The vast majority of these topics I think would be better suited for a merge. As for Ms. Mateo, for example, I don't see why it wouldn't be more appropriate to say whatever there is to say about her in the Phillipine Idol article.
Because, for instance, if I'm searching for Mateo, I'm not looking for information on Phillippine Idol. I'm looking for information on her.
Merging *improves* these articles for that reason, but people seem to be offended by the suggestion that their pet topic doesn't deserve an independent article.
Is it worth improving one article by ruining 8?
I believe in splitting off articles only when you have to, when it wouldn't make sense not to, rather than independent articles as the default. Encouraging new writers to add to existing articles rather than start new ones may help.
Well, we both have very different feelings on this. I think more topics should be split off, not less. We have the ability to be specific, we should be using it, instead of creating a redirect on an article that is 95% irrelevant to the actual subject it's being redirected from. The Emmalina -> YouTube situation that's been crerated is an excellent example of this.
-Jeff