Talk:Mel Brooks/Archive 2

Archive 1

Archive 2

No middle name – definitely not James

The name James is not the middle name of Melvin Kaminsky. Instead, the name James is vandalism, introduced on September 24, 2012, by IP 174.57.222.158. The same IP had been putting wrong names in other biographies before this.[1][2][3]

After 2012, this biography showed the middle name James off and on, as various editors took it out and other put it back in. I think it must have been this article that was the source for a couple of post-2012 books listing the middle name James, which can be thought of as the Woozle effect or circular reporting, a case where the source was referencing Wikipedia. (We have a guideline that addresses this problem at WP:CIRCULAR.) The 2014 Routledge book Screen Ages: A Survey of American Cinema lists the middle name James, as does the 2015 ABC-CLIO book Make 'em Laugh! American Humorists of the 20th and 21st Centuries: American Humorists of the 20th and 21st Centuries. But there are absolutely zero references to the middle name James before 2012 when the vandalism first appeared. So I think we must ignore later sources and stick with just Melvin Kaminsky as the birth name. Binksternet (talk) 20:47, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

Brooklyn College

The infobox states his alma mater as Brooklyn College, but the early life paragraph says he 'intended' to study there. It doesn't say he ever attended.This needs clarification.Toyokuni3 (talk) 15:56, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

The Producers release date is a matter of dispute

Its only release in 1967 was to people in Pittsburgh.InsulinRS (talk) 22:19, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

Endorsement of US President

Is this single line beneficial to the article? Its a single primary source, and I question the notability of the endorsement. It doesnt appear to tie into the rest of the article in any way - is this not just someone point scoring? PrimalBlueWolf (talk) 05:05, 7 August 2021 (UTC)

User:muboshgu and User:TacticalMadness, you both appear to have an opinion on this: can we engage in a little discussion now that we've done the Bold and Revert parts of WP:BRD?

For what it's worth, I've reversed my opinion from it being point scoring, but I still question whether or not it should remain in its current form - the section does not appear notable without context, and I'm not convinced adding context would improve the article. PrimalBlueWolf (talk) 04:44, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

PrimalBlueWolf, I reverted an edit that removed long standing and sourced content with the explanation "deleted content". That's not "bold", that's disruptive editing. CNN and Variety reported on it. So did a lot of other major news organizations, because it was his first ever political endorsement. – Muboshgu (talk) 04:54, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

while I suspect you are not wrong, I'd point you in the direction of WP:AGF for the purpose of building consensus. Particularly as there was the question raised on the talk page already.

Those references would be a welcome addition to the article, and help cement notability a lot more than the primary source. PrimalBlueWolf (talk) 05:00, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

I had not seen that talk page discussion, just the removal of content without an explanation. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:21, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

Info box military module

I was looking at the info box and noticed that Battle of the Bulge is just indented below WW2, it's looks a little funny and out of alignment without a bullet before it. Surely this should be a bullet list right? Govvy (talk) 08:34, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Mel's love of non-kosher food is very enlightening

Ham, as well as mixing meat with cheese, is very anti-kosher. It greatly concerns how secular he has lived.[4].2601:447:4000:220:C9B:43AA:598:6B7 (talk) 23:16, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

WP:SHORTDESC

Hello @FMSky: I left the edit summary WP:SHORTDESC so this would not happen. Please read WP:SHORTDESC. — Invasive Spices (talk) 22:20, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

Yeah but the previous description wasnt great: "American actor, comedian, filmmaker, 1926".. 1926 what? --FMSky (talk) 22:56, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

I agree, changing the short description from "American actor, comedian and filmmaker (born 1926)" to "American actor, comedian, filmmaker, 1926" is not an improvement. I'm guessing Invasive Spices trimmed it because of WP:SDLENGTH, but the 40 character thing that, correct me if I'm wrong, Invasive Spices intended to follow is not really a limit/set in stone (see wording of WP:SDLENGTH and Wikipedia talk:Short description) and a 50 character short desc is certainly not excessive. However, we could think about leaving one of the occupations out if we wanted to shorten it and if one of them is really dispensable, though I don't see a clear candidate for that. Felida⁹⁷ (talk) 08:14, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Or just leaving the birth date out... "American actor, comedian and filmmaker" would imo sound best --FMSky (talk) 11:33, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

I'm not so sure that it's more important to list (all) three occupations... However, I obviously don't think it needs to be shortened, so I consider "American actor, comedian and filmmaker (born 1926)" to be the best (and a valid) choice. Felida⁹⁷ (talk) 13:16, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Yes , 1926 looks strange. Invasive Spices (talk) 16:05, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Not set in stone is correct but I try to follow 40. Invasive Spices (talk) 16:04, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

So what exactly would not happen? Someone reverting your (rather poor) change or something else? The edit summary "WP:SHORTDESC" is quite unspecific... Felida⁹⁷ (talk) 08:23, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Reverting without an edit summary. However that is true my edit summary wasn't specific. I could have used WP:SDLENGTH. Invasive Spices (talk) 16:04, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Would the abbreviation b. help? Invasive Spices (talk) 19:55, 30 March 2023 (UTC)