[WikiEN-l] Process wonkery

[George Herbert]

On 9/24/06, Constantine Evans <constantine at evanslabs.org> wrote:
>
> Note that notability is not the policy. Verifiability is. Even if a
> school is notable "by default", as some claim, if there is no verifiable
> information about it, there should be no article.
>
> Guettarda wrote:
> > On 9/23/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On 23/09/06, Guy Chapman aka JzG <guy.chapman at spamcop.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> This is a hardened attitude formed by people on VFD as it was who
> >> wanted to delete all schools from Wikipedia below the notability level
> >> of Eton. That is: the process was pathological on both sides.
> >
> >
> > Quite frankly I am anything but a deletionist, but I think that a school
> > with 75 students and no other claim to notability doesn't deserve a
> > Wikipedia article
> >
> > So let's assume every school will be in Wikipedia on the same basis
> >> that every pissweak or even no-longer-existent hamlet in the US will
> >> remain. What can be done then?
> >>
> >> * Is existence enough? Evidently.
> >> * So we need proof of existence and basic verifiable information.
> >
> >
> >  There is a long-established tradition of notability for Wikipedia
> > articles.  We delete things that are non-notable.  People who say "all
> > schools are notable" aren't discussing an issue, they are espousing an
> > ideology.  Some people who home-school their children register a
> school.  By
> > that token, anyone home-schooling their children is notable enough for
> > inclusion, so the only barrier then is verifiability
> >
> > There should be enough for a stub at the very least. If you want to
> >> turn it into a list entry instead, the redirect needs to be in the
> >> appropriate place.
> >>
> >> If you're bringing this to wikien-l to re-fight the school deletion
> >> wars, you're probably not spending your time well.
> >
> >
> > You really shouldn't be calling the kettle black David ;)
> >
> > - d.
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Verifyability is not a problem; there are nationwide school databases out on
the Internet with the basic particulars, and in many cases fairly extensive
information, on every legitimate school nationwide.  Some of these are
things like US Department of Education annual reports, which are both
available on the web and available in printed form.  There are equivalents
from state Boards of Education as well.

This information is extremely widely available because parents use it in
selecting where they want to move to, based on educational strength, and
because public oversight of schools is a generally accepted positive thing.


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com