[WikiEN-l] Borderline notable bios (yes, again)

[Erik Moeller]

On 7/14/06, Sue Reed <sreed1234 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> While working on something completely different, I came across the page for
> [[Eric_the_Midget]].

You could call this "Sterncruft" (SCNR). There's a lot of it on WP. Of
course, the crucial difference to Peppers is that Peppers did not
choose to become the object of ridicule and humiliation. Some Internet
idiots chose to make him theirs.

That being said, if Peppers did indeed become notable (and the book
Anthony pointed to might be one example of increasing notability),
then we should try our best to write an NPOV article about him. I
think Jimmy made a reasonable general proposal earlier in this thread:

> I personally think, and would vote this way if I were voting, that
> factors like:
>
> ...does the borderline notable subject ask not to have a bio? (Angela)
> ...does a mature respect for human dignity of a borderline notable
> person suggest that a bio is not needed? (Brian Peppers)
> ...is Wikipedia horribly naval-gazing at times? (Jeremy Rosenfeld, Brian
>Chase)
> ...can and should all matter, and be taken into account by people
> commenting at AfD.

When a person stops being borderline and becomes obviously notable,
these principles no longer apply. Whether it is or isn't a borderline
case is for us to figure out on a case by case basis -- perhaps we can
eventually come up with some reasonable general principles (e.g. "only
known on the Internet", "only known by a clearly identifiable group of
people", etc.).

Erik