Talk:List of famous people who died young
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[edit] Famous?
Some of the additions are people I've never heard of (e.g. soccer & cricket players). Are these truly famous people that, being American, I just don't know? Any ideas on a somewhat solid criteria for inclusion on the list? 54MP0 X 70RG0 07:09, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
- It's a grey area, I agree. All the sports stars I've added played at international level, which might be a good criterion for team sports. But as for solid criteria in general, I don't know. The best I can say is that most of the people on this list are known for being "great but died young". sjorford 17:22, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I've removed all the minor qualifications such as songs, albums and films, as I think they do more harm tht good. Reducing somebody's career down to a single song looks very strange, and it clutters up the page. The beauty (I can't stress that word enough) of Wikipedia is that you don't need to put all possible information on every page. Every person on this list bar a couple has their own page - if somebody needs reminding who a person is, then the information is just one click away. sjorford 01:31, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Gratuitous copyediting
I reverted to my last edit, but then redid some of the copyediting that had been done, removed famous works, et cetera.
Most of the "copyediting" was unnecessary, and some actually made entries factually inaccurate. Those I left out.
Please check for any egregious errors, but why take out the fact that people were is some cases assassinated, the important fact that Tillman gave up football b/c of 9/11, then died fighting in Afghanestan, and the fact that some people's death are presumed, but not known to have occurred a certain way?
Hope I didn't step on any toes, but such major revisions are supposed to be discussed on this page beforehand.
Again, thanks for the valid edits - I agree about the works being a bit cluttering, Sjorford.
--54MP0 X 70RG0 05:06, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
- I've tabulated the table to make it easy to read. I've also simplified it, preferring short Anglo-Saxon words over long Latin words that are popular with some US news networks. On the shot bit, someone either shoots themself (in which case we add the info), shot accidentally (ditto) or "shot". "Shot" by itself implies someone deliberately shot someone, so there is no need to add any more explanation. jguk 13:15, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Raphael
Should Raphael be in this list? He is famous enough and died at 37.
[edit] Old AFD
Old AFD (moved to top) (and maybe potential WP:FA nomination) Titoxd(?!?) 03:47, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
It would need to be a featured list candidate, not a featured article candidate. I do agree with the comment about the cut-off being too high at 40. 30, or even 25, would be more appropriate. It's only in more recent times that the average expected lifespan has exceeded 40, jguk 06:38, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
On the otherside we could include a section of people who died at what was percieved as young but at the time were over 40. For example, Elvis and, particurally, JFK.
--Chris
[edit] Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth is in the list twice, at 33 and 36. Whilst his year of birth and death aren't well known, we should only have him in the list once, at our best guess of his age.
Jesus of Nazareth should be on the list at the age of 33, ESPECIALLY if you believe his death to be in the year 32.
- As the article Jesus makes clear, neither his year of birth nor his year of death are known for sure. Christian tradition says he was 33 when he died, but that's only tradition, and has no basis in either Scripture or history. —Angr 13:56, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Suggestions for reformatting
At the moment, this list looks a bit busy - it may be worth reducing the amount of linkage slightly to make it more readable.
- Remove the links against each nationality, or possibly remove the nationality column altogether - it's easily the least important column on the page and it would leave more room for the rest of the description (plus it would save trying to apply a concept like nationality to people like Jesus).
- Remove the links against so many common jobs (actor, musician, singer) and causes of death (cancer, gun, suicide) - hardly anybody is going to need to look these things up, and linking to every single one looks a bit odd. The Manual of Style suggests not linking every word, so the page is not just a sea of blue links.
- Remove the links against the years - actually this could be expanded to years of birth and death, to give a little more context (e.g. "1900-27" instead of "1927").
Any thoughts before I leap in? — sjorford++ 08:27, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
-
- I agree with all your sensible suggestions; I also have a few of my own;
- There appears to be some confusion by previous editors over nationality regarding British people. Whether someone is English, Scottish, or Welsh, their nationality is British.
- There should be more consistency as to "Cause of death"; some are murder, some homicide, some gunshot (which could be homicide or suicide). I think it should be more like "homicide by gunshot", "suicide by overdose", for example.
- There seems to be unnecessary (& sometimes incorrect) detail regarding what people were most famous for. For example (I've italicised the details I think it should be kept in);
- Duane Allman - Southern-rock slide-guitarist (Allman Brothers Band)
- Bradley Nowell - reggae/ska/punk rock/hip hop singer (Sublime)
- Doc Holliday - dentist, gambler, gunfighter
- Andy Kaufman - actor, comedian, hoaxer
Psychonaut3000 00:06, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
- I'd keep English/Scottish/Welsh distinct for older figures dating from a time before there was a United Kingdom in the modern sense. —Angr 06:44, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Emmett Till
The header says "historic figure or celebrity who was known for reasons other than their death". Is Emmett Till really known for anything other than his death? His death is certainly the only reason he's a civil rights figure. In life, he didn't work for civil rights or anything, he was just a normal 14-year-old kid. If no one objects in the next few days, I'm taking him out. —Angr 06:43, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Merge List of entertainers who died before age 20 here
All of the names on that list are (or should be) listed here anyway, so no need for a seperate article duplicating those. 172.142.59.24 20:36, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] "Before 40"
Does anyone else think this is a little to late, I would expect a list like this to be before 30. For most of the worlds history 40 wasn't considered all that bad a span.
- Well, actually, it was always pretty young for people who had managed to survive childhood. You often hear that the average life expectancy for people before the industrial revolution was 40 or 45 years or so, but because that's an average, it includes everyone who died in infancy and early childhood, which was a lot of people. Those who survived into their teenage years and beyond tended to live as long as we do today. —Angr 05:02, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
