Talk:Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky

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Article issues

A 2007 article with 157 edits and a problem that should be self-evident. The article has zero citations having three links in the "External links" section apparently as source. Many articles seem to have started out this way, because there is not a lot of mention on Wikipedia about citing sources or NPOV but, of the three two are photographs. One is a NY Daily News article that would certainly be considered reliable. A problem is that even sourced it is still questionable if this article passes the criteria for inclusion on Wikipedia. It does have a couple of interesting trivia mentions.

As it stands now, in the present condition and lack of verification, and the only infamy being a string of murders and a subject being put to death, there has surely not been any interest in sourcing the article or expanding it. The notability of the subject is questioned.

Does this string of actions, being murders and an execution, actually propel the subject to be more notable than Louis Wolfson, Edward Kurpewski, Daniel Janowski, Samuel Cohn, John M. Rosenthal, and Bernard "Buster" Speyer and Ruth Speyer. These are victims and if the "events" were notable enough why not name the article something like the Mad Dog Murders. Otr500 (talk) 00:57, 26 May 2017 (UTC)

I know it has been 8 years, but I do think this is worth replying to, especially because I want to update this article soon with appropriate sourcing and ensure it abides by WP:NPOV (and I don't really think it does right now).

I think you brought up very valid concerns, especially given Wikipedia's fortunate recent tendency to name crime articles after (a) victims, or (b) mass crime events, before the last resort of naming articles after (c) alleged or convicted perpetrators.

I think a case could be made that Taborsky was notable enough to warrant having an article in his own right. One concern of mine, as someone who edits quite a few capital punishment-related articles, is that Taborsky/Culombe's murder spree is not the only one I'm aware of that has been branded the "Mad Dog Murders." A few years ago, I wrote the article for James Morelli, who was executed in Illinois for murdering three men in an event several sources called "Mad Dog Murders." (Anecdotally, I've seen the name used for several other murderers/sprees, but I can't think of them off the top of my head – and to my knowledge, none of them have Wikipedia articles yet.) I know it is possible to use that name for several articles, and Taborsky would be a good candidate given that he is very frequently referred to by the nickname of "Mad Dog." But I do think that's worth considering.

At the same time, Taborsky's notability comes largely from the fact that he was sentenced to death on two separate occasions, executed on the second death sentence, and, until 2005, was the subject of Connecticut's final execution. (He was also the final person executed in the state before Furman v. Georgia (1972), which affords him SOME notability, although this isn't universal to most states' final pre-Furman executions – for example, see Georgia, Louisiana, or Mississippi for 3 states off the top of my head where their last pre-Furman executions were never and will never be notable enough to justify Wikipedia articles or sustained coverage, while states like Pennsylvania or New Mexico had massive press events around their final pre-Furman executions despite those cases likely no longer standing the test of time re: their sustained notability).

During my time heavily editing/rewriting the article, I'll keep the renaming in mind; I think I'll frame it in a way where it can be easily converted to fall under an alternate name that respects the victims before acknowledging Taborsky. In its current state, I don't think a renaming is appropriate yet... but I also don't think the article is appropriate remaining in its current state either. Thank you for bringing this up, though! Afddiary (talk) 03:15, 19 April 2025 (UTC)