Talk:Mark Steele (conspiracy theorist)

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Mark Steele (conspiracy theorist) article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.

If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.

Articles for creation

	This article was reviewed by member(s) of WikiProject Articles for creation. The project works to allow users to contribute quality articles and media files to the encyclopedia and track their progress as they are developed. To participate, please visit the project page for more information.Articles for creationWikipedia:WikiProject Articles for creationTemplate:WikiProject Articles for creationAfC articles
	This article was accepted from this draft on 10 September 2020 by reviewer Salimfadhley (talk · contribs).

Biography

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles

Skepticism Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Skepticism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of science, pseudoscience, pseudohistory and skepticism related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SkepticismWikipedia:WikiProject SkepticismTemplate:WikiProject SkepticismSkepticism articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

COVID-19 Low‑importance

	COVID-19 portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject COVID-19, a project to coordinate efforts to improve all COVID-19-related articles. If you would like to help, you are invited to join and to participate in project discussions.COVID-19Wikipedia:WikiProject COVID-19Template:WikiProject COVID-19COVID-19 articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

North East England

	North East England portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject North East England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of North East England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.North East EnglandWikipedia:WikiProject North East EnglandTemplate:WikiProject North East EnglandNorth East England articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

The contentious topics procedure applies to this page. This page is related to COVID-19, broadly construed, which has been designated as a contentious topic.

Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator. Editors are advised to familiarise themselves with the contentious topics procedures before editing this page.

The contentious topics procedure applies to this page. This page is related to articles about living or recently deceased people, and edits relating to the subject (living or recently deceased) of such biographical articles, which has been designated as a contentious topic.

Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator. Editors are advised to familiarise themselves with the contentious topics procedures before editing this page.

The contentious topics procedure applies to this page. This page is related to pseudoscience and fringe science, which has been designated as a contentious topic.

Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator. Editors are advised to familiarise themselves with the contentious topics procedures before editing this page.

Should Mark Steele be referred to as a Conspiracy Theorist?

Is there a better way to refer to this person than as conspiracy theorist in the title of the article? I didn't check but are there a lot of Mark Steele articles? --Rocksanddirt (talk) 16:29, 4 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I think Mark Steele refers to himself as an "activist", "weapons expert", "engineer" and "freedom fighter". I don't think using any of these self-applied descriptions would be fair to our readers. I think calling him a conspiracy theorist is fair because he really does endorse many of the same theories that David Icke promotes. Unlike Icke, who was previously a footballer, sports-commentator and politician, Steele is only known for his promotion of conspiracies. --Salimfadhley (talk) 20:47, 6 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Conspiracy theorist is how reliable sources refer to him. I've added two citations to the lead. BobFromBrockley (talk) 10:49, 9 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

But it is strange to refer to his occupation as a conspiracy theorist. This title serves more like a subjective opinion than as a description of an occupation. Lightest (talk) 18:39, 26 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

He has no other occupation as far as I am aware. The ideas he promotes are clearly conspiracy theories. --Salimfadhley (talk) 10:06, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

He literally begs for donations and sells bogus "anti 5g" products... You could always add that that he's grifter, but yes, yes he's a conspiracy theorist. 31.185.241.11 (talk) 18:44, 27 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

1993 conviction

In the 1990s, Steele, then 33, was convicted of shooting a teenage girl, leaving her on life support. See https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/wxeb45/my-dad-got-hoaxed-by-the-anti-5g-conspiracy-movement Is it against WP:BLP rules to mention this? BobFromBrockley (talk) 10:51, 9 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for this suggestion. I have added a section to the article using the best sources I can find. I hope you will be able to enhance this. --Salimfadhley (talk) 12:18, 10 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Removal of Sunday Mail reference from 2006

[1] This recent edit removed some information about the consequences of the shooting outside the Redskins pub. While I am aware that the Daily Mail has recently been flagged as an unreliable source, does this mean we have to remove it for all claims for all time? This citation was published 15 years ago at a time when the Sunday Mail may have had a somewhat different reputation to today. --Salimfadhley (talk) 00:44, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The Sunday Mail (Scotland) is not the same newspaper as The Mail on Sunday. As in January 2006, the Sunday Mail remains part of the same group as the Daily Mirror around which there is no consensus on its reliability and it is not deprecated. You are right that significant information was removed in the edit, but sourcing to a tabloid newspaper is likely to be removed by another editor if reverted. Philip Cross (talk) 09:09, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

True, but in this case can we revert that information. I think the outcome of the shooting is relevant, and we were only using the source to verify that the victim survived with significant long-term injuries. --Salimfadhley (talk) 11:35, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

As you wish, my comments above were advice rather than instruction. The cited Vice article dated 8 April 2020 (mentioned by Bob from Brockley above) is probably the nearest, but is incomplete. Steele's conviction is mentioned, but not his sentence.

One problem with the Sunday Mail source is that Steele is not directly mentioned, although it is clearly the same case. Using it potentially violates WP:SYNTH. The Dundee Courier article (paywalled, but accessible via Google's cache for now) appears usable and contains the relevant details about Steele's sentence. Philip Cross (talk) 12:28, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I am working on a new article about Sacha Stone

Editors may wish to contribute to Draft:Sacha_Stone. You may be aware, that Stone, a leading influencer in the "conspirituality" movement was the person who produced "5G Apocalypse: Extinction Event" - the hour long video which first promoted Mark Steele's conspiracy theories. --Salimfadhley (talk) 09:44, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]