Talk:Willie Foster (gridiron football)

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Music career[edit]

I'm not sure we can even mention Foster's music career in this article, as there are no reliable sources that the career even exists, or that "Will Major" on Apple Music is the former Rutgers player Willie Foster. Once the AfD wraps up (assuming it's kept), I think all mention of the rap career would need to be taken out since it's mostly original research/unverifiable. Eagles 24/7 (C) 03:40, 4 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the discography section, and once the article is renamed, the lead should remove reference to the purported stage name. Keeping it in for now to avoid confusion until the article is properly renamed. Eagles 24/7 (C) 19:20, 6 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 6 March 2021[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Moved (non-admin closure) (t · c) buidhe 20:32, 13 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Will Major → Willie Foster (gridiron football) – WP:COMMONNAME in reliable sources. No reliable sources indicate this subject is known by "Will Major". Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Will Major showed no objections to a name change, despite the close there. Eagles 24/7 (C) 19:17, 6 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Only one Wikipedia main title header is proposed for the form "Willie Foster". The header of the Wikipedia entry for the baseball player is Bill Foster (baseball), not "Willie Foster", and all the links under his article's section headers "Notes", "References" and "External links" list him as "Bill", with none referencing him as "Willie". As for the Chicago blues harmonicist, singer, and songwriter, he has been usually referenced by the form "Little Willie Foster", rather than as simply "Willie Foster". Ultimately, resolving such uncertainties is the purpose of hatnotes and there should be hatnotes atop the entries for both the English keyboardist Will Foster (even if other notables may be nicknamed "Will") and the footballer Willie Foster/Will Major stating, For other people with similar names, see William Foster (disambiguation). —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 01:26, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
This one [1] is used for the Willie Foster ref at 1926 Chicago American Giants season, and a Google test for "Willie Foster baseball" brought back lots more. I just don't see a football player with an unremarkable career being the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC vs. a Hall of Famer, even if he is usually known by a different diminutive. If anything Willie Foster could be a dab page for these three (and Will Foster too if any sources have him as Willie.) 162.208.168.92 (talk) 01:45, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Granted, an occasional reference does name the baseball player as "Willie", but obviously his WP:COMMONNAME is "Bill", according to the 13 inline cites in his article, all the other references, including Hall of Fame and baseball databases. As for the creation of a separate Willie Foster disambiguation page, the standard Wikipedia practice is to combine Will, Willy, Willie, Billie, Billy and Bill under the William disambiguation page.
Such combining is clearly not followed with this name, since Bill Foster currently exists as a separate disambiguation page which should be merged into the William Foster dab page. Thus, anyone searching for a sports figure named either "Bill Foster", "Billy Foster", "Will Foster" or "Willie Foster" can simply check the William Foster dab page under section header "Sportsmen" and quickly determine which name is the correct one. Of course, unique main title headers such as, in this case, Will Foster or Willie Foster, need to carry hatnotes pointing to the William Foster dab page. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 02:44, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose the merge of William Foster and Bill Foster. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 04:18, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The above-mentioned proposed merge is, of course, not at issue as part of this RM and can be argued elsewhere. The main point remains, however, that it is not Wikipedia practice to append a parenthetical qualifier to a unique main title header, such as Willie Foster, solely because another subject of a Wikipedia entry, whose header is under a different name, has also been occasionally known by this name. Such instances are almost always resolved via hatnotes. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 05:59, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
WP:QUALIFIER states that If the article is not about the primary topic for the ambiguous name, the title must be disambiguated. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 15:03, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The sole topic bearing that exact name is automatically its own primary topic unless a compelling case can be made that a WP:PRIMARYREDIRECT has such an overwhelming renown that it takes precedence. Such cases are extremely rare — even an obvious example such as Jack Kennedy being a primary redirect to John F. Kennedy is not a good representation since there are a number of men named "Jack Kennedy" who would have had to have been disambiguated even without the primary redirect.
In the case at hand, there is only one man whose WP:COMMONNAME is "Willie Foster", therefore no disambiguation is needed, although his entry and that of Will Foster are definitely required to contain a hatnote pointing to the William Foster dab page. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 17:45, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Automatically its own primary topic" is not a phrase I've seen in any Wikipedia policy. WP:PRIMARYTOPIC suggests two main criteria (usage, and long-term significance), and the football player fails both. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 18:52, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Automatically its own primary topic" is basically a complicated way of stating the simple fact that there is no WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for Willie Foster in the same manner that there is no primary topic for Will Foster. Usage and long-term significance are totally immaterial for both names since there are no other Wikipedia main title headers bearing either of those names. All that is needed is a hatnote atop each of the two entries pointing to the William Foster dab page. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 23:23, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bill Foster (baseball) is the primary topic for Willie Foster. I feel that Talk:Willie Foster would be the place to continue this discussion if you want to dispute that. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 01:26, 8 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I do indeed dispute that a redirect of the name Willie Foster to a subject whose WP:COMMONNAME is Bill Foster (baseball) can be primary over the sole Wikipedia subject whose common name is in fact Willie Foster. Since Willie Foster is currently a redirect and redirects usually do not have active talk pages, that would not be a place to continue this discussion. However, if Will Major is ultimately moved to Willie Foster (gridiron football), rather than to Willie Foster, the discussion would be able to continue at the then-submitted proposed move Willie Foster (gridiron football) → Willie Foster. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 01:56, 8 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support As there are no sources for this subject under the name Will Major. ShelbyMarion (talk) 15:32, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support nom's proposal. Etzedek24 (I'll talk at ya) (Check my track record) 18:01, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Move to Willie Foster, and use a hatnote to differentiate between the baseball player the musician, and the dab page, per Roman Spinner. Adding the "gridiron football" appendage would be adding unnecessary disambiguation when there is currently no primary topic for "Willie Foster." Ejgreen77 (talk) 11:58, 8 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Requested move 15 March 2021[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Elli (talk | contribs) 17:51, 22 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]


Willie Foster (gridiron football) → Willie Foster – English Wikipedia has only one entry for Billy Foster, one for Will Foster and one for Willie Foster, thus, in the same manner as "Billy" and "Will", "Willie Foster" does not need the parenthetical qualifier "(gridiron football)". An argument has been made that bluesman Little Willy Foster and pitcher Bill Foster (baseball) were also known as "Willie Foster". However, the bluesman's main title header is "Little Willy" and the pitcher's header is "Bill". The only one whose WP:COMMONNAME header depicts "Willie" is the football player. Any remaining uncertainties can be handled via hatnotes. — Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 02:00, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

  • Oppose Willie Foster currently acts as a WP:PRIMARYREDIRECT, the subject of which is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame; as this site describes him, the greatest left-handed pitcher in Negro League history. To move this link to instead point to a football player with a completely unremarkable career would be in conflict with WP:PRIMARYTOPIC and WP:QUALIFIER. This was discussed at length in the original RM, which I encourage everyone to read as well. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 03:38, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
In the previous RM, there were five votes, all of which unanimously supported the move of Will Major to either Willie Foster (gridiron football) or to simply Willie Foster. Two of those five votes directly supported the alternatively-proposed move of Will Major → Willie Foster, one vote directly opposed the alternative move to simply Willie Foster, and the remaining two votes, while supporting Will Major → Willie Foster (gridiron football), expressed neither support nor direct opposition to the alternative proposal of Will Major → Willie Foster.
If the baseball player's WP:COMMONNAME was in fact "Willie", as it was in the case of Willie Mays, then the main title header of his Wikipedia entry would have been created as "Willie Foster", rather than as "Bill Foster (baseball)" or someone would have proposed it for a move to "Willie Foster" a long time ago.
Although a few links do reference the baseball player as "Willie", those are overwhelmed by the number of links that reference him as "Bill" — Bill Foster google links, Find a Grave, Baseball Library, News & Observer, Black Baseball and Chicago: Essays on the Players, Teams and Games, The Hall: A Celebration of Baseball's Greats: In Stories and Images, Alcorn State Braves baseball, Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and last, but not least, Baseball Hall of Fame. Hatnotes will of course direct those who may be searching for him as "Willie". —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 06:32, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Per 162.208.168.92 this is similar to the points at Talk:Mike Thornton (politician) that if only a few people use this for the other 2 there would be no primary topic. Crouch, Swale (talk) 09:17, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I am not suggesting that Bill Foster (baseball) → Willie Foster. From what I can see, he was mostly known as Willie during his playing career, and went by Bill later in life, which is certainly not unheard of. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 14:19, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
If Foster achieved renown under the name "Willie" and went by "Bill" in retirement from the game, then as far as baseball is concerned, his name would be "Willie". However, some of the above references, such as Black Baseball and Chicago, The Hall: A Celebration of Baseball's Greats, Alcorn State Braves baseball, Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame or, again most tellingly, Baseball Hall of Fame, make no mention, at all, of "Willie", not even to indicate that he was also known by that name.. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 17:12, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The African American Registry, Negro Leagues Museum, and Negro Leagues Database use Willie. Heck, even the picture in Foster's infobox was pulled from this site with the headline "Willie Foster". It's clear that he is known as Willie Foster, as well as Bill Foster. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 17:31, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Edit Upon further investigation, it turns out that the origin of this photo is the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Archive, and the caption refers to "Willie Foster". 162.208.168.92 (talk) 17:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Although it is clear that Foster was also referenced as "Willie", the fact remains that the reason the article's main title header is Bill Foster (baseball) and not "Willie" is that the "Bill" references are so predominant that it is not even close. A photograph of Foster's headstone, which depicts the name "William Hendrick Foster" is under the caption William Hendrick “Bill” Foster, with no mention of "Willie". —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 18:57, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That is correct. The article should remain at Bill Foster (baseball). Willie Foster should remain a redirect. What you've proposed is that Willie Foster (gridiron football) become the primary topic, despite having no justifications of either long-term notability or usage , and that is why I oppose. 162.208.168.92 (talk) 20:20, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yes per WP:PRIMARYREDIRECT similar to the Mike Thornton case as I noted below even if only a small percentage of time the other 2 were called "Willie Foster" the gridiron football wouldn't be primary even if the baseball player is more commonly known as "Bill Forster" today per WP:COMMONNAME he still completes for this title. Crouch, Swale (talk) 20:37, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
But I have not proposed "that Willie Foster (gridiron football) become the primary topic". In fact, the term "primary topic" does not appear anywhere within the nomination. The nomination simply posits that since there is only a single Wikipedia main title header for Willie Foster as well as for Will Foster or for Billy Foster, all of those headers should be analogous in not carrying a parenthetical qualifier and not redirecting to the all-inclusive William Foster disambiguation page, but simply exist as stand-alone entries with hatnotes — For people with similar names... — that point to the dab page. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 23:56, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
162.208.168.92 and I have provided evidence that the other 2 are called this at least sometimes even if its not their most common name its still unlikely the gridiron football is primary by usage and this one had a no consensus AFD so I don't think long-term significance is in favour of this one other again per 162.208.168.92. Crouch, Swale (talk) 09:45, 17 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Bill Foster (baseball) has 297 views and "Willie Foster" is referenced as an alternative name in the infobox and Little Willy Foster has 98 while the gridiron footballer only has 7[[2]] its reasonable to assert that the gridiron footballer isn't primary since even if only 1 in 40 uses this term to refer to the baseball player the gridiron footballer wouldn't likely be primary if there was one. However maybe the basename should become a DAB. I'd note that a Google search for Willie Foster returns the WP article for Little Willy Foster first. Crouch, Swale (talk) 09:14, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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