Talk:Setti Warren

Sudden death

I heard today that Setti Warren died suddenly. 108.26.212.79 (talk) 20:32, 2 November 2025 (UTC)

Starting request for third opinion or request for comment

This is the beginning of a request for third party intervention in an edit war.

I added the sentence (in its second incarnation) "Warren was the first time in U.S. history that an African-American mayor had served under an African-American governor (Deval Patrick) under an African American president (Barack Obama)./"New York Times, History Made, Mayor-Elect Focuses on Local Issues". The New York Times./</ref/>"

Round 1. Jon698 reverted because it wasn't sourced. (Leaving aside the usual etiquette to add a "citation needed" tag, not to revert).

Round 2. So I added a cite to a New York Times article on Mayor Warren's election, which highlights the historical significance of this three-way confluence as its cenral "History made." I slightly reworded to track the source more closely,

Round 3 Jon698 reverted, " I don't see the relevancy of this connection. The mayoralty has little to do with the governorship and presidency."

The point of the sentence is a significant and interesting fact about Mayor Warren's mayoralty.

Round 4 I left a not on Jon698's Tald page, "Today you revert citing your personal lack of insight as a reason. It was relevant enough to be reported in the New York Times. Perhaps the fault here is your lack of understanding of relevance."

Round 5. Jon698 reverted again "Unsourced information has no place on Wikipedia. Any bit of irrelevant trivia can be sourced to a page as well. It is incumbent on you to prove its relevancy. Relevancy not proved. This is also not lede worthy information. This is also not what the article states: "its residents are the first to have elected a black mayor, governor and president.

All three of which are either obsolete, incorrect, or irrelevant: (a) no longer an issue--there's a clear cite to a New York Times article that stresses this. (b) If the New York Times covering Mayor Warren's election as "history making" is insufficient to establish relevance, what standard is Jon698 applying? (c) It's not in the lede. It's in the middle of the article.

Round 6. I've put the sentence back in, again modified slightly. If Jon698 wants to start request for comment, he's welcome to do so.

Round 7. Jon698 reverts a third time (still no comment on my Talk page or this article's Talk page), "this information is not relevant to Setti Warren. It is about the voting residents of the town not him."

I see Jon698 introduces himself has 10,000 edits. I try to stress quality over quantity.

DCLawwyer (talk) 17:18, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

The claim that Warren was the first black mayor to serve under a black governor and a black president is incorrect. E. Denise Simmons predates Warren and her tenure also occurred under Patrick and Obama. Jon698 (talk) 17:39, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

So besides the irrelevancy of the information to Warren, it is also fundamentally incorrect and is an example of poor journalist "first" finding. Jon698 (talk) 17:41, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

"I see Jon698 introduces himself has 10,000 edits. I try to stress quality over quantity." appears to be a rather pointless insult on your part considering that you initially misspelt my username multiple times. Jon698 (talk) 17:45, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Placing link to ANI discussion on this matter for archival purposes. Jon698 (talk) 18:01, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Just as a point of information, the New York Times's statement that "its [i.e., Newton's] residents are the first to have elected a black mayor, governor and president" is not incorrect for the reason given by Jon698 above (though it may or may not be correct in fact), since E. Denise Simmons was elected by the Cambridge City Council from among its members, not elected by the residents of Cambridge. Deor (talk) 18:19, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Something else to be noted from the NYT piece
"Race may not have been a factor in Mr. Warren’s election, but his victory has put this affluent suburb of Boston in a unique position nationally: its residents are the first to have elected a black mayor, governor and president."
The claim is not that he was the first mayor elected under a black governor and president, but the first time anywhere in the US voted in favor of a winning mayor, governor, and president who were all black at any point (not simultaneously). This is a major oversight of Virginia. Richmond voted for Douglas Wilder, multiple black mayors, and Obama. Jon698 (talk) 20:14, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Simmons' election may have been indirect, but so is the presidency. It is the electors that elect the president, not the voters. Similar to how voters elect the councilors that elect the mayor. Jon698 (talk) 20:16, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

These elections may have not been concurrent, but no person could cast one ballot for Warren, Patrick, and Obama at any point. None of them ever appeared on the same ballot. Jon698 (talk) 20:53, 9 November 2025 (UTC)