The 2008 Barack Obama assassination scare in
When should an article contain "then-title" for a past title. It seems obvious to me that without "then", it refers to when the person had those titles, but I couldn't find a Wiki MOS guideline and am unfamiliar with other MOS guidelines. Galatee (talk) 17:52, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
The man's name is, was, and (probably) always will be Barack Obama, which is also the location of the article. I cannot envisage any circumstance in which it is less clumsy to say an alleged plot by Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan Dwaine Johnson to assassinate Barack Obama, then a senator and the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee, ... Kevin McE (talk) 20:55, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
Right. As a general rule we don't use pre-nominal titles at all. No Mr., no Dr., no Senator, no Her Majesty. Common-sense exceptions when justified by circumstance, but I can't think just what those circumstances might be. --Trovatore (talk) 21:24, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
It's helpful to understanding the article to note in the lead that Obama was a senator and the Democratic presidential nominee then. I'm just arguing against the "then"s. For another example, John McCain has "Starting in 1994, he worked with Democratic Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform". I think that's fine, but that it's unnecessary to say "then-Senator Russ Feingold" after he leaves office. Galatee (talk) 21:56, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
Hmm, I don't object to that particularly strongly, but it seems like a description rather than a title, so I'd prefer to use the lowercase senator. When Feingold leaves office, it would be somewhat preferable to rephrase it ... he worked with Russ Feingold, at the time a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, on.... --Trovatore (talk) 00:32, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
This would imply that references to Henry Clay (1777-1852) should mostly say "at the time a Senator from
Well his article managed to give plenty of detail about him without using the title more than twice (in a photo caption and a trivial factoid, both of which I have corrected. In another article, his name linked will allow a reader to know what his role was, if it is relevant, and if it is essential, then the word senator, with a lower-case s to make it clear that it is not a title, should suffice. If the context is clear that we are talking about a timescale in which the politicians are no longer alive/active, then former would be superfluous. Kevin McE (talk) 07:23, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
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