Talk:John C. Wells

Personal details
The article has had this text for a while:
 * He is out as gay.

An anonymous user added this:
 * Which is about as relevant to this article as whether or not he wears spectacles or is left-handed.

I snipped both sentences; the latter comment doesn't belong in the body of the article, but on reflection I agree that the first sentence is of questionable relevance. If Wells were active in the gay rights movement it would certainly be relevant, but as it is, I'm not sure. I won't object if anyone else wants to add it back in. --Jim Henry | Talk 28 June 2005 19:12 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 07:04, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Works
The list is quite long for a WP article, I am going to shorten it.--Ziko (talk) 14:29, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

And why are German abbreviations used in the list ("S." for pages, "Nr.", "Hrsg." ...)? Singerbergler (talk) 08:01, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

Lexical sets / fact-checking
Surprising that there's no mention of Wells's role in developing the concept of lexical sets. Would anyone care to add a section on this?

A couple of statements here contradict his CV at UCL: his MA seems to be from London, not Cambridge; and he is apparently no longer directing UCL's summer course in phonetics. I will change these unless there's any objection. Lfh (talk) 18:33, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
The claim in the section 'Longman Pronunciation Dictionary' that "His book prompted the publication of new pronunciation dictionaries by the Oxford and Cambridge presses" is unreferenced and factually inaccurate. I can't speak for the Oxford work, but planning for the Cambridge English Pronunciation Dictionary (15th Ed.) began in 1988 and editorial work began in 1989. The Cambridge dictionary was itself a new edition of a work which had been continuously in print since 1917 and whose influence Wells acknowledges in the LPD Preface. I propose the deletion of this sentence. RoachPeter (talk) 08:19, 15 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Done. LiliCharlie (talk) 08:37, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Spelling Society: dates?
Thanks for the update

So do we have (sourced) dates for when he was president? They would be good to add.

Thanks, --Money money tickle parsnip (talk) 19:25, 1 November 2016 (UTC)


 * According to his CV of January 2012 he became president in 2003. And according to archived versions of the Spelling Society's website he was still president in March 2013 but the position was vacant in September. Love —LiliCharlie (talk) 20:12, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Good work, thanks. That'll do nicely, and probably as good a source as we're likely to get. I won't reference the source in the article because I don't think that explaining all this (even in a footnote) would actually improve the article, but it is adequate verification for writing 2003-2013. --Money money tickle parsnip (talk) 16:07, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 08:37, 28 March 2019 (UTC)
 * John Wells 1991.jpg

Wikimedian?
How is he a Wikimedian? Nardog (talk) 12:25, 25 March 2020 (UTC)


 * 1) Users of projects hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation are anonymous irrespective of their assertions, username, behaviour or expertise. Identity outside our projects is not verified in any way.
 * 2) Biographies of living persons says: "Be very firm about the use of high-quality sources... Contentious material about living persons (or, in some cases, recently deceased) that is unsourced or poorly sourced—whether the material is negative, positive, neutral, or just questionable—should be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion... The burden of evidence rests with the editor who adds or restores the material." Love —LiliCharlie (talk) 14:25, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Ok, I remove the Category Wikimedian. Mazuritz (talk) 20:13, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
 * May I ask why you decided to add the category in the first place? I didn't ask because I thought it violated BLP, I was just curious. Nardog (talk) 21:06, 25 March 2020 (UTC)