Talk:Alexandra Adi/Archive 1
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There's been a little traffic lately regarding Ms. Adi's birthyear. While I respect the right, indeed the necessity, of professional performers in a competitive marketplace to keep their age private, I'm also concerned that Wikipedia, an encyclopedic knowledge base, should not spread misinformation. What I attempted to do was steer the middle ground, by referencing a source for the information ("According to IMDB..."), thus making the statement about the birthdate accurate even if the date itself was not.
Perhaps other interested editors would be good enough to rephrase their modifications regarding Adi's birthdate to include a source that gives that date, in order to help preserve the integrity of Wikipedia on this relatively small matter. pdbg 06:55, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
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I guess I was too subtle before. I'll be blunt. I am absolutely certain that she wasn't born in 1978. I appreciate that it would be better for her career if casting directors think she's younger than she really is. Rather than a couple of you guys going back and forth with her birthyear, could we just pick one and _cite_ a source for it? In that way, the entry would be true even if the birthyear isn't necessarily. pdbg 19:03, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
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I don't know who wrote the text above b/c it is unsigned and I am too lazy to dig, but I second everything you wrote. I went to both grade school and Sunday school with Adi in upstate NY, and 1978 would make her way too young for that to have happened. I know her real name and her birth year, but as we are not in touch, I don't know if she wants that information posted publicly. But yes, 1978 is wrong/false. tharsaile 15:40, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
I surrender, sort of.
I've endeavored repeatedly to modify the text of this article to be factually accurate regarding this actress's year of birth, by noting the source of incorrect dates instead of removing them outright. This was a polite conceit to the needs of concealing one's precise age in a professional acting career. But I've had it with people pulling my careful language and replacing it with simple fiction. So I've not replaced the earlier attempts and instead I've put what I believe to be the correct year based on her school yearbook. If it gets switched back, I'll just do it again. Perhaps someone else can find a wording that both her fans and fans of wikipedia's accuracy can agree on. Posted by Pdbg 21:32, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
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I'm completely baffled now! IMDB says 1973. But, in the talk pages, two people say they've been to school with her. One says she was born in 1973 and the other says 1978. But, IMDB also says she graduated from Barnard College in 1993. So, can she be born in 1971 as stated earlier on her Wikipedia page? Hotwine8 21:49, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
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As I read it, no one in these talk pages said she was born in either 1973 or 1978. I did suggest that it was reasonable for her article to say that IMDB has a particular birthdate for her. and I adjusted the wording of her article accordingly. That effort failed and people stripped out my careful wording leaving only the incorrect date. I respect the artist's right to conceal her age, but publishing fictitious information in wikipedia is unacceptable. I'm going to set the birthyear back to 1971 which is the only year consistent with documentation of her school attendance. I'm also going to strip the comment fields out of the article -- these sorts of comments should really be here in the Talk area and not in the article proper. Pdbg 13:25, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
I see you signed your comments since my last visit, Pdbg, and that you are using a school yearbook as a reference. Makes sense to me! I'm fairly new and therefore somewhat ignorant of how wikipedia editing really works -- I usually stick to grammar and spelling corrections -- but I'd like to add my "thanks" for your contributions. tharsaile 19:20, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
Request for comment
There seems to be a minor dispute over the actress's birth year (see above). The imdb lists it as 1973. Another editor wants to use a junior high yearbook which seems to indicate her birthday is 1971. My opinion is that we should use the imdb since readers do not have easy access to the junior high year book. I can also find nothing else on the web that disputes the imdb entry the only discussion about it seems to be here on this talk page. TheRingess (talk) 15:14, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
- I'd like to first start off by saying that IMDB is regularly wrong, especially when it comes to birthdates. Unfortunately, a lot of people and websites take IMDB's information, no questions asked, and assume it is right. Subsequently, they then publish the exact same incorrect information over and over again.
- That aside, when I Google "Alexandra Adi born 1971/1973" (no quotes), 1973 gets 62,000 hits and 1971 gets 61,000 hits. This seems to indicate that nobody really knows for sure. However, given that there is a slightly higher number for the former, I say you should go with that one. If a more reliable source is found that says otherwise, then change it. I agree that an old yearbook is stretching it. --pIrish Arr! 20:40, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
Okay, flame on.
Hi, I'm "another editor". My wife grew up with Adi. I agree that it's difficult to confirm the veracity of a source when there is limited access to it, but I find utterly laughable the suggestion that reliability should be determined by majority opinion as measured by Google hits.
Nor am I particularly swayed by the argument that IMDB, in essence a promotional site for the film and television industries, is a more trustworthy source for biographical information than a junior high school yearbook, which is, in essence, a primary document published by an agency of the State of New York. I chose to cite the yearbook as a reference because a previous correction had been removed with the complaint that I provided no references. I notice that no references are currently sited for the April 13, 1973 date either, though IMDB is mentioned as an external link.
When this whole "dispute" started, I suggested, repeatedly, that I was perfectly comfortable listing a fictitious date, just as long as the wording of the article made it absolutely clear that this was the date that IMDB said she was born. In this way Wikipedia's accuracy would remain intact -- all the article would be saying is that IMDB says she was born on April 13, 1973, not that she actually was born on that date. When I made changes of this sort, they were removed. I grew weary of pushing for accuracy and having to settle for an undocumented, majority-ruled fiction. I continue with this policy. Flame off.
From today on, I'm removing the bio from my watchlist, and expect to leave it alone, but I think it is this sort of nonsense that sours thoughtful potential editors on Wikipedia. Pdbg 20:45, 2 June 2007 (UTC)
- If that yearbook published her date of birth alongside her picture then I could believe that is a reliable source (though not an easily verified source since that yearbook is likely not available to all of us). A picture in a year book is not really a source for her birthdate. Regarding the wording, what's there is sufficient. I don't buy that there is actually any published controversy over this young actress' birthdate, other than a few forum posts on the net, which aren't considered reliable sources. You might wish to read attributability if you really are a "thoughtful potential" editor, and wish to understand why a picture in a yearbook does not establish date of birth.TheRingess (talk)
