[WikiEN-l] On reasons to keep a class of article, as a motivation for voting keep

Thu Sep 15 16:37:21 UTC 2005

SPUI writes:

"What if "keep all schools" is the reason the person is voting to keep?"

Then the editor making that claim (or indeed the mirror claim "delete,
there is nothing notable about a box with students") should have
convincing arguments to support his ambitious thesis.  Since the
propositions are not widely accepted on Wikipedia it's a somewhat weak
reason for keeping any particular school.  Surely it would be more
sensible to address the reason why *this* particular school article should
be kept, or to point out that since school deletion debates almost
invariably end in the article being kept (currently 87%) the proposition
that schools are *not* notable seems to be gathering such a lot of
counter-evidence that those proposing to delete a school article had
probably better have a good reason to support their request in the case of
this school--that they might argue that perhaps the school is a pre-school
in a country where such institutions are not regulated, or information
about the school is extremely difficult to verify
.

I don't want to start an argument about schools here, and I've moved on
from the schools debate after five months intensive involvement, so I
won't post any more on the subject.  I simply want to address SPUI's point
about wanting to keep a whole class of article on principle, and how one
should as a good Wikipedian seek to convince one's fellow editors that
there is some merit to one's views.