The subject of this article is controversial and content may be in dispute. When updating the article, be bold, but not reckless. Feel free to try to improve the article, but don't take it personally if your changes are reversed; instead, come here to the talk page to discuss them. Content must be written from a neutral point of view. Include citations when adding content and consider tagging or removing unsourced information.
Please stay calm and civil while commenting or presenting evidence, and do not make personal attacks. Be patient when approaching solutions to any issues. Ifconsensus is not reached, other solutions exist to draw attention and ensure that more editors mediate or comment on the dispute.
Steven Hassan received a peer review by Wikipedia editors, which is now archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article.
This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Skepticism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of science, pseudoscience, pseudohistory and skepticism related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SkepticismWikipedia:WikiProject SkepticismTemplate:WikiProject SkepticismSkepticism
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Psychology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Psychology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PsychologyWikipedia:WikiProject PsychologyTemplate:WikiProject Psychologypsychology
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Religion, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles on Religion-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details.ReligionWikipedia:WikiProject ReligionTemplate:WikiProject ReligionReligion
The following Wikipedia contributors may be personally or professionally connected to the subject of this article. Relevant policies and guidelines may include conflict of interest and neutral point of view.
This article is about Hassan. Other people's expressed views about the word 'cult' or about what they call a wider 'anti-cult' group are not appropriate. This article is not to be used as a coatrack for putting other people's views about the topic of cults or anti-cults. The claim in some ES that "they are applying this to the article subject" is not supported. This seems to be a synthesis used to imply that these are all directly about the article subject. Cambial — foliar❧07:57, 15 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Cambial Yellowing The Misunderstanding Cults part was a coatrack so I removed it - chapters in that book cite Hassan twice and mention him once in passing, no other discussion of him in that book.
I have more mixed feelings about the Boston Magazine piece. I altered how it was written here. I hope this is more neutral now? I think a minor amount of the context about what Shupe and Bromley believe is probably necessary.
I also think having "criticism" sections on BLPs is not a great idea. Maybe rename the heading to "reception", and encapsulate both positive and negative reception of Hassan's books/works/theories? That's what James R. Lewis's article has and I think it works fine there. PARAKANYAA (talk) 05:07, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think it's necessarily more neutral, it has just softened what is actually quite strong criticism of "Hassan and his fellow cultbusters". For example, on the subject of "cult experts" like Hassan benefitting financially from the exaggerated fear of cults, you have mentioned that Hassan "reduced his rates". But the article is more explicit than that; it says he reduced his rates, which had soared during the dot com era, to $2500 a day, and that the client discussed in the article (Charles Laquidara) says that he paid the equivalent of the yearly wages of an average blue collar worker. Obviously, we needn't say all that, but it's a bit stronger than "he reduced his rates", which doesn't really say anything much.
Cambial Yellowing I think there is a good argument that the source is discussing criticism of anticult operatives in a simultaneously general and specific sense. However, I don't intend to revert again if you and others are convinced that that is not the case. Harold the Sheep (talk) 23:24, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
From Religioscope. From 2003. Interviews are primary and thus have due weight concerns, but maybe it could be useful. It's from Religioscope (and the interviewer is Jean-François Mayer, who is more on the anti-brainwashing side of things funnily enough, though in my experience with his works I find them to be quite good and fair to all perspectives involved), but I find it gives a good look into Hassan's thoughts on things. PARAKANYAA (talk) 01:09, 16 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Steven Hassan pronounces his surname /hæsɪn/, not /hɑːsɪn/. You can hear him introduce himself in a Vice documentary titled "Ex-Cult Member Explains How He Escaped the Moonies". 68.193.141.193 (talk) 20:34, 31 August 2024 (UTC)corpho[reply]