Talk:Len Lakofka

Untitled
This forum review of L1 has a response from Len with valuble info about his Lendore island campaign and the L series of modules, hopefully will be usefull to incorporate into this and related articles http://www.dragonsfoot.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10766&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=fdb3d845a48616276cb2c1ab4dc84000 - Waza 05:32, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

POV introduction
An early D&D player doesn't come across as a notable fact. Nor does it fit with normal bio styles. Similarly I am not sure if he is known as an author. So the introduction makes it seem like a non-notable person despite being very short.Tetron76 (talk) 12:54, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Article issues
The references and content raise questions of notability. The comment in the external source interview implies that there should be several references for this person. So there could well be "presumed" sources There is an uncited section that would call into question the note of one of his contribution. The books have not been given their ISBN or publication details. Needs to make clear in this article what is his major contributions to warrant notability with some basic summary information for a non D&D person to understand.Tetron76 (talk) 12:54, 12 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I believe the major rewrite and expansion of material has removed issues of notability and neutrality. Guinness323 (talk) 18:33, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The article is much improved but I still think that the article's introduction doesn't make the case of notability well.
 * The second sentence should be He authored L2 The Assassin's Knot listed as one of the greatest D&D adventures ever written. I would replace it myself but it is dependent on a source for the comment.
 * There are other general issues but if the play test is reworded as He played an influential role in the development of D&D  + followed by something on these lines (the best known RPG ever made).
 * I am removing the multiple issues comment but you may find that it is important that articles clearly demonstrate a persons notability with refs to someone who may not accept the level of importance of the underlying event.Tetron76 (talk) 18:54, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Changed opening paragraph to highlight to non-gamers his contributions to D&D. Guinness323 (talk) 19:08, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I have removed the tag, I moved one of the refs that was being used lower down to cite the first point although the link appears to have broken between when it was downloaded. I wasn't sure if there is a ref available for people calling his addition one of the greatest so I added a citation needed where I feel that a ref should go.Tetron76 (talk) 11:32, 19 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Statements made in the opening paragraph are not sourced, since it is a summary of points that make up the body of the article, which will be (or should be) properly sourced. Since this statement is sourced later on in the article, I have removed the citation needed tag.Guinness323 (talk) 13:37, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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Death of Lenard Lakofka
I'm hearing that Lenard Lakofka died on Friday, from Lord Gosumba (who is running an online Greyhawk talk-show that Lenard has been appearing in).

The Canonfire forums have a forum topic: Len Lakofka (Leomund) has passed.

I don't know if we need independent clarification, like a newspaper article. Both the above sources seem like reliable secondary soruces to me. Big Mac (talk) 10:24, 24 October 2020 (UTC)
 * In my understanding, which could be admittedly flawed, Facebook and forum posts (even if they come from presumably knowledgeable people) are still textbook non-reliable sources, so we may need to hold off another day or two for newspaper or obits to come out with something. BOZ (talk) 13:40, 24 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Would Shannon Appelcline's obituary count as a reliable source? Unfortunately, he does not list the specific date of death, but at least he confirms that it occurred. --Koveras (talk) 07:36, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I would give him the benefit of the doubt, but then we also need a source for the DOD. BOZ (talk) 12:44, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I feel the same way about this Black Gate piece, which also does not include a death date. BOZ (talk) 22:56, 27 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Len's death was harder to verify than most because of the lack of an official announcement, but I believe the considerable comments on his death on his own FB page, beginning with an announcement from personal friend Chris Larr, are sufficient. I've also had personal verifications from other people in the industry, as well as verifications about his receiving cancer treatment previous to his death. They were personal emails, while the FB page has a lot of friends-only posts, hence the lack of source on my own post. ShannonA (talk) 23:07, 6 December 2020 (UTC)


 * https://www.facebook.com/lenard.lakofka ShannonA (talk) 23:13, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Watching "Edit Warring" - the latest realityTV
I've been watching the back-and-forth on this page for the last week.

The difficulty here isn't that we all know he died (because he did), or that anyone thinks he didn't. Obviously, it's the Verifiability. I don't think any of the editors who've engaged in repeated Undo's and Reverts intend any disrespect toward Len, it's about Wikipedia standards for citation.

This is all kind of crappy to not be able to verify his passing and validate it for us as fans. But, it has it's own standards, and we don't get to break the rules - we follow them, or else we risk things like blocking and banning from system admins.
 * The "Tenkar's Tavern" link which has been reverted to at least a couple of times is not verifiable. While many of us know Tenkar, an editor has already pointed out the article is literally self-referential to this page - it cites Wikipedia as the source; therefore, we can't use it as a source on Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is not a reliable source
 * While Shanon Appelcline is a noted author and much respected in the field, the article is mostly about the person and career and doesn't include citation for the actual death. Repeating the account doesn't count as verification by Wikipedia standards.
 * InsideEko, FuneralNearMe, and FatalDeaths are all equally spam sites and are not reliable sources.
 * DMmagazine.com literally says, "sad news was circulated among gamers", making it clear it's essentially just "we heard a thing on social media".
 * Reddit, FB, Twitter, etc. are social media and aren't considered reliable by Wikipedia.
 * Canonfire, the Piazza, Dragon's Foot, Greyhawkery, GHGrognard, et al. are forums and blogs, and also don't meet Wikipedia standards.

It's becoming troublesome to watch editors repeatedly undoing reverts despite multiple authors including " " in the infobox. It's being willfully ignored and is now risking venturing toward devolving into disruptive editing and Edit warring.

I'd like to see new links discussed here on the Talk page and find a source we can all agree is enough. Wikipedians and fans alike.

We all want to see Len's death acknowledged, but this is amounting to having to watch people argue with each other at someone's funeral. --IcarusATB (talk) 18:26, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

If we can't state the exact date of death, how about the YEAR of death
Given that the Appelgate article ends with "Roleplaying has lost another of its founders. My condolences to friends, family, and fans", it is pretty obvious that Appelgate confirms Lakofka's death, although he does not list a date of death. Can we all agree that apparently Lakofka died in 2020 and at least change "(born 1944)" to "(1944–2020)", citing the Appelgate article as RS? Guinness323 (talk) 19:00, 31 October 2020 (UTC) I, too, would give Appelcline the benefit of the doubt, considering they're a gaming historian. Normally, Appelcline is incredibly dilligent about citation in reviews and such. But it's Wikipedia's standards, not mine. As it stands, Appelcline's statement just doesn't meet any kind of verifiability standard linked above. They're simply reporting what they've heard elsewhere and not citing it. I know it's shitty, y'all. I've contacted Jay Scott asking him to help us find out about an obituary or something. Perhaps someone can reach out to Appelcline? --IcarusATB (talk) 22:06, 31 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I would say that much is fair. BOZ (talk) 19:51, 31 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Shit, this *sucks*. I know I'm gonna end up being "that guy" in this conversation - but, unless we can get Appelcline or Jay "Lord Gosumba" Scott (the original source) to tell us where the information came from, we might have to wait for something like an obituary from family/friend/whatever.

Suggestion "Citation Needed" and "Unreliable Source"
It's only been a week, more or less. Until we get an official obituary, perhaps we can come up with wording we all agree is true (like what's been suggested) and after we've come to a consensus add a or  tag to it, with a note in the code that it cannot be an  or there's  or they'll be marked as such. --IcarusATB (talk) 22:06, 31 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Fair enough, you are not wrong! I have gone to Appelcline here and there to verify things, but since Lord Gosumba was apparently the first person to report this, let's give him a chance to respond - let us know what he says. If he does not get back to you, then I will reach out to Appelcline. BOZ (talk) 05:11, 1 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Another source to check would be Dyson Logos, who posted a tweet about Lakofka's death at 3:08 pm on Oct 23: "My friends, cast your Tiny Huts one more time for our friend Lenard Lakofka, the player of Leomund and creator of the spell. He was active, political, and still deeply involved in talking D&D even last week when we last spoke. This morning his fight with cancer ended." Guinness323 (talk) 07:06, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 2 November 2020
Lenard has passed away on October 23rd, 2020. https://funeralnearme.com/lenard-lakofka-funeral/ Axelremain (talk) 04:53, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
 * See above notes about the "funeralnearme" website. 98.32.192.121 (talk) 05:43, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi - is this reliable? Just asking; it doesn't look (to me) like a reliable source. If you have another, or if you have proof this is true, please follow up with this section. Thanks. To  what notes do you exactly have in mind?  Silikonz  ( 💬 │ 🖋 ) 07:22, 6 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Semi-protection-unlocked.svg Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details.  JTP (talk • contribs) 21:39, 7 November 2020 (UTC)


 * So, Siliconz, you asked, "what notes do you exactly have in mind?"


 * They were referring to the list in one of the comments above, which had several notes about some of the pages and such. The specific one says:
 * "InsideEko, FuneralNearMe, and FatalDeaths are all equally spam sites and are not reliable sources." — Preceding unsigned comment added by IcarusATB (talk • contribs) 18:50, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.grubb/posts/10164136096710517 -- Jeff Grubb himself has verified this. FFS, people. You have no "proof" that he's alive any more than you do that he's dead. If you want to be truly "objective and unbiased", you've basically just created Schrödinger's D&D Author. 71.236.204.7 (talk) 18:37, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

I have added his date of death (October 23, 2020) as published in an obituary written by game historian Shannon Appelcline (author of Designers & Dragons, 2014). Appelcline is RS for the North American games industry, especially the field of role-playing games.Guinness323 (talk) 07:35, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Repeating Unverified Links
It is not an obituary. It's a career review, and there are no citations to verify Len's death.
 * It has already been established upthread that the Appelcline article was posted within 72 hours of the celebrity death and is based on an unverified fan report.
 * Yes, Appelcline is a games historian and very, very well-respected in the field ... but, that article doesn't meet any of the Verifiability standards. Just because they're famous doesn't mean they're infallible.  It just means they're repeating what they read.  It also doesn't mean that we don't like Appelcline, or that Len didn't die. It's not about trying to "prove" he's living.   ... it means Wikipedia has citation standards.
 * --IcarusATB (talk) 17:13, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Birth & Death Information behind paywall
Apparently all birth and death information in California is available on-line IF you are willing to pay a third party gatekeeper. So while I have been given "teasers" that Lenard Lakofka was born on 1 October 1944, and died in Palm Desert, Riverside County, California on 23 October 2020, I cannot reach his death certificate to confirm all of the above without paying for the privilege. Someone else with better on-line sleuthing skills or who is willing to pay may be able to access this.Guinness323 (talk) 20:36, 6 December 2020 (UTC)


 * I hadn't even thought of that. Death records are usually public record. I looked up what you found:
 * According to the California Department of Vital Statistics' website,
 * "How Do I Find Death Records in California?
 * Death records can be found using an online third-party search service. Records can also be obtained from the California Department of Public Health, but they do come at a cost. Death certificate copies cost $21, and can also be obtained, after submission of an Application for Certified Death Record. Mail-in requests take an average of five to seven weeks to process.


 * Note: Although the California Department of Public Health - Vital Records (CDPH-VR) processes walk-in and mail requests, it does not receive or process online orders."
 * It's only been six weeks since Len passed away. Let's allow the family another couple of weeks to put something out, or the original fan source time to get something (I messaged LordGosumba again). Or maybe one of the decent sites like FindAGrave.com will publish something with a photo or something. If the family or his partner doesn't publish any kind of obituary in a newspaper or anything, in the interest of being able to verify it for Wikipedia, I'll simply do the mailed request or pay the fee for an "informational" copy (as opposed to a certified copy), so we can honor Len's memory and not have this kerfuffle over his passing. --IcarusATB (talk) 14:29, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
 * As someone who has done plenty of genealogy research across the US, I have definitely ordered these from California before, although not too often because the cost is higher than other states (for comparison, Illinois is $10 and Florida is $5 each). I do not know how long it takes to have a death cert put on file, but I have to imagine it has been done by now or soon will be. Let's see what your sources says though. BOZ (talk) 20:55, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

Update re: Death Certificate
Since there wasn't ever any resolution to any primary source for Len's death, I've looked into it some more. Apparently, California has changed its procedure, especially now that so much is done online during/after the pandemic. And now, they have a direct link to a particular online service which they do online orders through.

So, largely because I am the owner of GreyhawkOnline.com, I decided Len's passing shouldn't be a controversy, and that he deserves an official citation on Wikipedia.

I've ordered an "informational death certificate", and will in the not-too-distant future be able to offer a citation/annotation to the date, cause, location, etc. of Len's passing. I'll post details when it arrives. ——IcarusATB (talk) 15:14, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Last update re: Death Certificate
The State of California certainly took their time, but it finally came. The final information from Lakofka's death certificate has been entered, which included an actual full birth date, specific cause of death, and other details of his passing including the disposition of his ashes to his husband Gary.

If anyone knows a better for citing a death certificate for the (since I didn't use one), please let me know or apply one for us. —IcarusATB (talk) 21:48, 27 February 2022 (UTC)