Talk:Kamala Devi (actress)

/* Bio? */

If this article is not a biography, what is it? If it is too short to qualify, should't it be developed into a bio? Ragityman (talk) 10:33, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Kamala Beaumont

Is ancestry.com regarded as a reliable source for Wikipedia (WP:RS)? Note that an editor inserted the claim that Kamala Devi's last name was Beaumont and that the editor knew this through a personal source. Then the editor removed this claim. However, at ancestry.com, THIS RECORD about Maurie S. Beaumont states:

Maurie S. Beaumont BEAUMONT, Maurie S. Long time South Laguna resident and businessman, passed away peacefully on March 12, 2008. He was 87.... He is survived by his wife Kamala.... Maurie met actress Kamala Devi through mutual friends in 2002. He and Kamala had a great many things in common, fell in love and married in 2005.

This does not confirm the editor's report that she is still alive, nor that Kamala Devi was only a stage name (though that seems plausible as "Devi" seems like a probable stage name), but it confirms the editor's statement that she had a last name of Beaumont. Can it be inserted into the article as sourced to ancestry.com? --Presearch (talk) 03:41, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

Replying to my own post: I see that Legacy.com HERE has essentially the same text that it attributes to the Orange County Register "Published in the Los Angeles Times from Mar. 22 to Mar. 23, 2008, and also in the Orange County Register from Mar. 22 to Mar. 23, 2008. Perhaps the latter picked it up from the former. I am inclined to treat Legacy.com as an RS about what the LA Times and the Orange County Register say, and will add to the article on that basis. --Presearch (talk) 03:51, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

IMDb

IMBd is used in the "External links" section, which has been considered acceptable, but then used as a reference. Many discussions have been had concerning IMDb as a reliable source starting well over 10 years ago. Over the years many more discussions resulted in ...content from websites whose content is largely user-generated is also generally unacceptable, specifically naming IMDb among others. More discussions resulted in Wikipedia:External links/Perennial websites and that IMDb is "generally not acceptable as a reliable source".

If someone wishes to contest removal on some new grounds, that consensus can change, that "generally" means there can be exceptions, or that using the site as a reliable source improves Wikipedia to a point we can ignor the rules, please let me know to save a step such as BRD. A discussion can be brought up at the WP:Reliable sources noticeboard, at Wikipedia talk:External links/Perennial websites, or some other WP:dispute resolution, otherwise I am going to remove the link. Otr500 (talk) 19:32, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

Good. Thanks for all the background. I left IMDB in as a reference for content (i.e. her date of birth) that was not directly contradicted by other sources. But I will now remove that too. Alas, I don't think we have a reliable source for her DOB. Maybe some day we will. --Presearch (talk) 21:18, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, I guess some consolation is that the now IMDb "External link" will be able to provide something, not in the sources. Otr500 (talk) 03:21, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Still no reliable source for death, plus other doubts she has died

I have removed the claimed 2010 date of death because there were no citations to reliable sources. I also did a quick search myself and found that the only sources for her death were ones that could plausibly have been mirrored from Wikipedia itself in the several weeks that the death claim has been posted on Wikipedia. Importantly, "Kamala Devi" is a common name, so it is possible that an editor in good faith listed her as having died on a particular date because someone else named Kamala Devi had died on that date. Nonetheless, the lack of a reliable source generates doubt that she is dead, even though she is in her 80s (but lots of people live into their 80s).

Incrementally additional doubt that Kamala Devi is dead comes from the editor's report, listed in the article's change log for 24 December 2017, that "Kamala Devi is not dead. She currently resides in Aliso Viejo California" and "Her real name is Kamala Beaumont. I knew this, because my mother is working at the independent living center where she currently lives in Aliso Viejo, CA at the Covington". Furthermore, doing current searches for phone/address info for Kamala Devi returns results such as the following, from gladiknow.com: "Age 87 / Also Known As: Jackson Kamala, Kamala Beaumont / Lives At: <redacted-for-talk-page> Pursuit, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 / Used to Live At: Avenida Majorca Laguna Woods, CA 92630 / Related To: Martha B Beaumont, Maurie S Beaumont". Note that her listed relations include the name of her reliably sourced (though deceased) 3rd husband, or perhaps a child with the same name. Other sites even list an ostensible current phone number for her. All of this looks reasonably consistent with the possibility that she is still alive. Of course it does not prove that she is alive. But it suggests that we should not pronounce her dead without a reliable source. --Presearch (talk) 01:17, 19 April 2021 (UTC)