Talk:Poppy Z. Brite

message: I'm working on creating stubs for all the ugly red links in the Brite bibliography, so this is a great time to start expanding the articles on the work itself. Chris Stangl 09:19, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Bibliography

message: I've added some section headings and sub-section headings in an attempt to try to make the article appear more encyclopdic. I also created a template for the article. When the dead links get filled out it will look really nice. I would fill them out myself, but I have not read anything by her since "Exquisite Corpse" (which, IMO, wasn't that good). Tschuess, Naufana : talk 05:19, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Headings + Template 

message: You are one of my favorite authors and, as a writer myself, one of my major influences. I noticed in the History page of your entry here that you have been editing it yourself. I've checked over the entry and found nothing really wrong with your edits--so I am assuming that you're not out to make yourself look better or anything. In any case, I request that you please stop editing your own entry. I request this because, not counting the few bad apples that vandalize articles, the majority of users here on Wikipedia aim to create and maintain factual, balanced, and non-biased entries. You editing an entry on yourself makes it unbalanced and biased because, well, your editing an entry about yourself. This makes wikipedia users such as I leery.
If there is something unaddressed, or if you believe that something is false, please address it on your official website and/or provide a link to an interview or site with the info. That way, us wikipedians can put it in the entry and have a citation for it.
Thank you for your cooperation. And if you ever get the urge to edit your entry again, please refer to this wiki article about the Stephen Colbert and think about the consiquences of your actions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colbert_Report#Wikipedia_references
Yours Truly, Rimbaud 2 (talk) 17:43, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Attention: Poppy Z. Brite

message: Ms. Brite, please see WP:Auto for why people are highly discouraged from writing or editing on their own biography.  Additionally, suggesting that you will use another handle to edit on wikipedia, suggests you are attempting to ignore those recommendation and use deception to continue with your actions.--155.33.245.158 (talk) 20:23, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Having looked at the policy page, whatever gets posted here, whether it's you or someone else, needs to be cited to sources other than yourself.  If what you put on here meets that standard, then that's fine.--155.33.245.158 (talk) 21:04, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

text: I don't mean to step into a more or less dead conversation that doesn't directly concern me but I would like to point out that I tend to stop by the article's history page from time to time to check out the ongoing editing process. I started doing this because Poppy Z. Brite appeared to be editing her own article and I wanted to see if she were adding superfluous praise for herself, which is something I've seen several (mostly musical) artists do. My two cents to this discussion is that user:PZBrite has not edited this article in an unethical manner. Really the user has not really edited the article that much at all. To the Anon who began this discussion I would ask you to do some research before posting inflammatory comments. Finally, something that really bothers me is how users tend to cling to essays and guidelines as if they were laws given from on high. To be clear, as far as I know, only policies are truly enforceable. Guidelines and essays are just opinions and while they ought to be followed it is neither compulsory nor necessary to do so. That's just my personal opinion. Naufana : talk 04:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Autobiography issues 

message: After yesterday's tempest in a teapot, I've gone over Wikipedia's guidelines and cannot find anything prohibiting the sort of basic information I've been adding to or correcting in this entry. I've also been advised by a senior Wikipedia administrator that I have done nothing to violate policy. Thus, I don't think Rimbaud 2's "request" is valid, and unless Wikipedia decides to ban me to prevent me from doing so, I will continue editing my entry when and as I wish. pzbrite  —Preceding comment was added at 18:19, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: On Editing My Own Entry

message: This article uses 'she' to refer to the subject early on, and 'he' for the rest of the article. That seems unsatisfactory to me; our policy with transgendered and transsexual people, as I understand it, is to use one pronoun and be consistent throughout the article, or else use none at all (which tends to look rather awkward). The key question is 'what does the subject of the article prefer?'. I'm not familiar with this person, but could someone who is find out how they prefer to be referred to, and change the article accordingly? Robofish (talk) 17:58, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Reading Brite's LiveJournal (specifically, the entry cited in the source) she seems to be genderqueer in a true sense of that word, addressing the pronoun question directly and saying that, although she doesn't identify as female, she doesn't expect people to use the pronoun 'he,' and is in fact a little irritated by being called 'he.'  I'm a big advocate for the manual of style and using the pronouns people use to identify themselves, but reading Brite's own words, I think that 'she' is the correct pronoun in this article- it would be nice if English had a gender-neutral personal pronoun, but since it doesn't, and since eliminating all the personal pronouns from the article leads to unnecessary grammatical awkwardness, I'm going to switch the pronouns back to 'she,' which appears to be what Brite prefers.  If anyone else has a better source that indicates I'm reading her preference incorrectly, I'm open to that.   -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:24, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, I'm going to hold off on making that change; I see some indication that Brite's position has changed since writing that in 2003, and that in 2010 he began the process of gender reassignment, but I'm only finding other people's blogs as sources.  Does anyone know if he's written about this?  -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:29, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Found it.  I feel like I'm carrying on a conversation with myself as I search and find things... :)  Brite says that yes, Brite is in the early stages of FTM transition, and no, Brite does not know whether Brite will be having surgery or not for financial reasons, and Brite does not care what pronouns people use, as Brite is a relaxed, easygoing person who knows that Brite doesn't look recognizably male at this time.  On a personal level, I find that I like Brite for Brite's attitude for this.  I'm going to react at this time by taking no action at all, leaving the pronouns male, and not worrying about it.  'He,' 'She,' or 'Zie,' I am just glad I have books about Rickey and G-Man to take the edge off of rotten days.  -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:37, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: In this tweet (05:56, 9 May 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Works for me.  Nice to have a clear idea of what he prefers, and the article should be adjusted accordingly. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 20:55, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

text: Okay, I see that all the male pronouns have been changed to female. A shame that this discussion hasn't been read beforehand. Totorotroll (talk) 08:26, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text:  I changed them all to male and someone reverted them to female again. This is incorrect. Brite identifies as male and male pronouns should be used throughout. rosefox (talk) 18:41, 5 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pronouns? 

message: According to his LiveJournal, the subject of this page is now called Billy Martin. If this is the case, shouldn't his Wikipedia article be changed to reflect this? --217.28.10.31 (talk) 07:44, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, it should. He also notes in his Etsy store that this is the name he uses, but that his works are under the name Poppy Z Brite. As such, I'm going to be bold and will modify the page to reflect this, and move it to Billy Martin (author), leaving a redirect from the former page. I understand that the move may be contested, but I believe this to be appropriate, and this issue has been dormant for a long time. Regardless of the article name, it is certain that the subject should be referred within it as Billy Martin. --Poppy Appletree (talk) 13:14, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
replies: text:  Actually, I think I'll leave the article name as it is. That's the name he's most known by, and he seems to treat it as his nom de plume, so it seems appropriate enough. Potentially, we could also refer to him as Brite in the literary history name, with a note at the start of that section picking up from the comment in the lead that it's his professional name. --Poppy Appletree (talk) 13:36, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Name 

message: If I prefer to be referred to as a duck, does that make me a duck? And if I prefer to be referred to as "lord and master of all time and space", should an encyclopedia comply with my wish? 66.66.149.221 (talk) 15:14, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: You may disagree, but Wikipedia has firm policies on how to refer to trans people. See the box at the top of this talk page, and MOS:IDENTITY. Robofish (talk) 16:32, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  The "he" pronoun 

message: I think it is high time that the photo be replaced with a more recent image. Totorotroll (talk) 17:18, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Photo 

message: I think the detail of the cat shelter is a relevant part of his life. Large portions of his blog deal with day to day life among the cats and so on. Totorotroll (talk) 08:22, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cat shelter 

message: I would like to point out something I noticed. In the infobox it says that he was born in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky. But in the body of the article it says he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Would somebody verify the facts and correct this? Please and thank you. (Mike, a Wikipedia reader) 2602:304:CCED:BFC9:649F:3F32:AA43:7FB1 (talk) 13:42, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Poppy Z Brite's website says he was born in New Orleans. Birthplace in infobox was changed to Bowling Green..., Kentucky on Dec 30 by 174.21.144.58, with the "ref" of warrencounty.state.ky.us added by another IP. But that ky.us ref is either DOWN or doesn't exist. (that subdomain of ky.us is also down {or doesn't exist} according to isitdownrightnow.com) --EarthFurst (talk) 11:41, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
replies: text:  So yeah the editor was saying that public records show he was just making the New Orleans thing up... we need a reliable secondary source for this, but WP:BLP probably says something about what to do in the meantime! ‑‑YodinT 18:07, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contradiction regarding birthplace 

message: I noticed that in the Categories for this article, these categories are listed:
American women novelists
20th-century women writers
21st-century women writers
American male novelists
Women science fiction and fantasy writers
Does it make sense to leave in the ones that identify Martin as a woman writer, when he is obviously not a woman? Doesn't this go against MOS:GENDERID and MOS:IDENTITY guidelines? It's very confusing that there are multiple categories listing him as a gay male writer, a male writer in general, a transgender writer, and then also several for female writer...  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.19.112.126 (talk) 11:11, 25 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Categories inconsistencies 

message: Quite a few years ago, there was a debate about whether Brite should edit her own article, even through her edits seemed to concern factual (and verifiable) information only, and did not seem to depart from neutrality.
As a concession, Brite removed the one passage she conceded *could* appear non-neutral, although she didn't believe it was in fact non-neutral.  (She correctly pointed out that editing one's own article is not forbidden.)
Well, I also believe the passage is neutral, and could be useful information for those interested in her work, and I wonder if it would solve the neutrality problem if it were added by someone else.
Here is the passage in question:
:One interesting and popular aspect of Brite's work is her use of recurring characters in works that are not necessarily "series" or "sequels": the friends/bandmates Steve and Ghost and the residents who interact with them in the fictional town of Missing Mile, North Carolina (Lost Souls, "Angels", "How to Get Ahead in New York", "America", "The Rest of the Wrong Thing"); her fluidly gendered alter ego Dr. Brite, the coroner of New Orleans ("Monday's Special", "O Death, Where Is Thy Spatula?", "Marisol", "Crown of Thorns," "Wound Man and Horned Melon Go to Hell"); and most recently longtime companions/chefs Rickey and G-man (The Value of X, Liquor, Prime, Soul Kitchen, D*U*C*K, numerous short stories). About her fondness for revisiting characters, Brite has said, "If I really get obsessed with a character or set of characters, it's usually not enough for me to write about them once; I like to revisit them over the course of time, at different periods in their lives, learning new things about them, getting to know them better and better over the course of several stories." Of her various recurring characters, Brite has stated that she is finished writing about Steve and Ghost and suspects she may be done with Dr. Brite as well. She plans to continue writing about Rickey, G-man, and the Stubbs family.
(I have just regularized the inconsistent placement of commas and closing quotation marks around story titles.)
Would this passage be acceptable if reinstated by someone other than the subject of the article? If I get an affirmative answer or two, I will go ahead and do it - or possibly, if I get no response, I may "be bold" and do it anyway - I'll think about that.
Thank you. M.J.E. (talk) 10:02, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Add information about Brite's work?