[WikiEN-l] "Reliable sources" guideline being treated as absolute policy

[Bryan Derksen]

Guy Chapman aka JzG wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:04:16 -0700, Bryan Derksen
> <bryan.derksen at shaw.ca> wrote:
>> There is no criterion for speedy deletion related to the absence of
>> references. Any article listed for speedy deletion on that basis should
>> simply be delisted.
> 
> Indeed.  Absence of any claim to validity is what is at issue, and the
> absence of any sources is one of the diagnostic factors.  very few
> sourced articles are flagged for A7.

But even then it's still not not a remotely _reliable_ diagnostic
factor. For example, if there were an article whose text consisted of:

"Marty McFoo was a German actor who won several national awards for his
portrayal of Julius Caesar on TV."

This article would be completely unreferenced, but nevertheless it
asserts the subject's notability just fine. It is therefore not
speedyable. If you're considering whether to speedy-delete something on
the basis of whether it contains an assertion of notability why not
simply look for whether there's an _assertion of notability_? It should
be easy to spot.

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