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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]
