User blog comment:Ryoung122/Bracketing of birth/death years/dates/@comment-25898958-20160505191456/@comment-258494-20160505225806

The format used by Wikipedia has changed over the years. The format used by Britannica also changes.

To me, I think a lot of people forget the intention of an "encyclopedia" is not to be a compendium of "current events", but a catalog of material that is worthy of being remembered. Not everyone deserves or needs or merits an article mention. For those that do, the idea is that "notability is not temporary". Because that is the case, we can expect that one day the person will pass away. Leaving a blank space is the style used by the World Almanac, for example, and also the GRG for WOP titleholders. Especially with a topic like this, where death is at least 50% likely within a year, a blank space makes it easier for the reader to quickly ascertain whether the person is "alive" (or thought to be alive/information not updated) or "deceased." It just makes more sense to have it that way.

Also, for the deceased people, we already use the format (xxxx-yyyy) without saying "born" and "died", so there's no need for that word, either.

Also, no need to revert the work of others. Right now, I want to hear what others have to say, but there's no need to revert either way as I do not feel consensus has been established in either direction (but even if it were, there's only a finite set of articles on "living" people...by the way, do we have a category for "living people"? If not, we should add one. Have fun, Richard!Ryoung122 (talk) 22:58, May 5, 2016 (UTC)