024)...
Hidden comments should be seen by users editing the page source or using the VisualEditor, but it does not mean the comment will a) be adhered to, or b) not be removed!
Approximate date[edit]
Sometimes {{circa}} can be used. This should only be used if the person was known to be alive shortly before their death. For example, if someone was known to be alive on 1 January 2023, and their death was announced on 3 January 2023 (without stating the date of death), {{circa}} is acceptable because it is a reasonable assumption they died on or near a particular date:
- Joe Bloggs (1 January 1951 – c. 3 January 2023)...
If someone's death was announced on 30 May 2023 but without a specific date reported, it might be assumed that they died in May 2023. They may well have done – and probably did – but the threshold is verifiability not probability.
Examples[edit]
- Baron's death was announced on 7 March and the article was repeatedly updated and reverted. It was later announced that Baron had died on 5 March.
- Boothroyd's death was announced on 27 February and the article was repeatedly updated and reverted. Later that same day it was reported that she had died on 26 February.
- Harris's death was announced on 23 May 2023 and the article was repeatedly updated and reverted. Some sources implied that the death had occurred a few days or weeks previously; it was later announced that Harris had died on 10 May.
- O'Connor's death was announced on 26 July 2023 and the article was repeatedly updated and reverted. On 27 July, a few WP:RSs – including The Guardian – unambiguously stated 26 July as the date of death. The following day the coroner explicitly stated that the date of death was as-yet unknown.
- Venables's death was announced on 26 November 2023 and the article was updated to state this as the date of death. Shortly after the first announcements of his death, news was updated with a family statement which clarified that he had died the previous day.
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ This is not the same as an incorrect date of death being published then later revised