Wikipedia:Naming conventions (violence and deaths)
Article titles for events such as assaults, shootings, stabbings, deaths, suicides, executions, killings and murders are very controversial. Requested move discussions on such articles have led to inconsistent results. COMMONNAME may prove to be unhelpful, especially for more recent events, where sources may not have settled on a single commonly-used name for the event. This explanatory supplement aims to provide a framework for establishing a CONSISTENT naming scheme that ensures NPOV (neutral point of view), protects the subjects of BLP (biographies of living persons) and avoids the pitfalls of systemic bias, for articles where a commonly recognisable name is not apparent. This explanatory supplement is not intended to overrule any policy or guideline.
How to use the flowchart
When using this flowchart, editors should take the following points into consideration:
- Before using the flowchart, editors should make a good-faith effort to determine whether a COMMONNAME for the event can be determined from reliable secondary sources. Editors should only resort to this flowchart when such efforts fail or a consensus cannot be reached on what the COMMONNAME is from among the reliable secondary sources.
- The answer to each question in the flowchart must be verifiable in a reliable secondary source.
- A determination of the manner of death should be made by some official authority, such as a coroner, coroner's inquest, medical examiner or similar expert person or organization. This determination becomes eligible for use on this flowchart only after it is reported by a secondary source. In some cases, a preponderance of reliable secondary sources will make it clear what the manner of death was, even absent an official finding.
Flowchart
The following flowchart presents a framework for determining the titles of articles about violent attacks, deaths, and similar events. Each answer to the questions found in this flowchart must be verifiable in a reliable secondary source cited in the article. Text version.
Note: to avoid protracted debates, the word "homicide" in this context means "the killing of one person by another, whether premeditated or unintentional". It does not imply any degree of culpability.
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Background
Request for comment
This explanatory supplement was developed via a request for comment at Special:Permalink/994658134#RfC: Shooting or Death or Killing or Murder?
Requested move precedents in 2020
Flowchart (text version)
| Is there a clear WP:COMMONNAME describing the event among the reliable sources available? | ||
| No | Yes | |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| ↓ | WP:COMMONNAME | |
| ↓ | ||
| Is the person dead? | ||
| Yes | No | |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| ↓ | Shooting of [name] or Stabbing of [name] or Assault of [name] | |
| ↓ | ||
| Is the manner of death known? | ||
| Yes | No | |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| ↓ | Death of [name] | |
| ↓ | ||
| Was it of natural causes or an accidental death? | ||
| No | Yes | |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| ↓ | Death of [name] | |
| ↓ | ||
| Was it a death by suicide? | ||
| No | Yes | |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| ↓ | Suicide of [name] | |
| ↓ | ||
| Homicide: Was it capital punishment? | ||
| No | Yes | |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| ↓ | Execution of [name] | |
| ↓ | ||
| Homicide: Is there a murder conviction in the case? | ||
| Yes | No | |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| Murder of [name] | Killing of [name] | |