Talk:Dave Smith (comedian)

In the "political views" section

When you write this sentence "THE WHITE NATIONALIST Nick Fuentes, THE WHITE SUPREMASIST Richard Spencer, and THE NEO-NAZI Christopher Cantwell."

It appears to resemble name-calling (which does not sound like the tone Wikipedia is about).

To say "Smith has been noted for interviews with far-right figures such as Gavin McInnes, Nick Fuentes, Richard Spencer, and Christopher Cantwell." is much more encyclopedic and concise in my view.

Anybody interested in learning more about these people can click on the wikilinks. Thank you very much! Riverbend21 (talk) 09:06, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

Specific descriptions of Fuentes, Spencer, and Cantwell were in stable text before some recent edits including yours [1][2][3]. They were originally added in July of 2022 by Saxones288 and have been edited by other editors including me. The cited reliable sources' writing focuses on those ideologies [4][5][6]. The descriptions also match descriptions at the top of the Wikipedia articles about each person. The WP:CLARIFY essay says articles should Use specific wording rather than vague whenever possible, and WP:BLPSTYLE says that article tone should avoid "both understatement and overstatement" to document "what reliable secondary sources have published about the subjects". I agree about removing some repeated words, but specificity should be preserved unless a Wikipedia policy recommends removal. Can you cite such a policy, or restore the descriptions? Llll5032 (talk) 03:35, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Any additional details about those figures that are not immediately related to Smith himself can be found in the relevant articles about them via their wikilinks which are appropriately already included. These figures are already described as "far-right figures" as mentioned in the sources that are still all correctly cited. Riverbend21 (talk) 18:13, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Can you cite a Wikipedia policy for that viewpoint? Another policy that encourages encyclopedic context is WP:NOTDATABASE: "To provide encyclopedic value, data should be put in context with explanations referenced to independent sources." WP:PCR recommends that editors "Provide context for the reader" and "explain the subject fully". Llll5032 (talk) 21:33, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Looking at the same policy you cite WP:PCR I believe "It is possible that the reader knows nothing about the subject, so the article needs to explain the subject fully." We must read that section to understand that the policy is referring to the subject and not to all secondary or tertiary figures. Those figures have their own articles and are the subjects of those articles, thus wikilinking to them is more than sufficient for the purposes of this article. Riverbend21 (talk) 11:23, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Wikipedia guidelines encourage specifics, relevant context, and following the focuses of the best available sources. WP:PCR does not make the distinction that you made, nor does it bold the text, nor does it say links should substitute for context, so I don't see how we could interpret it to say what you wrote. Perhaps other editors will clarify if there was consensus for removing those descriptions. Llll5032 (talk) 05:14, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Libertarian Party Social Media

Smith has denied on several occasions that he runs the Libertarian Party's social media. I would have to go searching for a source, because it was a topic of conversation a long time ago. I didn't want to edit without sources, though. While I search for a source, can we change it to "The Southern Poverty Law Center says X, which Smith has denied"? Nickcsteward (talk) 01:07, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

I added a citation for where Smith denies a role in the party (his own podcast). I also updated the lede since I felt like regardless of the truth of the claim, it's not as notable a detail compared to his podcast and his opposition to COVID policies. Squidroot2 (talk) 02:45, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Number of Children

Right now the body of the article says that he has 2 children while the info box says he has 3 children. The cited source in the article is from a interview with Reason from 2017. However, after listening to the interview and reading the transcript, I can't find anywhere where Smith says anything about a wife or kids.

If I am missing where he says it in the interview, can someone provide a timestamp? Otherwise, does someone have a source (ideally, a more recent one) for the the number of kids he has? Squidroot2 (talk) 23:07, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

Updated citation to a tweet of his. Squidroot2 (talk) 23:55, 21 June 2024 (UTC)