On Nov 9, 2006, at 11:36 PM, Jimmy Wales wrote:
I am sure they do, but even for most of the losing contestants on American Idol, there is basically no information about them after their 15 minutes of minor minor minor fame is over. For the winners, yes, there is often a lot of ongoing press coverage as their careers take off or flop. For some of the losers clever or stupid enough to do something outrageous to get more press coverage, there is also ongoing press coverage.
Not that I think this is a good idea necessarily, but...
Intro Paragraph
==Biography==
Phrased in terms of "The show presented Mr. Wales as a..."
==Audition Process==
Mr. Wales auditioned with "If I Were a Rich Man" from "Fiddler on the Roof," to the delight of judges X and Y. Z, on the other hand...
==In the competition==
Discussion of what they sang, quotes to the media coverage of the show at the time as well as the judges comments giving a sense of the judgment of how it was, were they in the bottom three, etc.
==Elimination==
Self-evident. Don't forget to mention if he cried!
==After Idol==
Any information on their post-Idol careers, drawn from varieties of "Where are They Nows," later media features, etc.
That's a non-stub article that would be drawn entirely from verifiable sources, and could be done on pretty much any American Idol contestant. To someone who knows where to look, I'm sure it could be done for Filipino Idol.
Now, I think it's a stupid article to write. I look at someone who writes that and wonder why they can't go fix some of the articles that make Wikipedia into a bit of a joke on serious academic topics. But, you know, I have no inherent problem with the article. It's just not one of the first million I'd write.
I mean, there are topics that can never be destubbed in popular culture - red shirts in Star Trek, a lot of individual episodes (Which can have synopses, but often nothing else), etc. And there are topics that are utter and irredeemable trainwrecks - anything having to do with continuity or cannon. (Star Trek, Star Wars, and Babylon 5 are the three exceptions that I can think of to this. And adding to the aggravation is that these NEVER die in AfD) But this isn't one of them. And I think understanding what articles we really can't source or really shouldn't write is a key step in fixing popular culture.
-Phil