Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Famous Americans

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Courcelles (talk) 19:20, 29 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Famous Americans

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Found this while tidying up the History of the United States top-level category and while I'm sure the creator was well-intentioned...just...no. jengod (talk) 07:11, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete, impossibly huge and indiscriminate. After deletion, it may be a valuable redirect to Lists of Americans. Abductive (reasoning) 07:37, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why not keep it as a research aid? Real encyclopedias have them, why can't we? Purple backpack89 18:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete, and Template:Famous Americans as well. --Schuhpuppe (talk) 13:10, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States of America-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 15:20, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists of people-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 15:20, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Strong keep: It's a research aid designed for elementary school students who do reports on famous Americans, intended to direct them to the 30-40 Americans most likely to be reported on. Also, the nominator needs a better rationale than "just...no", it must be rooted in some policy. No policy is listed. Purple backpack89 16:13, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete This article is seriously flawed and lacking of information. There is no criteria for how the people on this list are selected, there is no reason why the people that were selected, were selected. Some information is wrong, including having Albert Einstein on the list. Although the list is correct in listing Einstein as a German-American, it means he is not the same as every one else on the list. He was not born in America, or in American territory. If the list is to be kept, drastic improvements such as adding more people famous Americans to the list, having criteria for what is necessary to be a famous American, and possibly changing the name of the article to Famous American Citizens. If changes are not made, this article should be deleted. Pr€mi€r~$h@wn (talk) 17:57, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Editor has been on this Wikipedia for only two days Purple backpack89 18:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Accusations of factual inaccuracy are just wrong. Where does it say in the criteria that you have to be born in America? It doesn't. Also, you can be an American citizen even if born in America, and contribute to the American way of life if not born in America. You missed Alexander Hamilton (St. Kitts and Nevis), Alexander Graham Bell (Scotland), and technically everybody born before 1776. The idea of the list is having 30-40 people who elementary school students are likely to write about, and if people need more information, they can go to the person's Wikipedia entry. Increasing the size of the list would decrease its navigability. Purple backpack89 18:14, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete - Wikipedia is not a directory, an indiscriminate collection of information or a textbook/teaching aid. No inclusion criteria; selecting one "famous American" over another "famous American" involves an editorial determination that the former is in some way or another more worthy of inclusion than the latter, which is original research. Schoolkids looking for someone to write about have any number of alternate avenues to locate them. Are You The Cow Of Pain? (talk) 19:15, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete because Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not a teaching aid, not a textbook. (policy). As User:Are You The Cow Of Pain? says above, choosing which Americans to include (and choosing an arbitrary number of 30-40) amounts to original research. (policy).--Beloved Freak 20:43, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could you point to which section? In what I've read of OR, I haven't been able to find the specific section that says creating lists like that is OR. You can put that on my talk page Purple backpack89 22:20, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It is OR because you are choosing who, amongst all the Americans with articles on Wikipedia, are "famous". In reply to your comment at my talkpage, I don't think one editor (ie. you) counts as a community. You created the list with this edit, and I don't see anyone agreeing with you at the article talkpage. If it's not OR, where are your references to reliable sources that back up your chosen criteria? I commend your efforts to improve Wikipedia and to help kids learn, but I think you're on the wrong track here.--Beloved Freak 22:32, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Are you saying that if three editors do it, it's OK, but not OK if only one does it? Purple backpack89 22:38, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No, I'm not saying that. Three editors can be wrong too. I just mentioned that because you mentioned at my talk page that it was "a community-chosen list with a community-chosen number of entries". I was just pointing out that one person is not a community.Anyway, I think that moving the list to Wikibooks per Metropolitan90's suggestion would be a good idea. Then your work wouldn't be lost, and I'm sure it would benefit someone. This is just not the right place.--Beloved Freak 10:20, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete. I understand why someone might want this article to exist somewhere, but it doesn't belong here on the English Wikipedia. There is a different place in the Wikimedia Foundation's world to write reference works for elementary school children: the Wikijunior namespace of the Wikibooks project. Therefore, as a second choice, if the article creator wants to have this transwikied to Wikijunior, I would recommend that that be done. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 22:42, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Page history has been imported to Wikijunior:Famous Americans. Adrignola (talk) 21:36, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Obviously created with the best of intentions, but I have to agree that Wiki is not a textbook. There are other more appropriate venues such as those mentioned above. AliveFreeHappy (talk) 23:32, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete This is a slippery slope that can lead to the creation of hundreds of articles on every single nationality. Likeminas (talk) 23:43, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That argument is fallicious...and what's wrong with creating hundreds of new articles, anyway? Purple backpack89 17:31, 24 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete scope too large; it's now at WJ anyway. Kayau Voting IS evil 01:38, 24 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. I actually like the idea but WP is not the place for it. Scope is ridiculous. --User:Woohookitty ^{Disamming fool!} 06:46, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.