User:RM395/Course/Edit wars/Liam Gallagher

An edit war happened early last year on the talk page of Liam Gallagher. Liam is the former singer of the band Oasis and founder of the band Beady Eye. The war was about whether the opening sentence of his page needed to say “English musician” because he is of Irish descent. Apparently this is the second time that the topic has been brought up, although I couldn’t find evidence of this on the talk page of the article. One user made changes to the article and took out “English musician.” The user stated that saying he was an English musician wasn’t necessary. They said that the reader could infer that Liam was English because he was worn in Burnage, Manchester. This same user argued that Liam could be considered Irish because he was born of Irish parents. They also said that it could be changed to “British musician” but that wasn’t necessary either. Specifically, the central argument from this user is this “it's POV: you can assert the Gallaghers are English because they were born in England (although presumably that makes Cliff Richard Indian, not English); others can assert they're Irish because they've got Irish parents but their identity is probably somewhere in between. There's no official definition of English, unlike their British nationality (and Irish nationality if they chose to assert it).” Other users subsequently commented on the statements of the original user arguing that “ethnicity...should not generally be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability." They also argued that if this was the case, then Liam should be labeled as British and not English. The other users directly attacked the original user for trying to assert their point of view on everyone who views Liam’s page. The silliest part of the whole argument came when someone noted that Liam’s nationality had been changed to Manchester-Irish. The conclusion to the war began when a user stated that Morissey and Kate Bush were also of Irish descent and their pages said that they were English and that Liam’s page shouldn’t be any different. The starter of the war, commented toward the end of the war and stated some information from the WP:MOSBIO that said that nationality should be used in the lede and not ethnicity, which completely went against their original statement. This would mean that Liam should be a “British musician.” Apparently that user went in and changed the article again. However, they were called out on the talk page and their edits were reverted. Kindly, a user said “please consider WP:UKNATIONALS vs. WP:MOSBIO before challenging the long-standing consensus again.” Currently, Liam “is an English musician, singer and songwriter.” This war was very civilized. There was no name-calling and everyone seemed to type with respect. However, the one who started the was was specifically called out at least twice. The message here is to think twice before you challenge a consensus. I agree that Liam should be considered an "English musician" because calling him English takes his Irish descent and Manchester roots into consideration. Rebaduck (talk) 15:19, 18 March 2013 (UTC)