- Susan Boyle (talk|edit|history|logs|links|watch) (article|XfD|restore)
The following is a truism on Misplaced Pages: The notability guideline is only a presumption; no matter how many reliable secondary sources are shown to exist, an article still has to meet all other applicable policies in order for it to be allowed to exist here. All relevant policies are up for debate in an Afd, in this case the policy regarding when we include articles on people known for one event (BLP1E for short).
The major issue I have with Admin Rootology (talk · contribs)'s closing as keep is that in the Afd, many people made good arguments to merge/delete the article, based on the fact that the notability bar had not been passed to justify a BLP1E type article. He rejected these apparently because:
- the article is not harmful to a living person, therefore BLP1E was not applicable
- the article is not solely about a single event, therefore BLP1E was not applicable
This was not an accurate reading of the Afd consensus or policy:
- multiple people were of the opinion that 1E was applicable here, irrespective of harm. Furthermore, the wording and intent of the BLP1E policy is just as much about not giving undue weight to 'fame in the moment' as it is about giving undue weight to harmful news reports. I think this departure from such an established policy is well outside the realms of admin discretion for correct closures.
- consensus on Point 2 in the Afd looks inconclusive at best, wikilawyering to get around 1E at worst. Combined with the error in point 1, it is not reasonable to accept admin discretion here on deciding the issue of whether consensus was that this was one event or not.
A major contributing issue leading to this review is Rootology's opinion that Consensus can change somehow gives users the option of reversing this keep decision if the hype surrounding the article dies down, by putting it up for Afd again in a few months. It does not. If the relevant policies don't change, then a nomination for deletion in 6 months or whatever violates the basic principle that Notability is not temporary. (Did he discount any keep votes of this form'?)
Other less important but still worrying issues with this closure were:
- Rootology's raising of other 1E Afd keeps as 'precedent' (how are they a precedent for interpreting 1E if 1E did not apply here?)
- Rootology's over weighting of pile on opinions from new users
- Rootology's rejection of merge as an outcome based on the idea that 'it would only be demerged eventually' (based on what?)
- Rootology's closing of the debate early, even after its early closure had been hotly disputed
MickMacNee (talk) 19:28, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Closer responses. Hello, I've written extensive responses to this AFD close, as can be seen in their entirety here on my talk page. I posted an even longer explanation of the thought process in the close specifically here and then here. As detailed in the links, I broke down paragraph by paragraph what my close meant, how I came to the conclusion, why I didn't think it was BLP1E, and even how I weighted different factors in my thinking, as seen here. I feel the close was in line with current practice, current normal policy interpretations, and in a pure reading of the consensus of the discussion. rootology (C)(T) 19:52, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Comment It is true that in the case of BLP1E, the close needs to go beyond the usual !vote counting since many editors continue to conflate notable news coverage with encyclopedic notability and never seem to tire of pointing to google news counts or all the quality RS that exist to substantiate coverage. We struggled mightily to get the BLP1E in place in order to counter this systematic bias and the inevitable pile-on of keeps from editors who succumb (understandably perhaps) to this kind of conflation. This does seem like a classic 1E issue, the individual's prominently absent pulchritude mitigated by her singing talent being the main storyline here, at least in the British media. Eusebeus (talk) 19:48, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close the notability guideline is not a policy, as it states, it should be "treated with common sense and the occasional exception". At present the exceptional level of press and public interest in this topic more than justify us making such an exception. As to the BLP policy, the idea that Susan Boyle "essentially remains a low-profile individual" and that we should not therefore have an article on her is, in my opinion, completely risible. Although I agree with some of Rootology's arguments and disagree with others, I'm therefore perfectly happy with his final decision. Tim Vickers (talk) 19:52, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse. Clearly no consensus to delete. WP:BLP1E applies only to people who "are not generally well known", which in the case of this singer is patently no longer the case; also, it is evidently she who is at the center of the coverage, not the singing event. Sandstein 20:07, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close: I really don't understand the point of this DRV. Consensus was clear, policy and guidelines were explained, and the closing was extensively documented which clearly justified the closing decision. An essay that comes to mind in this case is: WP:STICK. Let's please put this behind us, and move on to building an encyclopedia. — Ched : ? 20:11, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Leave this article alone, and get on with your lives already: I completely disagree with re-opening this ridiculous discussion of deleting this article. It is absurd to delete it. If a few people fail to understand that thousands, if not millions, of people are coming to Misplaced Pages to read what is already shaping up to be an informative and well-written article, then I don't know what else to say to you.Nightmareishere (talk) 20:21, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure per WP:STICK. Stifle (talk) 20:26, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close: This discussion is a silly waste of time. IP75 (talk) 20:30, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- 'Endorse closure' Root's closure was improper and his weighting of pile-on keeps horrible and against consensus, but even if properly closed and judged it wouldn't have changed the outcome, so there's no point in producing more drama. --Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs 20:32, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close - per WP:COMMONSENSE. This is just a case that is going to keep going round in circles until the deletionists get their way. It is in the best interests of WP not to let this happen. Jenuk1985 | Talk 20:35, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse. - I think this is a borderline BLP article and therefore we should lean toward keeping it. We can all see why the article should be deleted as per the guidelines, but we also cannot deny the fact that she caused quite a stir in less than 7 days and that alone probably warrants an article. From past experiences we can also use some common sense, it is obvious that she will release an album or two, and, in time, that will make her notable enough, so why remove an article that will almost certainly have to be re-created later? FFMG (talk) 20:48, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse. I don't think BLP1E was ever intended to apply to people who actively sought publicity. The reason for the policy to exist is to prevent individuals' privacy from being invaded when there is no good reason for it. In this case, the subject has actively sought publicity, so I do not feel the policy is relevant. Notability is more than demonstrated by the huge number of reliable sources discussing the subject. Besides, even if BLP1E does apply here, it is worth noting that the requirement as stated there is to cover the event not the person, not to delete the article. In this case, this would be achieved simply by renaming the article to Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent, an action which does not require deletion of the article. Some minor rephrasing of the article would be required in consequence, but little if any actual content would need to be deleted. JulesH (talk) 21:01, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Keep - article should be kept. This person is quite famous today and will eventually become more famous. Many singers are in Misplaced Pages. Green Squares (talk) 20:52, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Keep applying the ten year test, the massive scale of Miss Boyle's notoriety, however sudden, tells me that ten years from now, there will be a Misplaced Pages article on her, regardless of what we do today. Dlabtot (talk) 21:00, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse keep - topic has achieved significant media coverage. Even if some arguments for keeping were weak, notability has been proven now. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:04, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- I would have wanted to delete per 1E had I known about the AFD, but in reading over the discussion, it was clear that consensus was to keep, so endorse closure. --Kbdank71 21:10, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure: Listen, let's be realistic: if we were talking about a stub here the merge idea might make sense. However at this point (and at the point the AfD was closed) the Susan Boyle article is easily more than three times the size of the Britain's Got Talent (series 3) article into which it would merge. No sooner would that merge take place than someone would holler that there was enough information on Susan Boyle to warrant her being broken off into her own article. That's just the kind of tail-chasing that occurs around here. cf: US Airways Flight 1549 almost immediately spawned the Chesley Sullenberger article. There are 52 references (to date) at the Boyle article and 13 in Britain's Got Talent. A merge in this case doesn't make sense.J. Van Meter (talk) 21:12, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse - There was clearly no consensus to delete, and no consensus defaults to keep. –Juliancolton | 21:15, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- endorse closure - adaquate notability for talent, not just the one TV appearance. --Rocksanddirt (talk) 21:28, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Keep Article What is the point of this debate ? Susan Boyle is famous today, she will be famous 10 years from now and she will be famous 20 years from now. Next week, she will be on the Oprah Winfrey show, later this year she will be bringing out her first album. Hollywood Stars, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are lining up to meet her. Patti LuPone phoned her. The number of people who have seen her on You Tube and other file sharing video sites is approaching 40 million. Thousands of people come on Misplaced Pages just to read her article. She easily satisfies all of Misplaced Pages's notability requirements. This entire debate is a total waste of time and space. Tovojolo (talk) 21:35, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Are you psychic? Having watched 6 seasons of American Idol, I know that
no one very few really find true success on a reality show (a post-show successful singing career is not a guarantee). But these future predictions are clearly off the point. --Falastine fee Qalby (talk) 22:03, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Not even Jennifer Hudson ? My word, you're a hard man to satisfy. But then American Idol, etc. are not reality shows. They are talent contests. And talent contests have acted as the springboard for many successful showbiz careers. Even without the benefit of psychic powers, I can confidently predict that this will continue to be true. -- Derek Ross | Talk 23:17, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Firstly, let's not assume everyone here is male. Secondly, Jennifer Hudson is more famous for her acting than she is for her singing (name her biggest hit). Susan Boyle has a nice singing voice but not an amazing one, if she looked like Leona Lewis or Kelly Clarkson, she wouldn't have received this attention. But again, I don't want to continue to debate talent or likelihood for success. So let's keep this out of the DRV.--Falastine fee Qalby (talk) 23:27, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure. No foreseeable likelihood for deletion with two more days and the AfD flag on the page under these circumstances must seem odd to the 180,000 (not counting today) visitors - Why is WP deleting an article that I came specifically here to learn about? -hydnjo (talk) 21:40, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Comment, with a consensus this clear, I strongly recommend a WP:SNOW close. Tim Vickers (talk) 21:50, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure. There is an overwhelming consensus in favor of keeping the article, and rightly so. Boyle is a household name in the United States, Britain, and doubtless many other countries around the globe. The videos of her BGT performance that are on YouTube have been viewed a total of over 25 million times. After she appears on the Oprah Winfrey Show, her album is released, and it goes to No. 1 in the United States (as Simon Cowell has predicted, and quite plausibly), she will be even more famous, and hence more notable. She is probably better-known than 99% of the people in Misplaced Pages. It is crazy that we are even debating this. Get real. Krakatoa (talk) 21:52, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Are you being sarcastic? -Falastine fee Qalby (talk) 22:21, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure. Unreal. Unreal. A classic moment in the history of Misplaced Pages, this. Are you serious? Moncrief (talk) 22:25, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse I voted delete in the AFD because it seems to be the sensible thing to do when you have a biography for a person whose only claim to fame is a single appearance on a talent contest reality tv show. I didn't know who Susan Boyle is until I came across the AFD. But I guess I didn't understand the magnitude of her sudden popularity until now. I would vote keep. Though these comments on how brilliant Boyle is and how she is one of the most famous people who is going to have decades of success is just a mockery of the process. We are not here to debate whether she is so awesome to deserve an article, stick to arguing policy.--Falastine fee Qalby (talk) 22:34, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure. So WP:BLP1E is broke. How about fixing that rather then have a go at this closure. At least the closure here has good clear reasoning. How many closure are given no reasons? Answer:Too many. Endorse closure irrespective of other broken parts of wiki. SunCreator (talk) 22:41, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure. She is now famous and notable. There really is NO argument here. It is not about what one individual editor believes about a topic or an article. The consensus is to close the debate and keep the article is undeniably clear. As someone stated above she is more famous than 99% of the folks that Misplaced Pages covers right now. End the debate already.--InaMaka (talk) 22:41, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure Clearly there was no consensus for deletion. What else is there to be said? --Escape Orbit 22:48, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse closure It's crystal clear that there was no consensus to delete. This review stinks of WP:IDONTLIKEIT--RadioFan (talk) 22:53, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- I think it's pretty clear that any admin wandering by could close this now. WP:SNOW seems pretty obvious, even if it touches on IAR. Me close it? ... naaaa... not with a 10 foot pole. ;) — Ched : ? 23:09, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close Proper close. MBisanz 23:54, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close per Root's detailed explanation on the AfD. Good close.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 00:56, 18 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close Both sides of the debate had good arguments backed by policy, but when the keep arguments are as backed in policy as the delete arguments are, I think a keep is a natural end-result. Besides, Rootology's extremely well-thought out closure statement explained the reasoning for the keep closure more thoroughly than many closure statements I've seen, so I see no policy-based reason to overturn the closure. Raven1977My edits 01:10, 18 April 2009 (UTC)
- Endorse close; keep article. Subject is clearly notable, not borderline in any way; and there's nothing contentious about the article. SlimVirgin 01:20, 18 April 2009 (UTC)
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