User:Kelapstick/Recent death

Quite possibly one of the most inappropriately used templates on Wikipedia is the recent death template. This is not in terms of overall usage (the typical number of transclusions are from zero to six at any given time), but in terms of the incorrect usage to correct usage ratio. A frequent misuse of the template is when an older person (say for example, over 70 years old) dies, many editors are tempted to place the recent death template on the article, without considering the reason for the template's existence. The documentation from the template reads:

This template warns our readers that the information presented in the article may not be final due to missing/unpublished/uncertain information about a recently deceased person, and that readers should therefore be cautious about the content presented. This is generally true for all of our articles, but in cases of extraordinary public attention that risk is especially high. As such, it should only be used in cases where many editors (perhaps dozens or more) are editing the article on the same day, and it should be removed as soon as the editing goes down to a normal level again. Do not use it merely to tag the article of a recently deceased person, as that would defeat the template's purpose. This template will add the article to Category:Current events and Category:Recent deaths.

The key point in the documentation (and this point cannot be stressed enough) is:

Do not use it merely to tag the article of a recently deceased person, as that would defeat the template's purpose.

Points to consider

Perhaps the documentation does not adequately summarize the proper use for the template. Perhaps some Wikipedians simply don't read the template's documentation. Regardless of what the case may be, when one is considering the use of this template, one should keep in mind the following:

1. It is not to be used on every page where the subject has recently died.
2. It is used to notify the reader that all the details of the death may not be public yet. For example, if a relatively young person died of a drug overdose, it is quite possible all the information might not be public immediately. A lot of speculation may also be added to the article. In this case the template would be useful to notify the reader that they should be cautious with the information about the subject's death, as it might not be complete or accurate.
3. Old people die. Blunt and cold as that may sound, it is a fact of life. When a 92 year old person dies, it is not really a shock. Most likely they died because they were old. Wikipedia probably won't experience a massive influx of information relating to their death, or much in the way of further details.

Examples

The following table lists articles where the recent death template was added in cases where it was not necessary.

Article	Age at time of death	Notes
Andy Griffith	86
Yvonne B. Miller	77
Yitzhak Shamir	96
Dick Clark	82	Template was added three times after its initial removal (probably due to being featured in the In The News section on the main page).
Kathryn Joosten	72	Died of lung cancer after being in remission.
Nora Ephron	71	Died of pneumonia, a complication resulting from acute myeloid leukemia (with which she had been diagnosed since 2006).
Richard Dawson	79
Dara Singh	83
Richard D. Zanuck	77
Sun Myung Moon	92
Martin Fleischmann	85
Dave Brubeck	91	Featured on the main page
Pauline Phillips	94	Abigail Van Buren/Dear Abby
Conrad Bain	89
Yogi Berra	90

See also

• Template transclusions to article space