Talk:Wayne Williams

message: This page has repeatedly been the subject of childish, sometimes racist or homophobic, vandalism. I'll be keeping an eye on it, but others should, too.Where Anne hath a will, Anne Hathaway. 23:53, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Vandalism

message: This article needs to be locked from anon IPs. I added the unreferenced template, because it is sorely lacking, and in fact has NO citations. I'll try to work on it in the near future, but oh BOY is this a hot topic. I cleaned up vandalism today, which stated that he had escaped from prison! Anyone wanting to work on this with me, just say so on my talk page. Supertheman (talk) 02:30, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Continuing Vandalism 

message: Wow, this whole article seems to be lacking a neutral point-of-view; it seems very "pro-Wayne-Williams", like the author doesn't believe he committed the murders (which is fine, but that bias shouldn't show in the article).  162.136.192.1 (talk) 16:16, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV 

message: Despite the fact that this page has been under vandal attack for 6 years now, and is regularly vandalized (was vandalized again today), this page was denied semi-protection for "insufficient disruptive activity". Some editors may want to watch this page to revert as necessary. 0x0077BE (talk) 01:22, 20 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Protection denied 

message: I have raised concerns about a source which is being used in this article at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard. Editors are invited to participate. — Berean Hunter (talk) 13:25, 15 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reliable source? 

message: The first sentence of the first paragraph reads:
 Wayne Bertram Williams (born May 27, 1958) is an American man convicted for committing most of the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979 through 1981.
Later in the first paragraph reads: 
 he has never been formally indicted nor tried for any of them. 
So which is it? Was he convicted or not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by SeriousTube (talk • contribs) 02:48, 19 July 2015‎
:Good point. I've rewritten the lead to reflect the body of the article. Grayfell (talk) 03:46, 19 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Convictions 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Wayne Williams. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://archive.is/20120708220719/http://articles.cnn.com/2005-05-07/justice/wayne.williams_1_unsolved-murder-cold-case-squad-murder-cases?_s=PM:LAW to http://articles.cnn.com/2005-05-07/justice/wayne.williams_1_unsolved-murder-cold-case-squad-murder-cases?_s=PM:LAW
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Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 23:50, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The lede says Wayne Williams is "an American serial killer". However, since he was only found guilty for two murders and is controversially suspected of 23 others, it seems that that would it would be inappropriate to state even in the introduction that he's a serial killer without any elaboration. I would suggest changing this to "murderer" or "alleged serial killer." Snorepion (talk) 22:45, 3 February 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Per reliable sources, that "the Atlanta Police Department announced that Williams was responsible for at least 23 of the 29 Atlanta murders of 1979–1981" is enough for us to describe him as an American serial killer. General Ization Talk   22:47, 3 February 2019 (UTC)

text: He was convicted - it is no longer legally "alleged." Note also that the murders ceased once he was in custody. Someone removed those RS cites - they should be reinstated.50.111.50.240 (talk) 06:05, 16 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Serial killer 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:
* 
You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 07:37, 20 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion 

message: Since the edit warrior hasn't yet started a discussion, I will. In the interest of objectivity, at this point I'm not supporting either side of the debate. My main goal here is to point out that there are several issues at play. I ask other editors to add to these issues if I have omitted any. "Serial killer" (SK) has been in the article a while, making it the default consensus. As we know, however, consensus can change. From my understanding a source cited in the article identifies him as a SK. On the other hand, I suspect there are sources out there that do not identify him as a SK; but then we have the problem that it's generally impossible to prove a negative. Ideally Wikipedia's content should reflect the general consensus of reliable sources that know what they're talking about. The killings stopped after he was arrested, but should Wikipedia be synthesizing its own conclusions based on convictions that didn't  happen? Serial killer cites several reliable sources that SK is defined as committing three or more murders. Sometimes sources disagree. Consistency on Wikipedia isn't mandatory but it's great when it can be achieved. Another issue is: where do we draw the line? If murdering two people defines SK, I suspect that are many, many articles about murderers that could become elevated to SK. Thanks in advance for the discussion. Sundayclose (talk) 00:14, 9 August 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: IP 47, thanks for responding to my request for more opinions. If you wish to discuss how an unchallenged consensus on Wikipedia is determined, this is not the appropriate venue; go to WT:CON. To discuss what Wikipedia considers a reliable source, got WP:RSNB. To discuss libel and legal implications of Wikipedia content, go to WP:BLPN. Sundayclose (talk) 16:54, 9 August 2020 (UTC)

text: Also, IP user, please read WP:NOTAFORUM as well as WP:CIVIL. Please keep commentary focused on the content; you veer off into denigrating your fellow editors, which is unnecessary, uncivil, and doesn't further discussion - focus on edits, not editors, please. We can disagree on these matters in a collegial spirit, it may take some effort at times, but it is worth it in the long haul.Anastrophe (talk) 18:09, 9 August 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Serial killer redux 

message: I think it's utterly repulsive to refer to this man as a serial killer when he proclaims his innocence. What proof does Wikipedia itself have that he is such? None, I bet. I'm going to put it in quotes, because it's obviously just the opinion of the police. I swear, some naive people seem to think that the police can always be trusted, and any statement they make must be the "official" truth. Authority worshippers are truly pitiful. 139.168.130.225 (talk) 01:51, 2 October 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Expressions of doubt, using quotation marks to imply doubt, also known as scare quotes, is a form of editorializing, which is not appropriate for Wikipedia. Please find reliable sources which discuss Williams' innocence. If reliable sources dispute the description of serial killer, then the article should be updated based on those sources. Grayfell (talk) 02:01, 2 October 2021 (UTC)

text: Dumb fuck a jury of his peers found him guilty. many other serial killers have also proclaim their innocence. 50.231.171.186 (talk) 20:31, 23 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Serial killer"