Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/David Talbott (4th nomination): Difference between revisions

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David Talbott

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This WP:FRINGEBLP has been up for deletion before, but there was some confusion in the past as to what qualified as a decent source for this article. We need to find independent sources -- that is sources that are not connected with the author and are not in-and-of-themselves WP:FRINGE. If you go through the lists of sources, you will find that there is one and only one source that rises to this level: Palmer's Perilous Planet Earth. This book mentions the author in a list exactly once.

It's also fairly clear that this person does not pass the WP:AUTHOR requirements for notability in that fashion. jps (talk) 23:05, 18 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Seems to fail WP:AUTHOR and GNG. - - MrBill3 (talk) 23:37, 18 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States of America-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:06, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:06, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Delete per Nom. Trusting Nom on triviality of that first reference. Certainly, to read links on page or look up these theories is to wade into a black swamp of crank pseudo-science. I suppose that cranks can be notable, but I cannot find that Talbott has gained notability outside a small, fringy bunch of fellow cranks, not in reliable or mainstream sources.E.M.Gregory (talk) 02:15, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Delete Article appears to be a coat rack for the subject's psuedo-scientific theories. As far as I can tell the sources appear to be mostly Fringe and severely fail WP:RS. While it is possible that the subject might be notable, as it stands the article fails WP:DUE and WP:FRINGE. Much better sourcing, coupled with a complete rewrite will be needed to salvage this article. And thus far I have not been able to find enough RS coverage to ring the notability bell. -Ad Orientem (talk) 18:23, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
delete no significant coverage in reliable third party sources. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 20:40, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Comment on the re-nomination: This si the fourth nomination. The first was made by Nondistinguished, the second by ScienceApologist and the current one by jps. It should be noted that these are three incarnations of the same editor. This repeated renomination in the hope of eventual AfD-fatigue seems to be dangerously close to an abuse of process. SamuelTheGhost (talk) 21:00, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

While I take your point, the persistent efforts by crank devotees of truly fringe pseudo-science is also a kind of abuse of process, I mean that a handful of cranks can put up an article sourced only to a small cluster of non-notable self-published bunk, and keep it up through multiple AFDs, or through the inattention of editors who, rightly, devote long hours to writing, sourcing and maintaining good articles on real topics.E.M.Gregory (talk) 14:37, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

'Comment on the comment He made is explicit at FTN, before he took it to AfD, that he'd nominated it before several times. Dougweller (talk) 09:24, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Not only is Palmer a decent source, so is (a) Henry H. Bauer (academic, and University press book (b) Michael D. Gordin's (professor of history at Princeton University) The Pseudoscience Wars (U. Chicago Press)[1] (c) Archaeoastronomy (originally University of Maryland, 1982)[2] --Iantresman (talk) 20:58, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I can tell the Palmer reference is trivial. I can't comment on Bauer because the link is dead. But GNG clearly requires in depth coverage from multiple reliable sources. Beyond which we still have the problem with WP:FRINGE and WP:DUE which make it clear you cannot mention fringe theories without presenting the orthodox explanation, and fringe theories cannot be given equal or greater weight that the correct version. Even if the subject is notable, which has not been established, DUE is policy which trumps WP:N. This article requires MUCH better sourcing and a complete rewrite in order to meet our standards. It is not acceptable in its current form and barring major improvements should be deleted. -Ad Orientem (talk) 21:22, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"In articles specifically relating to a minority viewpoint, such views may receive more attention and space" (WP:DUE). Otherwise we'd have to remove all articles devoted to minority views. But you may be right concerning "significant coverage" per WP:BASIC. Talbott is mentioned once in Palmer, though at least seven times, non-trivially, in Gordin,[3] --Iantresman (talk) 22:14, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Delete. So much referenciness, and yet so little of substance. A namecheck in Palmer (presumably RS but trivial mention), Atlantis Rising Magazine, very very unreliable, a book by the subject (can't establish notability and advances the ridiculous Electric Universe theory to establish unreliability), a book about Velikiovsky, not Talbott, another book by the subject, an interview with the subject in an unreliable source, a staff listing (WP:OR), an unreliable source or four, another book by the subject, another book about Velikovsky... well, you get the picture. This article is a walled garden: a collection of circular references, an account of the beliefs of a crank drawn largely from his own words and without ever establishing notability independent of the great granddaddy of all cranks, Velikovsky. I have recently read a book on the history of Valikovsky and also Idiot America, I can find no mention in either, so this is clearly a crank mentioned only in some descriptions of works about another, much more important crank. Guy (Help!) 21:57, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 *'''Keep''' Not only is Palmer a decent source, so is (a) [[Henry H. Bauer]] (academic, and University press book (b) Michael D. Gordin's (professor of history at Princeton University) ''The Pseudoscience Wars'' (U. Chicago Press)[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SqOPw9Yq-MEC&lpg=PA273&dq=David%20Talbott&pg=PA273#v=snippet&q=Talbott&f=false] (c) ''Archaeoastronomy'' (originally University of Maryland, 1982)[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=c_DwAAAAMAAJ&q=David+Talbott+pensee&dq=David+Talbott+pensee&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I2Y1VZ7YGZLfasaTgPgL&ved=0CHoQ6AEwDQ] --[[User:Iantresman|Iantresman]] ([[User talk:Iantresman|talk]]) 20:58, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
 :*As far as I can tell the Palmer reference is trivial. I can't comment on Bauer because the link is dead. But GNG clearly requires in depth coverage from multiple reliable sources. Beyond which we still have the problem with [[WP:FRINGE]] and [[WP:DUE]] which make it clear you cannot mention fringe theories without presenting the orthodox explanation, and fringe theories cannot be given equal or greater weight that the correct version. Even if the subject is notable, which has not been established, DUE is policy which trumps [[WP:N]]. This article requires MUCH better sourcing and a complete rewrite in order to meet our standards. It is not acceptable in its current form and barring major improvements should be deleted. -[[User:Ad Orientem|Ad Orientem]] ([[User talk:Ad Orientem|talk]]) 21:22, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
+::*"In articles specifically relating to a minority viewpoint, such views may receive more attention and space" ([[WP:DUE]]). Otherwise we'd have to remove all articles devoted to minority views. But you may be right concerning "significant coverage" per [[WP:BASIC]]. Talbott is mentioned once in Palmer, though at least seven times, non-trivially, in Gordin,[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SqOPw9Yq-MEC&lpg=PA273&dq=David%20Talbott&pg=PA289#v=snippet&q=Talbott&f=false] --[[User:Iantresman|Iantresman]] ([[User talk:Iantresman|talk]]) 22:14, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
 *'''Delete'''. So much referenciness, and yet so little of substance. A namecheck in Palmer (presumably RS but trivial mention), Atlantis Rising Magazine, very ''very'' unreliable, a book by the subject (can't establish notability and advances the ridiculous Electric Universe theory to establish unreliability), a book about Velikiovsky, not Talbott, another book by the subject, an  interview with the subject in an unreliable source, a staff listing ([[WP:OR]]), an unreliable source or four, another book by the subject, another book about Velikovsky... well, you get the picture. This article is a walled garden: a collection of circular references, an account of the beliefs of a crank drawn largely from his own words and without ever establishing notability independent of the great granddaddy of all cranks, Velikovsky. I have recently read a book on the history of Valikovsky and also Idiot America, I can find no mention in either, so this is clearly a crank mentioned only in some descriptions of works about another, much more important crank. <b>[[User Talk:JzG|Guy]]</b> <small>([[User:JzG/help|Help!]])</small> 21:57, 20 April 2015 (UTC)