Hello again, page watchers. Having successfully proposed a small addition above, I'd like to suggest a bigger one: replacing the existing Politics section. I recognize this is a substantial change, so I want to explain why I think a complete replacement is preferable to incremental edit requests.
For some background, in March another editor cleaned up some POV wording in the section and noted in the edit summary: "this all should probably be re-written." Indeed, the current section is poorly organized, uses non-RS sources such as X/Twitter posts, and includes too many tangents and random opinions, likely derived from Tan's prolific social media use. For convenience, I've reproduced the content as of October 11, 2025 here:
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Tan has been actively involved and influential in San Francisco politics, both by directing attention to various topics via his social media presence and through donations. Examples of causes espoused by Tan include increased funding for police, and opposition to regulation of self-driving cars, changes to education, decelerationism, Apple's monopoly on apps, and censorship by YouTube. Tan self identifies as a "moderate Democrat".[1][2]
Tan has especially focused on increased housing development in San Francisco.[1] Tan has donated to YIMBY groups such as the San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation, YIMBY Action, and YIMBY Law.[3] In 2020, Tan said in an interview that he followed San Francisco housing news, and supported housing of all kinds, including market-rate housing, affordable housing, and homeless shelters.[4]
Tan was a board member of GrowSF, a San Francisco pro-growth political group, donating at least $54,500 to the organization.[3][5] He promoted and raised funds for the recall of members of the San Francisco School Board. Tan himself donated $20,000 to the campaign, and fundraised from friends like Cyan Banister. He promoted the recall and raised money from his Twitter following.[3]
Tan supported the 2022 recall campaign against progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Tan donated at least $100,000 to the effort.[3][6] Tan blamed Boudin for physical attacks on Asians. Tan alleged that Boudin failed to hold violent criminal offenders accountable and failed to protect the general public, particularly the least advantaged.[6] After the recall campaign succeeded, Tan supported the election of appointed District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, and appointed Supervisor Matt Dorsey.[7] Tan has also encouraged tech leaders to participate in San Francisco local politics in 2023.[8]
Tan is vocally critical towards what he describes as legacy media, specifically newspapers. He has described The New York Times as upholding "Woke Capital".[9] Tan is known for having blocked tens of thousands of accounts on Twitter/X, including public figures and journalists who have never interacted with him.[1][10]
Tan called Y Combinator a "prototype model" of Balaji Srinivasan's Network State concept, which proposes creating new countries that start as digital communities and grow into sovereign entities by amassing members, wealth, and physical land.[11][12]
Tan has publicly expressed support for Israel's actions in the Gaza war. Tan led a boycott of the 2023 Web Summit in protest of Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave's statements, which described some of Israel's actions as war crimes.[13]
In 2024, Tan posted a tweet wishing death on seven of the 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.[10][14] In a later apology, he said he was referencing a rap track.[10][14][9]
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The proposed replacement focuses on his actual political activities: his entry into SF politics, donations made, organizations joined, politicians supported and opposed, and combative style. It uses only reliable sources, and is more concise, organizing content into fewer, more focused paragraphs. See here:
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Tan has been actively involved in San Francisco politics through his campaign donations and social media presence. He began making small donations to YIMBY housing activists in 2015, and became more politically active during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[1][2] Tan has focused his political giving primarily on housing development, public schools, and public safety. As of March 2024, he has donated approximately $400,000 to local political campaigns.[1]
In 2022, Tan contributed $25,000 to a campaign that successfully removed three San Francisco school board members from office.[3] That same year, he donated between $50,000 and $100,000 to the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin.[3][4] Following these campaigns, Tan supported the appointed District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and appointed Supervisor Matt Dorsey in their subsequent elections.[2]
Tan has served on the board of GrowSF, a moderate political advocacy group.[2] He has donated to YIMBY housing organizations including the San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation, YIMBY Action, and YIMBY Law.[5] In March 2024, he supported the election of Lily Ho to the local Democratic Party governing board and backed a measure to reinstate algebra instruction for eighth graders.[1]
The New York Times has described Tan as having created a "bombastic online persona." He is known for blocking thousands of accounts on Twitter/X.[1][3] In January 2024, Tan posted a tweet stating that seven members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors should "die slow." He later deleted the tweet, a close paraphrase of the Tupac Shakur song "Hit 'Em Up", and apologized, stating "there is no place, no excuse and no reason for this type of speech."[6][7] Asked at a September 2024 tech conference about running for mayor, Tan said, "Never, or 20 years from now."[8]
In October 2023, Tan led a tech industry boycott of the Web Summit conference after its co-founder stated six days after the October 7 Hamas attack that Israel was committing war crimes.[9]
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To provide an example of my thinking and judgment calls made, let's consider the most contentious topic in the whole section, the 2024 tweet incident. The current version is actually a little too short, and potentially misleads through lack of context and hazy timeline:
In 2024, Tan posted a tweet wishing death on seven of the 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In a later apology, he said he was referencing a rap track.
The proposed version describes the sequence of events more clearly, removes the irrelevant detail about board size, identifies the track in question, and uses limited quotations for better context:
In January 2024, Tan posted a tweet stating that seven members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors should "die slow." He later deleted the tweet, a close paraphrase of the
Tupac Shakur song "
Hit 'Em Up", and apologized, stating "there is no place, no excuse and no reason for this type of speech."
Given my COI, I won't implement these changes myself. I hope other editors will find this a net improvement. I'm happy to answer questions or discuss concerns. Thanks for considering this request. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 23:40, 11 October 2025 (UTC)
Not done: Whitewashing Likeanechointheforest (talk) 16:56, 12 October 2025 (UTC)
- Hi Likeanechointheforest, I am curious if you found any of my critique persuasive? Perhaps this is too much to ask to change at once. What would you say to removing material sourced only to X/Twitter? WWB Too (Talk · COI) 15:14, 13 October 2025 (UTC)
- Can you please call out that material again? Likeanechointheforest (talk) 17:23, 13 October 2025 (UTC)
- There are two instances of Tan's X/Twitter feed being used in the current section, which you can see in the reflist above. The 1/1/25 tweet supports Tan having left the board of GrowSF; FWIW, in my draft I wrote "has served" to avoid having to verify "was". Later, the paragraph beginning "Tan called Y Combinator" is sourced to a tweet from 2/1/25. The book being discussed is also cited as a source, but is not a source; it's just linking to the book itself. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 20:22, 13 October 2025 (UTC)
- Partially implemented Likeanechointheforest (talk) 15:17, 17 October 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you for taking another look. I didn't intend for my draft to soften criticism of Tan, but I see how it could have that cumulative effect. I'll have another request soon that will also focus narrowly, and would welcome your review, if you're up for it. Thanks WWB Too (Talk · COI) 20:22, 20 October 2025 (UTC)
