Talk:Sergey Brin

"Early life and education" wording

Hi, I disagree with this reversal cuz 1) there's no consensus against including full name in the body section (a relevant discussion took place about one year ago) 2) since when should a body section be as concise as an infobox? 3) Brin is commonly described as "Russian" by reliable sources (so I don't see how the fact that he was born in Russia is "redundant" even in body). Pinging @Orga8, who made the reversal. Thanks, Thedarkknightli (talk) 01:54, 3 April 2026 (UTC) Edited for clarity at 18:34, 23 April 2026 (UTC)

1. In the discussion you linked, almost all participants agreed that MOS:SURNAME means that the full name should only be used in the lead, not in the body. If I'm not mistaken, only one editor disagreed.

2. Regarding conciseness: Here's the old version of the sentences in question:

Sergey Mikhailovich Brin was born into a Jewish family on August 21, 1973, in the Russian capital of Moscow. At the time, Russia, known as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union.

Here's the new version introduced by Orga8:

Brin was born on August 21, 1973, in Moscow, in the Soviet Union. He comes from a Jewish family.

Of course the text doesn't have to be as concise as the infobox, but I think the old version is overly verbose. All these details about Russia are not useful for our readers. Those who want more information about Moscow or the Soviet Union can click the links.

3. Regarding "Russian": I don't quite understand. Maybe you're saying that we should clarify that Brin is Russian. That's a reasonable point, but I think almost all of our readers know that Moscow is in Russia, so we don't really have to mention that. Also, not everyone born in Moscow is Russian, since lots of non-Russian people live in Moscow, so even if we mention that Moscow is in Russia, that doesn't say much about Brin. If you want to add Brin's Russian ethnicity, we could do that. We could simply say something like "Russian Jewish" instead of just "Jewish".

In conclusion: I agree with Orga8 that the new version is preferrable. But of course there's always room for improvement. (Orga8 is currently blocked for several weeks and can't reply.) — Chrisahn (talk) 21:15, 23 April 2026 (UTC)

OK, what about "Brin was born into a Russian-Jewish family in Moscow, the Soviet Union's capital."? Thedarkknightli (talk) 16:44, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

Great! — Chrisahn (talk) 16:54, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

We should probably keep the birth date in the sentence though. (That convention seems to be uncontroversial. Maybe we're a bit inconsistent in our treatment of the lead vs. the first section: In the lead, we mention the full name and and the birth date; in the first section, we only use the family name, but we keep the full birth date. But I still think that's a good choice.) — Chrisahn (talk) 16:58, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

Ref ideas

Brin is becoming more politically active ahead of the coming election. Lots of tea coming out in recent days/weeks that can be added throughout the article: [1] [2] [3]. If I have time, I would be happy to add them, but if others can do so before me, that would be great. InfiniteNexus (talk) 06:27, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

While the sources were all paywalled, it seemed evident they all have to do with the 'billionaire tax' proposition. His involvement in that one specific political matter seems to me to barely scrape the 'more politically active' threshold; he is more active, but in terms of his BLP, it's a single issue, not something that requires it being salted 'throughout the article'.

If the scope of the activities dramatically exceeds what was gleanable from their titles, then my take above may be incorrect; I'm happy to acknowledge that; if there are other non-paywalled sources that cover the details, I can come to a more informed opinion. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 18:37, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

I'm curious how you've been navigating your Wikipedia editing career without having access to paywalled articles, but anyway, archived copies of the articles can be found here: [4] [5] [6]. I'm paraphrasing the NYT when I say he's becoming more politically active: Mr. Brin, 52, long showed little interest in politics [...] But now, like so many other leaders in the traditionally liberal bastion of Silicon Valley, Mr. Brin has shifted to the right. Bloomberg describes the wealth tax as the "catalyst" for his newfound political action, but the NYT goes on to describe his involvement in the second Trump administration, the CA gubernatorial election, etc. There's also stuff about his "MAGA girlfriend", his apparent friendship with Newsom, and his prior political activity, which I noticed weren't in our article. InfiniteNexus (talk) 19:33, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

"I'm curious how you've been navigating your Wikipedia editing career without having access to paywalled articles" When I'm verifying cites myself, or adding archived sources when the original has gone 404, I go to archive.org, naturally. However, assuming in talk that other editors are subscribed to paywalled sources adds friction to the reader, not the writer. It just seems reasonable to either link to non-paywalled versions of sources on talk, or - as you did in this followup - provide greater context, which I thank you for. (note that all of the 'archive.today', 'archive.[country code], etc sites are are all deprecated, but obviously not precluded from use on talk pages).

The simple take is that Brin - along with others, billionaire and non-billionaire - are against the 'billionaire tax'. He's become active in that. That's the extent of it to my reading. I was unaware he was friends with Newsom; again, how much weight to assign to the friendship may or may not be relevant.

This largely seems to me to be about three sentences worth of content in the BLP. I'm unclear why it would be added 'throughout the article'. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 20:58, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Agree that his political involvement is very minor, not like Tom Steyer, even before his current gubernatorial run. ---Avatar317^(talk) 21:10, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

"Sergeybrin" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Sergeybrin has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 May 19 § Alanturing until a consensus is reached. 𝔅𝔦𝔰-𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔧𝔢𝔱𝔞? 18:50, 19 May 2026 (UTC)