Talk:Fay Jones (politician)

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Date of birth

I have just reverted the addition of an exact date of birth as no source was supplied. However, we still give a birth year for which we do not have a good source. The best I can find is the cited article in the Brecon & Radnor Express, which says:[1]

Ms Jones, whose father Gwilym, was the Tory MP for Cardiff North from 1983, was 11 years old when he lost his seat in the Labour landslide in 1997, also paid tribute to Lib Dem opponent Jane Dodds.

If she was 11 on the day of the 1997 general election (1 May 1997), then she was born in 1985 or 1986. I will change the article accordingly. Please look for a reliable source for her date of birth. Verbcatcher (talk) 01:57, 29 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Given the current ambiguity in the article about her year of birth, I would question whether the article should be in Category:1985 births as it currently is. Dunarc (talk) 23:49, 10 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, and have removed the category. Verbcatcher (talk) 23:54, 10 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - I think that is the best course of action. Dunarc (talk) 19:38, 11 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Why does this not count as a Day and Month of Birth? https://twitter.com/JonesyFay/status/1219177989419806720 Littlemonday (talk) 13:48, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Littlemonday: my apologies, I had not noticed that you had cited this source in the infobox. Twitter is not usually regarded as a reliable source (see WP:UGC), but it is allowable in some circumstances for information about the person who posted it, see WP:SELFSOURCE. The @JonesyFay Twitter account looks authentic. We would have to combine the Twitter source where Jones said that she was born on 18 January, with the Brecon & Radnor Express source that says she was 11 on 1 May 1997, to calculate a date of birth of 18 January 1986 (not the 19th). We need to be careful about combining two sources to produce a result that neither of them says (see WP:SYNTHESIS), but in this case I think it is acceptable. I will add the dob. Verbcatcher (talk) 20:06, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

On second thoughts, we have several additions that gave 19 January 1985 as Jones' date of birth. These were unsourced, but may be accurate. However, this date of birth conflicts with the Brecon & Radnor Express source: if she had been born on 19 January 1985 then she would have been 12 on the day of the 1997 general election, not 11. In view of this uncertainly we should omit the date of birth until another source emerges. Verbcatcher (talk) 20:19, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Verbcatcher:But can we not say for definite that her birthday is the 18th Jan (even if we're unsure of the year) as she herself has said that on Twitter? Littlemonday (talk) 10:03, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Littlemonday: We could give her birthday without the year of birth, but I think there is little point and this is not the normal practice in biographical articles. I have seen a birthday-only value deleted in another article. It is likely that a reliable date of birth will emerge in due course, for example she does not yet have an article in Who's Who but I think they aim to include all MPs. Verbcatcher (talk) 15:55, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Update. The Times Guide to the House of Commons 2019 has now been published and gives her date of birth as 18 January 1985. As this can be considered to be a reliable source, I have amended the article to reflect this with apporpriate referencing. Dunarc (talk) 20:50, 15 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]