Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Eric Zaccar

Eric Zaccar

Eric Zaccar (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)

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A minor local playwright and musician. I don't believe this person meets the requirements of WP:BIO (and specifically WP:AUTHOR and WP:MUSIC). There are no reliable sources about the subject, and I can find very little about him. Even taking the unsourced article, all it asserts is that he's written some plays which have been performed by local groups; there's no indication any of these performances are notable, that the plays were reviewed by anyone, and certainly nothing like WP:AUTHOR's criterion that he is in any way an "important figure or is widely cited by their peers or successors." The only coverage at all I can find about him is a single NY Times local-section mention of his play (here) which has little detail about him, and some mentions of a jury trial of which he was foreman (here). His musical and photographic efforts appear to be of similarly marginal significance. So I don't believe he's anything other than a very minor local figure with no general relevance, influence, or importance, and so that it's inappropriate that Wikipedia have an article devoted to him. Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:55, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

• Qualifying what I said above, the Ken Starr play has been reviewed, but only in very very minor local publications and then only to a very small degree. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:28, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
• Delete – I was going to stick a {{PROD}} on this piece of vanispamcruftisement after putting some lipstick on it, but this works, too … there may be beau coup "references", but they don't amount to "significant coverage" as defined by WP:N. — 141.156.161.245 (talk) 19:47, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

• Keep The New York Post, the New York Times, and New York Newsday can hardly be called " very very minor local publications" as the user below has suggested. Eric Zaccar's work has been written about in all of those publications, and discussed at length on national major market radio programs, like Howard Stern, Joe Franklin and Joey Reynolds. Eric is listed as a prominant playwright and lyricist in Joseph Papp's Public Theater archives, and Mr. Papp was widely considered to be the most renowned theater producer of the latter half of the twentieth century. By all projections, Mr. Zaccar's upcoming feature film, WITHOUT HATE, is going to be a serious contender in the market. His plays have been produced all around New York City, and his last screenplay, ON THE OTHER SIDE, was produced as a feature film and distributed internationally. Though the user below seems to a gifted artist and photographer, he does not seem to be in New York, or the United States. I'm not sure exactly how he is receiving his information about an American writer, or why he seems to be on a personal vendetta against someone that he does not know, and knows little about. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dreamdesignernow (talk • contribs) 21:06, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Dreamdesignernow put this comment at the top of the page (so "the user below" means the nomination); I've moved it down to its place in the contemporaneous stream of comments -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:21, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

• • There isn't a shred of evidence for most of what you say in the article. The Post and Newsday mentions are tiny scraps on minor pages. The NY times story discusses the play, not Zaccar, and is in the local pages. The local pages of the times are like the local pages of any other US newspaper, and are no more evidence of notability than the same 3 column inches would be in the Sheboygan Press or the Duluth Tribune. None of these amounts to even a tiny review of a single play; one can hardly claim to be a noted playwright when no noted theatre critic has reviewed your play. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:26, 19 October 2009 (UTC)
• Delete Unless I am missing something, the only thing I can find on Google is Zaccar's comments following jury duty. I don't see anything about being a famous playwright. Warrah (talk) 02:37, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

• Keep Google again, Warrah. Of the thousand plus articles and pages that come up about Eric Zaccar, less than ten per cent of them deal with said jury trial. Of course, all of that should be changing soon. The buzz in the business is, Eric's new screenplay, Without Hate, based on the afore mentioned case, is in pre-production and should be a major motion picture, within the year. I've been around the New York theater and independent film scene for quite a while, and I can tell you that Eric is rather well known, and well regarded. If I have to vote, I'm obviously going to say keep the article! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Robroams (talk • contribs) 04:56, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Note that Robroams has no other contributions -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 09:02, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

• Comment – Sorry, Robroams, but this is not an election, so there is no "voting" (see How to discuss an AfD) … decisions are reached by consensus, and as you can see, the community is quick to recognize sockpuppets of blocked users … besides, "buzz" is no substitute for "significant coverage in reliable secondary sources that are independent of the subject" … just where are these alleged articles about him in New York Post and Newsday? We cannot just take your word that he "is rather well known, and well regarded" … it's all about verifiability, particularly when it comes to biographies of living persons. — 141.156.161.245 (talk) 10:36, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

It's not alleged. Eric's play, Starr's on Broadway, was plugged in the New York Post by Cindy Addams, a nationally renowned columnist, and Liz Smith, whose column was also syndicated to Newsday and many other papers. Look in the press clips section of starrplay.com or call the papers for verification, since you seem to have a lot of time to put into this. If Eric Zaccar is such an insignificant writer, why would they even mention him (and why are so many people spending so much time on this site, arguing about him)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Robroams (talk • contribs) 15:34, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

• Keep I'm part of the team that's producing the film, Without Hate, and I can tell you that the screenplay didn't come cheap. It's a truly brilliant piece of work that had twenty five actors, producers and industry people in the room stunned, at the first table reading. Eric was well known around New York for a long time, but his national, and dare I say international recognition are moments away.

The article should remain. If I was going to question anything it would be why a photographer and computer programmer, who doesn't seem to live on the same side of the world as Eric, is so obsessed with slandering a writer that he doesn't know, and doesn't know anything about. Actually, the photographer doesn't seem to live anywhere, or at least not anywhere that's apparent on his long, rambling web pages or many fragmented E-Mail addresses.

We still need Eric around for last minute rewrites, and I'd hate to think that we have to increase our budget to include bodyguards to protect him from a possible stalker. — Ariellamarie (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. The preceding unsigned comment was added at 15:59, 20 October 2009 (UTC) (UTC).

Why is it necessary for me to have commented about other articles? This is a subject that I care about, that I'm WELL INFORMED about, and that has a DIRECT IMPACT ON MY BUSINESS and my life. Again, one must question why this writer, that you don't know and that you call insignificant, has driven you to such a vengeful, venomous, arguably libelous attack. Then again, to prove liability, it would probably be necessary to find a mailing address, or even a valid E-Mail address to serve court papers to, somewhere on your many long, rambling web pages.

Again, I say keep the article! Get rid of the nasty comments. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ariellamarie (talk • contribs) 18:53, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

• Delete There's a lot of water between me and the subject of this article, but that doesn't mean I hate him or am disqualified from commenting. The comments above about 'other articles' are because we get a lot of people suddenly making a lot of noise about one particular subject, which they appear to be connected to, and then disappearing again. They mostly seem to think this is a voting situation. It isn't. The bold type Delete or Keep is just a marker, and should only be used once per account. Other remarks are 'Comments'. You are 'well informed' about this matter. Can you give some evidence of the notability of the subject - in terms of reliable third party sources? Please note that the new screenplay falls foul of one of our policies in terms of notability as it hasn't yet come out. If it were going to be a film by Spielberg, and there was good reliable evidence of this, yes - good case for notability. By a company that returns only 5 Google hits, 2 of which are their own site, I'm afraid not. As to the subject here, I can get a lot of ghits. The first 10 pages return nothing that I would consider up to our requirements. If you can provide what I couldn't find, please do. As to slander, there is none as this is written. Libel? I've looked carefully and can't see any either. I am not a lawyer, but I would imagine many would be happy to give professional opinions. A lot of the editors here would prefer to see an article saved rather than deleted. (If for no better reason than to avoid Egg on Face Syndrome...) But the article must fit our requirements. In my opinion, this one doesn't. If it can be saved, all to the good. Over to you - you know him. I only know what I see here and Google. Peridon (talk) 20:33, 20 October 2009 (UTC)
• Keep I'm up near Philadelphia, these days, and I don't get to New York City that often. However, I did make special trips for at least three of Eric Zaccar's plays. I've been a fan of this great writer, ever since his college productions, when I did live in New York. I loved "On the Other Side," and I can't wait for his upcoming movie, "Without Hate."

There are children dying for lack of food in Africa and other children dying because their insurance companies won't pay for their necessary operations, in the United States. Isn't there something more important to debate than whether or not a hardworking, talented, prolific and versatile writer should have a wikipedia article? And I say he should!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Philg19 (talk • contribs) 00:36, 21 October 2009 (UTC)