Talk:Devah Pager

Latest comment: 6 years ago by Aroundthewayboy in topic Adding Source for her Death

Adding Source for her Death

edit

I appreciate the need for a verifiable source for her death, but I am under the impression that a Tweet by the Harvard Kennedy School could be such a source. I am following the logic of the following Wikipedia rules: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:TWITTER and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_tweet.

The tweet I added as a source reads:
"Harvard Kennedy School
Verified account
@Kennedy_School
Harvard Kennedy School community mourns the tragic passing of our colleague and friend Devah Pager." Aroundthewayboy (talk) 19:56, 5 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

Doesn't such a tweet meet the following standard: "Tweets and other self-published material may sometimes be acceptable, if the conditions specified at WP:SPS or WP:TWITTER are met"?

"Self-published and questionable sources may be used as sources of information about themselves, usually in articles about themselves or their activities, without the self-published source requirement that they be published experts in the field, so long as:
the material is neither unduly self-serving nor an exceptional claim;
it does not involve claims about third parties;
it does not involve claims about events not directly related to the source;
there is no reasonable doubt as to its authenticity; and
the article is not based primarily on such sources.
This policy also applies to material published by the subject on social networking websites such as Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook."

The Harvard Kennedy School of Government is where she worked. It is a blue-checked, verified Twitter account. Therefore, it is a tweet by the HKS faculty on behalf of their faculty, which includes Devah Pager. Therefore, it is a tweet by an entity that includes Devah Pager, about Devah Pager. Therefore, it is a Tweet by Devah Pager (not a third party) about Devah Pager. Therefore, it follows the Wikipedia guidelines on the careful use of Twitter as a source about a living person.

The only weakness in this argument would be if you do not consider the Harvard Kennedy School faculty to include Devah Pager. I think as an entity is does include her. I would be curious to hear other experienced editors weighing in. Thanks. Aroundthewayboy (talk) 19:50, 5 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

This is now moot because HKS published a statement on their official site, which I linked to as a source. Aroundthewayboy (talk) 01:50, 6 November 2018 (UTC)Reply