Talk:Michelle Trachtenberg

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Michelle Trachtenberg article.
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[edit] Picture

I don't know who that woman is in that pic but it is NOT Michelle Trachtenberg. She has changed her look it's true, but unless she widened her forehead or narrowed her eyes that is NOT her. 15:38, 27, December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

A more recent one would be nice. The one there now looks like it's from four or five years ago. 207.6.31.119 08:51, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Keith

Who in the bejeezus is Keith? Sophistifunk 23:39, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

This is my first time doing this, so might have screwed up. Added a more up to date picture, please be gentle if I messed it up The Oracle 09:23, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I reverted it back to the prior image, a headshot is much better here than the image that you put up. AdamJacobMuller 11:23, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Okay, a headshot then, coz the user up there is right, the image needs updating, she's changed her look a lot The Oracle 05:58, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

The picture on this page is incorrect. It is a picture of Erica Leerhsen, not Michelle Trachtenberg. I'm a Wiki noob so, I'll try to figure out how to change it. 141.106.17.71 11:57, 27 December 2006 (UTC)S4MF1SHER

[edit] Echo by Trapt

Unless there are two music videos, both starring Michelle, either the 2002 or the 2003 credit needs to be removed. --The reverend 02:29, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ethnic heritage

The current edit says "Trachtenberg is of Jewish heritage[cite]" but the cites says her mother is Russian-born. While granted a NYC-born American actress who has a Russian-born mother is most unlikely to be a gentile, the conclusion that Miss Trachtenberg is Jewish not established by the current citation and it would appear to be original research. Accordingly, any statement of her Jewish background should be removed until more than a presumption is offered to support it.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.24.243.60 (talk • contribs) 00:12, January 3, 2007

Actually, she's been quoted in a number of interviews as saying her family celebrates both Channukah and Christmas. She also mentions that her grandparents (I don't recall whether she specified paternal or maternal) live in Israel, but her middle name is Christine (a rather unusual name for a nice Jewish girl) and she graduated from a Catholic high school.209.158.189.50 20:08, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Indeed. In an interview archived at Find Articles, she mentions right at the very end: "I'm spending the holidays at home with my family. We celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. I've got the best of both worlds. Big ol' meal, big ol' tree and a pretty menorah on the mantle. Nothing out of the ordinary." As well, there's mention on the Chicago Jewish Community Online that "Michelle’s parents are Russian-Jewish immigrants". Tabercil 23:58, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photo

added new picture but can't resize. please help --Eddie5000 20:15, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

  • The problem was the line immediately below the image has the size set to 100px. If you had changed it to a larger number it would've worked. However, your photo looks like it violates WP:FU so I expect it'll be deleted in short order. Tabercil 00:22, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

there is no mention about Ice Princess, a 2005, walt disney film. and being a wikinoob, i don't know how to add information, could someone please do the needful? And 2005 she played a very googd movie, the movie name is Diving From Clause´s Pier

[edit] "Early life"

I removed the statement that her parents are Jewish and originate from Russia and Germany, because it was sourced to superiorpics. I can't see why this would be a reliable source (see the criteria at WP:Reliable sources - Articles should rely on reliable, third-party published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.) Is Superiorpics such a source? It is simply an internet website that credits no author or gives any indication as to who runs it (the specific page on Michelle Trachtenberg credits no author either). I don't know if the Germany origin statement is true or not - Googling it, I can find only websites that accept user-submitted trivia, like the IMDB, TV.com, whedon.info (which credits the IMDB trivia), a fansite, and a blog. I left in that "her father is American and her mother was born in Russia and Trachtenberg can speak Russian fluently" (sourced to an interview with Trachtenberg), that "her family celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah" (sourced to another interview) and that her "grandparents live in Israel" (another interview). All Hallow's Wraith (talk) 01:36, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, the question is at what level we should put the requirements for a source on a matter like this. WP:RS only requires high-end sources for contentious material. This is a rather trivial matter and high-end sources are scarce on the subject of the article. Superiorpics is used as a source in several articles on Wikipedia, about matters of low controversiality. The question, then, is if Superiorpics should be considered a blatantly questionable source. I'm not sure about that. The article on Michelle does not seem to be of gossip character. I'd vote keep on this one. But I'll follow the consensus if on emerges. -Duribald (talk) 19:38, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
What would make Superiorpics a reliable source? Anyone can start a website and write whatever they want. Jimmy Wales has stated that the NNDB is not a reliable source (as well as that "We need to stick to REAL reliable sources, you know, like newspapers, magazines, books. Random websites are a very bad idea"), so why would another source in the same vein be reliable? Also, WP:BLP states Be very firm about the use of high quality references. All Hallow's Wraith (talk) 22:16, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
I agree with the sentiment, but practically speaking... We could erase everything that didn't have a perfectly good source on Wikipedia, but that would be A LOT of erasing. In this article alone, most would be erased. Not even the Early life section is fully referenced - you actually left info that's completely unreferenced and took out info with a reference. The following section contains only two references at the very end. The fact of the matter is that for uncontroversial facts, Wikipedia consistently uses somewhat less reliable sources. Especially when sources are scarce. -Duribald (talk) 23:07, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
The difference is that one could probably find reliable sources for the majority of this article (if there's something specific we can't find a reliable source for it should be removed). Is there a reliable source for this particular part? I also don't know about "Wikipedia consistently uses somewhat less reliable sources" - there's probably no policy that would back that up. And to reply to one of your previous points - if something wasn't contentious, it wouldn't inspire discussion of this length. All Hallow's Wraith (talk) 06:22, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
Well, there's no policy about materials that could propably be sourced if you try. But I'm not going to start climbing The Reichstag over this matter, although I don't really see the controversiality of being German in origin. Anyway, you'll want to remove the two German-American categories, then, too. -Duribald (talk) 12:54, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] German herritage

Is she of German descent? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.248.237.217 (talk) 02:38, 20 May 2008 (UTC)