Talk:Dave Barry

Linking Dates
From the [Wikipedia Manual of Style]

Avoid overlinking dates

If the date does not contain a day and a month, date preferences will not work, and square brackets will not respond to your readers' auto-formatting preferences. So unless there is a special relevance of the date link, there is no need to link it.
 * year only. So 1974 → 1974. Generally, do not link, unless they will clearly help the reader to understand the topic.
 * month only. So April → April. Generally, do not link.
 * century. So 20th century → 20th century. Generally, do not link.
 * decade. So 1970s → 1970s. Generally, do not link (including an apostrophe (1970's) is incorrect).
 * year and month. So April 1974 →April 1974 Generally, do not link.
 * day of the week (with or without other date elements). So Tuesday →Tuesday. Generally, do not link.

Pirate introduction
"One of his columns was used (without his permission or objections, or possibly even his knowledge) as the introduction to the book Pirattitude!: So You Wanna Be a Pirate? Here's How! (ISBN 0-451-21649-0)."

This is a silly little paranthetical.

Political Philosophy
Does he really have "libertarian political leanings"? I'm a big fan, and last I checked, he had "humorist" political leanings. That is, he makes fun of everyone. (By the way, I was flipping through the history... that "booger" thing wasn't a test. Barry really does say that all the time. I can't be bothered to put it back in, though.) --MarkusRTK 17:59, Dec 12, 2004 (UTC)

Yes, Dave Barry is a libertarian (small-l, not big-L). AFAIK, he doesn't push this in his writings, but there have been articles about 'big name' libertarians, and he has admitted to being one. --emb021


 * Then please cite your source (or sources) about Barry's libertarianism. Where exactly has he admitted to being a libertarian? I think it's odd Barry is categorized as a libertarian but not listed as an American Humorist or an American Columnist. Barry's political convictions are trivia compared with his other accomplishments. Is Barry's alledged political conservatism more important to note in an encyclopedia than his accomplishments as a humor columnist? Notes like this in wikipedia strike me as less about being encylopedic and more about showcasing what's good about one editor's personal politics. Barry's political views have been irrelevant to his humor writings. Should we also categorize him by his blood type or height? Also I am a carrot --User:Astrodominus January 30, 2006
 * Libertairanism: (n) an ideological belief in freedom of thought and speech.


 * Libertarian: Someone who advocates liberty, especially in regard to thought or conduct. (Maquarie dictionary)


 * Being a columnist and writer, it's hardly surprising he'd believe in free speech and thought. Though his background make it interesting. It goes to the type of writer he is. Msandersen

Atheism
Does he really deserve to be linked to for the list of atheists? I wasn't even aware that he was an atheist until I read this, and his website says nothing about it. --mathx314

He was quoted as saying he was an atheist from an early age. What do you mean "deserve"? What's wrong with being an atheist? --BM 01:27, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'm not necessarily saying that there's anything wrong with it, it's just that I was completely unaware that he was an atheist until this article, and the article almost makes it sound like he's a spokesperson for atheism and not a humor columnist. --mathx314

As he is not even on the list of atheists, atheism is not a major theme in his work (and I assure you all that I am very familiar with his entire corpse), and the fact is mentioned in the article anyway, I do not believe the inclusion of two atheism related articles in a "see also" section is warrented, and will duly remove them. --indecentproposer


 * His "entire corpse?" Um, I think you meant entire corpus, indecentproposer; otherwise we might need to call for an undertaker here. ;)


 * Seriously, though, granting that "atheism is not a major theme in his work," someone has added Barry to the category of "American atheists," and it seems to me that some support for this ought to be added to the main article even if it is only in the Trivia section. There is a quote on this found here and here, but I am not sure if they are duplicates of each other and/or how accurate they are. (They probably are accurate, but I can't document that.) It would be nice to have that "interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram" they mention as a primary source, but I did not see an online version of it that is not behind the walls of a paid archive (as it was when I looked at star-telegraph.com just now). --MollyTheCat 10:28, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

There appears to be a contradiction between his being an atheist "from an early age" and being excused military service as a Quaker. How did he become a Quaker with a Presbyterian father? I think some sort of explanation is needed to tie these rather disparate strands together. 87.115.229.15 (talk) 12:12, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Son's Motorcycle accident
Didn't his son have a motorcycle accident, and he wrote the only serious column of his career about it? 172.173.30.156 18:13, 22 July 2006 (UTC)


 * While he did write a serious article after his sons motorcycle accident, it is most definately not his only serious article. He also wrote a serious (and very moving!) article after his fathers death, and he also wrote 2 very serious articles concerning the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ubergenius 14:25, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

It was a bicycle accident, His son got hit and broke some bones. No motorcycle. EvangelionTesttype (talk) 23:04, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Two questions: Michelle + a.f.d-b
I had two questions, both about items not in the article. If we can find a source for this data, both items seem worthy of at least a tiny mention. Lawikitejana 21:17, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
 * (1) The article says that his current wife, Michelle, is often mentioned in his columns. Was she ever mentioned by name? While the columns during his marriage to Beth mention her by name, it's been my observation that all the columns since his remarriage mention only "my wife" (thus anyone who was not aware of the divorce might easily assume he still was referring to Beth).
 * (2) I didn't see any mention of the newsgroup alt.fan.dave-barry, which was a major newsgroup for quite some time and to which Barry occasionally posted. The group even had some academic members who reproduced comic experiments of Barry's (such as one involving toasters) and posted their results. After his divorce from his second wife, Beth, one or more occasional participants raised the subject of the divorce &mdash; which the regulars had been avoiding &mdash; and Barry stopped posting to the group, at least for a time.


 * Yes, he absolutely does mention his wife, Michelle, by name in some more recent columns, as well as referencing her as "my wife" on other occasions. If you will allow me a day or two, I will dig up some specific examples. Ubergenius 19:31, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Beth - second wife?
"Barry and his second wife, Beth, had one child, Robert, in 1980". When/how long was his first marriage?


 * That's an error. Beth was his first wife, and his second wife is named Michelle, who is a sports writer. I will change the article, as I had not caught that before. -- Ubergenius 13:38, 22 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Nope. Beth Barry was indisputably Dave Barry's second wife.  (To the best of my knowledge, he has never mentioned the first wife's name.)  The reason we know she exists is that columns dating from the time of his marriage to Beth reference a previous marriage.  See, for instance, the first column in Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, "Why Humor Is Funny", wherein Barry writes, "my former mother-in-law..." (emphasis mine).  That column cannot have been written later than 1988; he didn't even meet Michelle until 1992.  Changed the information back.  Nightsky 19:56, 22 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I didn't know he was married 3 times, and inferring from articles is never EVER "indisputable". Due to his notable lack of discussion over his divorce, it's entirely possible that he was divorced from Beth when the article was written (hence, "former mother-in-law") yet still has not met Michelle. Do you have any direct evidence (interview, etc.) for this assertation, or are you entirely inferring from his writing (such as "former mother-in-law", etc.)? -- Ubergenius 14:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)


 * See various sources for third marriage -


 * WE'RE NOT MAKING THIS UP: DAVE BARRY GETS HITCHED
 * Source: JOAN FLEISCHMAN, Herald Columnist
 * David McAlister Barry, 49, author, humorist and Pulitzer Prize-winning Herald columnist, married Michelle Fay Kaufman, 31, a former Detroit Free Press ;;;;sports writer now with The Herald, on Sunday. ``A small, private wedding,'' says Kaufman. His third marriage, her second. The couple honeymooned ;;;;Sunday night in a penthouse suite at the Van Dyke on South Beach. They've told friends they'll throw a party next month to celebrate.
 * Published on November 13, 1996, Page 2B, Miami Herald, The (FL)

$2.95 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - NewsBank - Jul 6, 1995 And then there's Dave Barry the humanitarian, who once recommended, ... He also met his current wife, Beth, at the paper and divorced his college sweetheart ... Full stories available through NewsBank. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bringhurst (talk • contribs) 02:08, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
 * WE AREN'T MAKING THIS UP DAVE BARRY'S LIFE ISN'T ALL GRINS

This is fact; when he left his previous wife and son, he lost a lot of female readers. His popularity has never been the same. Those readers felt betrayed, and simply lost interest in his work. He has not recovered from that, but that is the elephant in the room that is never mentioned. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.92.14.172 (talk) 03:41, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
 * NO ONE EVER MENTIONS THAT HIS POPULARITY FELL WHEN HE DIVORCED HIS FORMER WIFE

Dave Barry For President
No, I am not spamming here, just curious why one of his major recurring themes is not mentioned in his article. I voted for him.

http://www.davebarry.com/president/dave2k/index.htm

CodeCarpenter 14:09, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

In the Collarboration section
Should I add the books he has done with that other guy that is listed in the fiction section? EvangelionTesttype (talk) 23:15, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Non Fiction?
I don't really think the books that are in the nonfiction section really are non fiction --SaSqUaTcHxliican talk and Edit 01:39, 7 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Those books are collections of essays and/or commentary, which definitely are non-fiction (even though, as Dave says, he lies a lot). --laneystrange

Dave Barry's Guide to Life
My copy of this book contains "Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead", not "The Taming of the Screw". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.149.23.186 (talk) 14:51, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

No mention of ClariNet?
Why not add a note about ClariNet and clari.feature.dave_barry as it was a very popular Usenet feed that was read (and copied) by many. Also many Unix fortune programs have Dave Barry quotes (possibly copied from clari.feature.dave_barry.)

--Topher67 (talk) 21:01, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

First wife
There is ample evidence (see above) that Dave Barry was married to Ann Shelnutt before divorcing her to marry Beth. An editor didn't like my first choice. Here are more: http://qileniu.blogspot.com/2010/07/biography-of-dave-barry.html, http://theenchantedmanor.com/tag/dave-barry/, http://www.wiki30.com/wa?s=Dave_Barry (hard to get enthused because it has both but then says Beth was first wife); http://research-paper-writers.blogspot.com/2013/03/dave-barry-biography.html (like this best because it has dates); https://pikesvillehslibrary.pbworks.com/w/page/64000445/Alex%20Jerome (I kind of vote for this one).

There are autobiographical references by someone claiming to be Ann Shelnutt, but it's probably better to omit those.

While it is clear that he has been married three times, it is hard to find citations that aren't mirrors or derivative of each other. Is this one the original or a derivative:https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Dave_Barry? The NY Times probably isn't going to cover this. Comments? Student7 (talk) 20:37, 17 September 2017 (UTC)
 * I don't think any of those would be considered reliable sources for a BLP. Did you try looking through all the refs used by the pikesvillehslibrary.pbworks.com to see if any would help?
 * I looked around a bit and found nothing but unreliable sources (eg http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/lifestyle/happy-birthday-to-armonks-dave-barry/649494/ ). I'm afraid be difficult to finding something published around the time frame when they were married. It doesn't look like he came to prominence until years later, but maybe an early bio about him would cover it, perhaps written when he received his 88 Pulitzer? --Ronz (talk) 22:06, 18 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Not sure if this helps: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7104439/the_morning_news/ . Details seem to match, but still feels a little OR. Kuru   (talk)  23:11, 18 September 2017 (UTC)
 * I think that should be fine. The information matches what we have, so the news clip isn't about someone else. --Ronz (talk) 02:15, 19 September 2017 (UTC)

What about Walter?
Why has Walter been glossed over? 8.26.225.239 (talk) 09:53, 19 June 2022 (UTC)