Talk:Nicholas Humphrey

COI tag (December 2025)

Meldreth (talk · contribs) has edited the article, and says he is Humphrey. He has contributed 18% of the current version of the article. See discussion above and on his Talk page. Tacyarg (talk) 00:47, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

Article rewrite

Replaced article to address longstanding issues. Previous version had insufficient sourcing for a BLP (flagged since 2016), over-reliance on primary sources, and multiple unsupported claims marked with citation-needed tags. New version fully cited from peer-reviewed journals, newspaper and magazine reviews, academic biographical memoirs, and a 2023 New Yorker profile. Questions can be raised here.

LittleHow (talk) 04:30, 12 December 2025 (UTC)

Susannah York

An IP editor, and a registered editor, have between them repeatedly removed this text:

In the late 1970s, Humphrey was in a relationship with actress Susannah York; York recalled living with him in Cambridge and London while she was performing in Peter Pan and commuting with her two children.

I and other editors have reverted this as unexplained removal of sourced information. IP editor, if you still want to remove this, please discuss here. Tacyarg (talk) 20:39, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

References

Overly detailed tag

Editor LittleHow has removed the overly detailed tag. The article is a behemoth. While the subject is notable, I think the article as stands is still so long as to verge on unencyclopediadic. It includes intricate detail that is likely to be of interest to only a narrow audience. I intend to restore the tag. Pinging Headbomb, Tacyarg, who have lots of experience with academic biographies and who have previously edited the article. I am noting that LittleHow is responsible for much of the excess detail, having dropped a 40,000 character expansion on it in this edit . Russ Woodroofe (talk) 19:04, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

Thanks. A starting point might be looking at text which is only sourced to Humphrey's own work. Will see what I can do, though it may be a few days. Tacyarg (talk) 01:15, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

Fair enough — I'll leave the tag, and won't restore it. A fair bit of the detail is mine: I added it because I like the kind of full biography the Dictionary of National Biography gives, but I take the point that that isn't the house style here. Tacyarg's test — starting with anything sourced only to Humphrey's own writing — looks right, and I'm happy for my additions to be pruned on that basis. LittleHow (talk) 03:25, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

I don't think that the Dictionary of National Biography would go this long, either. I don't know quite where to start, but here are some thoughts for improvement: The lede could be streamlined a fair bit. The quote probably doesn't belong in Early life. Education should be trimmed to just the facts and probably merged with another section. Academic career seems to mix academic career and research. Cambridge and blindsight is the kind of breathless writing that verges on WP:PEACOCK, and a lot of the discussion of his research appears to be WP:OR. The Academic career section is the biggest mess, I think. In Antinuclear activism, I think the middle paragraph could be cut out without being missed. Reception and influence should be merged with Critical reviews, and should be reviewed by an uninvolved editor (Critical reviews looks a little better than Reception and influence, and perhaps the former should just be cut). Personal life is mostly fine, but the career bit needs to be moved elsewhere, and a better source is needed for the claim of influence on Dawkins. Awards and honors, at least, look fine. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 08:43, 2 June 2026 (UTC)