[WikiEN-l] Rampant Deletionism

Thu Nov 6 13:32:13 UTC 2003

Jimmy Wales <jwales at bomis.com> writes:

> I will have to say that without endorsing every last detail of what he
> said necessarily, I am firmly in agreement with Cunc on this one.

I agree in principle, too.  
But Cunc is being disingenuous, trying defend bad and non-encyclopedic
articles with warm words and fuzzy principles.

The pages he is defending on VfD with these arguments are:
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closings_and_cancellations_following_the_September_11%2C_2001_Terrorist_Attacks
which is (IMHO) an OK article, but also many articles about people whose only
claim to fame is that the died on 9/11.

Of these, cunc wrote (deeply speciously, I might add)
 "These are not tribute pages. They are encyclopedia entries. 
  Tribute pages are "This guy is great, we love him so much." We *do*
  encourage people to write entries on people who died in the Holocaust, WW2,
  Vietnam, Iraq, Israeli terrorist attacks, Oklahoma City bombing, etc"

Firstly, I don't believe the second sentence to be true.
Secondly, let me pick the first one from that list, and repeat it here in
full: http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Alvarado
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A victim of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. 

Tributes 

MY FRIEND ~ANTHONY ALVARADO~ WAS 31 YEARS OF AGE. HE LIVED IN THE BRONX WITH
HIS FAMILY.  ANTHONY WAS WHAT YOU COULD CALL A TRUE FRIEND, A GOOD SON, FATHER
AND BROTHER. HIS LIFE WAS CUT SHORT ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 BY SOME ONE WHO HAD
NO RIGHT TO TAKE HIS LIFE. ANTHONY LIKE ANYONE ELSE HAD IS UPS AND DOWNS, BUT
HE WAS A HARD WORKING MAN. ANTHONY HAD A CHILD TO TAKE CARE OF. BUT I KNOW
THAT ANTHONY IS NOW IN A MUCH BETTER PLACE AND THAT GOD HAS HIM IN HIS SWEET
EMBRACE.

ANTHONY, I NO LONGER HAVE YOU FACE TO FACE, BUT ONE THING I HAVE AND NO ONE
CAN TAKE FROM ME IS THE BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES YOU LEFT BEHIND.

I'LL ALWAYS LOVE AND REMEMBER YOU 

NAOMI AGUIRRE 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heres another (in full):
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_John_Keller
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph John Keller was a manager at the World Trade Center Marriott. 

He was killed while working in the World Trade Center in the September 11,
2001 Terrorist Attack.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And another : http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Michael_Williams
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Michael Williams was a bond salesman for Sandler O'Neill. He was engaged
to Jillian Volk, to whom he proposed on the lap Macy's Santa in December 2000. 

He was killed at age 24 in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack while
working on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

They are not *and never will be* good encyclopedia articles,
because the people they were about are no more notable than I am.
-- 
Gareth Owen
"I love the wikipedia, but sometimes I get the impression that certain people
 on this list are very bored, and so argue about something when there's really
 bugger all to argue about. Edit some articles, for god's sake." -- LP