Template:Did you know nominations/Disappearance of Bethany Decker


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 10:45, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Disappearance of Bethany Decker

 * ... that after Bethany Decker disappeared five years ago today, someone continued to send messages to her friends via her Facebook account for the next three weeks ?
 * ALT1:... that Bethany Decker was five months pregnant when she disappeared from her Ashburn, Virginia, apartment five years ago today?
 * Reviewed: Campaign 139
 * Comment: As the hooks make clear, I am aiming for an anniversary (again) with this one, in this case January 29.

Created by Daniel Case (talk). Self-nominated at 05:55, 21 January 2016 (UTC).


 * Symbol confirmed.svgle is new enough; long enough; neutral and well sourced with inline citations. Hook is short enough and hook fact is sourced in article. Hook is also interesting. I prefer main hook to alt1; which isn't nearly as interesting. I would like to see the article talk more about the Facebook messages; what did they consist of, etc. rather than just mention that they existed. I think readers would click on the link to learn more about these mysterious messages and be disappointed. But perhaps there isn't more detail available. At any rate, from what I've seen it's good to go. I fixed a couple grammar/spelling/redundancy issues in the article itself. ~  ONUnicorn (Talk&#124;Contribs) problem solving 21:06, 22 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Symbol question.svg Daniel Case, I went to promote this with the original hook, which like ONUnicorn I felt was much better than the ALT1 offering. However, when I went to check the article, the key phrase wasn't supported. The FN8 source says "friends had noticed unusual posts on her Facebook page", not that the messages had been sent to those friends via Facebook, and the article seems to reflect that (though not the hook). I think you might be able to use "someone posted to her Facebook account over the next three weeks" based on the wording in FN7, but an inline source needs to be added after the relevant statement. I'm also wondering why the lead mentions the car in the garage; it isn't in the article body, and a spot-check of the sources doesn't find that detail (FN9 says it was "parked in the lot"). Please let me know what you'd like to do, and I'll expedite this so it doesn't miss its planned date. Thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 16:55, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ I amended the hook per your wording and will amend the intro ... I had written that before getting into detail with the rest of the article and was mistaken about there being a garage until I got deeper into the sources. Daniel Case (talk) 18:51, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Daniel Case, as soon as the amended hook is properly sourced in the article I can proceed. Thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 19:58, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ I changed the wording in the intro and added the source.
 * ALT2: ... that after Bethany Decker disappeared five years ago today, someone posted to her Facebook account over the next three weeks? Daniel Case (talk) 20:40, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Symbol confirmed.svg Restoring tick for now-revised original hook ALT2, which is supported by cited inline source. Intro wording reflects issues raised above. BlueMoonset (talk) 21:00, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Symbol question.svg Hi, I came by to promote this, but I don't see anything about the postings taking place over "three weeks". The source says that her mother hadn't heard from her for three weeks, and that her friends had seen some strange postings, but there is no indication of how long the postings went on. Perhaps you should delete that part about the three weeks and just say someone "kept posting" to her Facebook account? Yoninah (talk) 23:08, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't understand your concern. I just reformatted this page so we can see the original hook and Daniel Case's revision (ALT2) based on your suggestion. FN1 ("The Charley Project") clearly states that someone sent Facebook messages to her friends after her disappearance. I am ready to approve the original hook without mention of the "three weeks", per my previous post. Yoninah (talk) 23:18, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

So are we good? Daniel Case (talk) 02:23, 27 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Yoninah, it may have been OR on my part, which is why I wanted you to check. I was basing it on the current FN8 ("Investigators search field"), which included two statements: Police say someone posing as Bethany Decker continued activity on her Facebook account after she was reported missing. and Bethany Decker’s family reported her missing on Feb. 19. Assuming both statements are true, the Facebook activity, whenever it started, would appear to have been still ongoing on February 19 and perhaps beyond; I thought "over" would cover the period without saying how often or exactly when. I gather that's not adequate, for which my apologies. Another source ("Crime Watch Daily") says it was her friends calling her mother about Facebook messages on February 19 that prompted the check by her grandparents and the mother's police report. I have added the current FN1 to the FN2 cite in the lead so that "The Charley Project" source is used to support the hook, and struck "for the next three weeks" from the original hook, which unfortunately does weaken it somewhat, though it's still better than ALT1, and if ALT2 doesn't work it should be abandoned. I hope this fixes things so the hook can be promoted; I'm sorry I was away from home when you replied. (If you need me or Daniel to revise one of the hooks further, just let us know.) Thank you for your patience. BlueMoonset (talk) 04:12, 27 January 2016 (UTC)
 * OK. Per the implication in the sources and the way it's written in the article, I'm adding "continued to" to the hook. Ready to go. Yoninah (talk) 10:44, 27 January 2016 (UTC)