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Interfaith marriage of his parents and his own marriage

Steyer is from an interfaith background; he is in an interfaith marriage; and he is a supporter of the United Religions Initiative, an organization that promotes interfaith understanding. it is clearly relevant the religion of his parents. Why such a hurry to reverse a sourced edit?Patapsco913 (talk)

Did you read the personal life section? I put a source there. I can add additional sources that show he donates to the organization as well. And why just keep reversing. I posted on the talk page? I thought that that was the proper and polite procedure; rather than reverse good fatith edits within 3 minutes of being posted.Patapsco913 (talk)

(edit conflict)The sources only say what religions his parents are. We can't make the connection that his parents religions is the reason he supports that. We would need a reliable source that makes the connection. It is bold revert discuss. You were bold and added it, I reverted and then we discuss, not revert it back in and then discuss it. GB fan 01:47, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

well you just reverted three minutes after I posted a good faith addition and did not also discuss on the talk page. Anyhow, it is a biography. The fact that his parents are in an interfaith relationship is relevant since it could affect his upbringing. Let the readers decide for themselves. We mention ethnicity of parents in biographies then why not religion? Heck, using that standard, parent's names, children, wives, nothing would be relevant.Patapsco913 (talk)

His parents having an interfaith might have effected his upbringing, but that means it might not have effected his upbringing. The fact that it happened doesn't mean anything other than it was an interfaith marriage. Upi are trying to lead people down the path that this is what caused his political stance. GB fan 20:44, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

I am not sure what "Upi" means? Anyhow, I am not trying to lead anyone down any paths. These are just facts: his father is a lawyer and Jewish; his mother is a teacher and Christian. Under your logic, we should not say what his parents do for a living; or even their names; or if he had brothers and sisters. Why would what his parents do for a living be relevant and their religion not?Patapsco913 (talk)

That is not my logic, I have never even mentioned anything about names or any of the other things you mention. Do not put words in my mouth. How about trying to ask someone else for their opinion, since we can't seem to agree. WP:3O is an option. GB fan 22:14, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

I saw this listed at 3O, but am not giving an "official" Third Opinion and have left it listed there in case some one else cares to do so (provided that they do not consider this to have caused the Third Opinion Paradox to have occurred). I'm just here as another garden-variety editor, not as a Third Opinion Wikipedian. (Why not a 3O? GB fan and I have been around too many of the same places and 3O requires neutrality. I don't recall GB and I having any interaction that might bias my opinion, but just to be on the safe side, I'm making this a regular-editor edit, not a 3O opinion.) Unless there is something in the article which fairly clearly invites a reader to make or imply a connection between Steyer's interfaith upbringing and his politics, proclivities, or memberships, I fail to see the harm in reporting that upbringing in the article. The fact that there is some real world interest group which might wish to make or promote that connection is irrelevant. Astrologists wish to imply a nonsensical connection between the positions of Mercury and Neptune, but that is not a reason to mention those planets in the in the Solar System article. Moreover, mentioning an individual's interfaith parents in a biographical article is not at all unusual, especially when the interfaith split involves disparate cultures: see Ben Stiller as an example. I see no reason to omit them. However, I do not believe that the two cited obituaries are adequate sources to report their religions. First, there's noting in those obituaries which identifies them as the parents of this particular Tom Steyer. While I have little doubt that they're them, Misplaced Pages's reliable sourcing requirements allows for no synthesis or speculation. An adequate source for this must both make clear reference to this particular Tom Steyer and to his parent's or parents' religions; sources cannot be stitched together for that purpose. Second, the obituary of the mother does not say that she was Christian or Episcopalian, but only that a memorial service — not a funeral, which is a significant difference (though even that would not be enough) — is being held in a particular church without identifying that church's affiliations. While I do not believe his parent's religions, if they are indeed disparate, are inappropriate for the article, they must be properly sourced and the current sources are not adequate. Regards, TransporterMan (TALK) 17:07, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

Response to third opinion request:

This whole article brings out my deletionist tendencies. I've never heard of anything in this article -- not the man, or his companies. But that's just me. Then I see that his net worth is north of $1 billion, and I figure that that alone qualifies the man for an article on this site. Regarding the issue at hand -- I will agree with TransporterMan. The sentence I saw is as follows: His father was Jewish and his mother Episcopalian. It seems that that is as relevant as anything else, as long as it is well-sourced, and presented factually. (I had a very hard time tracking down the specific policy that TransporterMan was referencing. WP:SOURCES points one toward WP:RELY from which we go to WP:BLPSOURCES which points back to WP:SOURCES. If the specific policy is to be found, please let me know. Also, keep in mind that policy simply reflects consensus -- most policies are somewhat flexible.) I will disagree with TransporterMan that the obit is insufficiently connected to this Tom Steyer; it seems to me that the connection can be reasonably made. However, I agree with TransporterMan in that the mention that a funeral or memorial will be held at an Episcopal church is not enough to establish someone's religion. Many churches will perform funerals for just about anyone whose relatives request it, whether or not the deceased was a member or attendee. On the subject of edit warring and BRD: Patapsco913 said, "well you just reverted three minutes after I posted a good faith addition and did not also discuss on the talk page." That is correct, and in that case, GB fan followed procedure. Reverting an edit because one believes it ought not to be included is proper. If information is deleted, adding the information back to the article should only be done after discussion on the talk page -- and it is the responsibility of the party who wishes to see the information re-added to start that discussion. GB fan did provide an explanation in the edit summary -- if you disagree, you should have come to the talk page first rather than adding it back. That's called edit warring. 3RR is a bright line, 1RR is a better rule of thumb. GB fan was also incorrect in re-reverting; that was also edit-warring. However, quitting before things got silly and bringing the issue to 3O was a very good move. Jsharpminor (talk) 08:52, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Wow . . . stunning. Your "deletionist tendencies" are brought out by your "never having heard of anything in this article" except his financial worth. Are there new notability guidelines that reference what one editor has heard about or financial worth of subjects? The subject of this article has received abundant non-trivial coverage in independent reliable sources (including this and this, for a couple not cited in the article). Last time I checked (though it has been a while), those were the key criteria. _matic 09:06, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Your sarcastic attacks and lack of reading comprehension notwithstanding, yes, being a billionaire pretty much guarantees that you're qualified for a Misplaced Pages article. The lead of the article says that he's founded some companies and institutions. Guess how many companies I've founded? (It is, in fact, a nonzero number.) The big difference is that Tom Steyer, like most billionaires, has enough capital to throw around that when they start something, it's big and receives independent news coverage; hence, most billionaires wind up becoming inherently notable based mostly on the fact that they're billionaires. So basically, he's a rich man with political and social views that he puts his money behind. I'm a poor man with political views that I put my money behind. The amount of money does in fact make him notable, because people stand up and notice when big bucks go flying. It's just the way the world works. Jsharpminor (talk) 09:57, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

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