[Wikipedia-l] Entries for deletion.... issues from the Third World

[Mark Clements]

"David Monniaux" <David.Monniaux at free.fr> wrote in
message news:45A3923F.1010602 at free.fr...
> Walter van Kalken wrote:
>
> >The whole problem with the deletion process. Not just on the English
> >wikipedia, is that people who do not know anything about the subject get
> >to judge. So many times you will see reasonings like ... I do not know
> >about it so it isn't notable ...
> >
> "I've never heard about it (but I don't know the topic anyway) and I
> don't see it much on Google, therefore it's not notable."
>


There also seem to be a lot of "Ah! So-and-so thinks we should delete it,
and they've made a persuasive argument about it, so I'll add my vote to
their cause", without the voter doing any investigation of their own.
Perhaps a more structured AFD process, where people fill in table cells
would be a good move:

  Name
  Vote
  Reason for vote
  Evidence

e.g.
  HappyDog
  Delete
  Non-notable
  Found no evidence on Google.

Then at least we would know why any item is deleted and avoid lots of votes
from different people for the same reason.  E.g. if 50 people say
'non-notable' because it is not on Google, and 1 person says 'notable'
because it is in a prominenet textbook relating to the subject, then surely
it is notable.  Without seeing people's reasoning this will simply be 50 to
1, delete.

- Mark Clements (HappyDog)