Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Pollard, Washington

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. ✗plicit 04:49, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Pollard, Washington

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The topos indicate this is a former rail location about which I can find nothing, as there is just way too much searching noise. In the last forty years or so there has been a lot of development along the lake, including a RV park and a group of vacation cabins about which I can also find nothing out. The oldest aerial I could find shows what looks like some sort of manufacturing facility next to where the tracks used to be, but again, I can't find out more than that. If someone can find something indicating there was a town here, please, tell us, but I find nothing to that effect. Mangoe (talk) 04:22, 13 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Geography-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 08:48, 13 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Washington-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 08:48, 13 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete - GNIS spam. FOARP (talk) 09:46, 13 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Lamefoot Mine Site, Supplement to the Kettle River Key Project Expansion: Environmental Impact Statement" 1992 references a small residential development at Pollard; other books from the 1920s discuss being able to rent a boat for Curlew Lake from Pollard, other descriptions about the location of rock in 1911, and had an operating station with three passengers a day in 1921. SportingFlyer T·C 23:46, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. We are not qualified to second-guess the Geographic Names Information System. GPS Pilot (talk) 05:00, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It takes no great expertise to read the maps as the GNIS compilers did and find some egregious errors in labelling spots as "populated places". But beyond that, going from a name on a map to a notable settlement took several acts of interpretation, and the notion that GNIS conveys some sort of legal recognition is belied by its own statement of purpose. You can read all about it at WP:GNIS, including some of the more ridiculous misinterpretations they made. Mangoe (talk) 06:49, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Delete The GNIS is merely a database of every name that has ever appeared on US maps, with quite a few mistakes to boot, so it's unclear why we would be required to defer to them and can't use our own judgement on what needs a stand-alone article. I don't see what would make this a notable community, but Curlew Lake (Washington) could mention the homes and resorts around it. Reywas92^Talk 21:49, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, ♠PMC♠ (talk) 07:51, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comment - We are totally qualified to second-guess the Geographic Names Information System. GNIS is just another source that we have to weigh appropriately, and we have weighed it and found it has problems. GNIS was not created to act as a source for Wikipedia articles and its classifications do not simply translate into our article-types. Saying otherwise is just saying that any official-sounding source (or is just any official-sounding US government source?) is beyond question. FOARP (talk) 09:26, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Leaning delete. As to the GNIS bit, GNIS is a database, Wikipedia is not a database, so GNIS will have information on subject that are outside of our scope here. As to Pollard itself, searching is harder than anticipated, but finding a few things. It was evidentally some sort of resort by 1937, and there was evidently a fish hatchery here in the mid-1910s. This explains the Pollard connection to the resort a little bit more - apparently Pollard was the name of the beach area where the resort was. Not finding anything really treating this as a notable community, and I'm strongly getting the impression here that "Pollard" was historically used as a vague toponym for a variety of places in the region. I haven't seen anything we can build an article on here. Hog Farm _Talk 01:57, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Fails WP:GNG and GEOLAND. Avilich (talk) 19:23, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.