Talk:Stalking

The current article Stalking focuses exclusively on the modern legal and criminological meaning (harassment, intimidation). While this usage is important, it does not fully reflect the historical and cultural range of the term. I would like to propose adding a short subsection describing documented literary and cultural uses of the term that are distinct from the criminal definition. Etymology and neutral meaning The English verb to stalk historically means to move stealthily or cautiously, especially in hunting contexts. This neutral meaning predates the modern legal usage and is reflected in major English dictionaries (e.g., Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster). Literary and cultural usage The noun stalker gained a well-documented literary meaning in speculative fiction and cinema: In the novel Roadside Picnic (1972) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, a stalker is a guide who illegally enters a mysterious and dangerous area (“the Zone”) to retrieve artifacts and lead others through unknown territory. This meaning was further popularized internationally by Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker (film) (1979), where the Stalker functions as a guide through a hazardous and symbolic space. Film studies literature often interprets this role metaphorically (existential, philosophical, or spiritual guidance), rather than as pursuit or harassment. These uses are clearly distinct from the contemporary criminal meaning of stalking and are discussed in reliable secondary sources in literature and film studies. Proposed change I suggest adding a brief subsection such as “Literary and cultural usage” or “Other meanings”, which would: mention the neutral etymology of stalk, summarize the usage in Roadside Picnic and Stalker (film), explicitly distinguish this cultural meaning from criminal stalking. This addition would improve completeness and historical accuracy while maintaining clarity about the legal definition. Marat kazakhstan (talk) 12:23, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

Is this not the purpose of Stalker (disambiguation) and Stalk (disambiguation)? Also see WP:NOTDICT and WP:OR.

If there is an actual etymological history of the modern use referring to harassment, then we would need a reliable source talking about it to say that here. I would guess that the use of "stalking" to refer to harassment is borrowing the term from predatory behavior ("Stalk, the stealthy approach (phase) of a predator towards its prey").

But to explain how terms are related in a particular article, we ostensibly need some source that ties them together somehow. ShiveryPeaks (talk) 16:15, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for the clarification. I fully agree with WP:NOTDICT and WP:OR: Wikipedia should not function as a dictionary, nor introduce unsourced etymology or original interpretation.

To clarify my position precisely: I am not proposing to redefine or diminish the modern legal and psychological meaning of stalking as harassment. That usage is well established in criminology and law and should remain clearly distinguished.

However, there exists a documented literary and cultural usage of the term stalker that is chronologically earlier than its contemporary criminal-law meaning and is semantically distinct from it. This usage is firmly established in science fiction literature and cinema of the early 1970s.

In particular, in Roadside Picnic (1972) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and in Stalker, a stalker is a person who illegally enters a dangerous and forbidden area known as the “Zone” and often guides others through it. In this context, stalking denotes a deliberate passage into an unknown, hazardous, and mysterious space, rather than interpersonal harassment.

This interpretation is explicitly supported by reliable secondary sources. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes the Stalker as “guide to the Writer and the Professor” while traversing the Zone. The Criterion Collection notes that freelance agents called stalkers explored the Zone and sometimes offered themselves “as guides.” Senses of Cinema similarly describes stalkers as figures who lead expeditions into the forbidden Zone. These sources clearly establish the guide/journey meaning as a recognized cultural usage.

Importantly, this literary and cinematic usage dates from the early 1970s, whereas the use of stalking as a specific term for criminal harassment emerged later, becoming widespread through psychological and legal discourse primarily in the late 20th century. I am not asserting a causal etymological relationship between these meanings unless explicitly supported by sources; rather, I am pointing out a verifiable chronological distinction between two independently documented usages.

If the article allows for a brief clarification outside the lead and etymology sections, the following neutral, sourced sentence could be appropriate in a “Cultural usage” or “Other uses” section:

In literature and film, particularly following the novel Roadside Picnic (1972) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker (1979), the term stalker is used to denote a guide who leads others into a dangerous or forbidden unexplored area known as the “Zone”. This cultural usage predates the later development of stalking as a term for criminal harassment.

Absent reliable sources, this meaning should of course remain confined to the relevant literary and film articles and disambiguation pages. With appropriate sourcing, however, acknowledging this earlier cultural usage would be consistent with Wikipedia policy and improve semantic clarity. Marat kazakhstan (talk) 14:19, 25 January 2026 (UTC)

We should only relate different uses of the term in this article if there is a source relating them in the correct way.

Without a source relating the uses, we can only juxtapose statements using primary sources, and it would mislead people in this case to think there's a relation when there isn't.

As I said in my other comment, it's normally the job of a disambiguation page to delineate between different uses of a term. We would only talk about other uses if there's a relation, and we have a source tying them together. ShiveryPeaks (talk) 16:53, 25 January 2026 (UTC)

The assertion that different uses of the term stalking / stalker should not be mentioned together due to a lack of sources overlooks the existence of well-documented literary and cultural usage dating back to the 1970s, in which stalker is defined not as a criminal actor, but as a guide into forbidden, hidden, or metaphysical spaces.

This meaning was introduced and popularized by science-fiction literature and later reinforced through cinema, where the term is used consistently and explicitly. In these works, a stalker is a person who leads others through dangerous and mysterious territories, requiring intuition, experience, and ethical responsibility.

These are not isolated or obscure references, but widely recognized cultural works that have had a lasting influence on the semantic perception of the term in literature, philosophy, and film studies. As such, they function as reliable secondary sources documenting an alternative, historically earlier usage of the term.

Consequently, this is not a case of implying an unsupported connection, but of acknowledging documented semantic divergence, where the contemporary criminological meaning emerged later and does not invalidate the earlier literary-philosophical usage.

This is a concrete formulation that could be inserted into the article (or adapted slightly):

In literature and film, particularly since the 1970s, the term stalker has also been used in a non-criminal sense to describe a guide who leads others into forbidden, hidden, or dangerous zones. This usage originates from Soviet science-fiction literature and was later popularized in cinema, where the term acquired philosophical and existential connotations distinct from its modern legal meaning.

The following Wikipedia articles directly document this usage and can be cited as supporting sources:

Roadside Picnic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic (Introduces the concept of stalkers as guides who illegally enter the Zone to retrieve artifacts.)

Stalker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film) (Explicitly defines the Stalker as a guide leading people through the Zone, with strong philosophical and metaphysical interpretation.)

Given the existence of these well-documented literary and cinematic sources, a brief and neutral acknowledgment of the literary meaning of stalker would align with Wikipedia’s goals of completeness and verifiability, without implying equivalence with the modern criminal definition. Marat kazakhstan (talk) 17:07, 25 January 2026 (UTC)

You're not listening to what I'm saying at all. I already responded to the points you're making. You need to spend more time reading the guidelines and understand how Wikipedia articles are written.

Let's say you want to mention Roadside Picnic in the Stalking article. Then you need a reliable source tying the novel to the subject of this article. Period. Otherwise you are just saying that you personally think the two things are connected somehow so that the novel is worth mentioning, which is WP:OR (your personal belief).

Again, the type of delineation you're talking about is what a disambiguation page is for.

I also put your comment here into an AI writing detector, and it rated it as 100% AI, which is considered inappropriate here. ShiveryPeaks (talk) 17:40, 25 January 2026 (UTC)