This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia does not report death hoaxes, which are - by definition - unverified. Articles about celebrities/public figures should not generally mention associated death hoaxes. |
It is an observed phenomenon that when a major news event or celebrity death occurs, a flurry of unrelated death hoaxes will be propagated on the internet. There are specific websites devoted to the creation of such hoaxes.
Wikipedia does not report these hoaxes, except in some rare and specific circumstances.
Acceptable reasons for reporting a death hoax in a Wikipedia article:
Unacceptable reasons for reporting a death hoax in a Wikipedia article:
Adding "alerts" to articles: It is not necessary to include "Celebrity X is not dead, despite reports to the contrary" information in an article. This is implicit in Wikipedia's non-reporting of the celebrity's death.
This policy is derived from the existing policies of