Talk:Berniece Baker Miracle

Mona Rae Miracle

The sources all look poor. If no better ones can be found, then anything more than the briefest mention seems highly questionable. --Hipal (talk) 03:10, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

@BusterD:, how soon before you will be able to work on it? --Hipal (talk) 17:16, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

Here's the content in question:

Mona Rae Miracle was born on July 18, 1939, as the only child of Berniece and her husband Paris. She studied journalism, graduating at the University of Florida. She also earned a graduate degree from Nova Southeastern University and studied acting with Lee Strasberg. Throughout her life, she worked as a teacher, librarian and retailing executive. Following My Sister Marilyn, she published two novels in 2003, Wesley's Gift and a set of short stories, Nuclear People. Today, she is part of the Authors Guild and lives retired in Gainesville, Florida with her mother Berniece.

References

It's been removed for the time being. --Hipal (talk) 17:13, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Did mrs baker have a boy by the name James Fidel st Aubin oct 30 1936 if so he has passed away 1998 I still have Norma Jean trunk it still has the ticket stub from the trip to Kentucky — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jf1936 (talk • contribs) 20:24, 8 June 2021 (UTC)

Is this subject still alive?

I see some edits recently which have been reverted because the sources weren't particularly reliable. This has put us in an awkward position in which it appears the subject has died and we can plainly see the tombstone on Find a grave, but the reverts give the appearance the subject is still alive because we haven't found an ideal source yet. To my eyes, and based on imperfect sourcing, the subject died several years ago. BusterD (talk) 12:03, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Reliable sources are required. --Hipal (talk) 17:40, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Reliable sources are needed. You've been on wiki for 16 years. You should know this. We can't be relying on unreliable sources as it puts the whole credibility of wiki at risk. Find a grave, and imperfect sources are not good enough. Uncoveringcelebrityhistory (talk) 04:51, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

And I'm also an editor of 16 years here and I say you're pointblank wrong. FindAGrave is not being cited here... FindAGrave is on the list of blacklisted sites. Memorial pages and fan sites are not. We have two sources that confirm she died. A memorial page, which also has a photo of the headstone AND the Marilyn Remembered fan club, who have amended a 100th birthday article to say they put the wrong information out and that she died in 2014. Given that they're an authority on the topic of Marilyn Monroe, that gives additional strength to them as a source. By contrast, can you find me a reliable source that confirms she was recently alive? I can see one clickbait type "news" site online. That's all. Thanks --Jkaharper (talk) 17:18, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Between the four of us we've been here for a total of 52+ wiki-years. Congratulations to us, truly. A first-day wikipedian would see that creating a section on talk to discuss an issue of any disagreement is superior than edit-warring in disagreement on live pagespace. A quick look at page history will show I haven't edited the page since last February and all the other editors in this discussion have reverted the addition of the subject's death in the last week. We're all doing the right thing. User:Jkaharper was first to remove Find-a-Grave, but pursued evidence towards the best sources they could find. As an aside, the photo could be a falsified grave marker, but that's an opinion only. I can't help but think there should be an obituary for such a subject. I went on newspapers.com myself and found nothing. I'm inclined to allow the subject to live a bit longer until we have proof she has expired. For the record, I hope this human being subject stays alive as long as she desires. BusterD (talk) 19:50, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

I've now added an additional source for her death as Marilyn Remembered have uploaded a new page for her with a lot of details surrounding her death. The idea that a gravestone can be falsified (especially when dates and spouse name on the same plot are identical matches are conspiracy level and I'm not even going to entertain that thought. Why are you're shocked the family didn't release a newspaper spread on her death? My great aunt died 2 weeks ago. We didn't even release a death notice. The norm is not to announce it. The prominence of the family doesn't affect that either. Marilyn was very prominent, Berniece far less so. Also, as noted in her article, she was incredibly private and often shunned media attention. Regardless of all of this, my original statement that the two sources used for her death pass WP:RS still stands. --Jkaharper (talk) 19:57, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

I see Jkaharper has decided to continue the edit war without concluding the offered discussion. Neither of the applied sources meet RS. MyKeeper is user-generated just like find-a-grave. The Marilyn Remembered site is a blog, and appears to offer no additional sources other than the gravestone uploaded to find-a-grave. BusterD (talk) 20:16, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

I have not engaged in an edit war. I made the reversion prior to my first response on here. Marilyn Remembered is not a blog. Memorial websites, user generated or not, are accepted as death notices. You haven't answered any of my points. This article was created after her death. It was nominated for deletion 12 months ago based on the question of notability, and yet you find it hard to believe she could have died without a newspaper covering her passing? Why does her death merit newspaper coverage? Because she has the half-sister of somebody who was famous? Please tell us what you expect in terms of a level of source, because what you've described before will never come. I see no contradiction to the two sources which give a date of death, cause of death, place of burial and photo of headstone. In danger of sounding like a broken record – but they ARE covered under WP:RS. Even if you don't appreciate their level of validity, WP:COMMONSENSE would dictate that removing this valuable information is not only non-constructive, but will continue to perpetuate the myth that she is still alive. --Jkaharper (talk) 20:23, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Those are not reliable. --Hipal (talk) 23:52, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Why are they not reliable? I have fleshed out why I believe they pass WP:RS above. You continue to ignore my calls to have a thorough debate about this and instead lazily revert the page back to an inferior stage. You have assumed bad faith with me and scrubbed a message I left from your talk page reaching out and requesting for you to engage, and responded by stamping a warning on my talk page about edit warring. It is you who is edit warring. I have reverted the page on 2 occasions – initially once because a new source subsequently came to light, and then because no users were engaging on here to flesh out any form of counter argument. I will leave the page as it is for now, without the death information suppported by the family-placed memorial and the Jan 2022 fan club article, and give you and others the opportunity to engage in a conversation on here. If there’s no counter-argument developed whatsoever, I will eventually restore it given that the sources adequately pass WP:RS, and nobody has succeeded in building a case that establishes otherwise. --Jkaharper (talk) 07:16, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

It's already been sufficiently explained, and the onus is on you to change consensus. Threats to change the article against consensus could be the grounds for a ban or block. --Hipal (talk) 17:43, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

Once again, you've failed to back up your claim that the sources used for her death are unreliable. I am asking you to show me which part of WP:RS forbids the fan site or the family-published death notice online. I have not threatened anything – read what you just wrote – you're the only one threatening anyone here. Instead of accusing me of violating Wikipedia rules when I have done nothing wrong, how about you assume good faith and engage in a constructive conversation so we can come to find a solution? I see you offering zero alternatives, nor providing any weight to your belief that the sources are unreliable. They carry the same weight as many of the sources already used in the article (e.g. Etsy, Mona Rae's personal website). --Jkaharper (talk) 18:30, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

The consensus here is that the sources are unreliable. The onus is on you to change that consensus. Saying you are going to restore the content is a threat. --Hipal (talk) 21:38, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

I'd argue the sources, though not traditionally considered reliable according to Wikipedia standards (to which I am ignorant), are in this instance reliable. Marilyn Monroe's family are well known to be ferociously private as they've been harassed constantly throughout the years. Few are actually aware of Marilyn Monroe having a half-sister, so it makes absolutely no sense for someone to edit a photo of a headstone to make her seem deceased. The MyKeeper profile I would also argue is a reasonable source for a date of death also. In light of Berniece Miracle's avoidance of the media and her citing 'avoiding sensationalism' as one of the key reasons for this, it makes sense for there to be no obituary published for the sake of privacy. As for Marilyn Remembered, they've been in existence for decades and in contact with Berniece and Mona Rae Miracle in the past. Emphasis on in the past. Do what you will with that. Pondering655B (talk) 11:39, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. The policies are WP:BLP and WP:RS. Mona might be available to provide some information, but her publisher certainly should be. --Hipal (talk) 21:37, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

Find a grave is not a reliable source?! Well her family probably couln;t wait for her to die so they carve 2014 because they were anxious. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.245.175.188 (talk) 00:19, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

allthatsinteresting.com as a source

Re: Hawkins, Erik (2022-03-04). "Meet Marilyn Monroe's Long-Lost Half-Sister Who Lived A Quiet Life Away From The Spotlight". All That's Interesting. Retrieved 2022-03-29.

• Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_358#allthatsinteresting.com

I've seen problems with the use of allthatsinteresting.com as a reference previously, enough that I've made a note to watch for it. The recent RSN discussion linked above isn't conclusive, but points out some major problems with it as a reference.

The recent publication date should at least make us look very closely at this.

I don't have experience using plagiarism detecting tools, but the ref looks highly suspect from what little I've tried so far.

Again, if this is important to someone, contacting the book publisher might be helpful. --Hipal (talk) 18:33, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Addressing the broader picture here, her page is being changed back on a weekly basis by others users and IPs to include a death date. It's at the point where this is getting very silly now. We've become way too bogged down by WP:RS and in doing so, allowed a vital piece of her bio to be omitted, even though we've all seen the gravestone pictures and know it's very much true. There are multiple places which record her death now. Some user built and unreliable e.g. IMDb and FindAGrave, but also several borderline RS's (IMO) – Marilyn Remembered and ATI. If we can't compromise on this then I simply ask, 1) for what benefit and 2) what will satisfy you? This individual is barely notable, and no longer a news talking point of interest considering she's been dead 8 years. The NY Times or Hollywood Reporter are not about to come out with a piece on this, so we'll be waiting forever for that grade of source. We're doing more harm by omitting the death information now, as we're continuing to perpetuate this myth that she's still alive – something that has already been erroneously spread by clickbait "news" sites and blogs for years. Thanks --Jkaharper (talk) 18:48, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

We need clearly reliable sources. Her daughter or publisher should be helpful. A published obit would probably be fine. Maybe a record from the cemetary? --Hipal (talk) 19:18, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

I've looked for both, trust me. I've scoured the newspaper archives. Nothing was ever published. Her family are incredibly private, as noted in the article itself. --Jkaharper (talk) 19:41, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Hmmm. I'm not sure what to make of this: https://www.nolangroupmedia.com/pineville_suncourier/clifford-boyd-miracle-81/article_000fa66a-48f9-11ec-886d-ef682e85ed44.html . Are there multiple people with the same name? --Hipal (talk) 19:30, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Totally different person. First name is spelt differently, "Baker" is missing, locations don't align, and there would be an unusually large age gap of 20+ years between spouses. --Jkaharper (talk) 19:42, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Yes. I was hoping that "Berniece Miracle" would be an uncommon name, but it's not so uncommon that results like https://www.cawoodfh.com/obituary/Bernice-Miracle appear in my searches. --Hipal (talk) 19:45, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Ancestry.com or similar websites may have something useful. I'm seeing a possible North Carolina address, but can't drill down further without an account. --Hipal (talk) 20:09, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

I've already looked on there as well (I have an account and a subscription). The 2014 death records are not yet publicly available for the respective state that she died in. May be several years yet before they are released. --Jkaharper (talk) 20:17, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Do you know where she resided when she passed, in case we want to search for obituaries? From what I've found, it may have been North Carolina, California, or Kentucky. --Hipal (talk) 22:42, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Died North Carolina, buried in Kentucky. --Jkaharper (talk) 22:48, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

I believe I've said before on this page I have searched Newspapers.com exhaustively for an obit and didn't find one in ANY state. I used the tombstone information from findagrave to help narrow the search but still did not find anything. However, this 2008 clipping says North Carolina is where she lived with her daughter. Another 2003 newspaper I chose not to clip actually gives a street where they lived in Ashville. Unreliable Findagrave says burial about 100 or so miles away at Pineville, KY. But not seeing an obit anywhere. BusterD (talk) 23:09, 30 March 2022 (UTC)