Talk:Normand Lacombe

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This explanation isn't sufficient for me. He is currently from Whitecourt. These categories aren't exclusively for those born in communities. In my observations, they are for those born in, once lived in or currently from communities. Category:People from Pierrefonds-Roxboro has numerous entries of notable people that were born elsewhere. John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow but is within Category:People from Kingston, Ontario. If John A were alive and well in Kingston today, it appears by the explanation provided that Category:People from Kingston, Ontario would have to be removed from his article too. Without better explanation, I see no reason why Category:People from Whitecourt should be deleted. Hwy43 (talk) 03:13, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

The question becomes one of duration; was the individual settled in the community long enough to be identified with it? Macdonald should certainly be retained in People from Kingston, Ontario - that's where he built his law practice and he represented the riding in Parliament. In contrast, Lacombe has been in Whitecourt for about 3 or 4 years, from what I can discern. I personally wouldn't have a huge issue listing him in People from Whitecourt as long as he's removed from the category when he moves. The nature of his career is that he is likely to move again in a few years. PKT(alk) 12:07, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

It's not a clearcut black-and-white issue, but in principle people should be categorized in "People from..." categories for any place where they lived for long enough for that fact to be relevant and important in the context of their biography. Usually that will include the place where they were born (but in some unusual cases it actually might not), it may or may not include places where they moved to growing up or even in early adulthood, and it may or may not include places where they lived as an adult — it all depends on the place's importance in the context of their biography.

For a hypothetical example, I'll proffer a person who was born and raised in Vancouver, moved to Montreal to attend McGill University, and then lived in Ottawa, Sudbury, Regina and Saskatoon before settling in and becoming notable in Calgary, and then finally moving to Osoyoos after they retired: that person should be categorized as being "from" Vancouver and Calgary, but not as being from any of the other places — because only Vancouver and Calgary are essential to the context of an encyclopedia article about them, and the rest is really just biographical trivia.

Now imagine that that the same person lived in all the same places over the course of their lives, but now they were born in Vancouver to parents who were merely visiting from Montreal, such that they moved back to Montreal at the age of four days, were raised there and never even visited Vancouver again in their entire lives — now they're "from" Montreal and Calgary, and not "from" Vancouver in a significant enough way to warrant categorization as such.

Basically there are no hard and fast rules about this. It all depends on how relevant the place is or isn't in the context of their biography — people should only be categorized as being "from" the places that are esssential to their biographies. The way I see it in this case, being an AJHL coach is not a criterion that would normally get a person into Wikipedia on its own — he got in because of his NHL career, and the fact that he is now an AJHL coach in Whitecourt is not central to his notability. So the fact that he currently lives in Whitecourt isn't critical information for our needs, because what he's doing in Whitecourt isn't something that would actually get him a Wikipedia article on its own — it's just "where is he now?" trivia, not a notably defining feature of his biography. Though I suppose YMMV. Bearcat (talk) 21:37, 6 May 2013 (UTC)