Talk:Alec Ross (author)

main picture
Can someone change his main picture to a more closer look? Don't really like the picture of him with many croud members around that are visible in the main picture. RezGamer (talk) 07:46, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

Neutral Point of View
When I found this page, it was clear that it was written by his PR department. The intro was just a long list of his awards, and the page was titled "Alec Ross (Innovator)". I've cleaned it up, but it still needs some work — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sigbhu (talk • contribs) 18:56, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

Page move explanation and thoughts for future
As he hasn't actually been a government official for a few years, I changed the title to be more appropriate. I actually think it would make sense to have him as just Alec Ross, and move the professional golfer to Alec Ross (golfer) but that's a bigger decision so I wanted to open a discussion first.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 07:54, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I agree with the switch. Alec Ross is a current public figure and would have more relevance than Alec Ross the turn-of-the-twentieth-century golfer. He is also more than an author--professor, TED speaker, pundit and given the topics he publishes on--a "futurist." Jaldous1 (talk) 14:49, 18 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Unless there are any objections in the next few days, I'll probably make that move then.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:11, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090511124347/http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2009/04/innovator-alec-ross-joins-stat.php to http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2009/04/innovator-alec-ross-joins-stat.php
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090707100942/http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/technology/Fact_Sheet_Innovation_and_Technology.pdf to http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/technology/Fact_Sheet_Innovation_and_Technology.pdf/

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Shortened and Organized
I separated the section on government service and political career to better organize the page. I also removed some of the opinion from the government service section to keep it fact-based and shorter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by The Missing Meadow (talk • contribs) 12:58, 1 December 2019 (UTC)

Election result
I've reverted your change again since you haven't given a good reason for making it. Saying it was "simplified based on Ross' brief political career" is misleading since it was already one simple sentence. Reducing the result to a loss "to Ben Jealous" is also misleading since he lost to Jealous and five other candidates. I don't think you improved the article by removing facts. -- Pemilligan (talk) 20:19, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

Janitor while in college
In the Background section, it says that "Ross worked as a nighttime janitor in Charleston at a local bar when attending college at Northwestern University."

In the source for this it says that "He grew up in Charleston, W.Va., and worked as a night-time janitor in a local bar. He attended Northwestern University, earning a degree in History"

I do not think it is possible that he worked as a janitor in WVA while attending college in Illinois. This whole part makes it seem like he paid his own way through college by working as a janitor. His dad was a lawyer and his grandfather worked as a minister at an embassy, so I doubt that. ClaybourneAmans (talk) 22:06, 5 December 2019 (UTC)ClaybourneAmans

I found an article which said "As a college student in the 1990s he worked nights mopping up a sports/entertainment venue in West Virginia" https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/15/book-review-the-industries-of-the-future/

This confuses it further, but I just took out the part about him being a janitor because it was confusing. if someone has a better way to add it feel free.ClaybourneAmans (talk) 01:38, 6 December 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 12:38, 27 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Alec Ross.JPG

New York Times Bestseller attribution
Other editors continue to remove the New York Time's bestseller attribution from this page, claiming it is "unneeded" information. On the contrary, if you visit the pages of many authors whose work has been featured on the NYT bestseller page, they have the New York Time's bestseller title highlighted, or at least mentioned in reference to their work. Are you going to comb through the thousands of folks who have made this list and remove the New York Times bestseller mention from their Wikipedia pages? If not, there is no reason to remove it from Ross's page. Bluety80 (talk) 23:44, 12 February 2024 (UTC)


 * Hello! If I came across similar material on other pages, I would likely remove it, yes. Could you address the post I made on your talk page re: COI? If you have any kind of personal or professional connection with Ross, you should not edit his page directly. —Ganesha811 (talk) 23:57, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Can you clarify what you mean by "likely" remove it? What would make you more or less likely to remove this reference? As you can see, Ross's is categorized as an "author" (right next to his name at the top of the page), so I don't understand why it's irrelevant to include that he's an NYT Bestselling author.
 * No COI, just confused about the lack of reasoning for these edits. Bluety80 (talk) 23:45, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm glad to hear you don't have a COI. In the past, this article has been bloated by non-neutral material and promotionalism, and has been cleaned up by other editors before - you can see a comment on NPOV from 8 years ago on this talk page above, for example. I think that being a "best-selling" author is not very interesting, and for authors who are notable enough to have Wikipedia pages, it would probably be more surprising if they weren't a NYTimes bestseller. The information provides little of value to the reader and sounds more like language taken from a press release than from an encyclopedia article. I regard descriptions like this as a form of MOS:PUFFERY. —Ganesha811 (talk) 23:54, 13 February 2024 (UTC)