Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Automobile ownership (2nd nomination)

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 as failing WP:N and WP:V. Since this discussion was opened, no changes or improvements have been made to the article despite several participants stating they had sources which could be used to make this article more than just a very loosely connected collection of information cribbed from other articles. As very little has been done since the similar discussion three years ago, this article (as it currently stands) does not meet the requirements for keeping. If someone wishes to have the article userfied to be worked on, I will be happy to do so. ···日本穣^{? · Talk to Nihonjoe} 20:47, 5 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Automobile ownership[edit]

The article is not a cohesive topic in its own right but is merely a loose collection of aspects, most of which have no bearing on owning a motor vehicle. There is no cohesive article that can be put together under this title - if everything unrelated were taken out, we would be left with a dicdef. Please see discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Automobiles#Automobile ownership for more discussion on this point. The article was nominated 3 years ago but was procedurally kept due to being edited mid-discussion. Consensus then was that it was in bad shape but that we should "give it time" to improve. 3 years later and nothing has happened since then. Zunaid 21:46, 29 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you say that this article isn't a cohesive topic in its own right, but there are sources that treat it as such. (Example 1 Example 2). Therefore there could be an encyclopaedic article on this topic.
While I was doing background research for this AfD, I came across Wikipedia's article on vehicle registration certificate which is an orphan and also much in need of help.
Taking all this into consideration, I'd like to suggest a merge of automobile ownership and vehicle registration certificate into automobile ownership with a redirect from vehicle ownership as well (plausible alternative search term).—S Marshall ^Talk/_Cont 22:33, 29 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I take your point that there are some synthesis of the various topics on the web falling under "vehicle ownership", however I still feel such a topic is fraught with synthesis issues covering mostly irrelevant material. I semi-support your merge proposal, however into an article title such as vehicle registration as that is a much more accurate and well-defined term, which should keep the article tightly focused on the topic. To pick the current article apart piece by piece: the section on vehicle maintenance belongs in a how-to guide or user manual, which Wikipedia is explicitly not. The section on types of automobiles is in completely the wrong article, likewise rules of the road. License plates too, as well as the driver's license section. There is very little information left in this article as it stands that could form a nucleus of any cohesive topic. Zunaid 22:31, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Delete — I'm at a loss to understand why this has ever been considered a suitably notable topic; it's so vague. Driver licensing might be of value to compare systems around the world. And merging anything useful into vehicle registration certificate I wouldn't oppose, though not the other way, into this one. Do we have articles on "radio ownership" (as opposed to radio licensing, for example) or indeed on "fish ownership"? Not encyclopaedic. – Kieran T ^(talk) 16:58, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep and rewrite significantly - it's not a serious article in its current form, but a loose collection of unrelated topics. I think it should focus on what automobile ownership means in the US (and other countries if different), what documents prove it, and perhaps how to go about transferring a car to a new owner, in a more coherent way. All topics related to registering, driving (including obtaining a driver's license!) and maintaining a motor vehicle should be removed. Alternatively, a shorter version (a paragraph) could go to the ownership article under "Types of property," but we do need to keep information on auto ownership somewhere. --CFHerbert (talk) 21:08, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comment. I have no view on keeping or deletion, but this certainly shouldn't focus on "what automobile ownership means in the US (and other countries if different)". If there's to be an article under this title it should give no more weight to the US that to any similarly-sized country or region. Phil Bridger (talk) 21:13, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ah yes, the good old "keep and rewrite", my all-time favourite AfD !vote, which ALWAYS leads to the article being immediately improved by hundreds of volunteers just dying to do the work! I'm sure they won't take 3 years to get around to it this time...</sarcasm></rant> Seriously, would you consider changing your !vote to delete unless rewritten? You are basically asking for an article dealing with vehicle registration, which has been mooted as a possible merge/redirect target. Zunaid 22:31, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Delete The fact is that this article in its current state is unacceptable and has been for three years, there is little if any thing to be salvaged. If someone wants to rewrite it they can do so at anytime, an AfD doesn't prevent this, it can be rewritten during the AfD and kept, or it can be reposted after the article is deleted. --Leivick (talk) 21:27, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep This is a highly notable topic as vehicle ownership has considerable legal and social consequences. It is our clear editing policy to improve such articles rather than deleting them. 99% of our article are less than good. This is not surprising as you get what you pay for. We have no deadline and so no reason to delete this. If anyone actually wants to build the encyclopedia rather than just being a critic, here are several hundred sources on the subject. Colonel Warden (talk) 19:23, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep A jaded, spoiled view common to upper-class Western living could easily lead one to think that this topic is not notable, but to the vast majority of the world's 5 billion human inhabitants this is a very notable and important topic. --Firefly322 (talk) 03:50, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. I fail to see how this is encyclopedic. It appears to be a navigation article about various US laws related to vehichle ownership. Vegaswikian (talk) 04:53, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep The article has a lot of information directly pertaining to the title. Some of the information should be removed, perhaps to a "see also" section. Sebwite (talk) 22:54, 4 June 2009 (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.