Talk:Casting couch/Archives/2020

Illegality in India

@27.96.91.36: Hi, regarding your recent edit, I wasn't able to find any reliable sources that described the (il)legality of the casting couch in India one way or another. Can you locate some reliable sources showing that the casting couch is illegal in India? — Newslinger talk 21:34, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

Unfortunately, since there does not appear to be a reliable source available for this claim, I've removed "and India" per the verifiability policy. Please restore it if you find a reliable source supporting the claim. — Newslinger talk 13:40, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

Cleaning up lead section

I recently simplified the text in the lead section. There is no need to specify it is illegal in the US when this is a global encyclopedia and there already is a section on that below. There also is no reason to callout Hollywood, Bollywood, or Broadway specifically, as this is the general concern and the citations provide the broader context. Finaly, there were multiple citations in an oddly-formatted reference and the article simply doesn't need that many. This is largely a non-controversial edit IMHO, but it was reverted by @Newslinger:. So I'm bringing it up here. --ZimZalaBim ^talk 18:38, 28 September 2020 (UTC)

I disagree with the content removal. The fact that the casting couch is illegal in some areas is a critical aspect of this topic, and belongs in the lead section. The sentence "The practice is illegal in the United States." reflects the state of the available reliable sources, which only comment on the legality of the casting couch in the US, but do not comment on the legality of the practice elsewhere. Almost all of the sources in this article focus on the casting couch in the context of the US, so having a US-focused lead section is perfectly acceptable. The citations were bundled, a practice recommended by the guideline on citing sources; and the presence of bundled citations is not a valid reason to delete the citations and the associated content. The WP:OVERCITE essay that you linked also advises: "if four or more [citations] are needed, consider bundling (merging) the citations."

No explanation was provided for why "Predominantly male casting directors and film producers use the casting couch to extract sex from aspiring actors..." was removed from the lead section, another vital element of this topic. Additionally, although the edit summary of Special:Diff/980803132 notes a "US-centric opening", the next edit (Special:Diff/980804208) inexplicably removed the only mention of a non-US location (Bollywood) from the article. These disputed edits, which deleted 13% of the article, are controversial and inadequately justified by the policies and guidelines. — Newslinger talk 19:09, 28 September 2020 (UTC)