# Talk:Sylvia Plath

Just to remind editors there have been two previous discussions, on the most appropriate format for this description, one in each of the two archives. Martinevans123 (talk) 14:12, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Except your decision is in conflict with recommendations from: the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the Centre for Suicide Prevention in Canada, the United States Department of Defense, the United States Navy, the American Psychological Association, Samaritans Ireland, the Associated Press stylebook, The Guardian style guide, The Observer style guide, and many others. Stubbornly maintaining an outdated style because "that's how we've always done it" is inappropriate behaviour for an encyclopedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide#Definitions
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_terminology#%22Committing%22_suicide 23.17.154.139 (talk) 07:00, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
The discussions are Talk:Sylvia Plath/Archive 2#Killed herself - unnecessary trigger and Talk:Sylvia Plath/Archive 1#"Died by suicide". Did you read both of those? Martinevans123 (talk) 08:15, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
Thank you for the links, I (different IP but that previous message was from me) actually had not found the threaded conversation view like you posted. What I had done was try to follow the conversations by reading talk revision histories one message at a time. It was awkward and I did miss some messages. I take back my snide comment about inappropriate behaviour for an encyclopedia, that wasn't fair. But reading the convos in full, it does appear my view of the two previous discussions wasn't too far off: the only real consensus from those conversations was to not phrase it as "killed herself." Everything else just ended up being variants of "I like this better" for one option or another. I also see that at one point you had actually asked to be pointed to English language bodies which had some kind of consensus on this matter. I believe the list of organisations I posted in my previous message speaks to that. Ultimately my own preference would be to see it as "died by suicide" based on recommendations from prominent bodies concerned with this matter, and because language does evolve over time. I also see the wiki style discussion from 5 years ago where the outcome was that there is no consensus against "committed" and that each individual article should determine what works best, so that's where we're at still I suppose. 23.17.152.50 (talk) 03:35, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
Would you object to "killed herself"? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 08:28, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
Yes, to me that would be the least desirable way of phrasing it. 23.17.155.214 (talk) 20:02, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
The reportingonsuicide.org advice, which appears in your second link, offers both, with no clear preference. So I guess it's just a matter of personal taste. I'm no longer convinced that "committed" implies criminal or sinful behaviour; but as some people are convinced, I think it's best avoided. "Died by suicide" has always sounded quite awkward to me. I might guess it was mostly American, which of course might be better in this article. But I'm not sure it is. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:37, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
The most recent central discussion on the general topic seems to be at WP:Village pump (policy)/The term committed suicide. It's still open and already quite huge. Martinevans123 (talk) 15:40, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Sylvia Plath won a great many awards during her short life. Any chance of adding a list of them. (184.58.181.176 (talk) 17:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC))

How many was it? If you can write a list, with sources that support each award, it could be added. 86.187.224.100 (talk) 20:35, 4 September 2025 (UTC)