Wikipedia:Naming conventions (violence and deaths)

(Redirected from Wikipedia:NCDEATHS)

Article titles for events such as assaults, shootings, stabbings, deaths, suicides, executions, killings and murders are very controversial. Requested move discussions on such articles have led to inconsistent results. COMMONNAME may prove to be unhelpful, especially for more recent events, where sources may not have settled on a single commonly-used name for the event. This explanatory supplement aims to provide a framework for establishing a CONSISTENT naming scheme that ensures NPOV (neutral point of view), protects the subjects of BLP (biographies of living persons) and avoids the pitfalls of systemic bias, for articles where a commonly recognisable name is not apparent. This explanatory supplement is not intended to overrule any policy or guideline.

How to use the flowchart

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When using this flowchart, editors should take the following points into consideration:

  • Before using the flowchart, editors should make a good-faith effort to determine whether a COMMONNAME for the event can be determined from reliable secondary sources. Editors should only resort to this flowchart when such efforts fail or a consensus cannot be reached on what the COMMONNAME is from among the reliable secondary sources.
  • The answer to each question in the flowchart must be verifiable in a reliable secondary source.
  • A determination of the manner of death should be made by some official authority, such as a coroner, coroner's inquest, medical examiner or similar expert person or organization. This determination becomes eligible for use on this flowchart only after it is reported by a secondary source. In some cases, a preponderance of reliable secondary sources will make it clear what the manner of death was, even absent an official finding.

Flowchart

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The following flowchart presents a framework for determining the titles of articles about violent attacks, deaths, and similar events. Each answer to the questions found in this flowchart must be verifiable in a reliable secondary source cited in the article. Text version.

Note: to avoid protracted debates, the word "homicide" in this context means "the killing of one person by another, whether premeditated or unintentional". It does not imply any degree of culpability.

 

Background

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Request for comment

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This explanatory supplement was developed via a request for comment at Special:Permalink/994658134 § RfC: Shooting or Death or Killing or Murder?

Requested move precedents in 2020

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Date fatal weapon link from to !voters outcome
2020-01-03 fatal knife Talk:Killing of Tessa Majors § Requested move 3 January 2020 Murder Death 30 No
2020-06-02 fatal knife Talk:Killing of Tessa Majors § Requested move 2 June 2020 Murder Killing 25 Yes
2020-01-08 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Osama bin Laden § Requested move 8 January 2020 Death Killing 17 No
2020-09-06 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Osama bin Laden § Requested move 6 September 2020 Death Killing 11 Yes
2020-05-12 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Ahmaud Arbery/Archive 5 § Requested move 12 May 2020 Shooting Killing 34 No
2020-06-21 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Ahmaud Arbery/Archive 8 § Requested move 21 June 2020 Shooting Killing 16 Yes
2020-05-14 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Atatiana Jefferson § Requested move 14 May 2020 (multiple) Killing Shooting 10 Yes
2020-05-23 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Breonna Taylor/Archive 1 § Requested move 23 May 2020 (multiple) Death Shooting 7 Yes
2020-10-27 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Breonna Taylor § Requested move 27 October 2020 Shooting Killing 8 No
2020-05-27 fatal physical pressure Talk:Killing of George Floyd/Archive 1 § Requested move 27 May 2020 Death Killing ~230 Yes
2020-06-02 fatal physical pressure Talk:Killing of Eric Garner/Archive 2 § Requested move 2 June 2020 Death Killing 31 Yes
2020-06-02 fatal physical pressure Talk:Killing of Jonny Gammage § Requested move 2 June 2020 Death Killing 10 No
2020-09-13 fatal physical pressure Talk:Killing of Jonny Gammage § Requested move 13 September 2020 Death Killing 7 Yes
2020-06-02 fatal gun Talk:Murder of Seth Rich/Archive 13 § Requested move 2 June 2020 Murder Death 10 No
2020-06-03 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of David McAtee § 3 June 2020 Shooting Killing 10 No
2020-06-03 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of James Scurlock § 3 June 2020 Shooting Killing 6 No
2020-06-06 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Oscar Grant § 6 June 2020 Shooting Killing 5 No
2020-06-06 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Kathryn Johnston § 6 June 2020 Shooting Killing 5 No
2020-06-04 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Sammy Yatim § Requested move 4 June 2020 (multiple) Death Shooting 4 Yes
2020-06-14 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Rayshard Brooks/Archive 1 § Requested move 14 June 2020 Killing Shooting 41 No
2020-06-18 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Roni Levi § Requested move 18 June 2020 (multiple) Death Shooting 3 Yes
2020-06-26 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Benno Ohnesorg § Requested move 26 June 2020 Death Shooting 3 Yes
2020-06-26 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Chaiyaphum Pasae § Requested move 26 June 2020 Death Shooting 4 Yes
2020-07-02 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan § Requested move 2 July 2020 Death Shooting 9 Yes
2020-07-03 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of James Ashley § Requested move 3 July 2020 (multiple) Death Shooting 5 Yes
2020-07-27 fatal gun Talk:Suicide of Kurt Cobain/Archive 1 § Requested move 27 July 2020 Suicide Death ~35 No
2020-08-19 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Walter Scott § Requested move 19 August 2020 Shooting Murder 7 No
2020-09-03 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Greg Gunn § Requested move 3 September 2020 Shooting Killing 17 Yes
2020-09-04 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Lizzie O'Neill § Requested move 4 September 2020 (multiple) Killing Shooting 8 No
2020-09-26 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams § Requested move 26 September 2020 Shooting Killing 6 No
2020-09-26 fatal gun Talk:Killing of Muhammad al-Durrah § Requested move 2 October 2020 Incident Killing 7 Yes
2020-10-09 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. § Requested move 9 October 2020 Shooting Killing 4 Yes
2020-10-16 fatal knife Talk:Murder of Samuel Paty § Requested move 22 October 2020 Murder Killing 17 No
2020-10-27 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Alvin Cole § Requested move 27 October 2020 Shooting Killing 5 Yes
2020-10-27 fatal gun Talk:Shooting of Dijon Kizzee § Requested move 27 October 2020 Shooting Killing 4 Yes

Flowchart (text version)

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Is there a clear WP:COMMONNAME describing the event among the reliable sources available?
No Yes
WP:COMMONNAME
Is the person dead?
Yes No
Shooting of [name] or Stabbing of [name] or Assault of [name]
Is the manner of death known?
Yes No
Death of [name]
Was it of natural causes or an accidental death?
No Yes
Death of [name]
Was it a death by suicide?
No Yes
Suicide of [name]
Homicide: Was it capital punishment?
No Yes
Execution of [name]
Homicide: Is there a murder conviction in the case?
Yes No
Murder of [name] Killing of [name]