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Levi Johnston

Levi Johnston (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) (delete) – (View log)

In brief: BLP . A7. 1E.

A redirect which existed in this namespace was deleted due to Rfd. Article was created in same space, then deleted by me as a BLP violation; subsequent discussion on the drv indicates editors would prefer a full afd. From BLP not a tabloid paper from the intro should cover it, but also read Presumption in favor of privacy, and WP:1E: "Misplaced Pages is not a newspaper. The bare fact that someone has been in the news does not in itself imply that they should be the subject of an encyclopedia entry. Where a person is mentioned by name in a Misplaced Pages article about a larger subject, but essentially remains a low-profile individual, we should generally avoid having an article on them." Given that this individual was deemed, by Rfd, to be only possibly barely notable enough for a redir if his name remained at Public image of Sarah Palin#Teen pregnancy in Misplaced Pages:Redirects for discussion/Log/2009 March 13, he's not notable. Johnston is not 1E, he's 1E once removed, as Bristol is the 1E (no article on her due to 1E as well.) Arbcom has instructed that "Administrators are authorized to use any and all means at their disposal to ensure that every Misplaced Pages article is in full compliance with the letter and spirit of the biographies of living persons policy. Administrators may use the page protection and deletion tools as they believe to be reasonably necessary to effect compliance." then clearly deletion in a BLP context is an appropriate choice. Those who read the Special enforcement on biographies of living persons linked to will note that appeals to actions taken under that provision are to go through ANI or appeal to the committee; as there is clearly disagreement whether this was a BLP violation or not (as evidenced by the Drv) I waive any such process-wonkery and strongly urge those tempted to indulge in that kind of irrelevant minutia to also ignore that proviso and approach this as a plain vanilla Afd.

Further, as the article made zero claims of notability (I consider calling Johnston a "celebrity father" intensely bad writing, not a claim of notability) it also qualifies under A7. Finally, as a side note, the article is in the space of a redir which had been deleted due to the nn of the subject, it seems unlikely the subject is actually notable enough for an entire article - which contains the date of the child's birth, which has been removed elsewhere as violating privacy of a minor; this makes the article a coatrack for trying to get that irrelevant detail in past those watching the Palin family of articles. The article also highlighted Johnston's "I don't want kids" and "I'm a f - - -in' redneck... Ya f - - - with me I'll kick ass" from his MySpace, which he took down the minute the news media found it, which is precisely the kind of thing BLP protects him from having to endure - his old bs comments on MySpace should not haunt him forever, and he clearly doesn't want them public or he wouldn't have taken them down. As an OTRS volunteer, I would certainly remove should someone open a ticket requesting such youthful folly be expunged, as it is not news, not relevant, and is embarrassing. Misplaced Pages is not a gossip column, with nothing better to do than embarrass people over trivial details of their past. Add it all up, and there is zero reason to have this article on WP and quite a few not to.

My preferred outcome: Delete article, replace with Redirect to Public image of Sarah Palin#Teen pregnancy where Johnston's mention has remained stable. KillerChihuahua 13:41, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Note: This debate has been included in the list of Living people-related deletion discussions. —Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 16:30, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• delete per nom Ucanlookitup (talk) 13:51, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Delete and Replace With Redirect. The alleged notability of Levi Johnston is based on the fact that he is the ex-fiance of Bristol Palin. Bristol Palin's alleged notability is based on being a child of Sarah Palin. There is currently no article for Bristol Palin. See WP:Tabloid. The sole, single, solitary event for which this person is allegedly notable seems to be the impregnation of the daughter of someone famous. Tabloid journalism continues to be fascinated with that event, which is fine, but does not justify a Misplaced Pages article.Ferrylodge (talk) 13:52, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep Levi Mr. Johnston has been the subject of many stories and interviews about him and his life. Privacy issues certainly are not a concern as he has appeared in several national media interviews. In September there was not much information or independent notability for Levi Mr. Johnston, but there is now. TharsHammar and 14:10, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Again I quote WP:1E: "Misplaced Pages is not a newspaper. The bare fact that someone has been in the news does not in itself imply that they should be the subject of an encyclopedia entry" Your keep argument has been refuted in the nomination. Further, you are not addressing the primary concern: this article is being used to circumvent protection of minors and BLP policy. KillerChihuahua 14:24, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Who is a minor here? Levi Mr. Johnston is 19, Bristol Ms. Palin is 18. If the article is not up to standards then work to bring it up to such standards, or protect the article. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Also your 1 event argument does not hold, as he has surpassed the 1 event. The 1 event was getting Bristol Ms. Palin pregnant. That first brought him into the news, but his actions since, and the coverage of those actions since has expanded his notability beyond 1 event to such events as the Tyra interview, and the future tell-all book. TharsHammar and 14:45, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  The infant. As I said in the nomination, the article contains the date of the child's birth, which has been removed elsewhere as violating privacy of a minor; this makes the article a coatrack for trying to get that irrelevant detail in past those watching the Palin family of articles KillerChihuahua 14:52, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Or that's what it might make it for some editors; I'm puzzled by the way in which both you and Collect are so certain that the article is, or would be, a coatrack for this or that. Johnston might not be at all "notable" in WP terms (I haven't yet decided) but if he's 19 he's no longer a minor. I'm also a little puzzled by the repeated use of "Levi" in the nomination. Of course, there's no rule against your calling him this, but I can't help wondering whether it's an attempt to make him seem younger than he is and more helpless than his apparent eagerness for TV exposure would suggest. -- Hoary (talk) 15:56, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Johnston is an adult, however immature an example. The minor in question is the infant (Johnston and Palin's child). My use of "Levi" cascaded from using "Bristol" to differentiate her readily from Sarah Palin; however, you are correct that MoS and common practice is to use last names. I have edited the nom accordingly. KillerChihuahua 16:07, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Remember Mr. Johnston is a living person, and as such we should try to avoid derogatory snide labeling such as "immature". Thanks. TharsHammar and 16:15, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Implying that Johnston might be immature in an Afd discussion neither attacks him unduly, nor is this articlespace. IMO, anyone who appears on Tyra Banks and Larry King to discuss his sex life with his teenage girlfriend stands an excellent chance of being damn immature, but that's just my opinion. Yours may vary. KillerChihuahua 16:18, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  IMO, just about the whole of the US infotainment industry is damn immature; but that little (underinformed) observation aside, the impression I got from the Guardian pieces I cited below was that Johnston likes to talk about parenthood, shooting animals, etc, but is far less enthusiastic than Larry King is to talk about sex. In another of my opinions, great swathes of WP readers are damn immature, what with their apparently unslakable thirst for details of, uh, well, I'd better not supply flamebait here; but anyway a de facto principle of WP seems to be that it should allow interested writers to serve up suitably sourced, earnest articles about utter trivia because to deny this expository urge would be elitist. -- Hoary (talk) 16:44, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Delete A clear BLP1E case if ever there was one. And the material about the child violates WP policy about non-noptable minor cildren. Being a hunter and hockey player is definitely not close to any assertion of real notability. The entire topic is a coatrack to connect sexual abstinence as an issue with the out-of-wedlock birth of a child and Sarah Palin. Since the only real assertion of notability is the Palin connection, this does not warrant a BLP ab initio. WP does not in general carry biographies of teenage parents and include full name and birthdate of a minor child who has zero notability asserted by anyone. In addition the use of a "colorful" quote which is no longer available is a clear violation of BLP where the aim is to get a biography right, not to insert irrelevant defamatory material. The interviews, as they are connected to that child, do not convey any additional notability past the child -- which means that BLP1E is still an issue. Interviews directly connected with the "single event" do not constitute a "second event." Collect (talk) 14:19, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Please clarify: delete outright, or replace with the suggested Redir, or have you an alternate Redir suggestion? Thanks - KillerChihuahua 14:26, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Glad to. If his name is mentioned in another article or articles, a redirect to any such articles is valid, even if it requires a disambiguation page to allow the seeker to determine which article is most likely to contain what he or she is looking for (I am presuming that none of the pages contains a lot of biographical information). By the way, I think this is likely a good idea for articles which appear as redlinks in multiple articles - a number of people are redlinked in many articles even though they do not have an article of their own. Collect (talk) 14:41, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Strong Keep A celebrity with extensive continuing coverage 8 months past 15 minutes - per references in article. Though the article, as is, needs to be expanded to reflect this time period. Thanks. Ism schism (talk) 14:37, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Multiple articles about one event is still one event. KillerChihuahua 15:14, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Keep' While he used to be a prime candidate for BLP1E, that is simply no longer the case. His latest media blitz has received significant coverage in reliable sources times 100. He was initially famous for the pregnancy, but has now become one of those annoying people who is famous for being famous, as he seeks out all the media coverage he can get. The sources have been piling up for 8 months, and we now need to cover such a notable situation. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 14:50, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Multiple articles about one event is still one event. KillerChihuahua 15:14, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Comment seems quite unnotable to me. But not only is he a minor obsession of the tabloids and of tabloid TV, this very obsession on their part seems to be making him into a minor star in, say, the Guardian: "the Good Morning America interview provides more evidence of Johnston's admirable levelheadedness in the midst of national media hyperventilation" (this article); "During a bizarre exchange, King asked to see the 'Bristol' tattoo on Johnston's finger. King asked Johnston why he got the tattoo" etc etc ad nauseam (here). Collect writes: Being a hunter and hockey player is definitely not close to any assertion of real notability. I strongly agree, but I must always concede that real notability and WP-determined "notability" are two very different things. Collect continues: The entire topic is a coatrack to connect sexual abstinence as an issue with the out-of-wedlock birth of a child and Sarah Palin. Yeah, possibly. I don't know. I'm puzzled by Collect's certainty. It's not at all obvious that this is the interest of the Guardian, in which (I think) Johnston is shown as a stolid sort around whom Larry King and the like make asses of themselves (and a decent contrast to Steve Schmidt). Of course this too would hardly be a reason for an article on Johnston, but to me it suggests that an interest in him can be independent of an interest in his kid's granny. ¶ A "celebrity"? Well, yes, as I understand the term to mean somebody who's famous for being famous. A "media blitz"? What does this mean in plain English? -- Hoary (talk) 14:53, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  When I say media blitz, I mean his latest round of interviews. He's basically been going on any talk shows that will have him, and for whatever reason, some shows with huge audiences are allowing him on. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 15:10, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Keep- he's a putz, but he's become a notable putz, and for more than 1 event. Umbralcorax (talk) 14:54, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Multiple articles about one event is still one event. Do you know of even one other event? At all? KillerChihuahua 15:14, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  • Yeah, this recent round of publicity seeking that is abetted by people like Larry King. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 15:24, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Was that to me? In which case, I repeat: multiple articles (or appearances) about one event is still only one event. Is he on Larry King because he found the cure for cancer or some other new thing, or because he impregnated Bristol Palin, which is the one thing? KillerChihuahua 15:33, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Delete, BLP1E. Misplaced Pages is not a tabloid newspaper. Let him be. Stifle (talk) 15:28, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep - BLP1E explicitly states it is for a person "who essentially remains a low-profile individual." It was created for the protection of private individuals who have no interest in being public figures but find themselves in the news; i.e. "Peoria Man Accidently Mows Off Own Foot." This isn't August 2008 anymore. Someone who has been covered extensively by reliable sources all over the world consistantly for over eight months (it would be willful ignorance to assume coverage will suddenly stop), willingly appear on Larry King Live, the Tyra Banks Show, the Early Show, etc. is not by any definition "low profile." Some people might not like the reasons this person became famous, but that doesn't change the fact this person is now very high profile.--Oakshade (talk) 16:15, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep - BLP issues should be dealt with by removing specifically libelous content, not deleting entire articles. Misplaced Pages is not a tabloid, but tabloid figures often still meet the threshold of notability. This is a silly situation, which smart people recognize shouldn't be covered by the mainstream media, but it unfortunately is, which makes it notable. If it's on CNN -- and it's not just a brief story, but an ongoing story that's repeatedly covered (which isn't covered under WP:Tabloid), it seems to be notable. There's plenty of sources that could be used. ☯  Zenwhat (talk) 16:26, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

  Yeah, actually, it is. "Unless news coverage of an individual goes beyond the context of a single event, our coverage of that individual should be limited to the article about that event, in proportion to their importance to the overall topic.". Johnston got Palin pregnant; that's the event. There's no "ongoing" development, and if you're arguing that there is, the "ongoing" event is either Johnston still talking about impregnating his girlfriend, and/or an infant who is not only not notable, the child is covered by our protection of minors policy. Presumption of privacy applies heavily with an infant, and there is no other thing Johnston has done. KillerChihuahua 16:40, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Four events: 1) Bristol gets pregnant during the election 2) Levi breaks off the engagement and claims Sarah Palin knew they were having pre-marital sex 3) Sarah Palin calls Levi a liar. 4) Levi does a long list of interviews, which people speculate are for self-promotion, which the media helps him with because it's a slow news-week... A possible fifth event is their recent remarks about abstinence. The story has been going on for a few months now. Coverage doesn't continue without new ongoing developments. We might personally consider those ongoing developments to be stupid or trite, but that is a subjective, personal opinion which has no impact on Misplaced Pages policy. ☯  Zenwhat (talk) 19:38, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• You clearly don't understand WP:BIO, which will tell you what is notable and what is not. That's not four events: that's gossip about the guy who got Bristol Palin pregnant, and is a clear violation of BLP. Breaking an engagement is not noteworthy. Calling someone a liar is not noteworthy. Getting someone pregnant isn't either, and we never would have even heard of him except that he happened to get the daughter of a notable person pregnant. Notable is wrote a best selling book; decorated by three governments; won the Nobel prize; award winning architect. None of what you've listed is even on the scale of "notable". KillerChihuahua 19:54, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Delete WP:BIO1E and WP:Tabloid. One notable thing in his life, at most. Hekerui (talk) 16:28, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep, per Oakshade and Zenwhat. While I don't personally find either him or Bristol Palin particularly interesting, they've both apparently become pseudo-pundits in the abstinence/sex-ed debates (first I've heard of it, but the sources I clicked speak for themselves on that). Not really sure BLP1E applies, since they're obviously not interested in preserving their own privacy, and this isn't a situation where someone is writing an article about themselves or a close friend. They do seem notable enough that someone might want to look them up on Misplaced Pages to see what the hubbub is about. --SB_Johnny | 16:37, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Delete per WP:BLP1E. Not a public figure outside of this one incident. Somewhat bizarrely, Bristol Palin, who I would argue now is, has her article redirect to Sarah Palin. If she's not considered notable enough for an article, there's no way that he should be. Rebecca (talk) 16:43, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
  • Bristol should have her own page, in my opinion. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 16:48, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Keep. This may have been a borderline one had he not started doing interviews himself. There is an abundance of sourcing and even he seems to think he's notable enough for mainstream media interviews so all that remians here is regular editing which is not a reason to delete. With Palin a likely 2012 presidential forerunner - or possibly VP candidiate again it's hard to see this guy fading into obscurity. -- Banjeboi 16:54, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Keep. A few counters. There reason there is no Bristol Palin article is because the article space has been protected using admin tools to prevent an article from being created. If it wasn't there would be an article, so that doesn't provide a counter argument. The one incident is ridiculous. There were multiple instances involving pregnancies, campaign appearances, a public breakup (essentially divorce), and public debates over US educational birth control policies. Further even if one incident is the problem, Lee Harvey Oswald is a good counter to 1 incident can be enough. He is a person with much much higher name recognition than most people covered on wikipedia and tons of RSes. Finally, articles shouldn't be nominated for AFD after 2 weeks of existence. There is no reason not to wait and see how this article develops. The article shows strong signs of rapid improvement. I would endorse a policy on the talk page of the article banning the myspace content from being mentioned. jbolden1517 17:10, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Keep Massive notability and still making news. The subject is not low profile and, if it matters, the topic is covered in broadsheets too. Colonel Warden (talk) 17:18, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep He's seeking publicity, and getting it, and I see no "event" here; rather he's notable because of his tangled relationship with a family that is going to remain in the public eye for a long time, generating ongoing nonesense -- but the kind of nonesense that this encyclopedia is filled with.Bali ultimate (talk) 17:27, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep. Advocates for deletion keep saying "one event, one event, one event" -- a clear misreading of the record. He impregnated Bristol Palin. Was that the end of it? Absolutely not. The Palin campaign sought to spin the unwed pregnancy into a positive, by emphasizing that the couple would get married. For that reason he was displayed prominently during the campaign. Furthermore, after the election, there was a highly publicized breakup. The couple ended their engagement, which was seen as undermining Palin's "family values" cred. Even more important, Johnston went on national TV and gave an interview stating, among other things, that Governor Palin -- the de facto leader of the Republican Party's powerful social-conservative wing -- had known that he and Bristol were having sex. Palin considered that interview important enough to get out a prompt statement denouncing Johnston as a liar. By virtue of all these events, he's become a notable figure. JamesMLane t c 17:40, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep The basic criteria for notability are more than met:

A person is presumed to be notable if he or she has been the subject of published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject.

• If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may be needed to prove notability; trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may not be sufficient to establish notability.
• Primary sources may be used to support content in an article, but they do not contribute toward proving the notability of a subject.

Also in case no one noticed it's NOT WP:ONEEVENT, he's becoming increasing notable, not less, with deeper coverage including full-length interviews. Drawn Some (talk) 17:45, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Preferably Merge somewhere - while I accept Johnston has now become notable, I still don't think there's much to say about him, and the idea of keeping this article while not having one on Bristol Palin would seem a bit odd. Personally, I'd like to see them both covered in an article called something like Family of Sarah Palin (by analogy with Family of Barack Obama, which also contains subsections on people not fully notable enough for their own articles). However, assuming that isn't possible here, my second choice would be Keep. Things have changed from when this article was last considered back in 2008 (and I argued to delete it); he was a BLP1E then, but he's not now. That doesn't mean this information wouldn't be better presented as part of a longer, more general article, though. Robofish (talk) 17:50, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't understand the reluctance to give him an article when you say he's notable. (Sorry to pick on you, you're not the only one thinking like this.) It is very conceivable to me that one day Bristol Palin will be known only as the daughter of a failed VP candidate and the mother of the very notable Levi Johnston's love-child. I don't particularly care for this kind of celebrity but let's decide whether or not he should have an article based on facts and guidelines and policy and consider him as an individual and not on the basis of his relationship to other people. Drawn Some (talk) 18:16, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

• Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politics-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 18:36, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
• Keep: Johnston has become significant both for knocking up Sarah Palin's daughter and for his advocacy for safe-sex practices. I don't think this is really a WP:BLP1E, situation, but even if it were, the guideline does not say to delete the article, but rather to do a merge and redirect of the information with the article about the event for which he is notable. If that's the case, then someone needs to get to work on Impregnation of Bristol Palin.

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