Talk:Jake Adelstein

Is it odd to only me that most of this guy's "career" section is filled with sentences of what the person "claims" or "says" they did? Not only that, but one of his "claims" was actually put forth as a "Did you know...?" fact? We don't know that he was the first American citizen to work for a Japanese newspaper as a Japanese reporter, only that he claims he did.Clickonthewhatnow (talk) 13:07, 30 December 2013 (UTC) [reply ]

FWIW now, that is incorrect. IIRC Adelstein has made no such claim (moot anyway, since he's not cited in the article for that claim); and the claim has been made by secondary sources. If one is arguing that Adelstein's publisher's claim is being lazily repeated by other sources, at least provide some support. bridies (talk) 15:02, 16 May 2014 (UTC) [reply ]

The edit summary used in my last revert isn't correct -- it seems Goto's liver transplant is the issue specifically. Adelstein made those claims himself; this is his article; he's not being potentially libeled. As for Goto, his article makes the same claims, regards his liver and being a gangster more broadly. These are supported by reliable sources, by people other than Adelstein (which shouldn't matter: if the issue is Adelstein's alleged self-promotion, why is libel an issue? If the issue is potentially libeling Goto, why is a claim made by a journalist in a book published in print by a third-party, international publisher a poor source?). Anyone can feel free to import them if he really feels the need; I'm editing from a kindle and am not dealing with markup. bridies (talk) 09:58, 16 May 2014 (UTC) [reply ]

I have now added a reference to a guardian article, for a start. It covers the Goto incident in detail, mentions Adelstein in that context - hence demonstrating it's relevance to this article - was not written by Adelstein, and contains plenty of detail not covered in Adelstein's work (hence, is further research and is not simply repeating Adelstein's claims. bridies (talk) 20:52, 16 May 2014 (UTC) [reply ]

On the question of Goto supposedly having entered the US by illicit means, this is simply not what the article says. It says that Adelstein believed this at the time, it's properly attributed to him, and a necessary part of the info on the case. Given that Goto transpired to have turned supergrass on the stuff he was involved in, it's also not far wide of the mark. Secondly, yes, the info that Adelstein covered crime beginning in a particular year is sourced to him: so what? Primary sources are fine for their own articles (and in fact this is not some SPS of Adelstein's, but is covered in multiple edited publications), and in this case there is no possible libel, controversy, or self-promotion. It's basic, relevant biographical information and is taking up all of a few words. The rationale for removing it was first some myopic claim of irrelevance, then that it was not sourced (plainly ridiculous) and now that it is sourced to Adelstein. Clear case of IDONTLIKEIT. bridies (talk) 21:35, 21 May 2014 (UTC) [reply ]

And adding "wrongly" to the former claim is OR editorialising and adding WP:WEASEL words, as is adding redundant "claims" to every other sentence. The extent to which he was wrong is clear from the rest of the article. bridies (talk) 21:40, 21 May 2014 (UTC) [reply ]

I've read the whole thing and to be honest, I don't think he was wrong at all. Reading through your comments and revision history, it appears as if you're just a typical trouble maker. Your information is poorly gathered, referenced and very controversial. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.176.33.62 (talk) 15:14, 6 July 2014 (UTC) [reply ]

Interesting revision history you have. "Calling out a troll" indeed... bridies (talk) 07:43, 9 July 2014 (UTC) [reply ]

Just stating the facts. I recommend you do the same while you're on Wikipedia. It will make you look less foolish.

Yawn. Provide some evidence for these "facts"? Trolling random pages and editors, and apparently stalking my edit history, makes you look both foolish and bizarre. bridies (talk) 14:06, 16 July 2014 (UTC) [reply ]