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John Allen Chau

  • Merge John Allen Chau into the existing content in the section "Other contacts" which already covers the single event for which he gained media attention. Chau's death is only significant because it is the most recent attempt to contact the Sentinelese. The details of his life and preparation for his mission implies that he was something other than an individual doing something those outside his religious community condemn and the Government of India declared illegal.

--WriterArtistDC (talk) 00:19, 23 April 2021 (UTC)

  • Oppose There are multiple reliable sources written about Chau and his life, including one published several months after the event itself.Jackattack1597 (talk) 01:09, 29 April 2021 (UTC)
  • Merge. Chau is really known only for the one event.--Jorm (talk) 01:17, 29 April 2021 (UTC)
  • Oppose At first, I was also thinking of merging the two, as this individual really is not significant except for his death. However, there's a lot of information about this person that would not be relevant to the actual Sentinel island article. Before reading about this biography of him, I had no idea he prepared, what he did, etc, as I thought he was just some madman. The information provided here is actually worth keeping, and I believe rather than a merge, it should be sent to a new article, such as something like "2018 killing of John Allen Chau." XS2003 (talk) 02:26, 6 May 2021 (UTC)
  • Oppose Chau certainly meets the WP:GNG due to the highly unusual circumstances of his death and there is far too much info in his article on his background and motivations for a simple merge. Valenciano (talk) 16:12, 6 May 2021 (UTC)
  • Merge or Move to Death of John Allen Chau or similar - It is the event of his death that is notable, not Chau himself. Chau's biographical information is only there to provide context for this event. Some of the background information is mostly not relevant to Sentinalese so it would have to be deleted to merge that article here. Sizeofint (talk) 02:26, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
  • Oppose per Valenciano.--Literaturegeek | T@1k? 00:21, 14 May 2021 (UTC)
  • Merge Yes, there is content at John Allen Chau. None of it is notable, except for his death, which could be quickly summarized in this article. I mean, the notability argument about this person is an argument that he should be covered in Sentinelese. Yes, he should. The argument does not establish (for me) that he deserves his own article. Mgnbar (talk) 01:32, 14 May 2021 (UTC)
  • Comment - This discussion will not be closed until an uninvolved admin declares a consensus. It has been almost a month without consensus, which would result in doing nothing, the same as keeping the article on John Allen Chau as it is. I would like to make one more case for the merge and desolation of the biography. The perpetrators of mass shootings are generally not given their own article in spite of having ample coverage in reliable sources regarding their background and motivations. Instead, their names redirect to a section on the event article entitled Suspect or Perpetrator. This comparison would immediately be followed by an objection: mass murders are criminals known for one event, Chau was a missionary and martyr to his faith. I do not see this distinction, because Chau could have been a mass murderer if he had infected the Seninelese with a disease, the more likely outcome than his fulfilling his intentions. His newsworthiness is the same as a failed mass murder killed before he could do anything; but the story was picked up in the media and romanticized. The GNG guideline specifically states that widespread coverage in reliable sources creates the presumption, but not the guarantee of notability. With regard to mass murderers, the aversion to making them famous for their act comes into play. Frankly, I see Chau in the same light; a misguided individual whose act could have been a disaster for the Sentinelese. There is much in reliable sources, including those written by anthropologists and other experts in academic journals that agree with this portrayal. There should not be a stand-alone biography on him. Perhaps there could be an article on the event entitled "Death of John Allen Chau", which was the original title of his biography. Another rename discussion would not likely lead to a consensus either.--WriterArtistDC (talk) 12:35, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
  • Oppose per all points noted above, in addition to the fact that Chau's article receives 25,000 hits per month. The absurd comparison above could be made to anyone from anywhere contacting any unreached people group, such as David Livingstone, Ponce de Leon or Margaret Mead. Propose close. - JGabbard (talk) 22:02, 3 July 2021 (UTC)
  • Oppose per JGabbard. John Allen Chau's article receives considerable traffic (over 60% of this article's traffic) so a merge to this one seems inappropriate. Shoestringnomad (talk) 18:26, 8 July 2021 (UTC)
  • Oppose per reasons above. DrewieStewie (talk) 06:08, 13 July 2021 (UTC)
  • Merge: There's not particularly anything noteworthy about Chau, aside from his death. All the pertinent information is in this article and if there's some morsel I'm missing, it can easily be added to the description of the 2018 event. BOTTO (TC) 21:19, 4 August 2021 (UTC)
  • Merge The only thing notable about Chau is his failed missionary journey to reach these peoples. All of the sources on his page are from articles about his death, which indicates to me that there's nothing else notable about him. Aquilessa (talk) 22:31, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Photography ban rationale

Does anyone know of a reason for the photography ban? It seems to be a glaring omission. And the one time there's a citation for "Photography is prohibited" the source doesn't mention photography. Mattman00000 (talk) 10:50, 20 November 2021 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

  This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 August 2020 and 3 December 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Evanleach33.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 08:58, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Inbreeding

This article should cover inbreeding. A population of 500+ is needed to avoid genetic problems from inbreeding. These people have been isolated for hundreds if not thousands of years and are bound to have genetic-based inbreeding problems.57.140.32.55 (talk) 15:33, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

Good point. But Wikipedia:No original research. We need to summarize Wikipedia:Reliable sources. Probably sources specifically about Sentinelese genetics are hard to find, but perhaps you could locate general sources discussing your point? Mgnbar (talk) 18:08, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

History of Contact Grammar

I added a cleanup header to the section for it to be rewritten. The misuse of pronouns makes the section very hard to read and some info just isn't explained very well, a lot of clarification needed tags. — Preceding unsigned comment added by NeutralASP (talkcontribs) 03:02, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

Size of exclusion zone.

The exclusion zone around North Sentinel Island is given as 3 nautical miles in this article, and I suspect it could possibly be incorrect. Other sources I have seen, both in Wikipedia and outside of it, give it as 5 nautical miles.

Perhaps someone knowledgeable on the topic could confirm whether I am correct here, and, if so, alter the article accordingly.

Thanks.M.J.E. (talk) 01:10, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

Name of People Living on North Sentinel Island

Good Day, Fellow Editors--

I got to thinking about the name of this article, and I think it could be problematic. The people who inhabit North Sentinel island surely do not call themselves "North Sentinelese" or even "Sentinelese" altogether.

Shouldn't this article's name instead refer to the people who inhabit the place, instead of naming the people after the place? Naming people after the place they inhabit reeks of colonialism. In the United States, for example, it is increasingly common to refer to indigenous peoples by the names they use, not the names assigned to them by colonial powers. (I.E., typing "Chippewa" into Wikipedia's search bar appropriately redirects to the article "Ojibwe".)

Obviously, the People inhabiting North Sentinel Island have not told the outside world what they call themselves--if they refer to themselves as any proper noun at all--but we still owe them respect in our academic circles by naming them in a respectful manner. This also has the peripheral benefit of increasing familiarity with contemporary naming conventions.

I therefore propose to rename this article: "Peoples of North Sentinel Island" and remove all references to "Sentinelese," "North Sentinelese," etc.

I don't ordinarily make substantive contributions to Wikipedia; please let me know your thoughts and be constructive in your critcism.

Best,

Jborgzz (talk) 22:35, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

Referring to a people by their location with the common English suffix -ese is no different than referring to them with the much more unwieldly "People of X." They mean the same thing. It's not a failure to show respect, it's a failure to understand English. It's no more disrespectful than using SVO order or pluralizing with the suffix -s. 2601:1C2:4D00:C340:0:0:0:46CF (talk) 05:20, 4 August 2022 (UTC)
The fact that people do it doesn't mean it isn't offensive. The original post here is correct about proper and respectful practices, and reading the article I also felt that the name couldn't possibly the name the people had for themselves. It's both inaccurate and racist, and Wikipedia can do better. A good solution was proposed and should be adopted. 2.24.34.56 (talk) 19:35, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
Exonyms are not necessarily racist, why would they be? Do you call Argentines argentinos or Argentines? 82.36.70.45 (talk) 19:37, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
It’s not inaccurate as inaccuracy is relative to definitions, not to good feelings. For example I’m fat and I don’t like it but it is exactly accurate. 82.36.70.45 (talk) 19:39, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
WP:COMMONNAME 85.164.238.72 (talk) 10:25, 8 December 2022 (UTC)