Talk:Zak Smith

EC discussion

@Gråbergs Gråa Sång, ChildrenWillListen, and BusterD: This could be included in the personal life section as an WP:ABOUTSELF/WP:BLPSELFPUB statement. I'm not seeing why this would be a WP:PROPORTION issue in that subsection. Sariel Xilo (talk) 17:30, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

I don't think Zak Smith's ethnicity/religion is important in any way. Also see Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 223 § Should we have an essay or something on "Jew tagging"? for further discussion and perspectives. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 17:41, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

I remember that village pump discussion. While I don't have time to get into the weeds on the broader implications of it, I think this comment (which ends with "we should be very hesitant to treat the question of Jewish representation any different than any other ethnicity in terms of how we shape and apply our policies") makes a lot of sense. If others strongly feel that this isn't an WP:ABOUTSELF statement or there's a policy reason to not include it, I'm fine with that. Sariel Xilo (talk) 18:18, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

It's ABOUTSELF-fine, IMO it fails PROPORTION just the same. If no secondary source cares, why should we? Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 21:01, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

I'm with Gråbergs Gråa Sång on this. No independent sources have been put forward that mention his Jewish background, so it doesn't merit inclusion even in the Personal life section. If there are independent reliable sources mentioning it, it might be a different matter. Yngvadottir (talk) 23:50, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

• In response to the (now blocked) OP, the addition is only controversial because Zak Smith's obvious and relentless autobiographical puppetry behaviors have rendered EVERY request by non-ECP editors controversial. This is quite out of the hands of local editors. Look at the last five edit requests: November 25, a passing identified sockpuppet requests we remove a section which cites the subject's previous bad behavior; on 11/30 another long-dormant account uses nine of their 15 total edits to request we add newer released products to his catalog without any citation; 12/8 a temporary account asks us to radically alter the same section which cites the subject's previous bad behavior; 12/27 a temporary account asks us to add ethnicity with only old twitter posts as proof; later the same day a connected (now blocked) temporary account asks why such addition would be controversial. Remember, Zak wrote this entire article, they've managed it for 20 years. They obviously have a hard time letting go; hence the socking continues. It is the actions of Zak's many puppets which make EVERY non-ECP request controversial. This is not about content of any sort; it is entirely about Zak's continued puppetry. BusterD (talk) 09:43, 28 December 2025 (UTC)

  The CUs have figured this out already, but yes, through off-wiki evidence I can attest that the Jewish edit requests were asked by a certain member of the Slacker13 sock/meatfarm. The book edit request is also probably related, but there's no smoking-gun evidence I'm able to access. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 15:37, 28 December 2025 (UTC)

For the interested, Wikipedia:Village_pump_(miscellaneous)#What's_wrong_with_being_Jewish?. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 22:41, 28 December 2025 (UTC)

Not surprisingly, the thread was started by an IP contributor who has since been blocked by an uninvolved admin. BusterD (talk) 07:14, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Unless there is something more to the purported background I don't see that it adds anything.

A while ago, a editor who had been editing some BLPs on Australian far-right figures to soften the content of their articles, decided they were going to edit Nick McKenzie just to add a sentence stating that they are a jew. No other context. It immediately stood out to me what the game was and I removed it. It was only a while later, that upon doing some reading, I came to understand that there was a bit of a story to his background and that it was significant to understanding him as a person. At that point I added material about the subjects ethnicity back in. While a wee bit different here, I think the same idea stands, that unless it adds to our understanding of the subject, then why would we want to add it? If all we would say is 'X is a jew', then I don't see a reason for inclusion. WP:V does not guarantee inclusion. TarnishedPath^talk 07:51, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Yes, this is basically what we should be asking. Is there a story to the background that informs his life and work. Andre🚐 20:28, 29 December 2025 (UTC)