Talk:Ian Watkins

4 November 2012 Arrest

in the Arrest and Conviction section it mentions that he was arrested on 4 November 2012 for drug possession and a seperate allegation that he possessed an obscene image of a child, but the reference next to the statement doesn't actually mention anything about 4 November - there is actually no mention of November in the article at all, and I cannot find anything online apart from Wikipedia mentioning the 4 November 2012 arrest. The arrest for June 2012 is the exact same, can't find any source that actually has these dates.

This: "It claimed that Watkins was selling drugs to minors to pay for his own heroin and crystal meth habit and smuggled drugs into the country in his cavities when travelling with Lostprophets."

I can only find one source of being Wales Online, no other big media outlet seems to have mentioned this either? ~2025-34945-30 (talk) 22:26, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 26 November 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. 8 support vs 5 oppose, more support arguments made. (closed by non-admin page mover) – LuniZunie_(talk) 13:04, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

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• Ian Watkins (Lostprophets singer) → Ian Watkins
• Ian Watkins → Ian Watkins (disambiguation)

– By far the most (in)famous person with the name. The only other Ian Watkinses are Ian "H" Watkins (famous, but often just called “H” and currently disambiguated in the article title by said nickname) and a rugby player who is nowhere near as famous or notable as either of the above. There’s also Ian Watkin [sic] who is similarly obscure, already disambiguated, and doesn’t even have the same name. Dronebogus (talk) 21:08, 26 November 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. Jeffrey34555 (talk) 03:33, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

Note: this request has been fixed for the RMCD bot by including the proposals as they need to appear. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 21:44, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose: H from Steps is often referred to as Ian "H" Watkins, and also uses his legal name as a painter. I remember that E!, RTL Boulevard, and Closer France used photographs of H when discussing the Lostprophets singer. ReconDecon (talk) 18:08, 28 November 2025 (UTC)
• Support: The distinguishing initial of Ian "H" Watkins is acceptable to differentiate the two pages Nickeleh (talk) 06:00, 30 November 2025 (UTC)
• Support per nom. Go D. Usopp (talk) 09:33, 30 November 2025 (UTC)
• Oppose No clear precedence over the others, and given the negative connotations, we should be especially careful to avoid confusion. Andy Dingley (talk) 12:42, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

  “Clear precedence”? What does that mean? Dronebogus (talk) 21:53, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

• It is not immediately and objectively obvious that Ian Watkins (singer) should point here, rather than to Ian "H" Watkins. Andy Dingley (talk) 22:04, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

  I’m not even suggesting that; I’m suggesting “Ian Watkins” point to here and Ian “H” Watkins point to Ian “H” Watkins, with “Ian Watkins” remaining a disambig. Dronebogus (talk) 22:11, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

• Then I have no idea what you're suggesting. Andy Dingley (talk) 23:50, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

  1) Ian Watkins -> here 2) Ian H Watkins -> [no change] 3) Ian Watkins (singer) -> Ian Watkins (disambig) Dronebogus (talk) 01:29, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose, per Andy Dingley's reasoning. Given the circumstances, we need to minimise the possibility of confusion here, which has to take priority over petty arguments/opinions over who is the most 'famous' (never a consideration under Wikipedia policy, as far as I'm aware). A longer title harms nobody. Ambiguity most certainly can. AndyTheGrump (talk) 12:56, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

  This isn’t a “petty argument/opinion”. It’s who readers are most likely to search for. Dronebogus (talk) 21:56, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

  Negative connotations and such circumstances play no part in policy. While a poor nom not rooted in policy, the one that applies is primary topic, regardless of whether the subject raped children or not. I don't know of any policy or essay which recommends disambiguating primary topics due to the controversial nature of the subject. In fact the opposite is true, we do assign primary topics regardless of their controversial nature, and if anything it's more important to do so. As editors we are not the gatekeepeers of contentious topics, it's not our job to provide a quasi-firewall to a disambiguation page, so as to make sure the reader is definitely looking for the subject in question, rather than someone less offensive. When >80% of readers are looking for this Watkins, we shouldn't be wasting their time with a "Are you sure you're looking for that topic" disambiguation page, just for the 1 in 5 who aren't looking for it. That's what hatnotes are for. CNC (talk) 11:33, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose per Andy Dingley. Cfls (talk) 22:09, 30 November 2025 (UTC)
• Comment: Proposals to rename the article about the Lostprophets singer have been discussed several times before, including an RM as recently as 6 months ago and an RM in 2014 to make that article "primary". Please see Talk:Ian Watkins (Lostprophets singer)/Archive 2, Talk:Ian Watkins (Lostprophets singer)/Archive 3, and Talk:Ian Watkins (Lostprophets singer)/Archive 1 for such discussions. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 04:48, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

  The April 2025 RM proposal was whether the article should be moved from "(Lostprophets singer)" to "(singer, born 1977)" . A RM whether the article should be moved to "Ian Watkins" hasn't been discussed for over 10 years. Per comments in that 2014 discussion, "Too soon. ... Maybe after the dust has settled and an overview is taken in a few years time, it can be reviewed then" "Grounds for primary topic in terms of usage but long-term significance is less clear". We're a decade on and this subject is still the clear primary topic. NICHOLAS NEEDLEHAM (talk) 17:42, 7 December 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose per Andy Dingley. Puffin123 (talk) 14:06, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

Support. The overwhelming majority of outgoing pageviews at "Ian Watkins" are for "Ian Watkins (Lostprophets singer)". 91.11% in September prior to the rat's death, then 93.53% in October. This subject is the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC and has 'clear precedence' for the term "Ian Watkins". NICHOLAS NEEDLEHAM (talk) 17:37, 7 December 2025 (UTC)

• Support – Kunt and the Gang-related confusion aside, the dead nonce is clearly the primary topic; as NICHOLAS NEEDLEHAM has demonstrated, 90% of disambiguation page visits leads here, which is more than enough to argue primacy. Sceptre (talk) 21:47, 7 December 2025 (UTC)

  In my reasoning against changing the title, even years after the debacle, H has continued to receive abuse on social media (unrelated to KATG), as did an innocent man from Peterborough. A French magazine (Closer) posted an image of H from Steps when reporting the death of the Lostprophets singer, and did not apologise for the error.

  There are more recent pictures of H than the Lostprophets singer, as prison photos are hard to come by. ReconDecon (talk) 07:51, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

  Making an individual the main article of his name for being the most infamous person with this name would neither incentivize nor contribute to external slander to other people, ESPECIALLY when the person slandered has his own article. Go D. Usopp (talk) 00:42, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

• Support This Ian Watkins is the top search when searching. This appeared to be the case even before his criminal charges. StringDTD (talk) 02:32, 8 December 2025 (UTC)
• Support Regardless of the other Ian Watkins, the Ian Watkins is the most (in)famous. Search results shows that this Ian Watkins is the main subject. R2me2 (talk) 06:25, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

  I personally think the title should definitely be changed to “Ian Watkins”. Unfortunately the dirty little cretin is the most relevant “Ian Watkins” on the entirety of Wikipedia. Due to his past successful rock career, infamous child sex crimes and recent death. ~2025-39868-73 (talk) 19:08, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

• Support per NICHOLAS NEEDLEHAM and primary topic. Even with including Ian "H" Watkins (why not) the child molester is the primary topic per historical WP:10Y page views at 82.5%. CNC (talk) 19:29, 10 December 2025 (UTC)
• Support per WP:PRIMARYTOPIC.LM2000 (talk) 09:29, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Semi-protected edit request on 29 December 2025

Change [He refused to give names, citing fear of violent retribution.] to [He refused to give names, citing fear of violent retaliation.] SpiriT4513 (talk) 03:47, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Got to agree. 'Retaliation' is the better word: I'll change it. AndyTheGrump (talk) 04:04, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Category

Could someone please add Category:Sex offenders murdered in prison? ~2026-32749-24 (talk) 16:15, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

AS of now, there has been no murder conviction. We have to wait for a verdict. AndyTheGrump (talk) 16:18, 9 June 2026 (UTC)