Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Moonshine, Illinois

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 speedy keep. 4 unanimous keep votes, and notability is not temporary. (non-admin closure) — neuro^(talk) 09:31, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Moonshine, Illinois[edit]

Nom and opine...
...Del. We have a long-standing practice (since a bot was run around 5-6 years ago to create them) of documenting every census designated place in the US Census. This is a place -- but not a CDP. It is not a town, village, or borough, but apparently a store-cum-residence plus outhouse that would have gotten a dot on a map during the seven years that the building was a post office, and presumably every mapmaker over the 130 years since it stopped handling mail has felt obliged. The only people living in this "place" own it. Apparently a national TV reporter liked the burger or conversation they got there, and did a local-color piece in, uh, Sunday morning Prime Time. IMO terminally non-notable.

Full disclosure: There are 5 articles for US places this size, and 5 smaller (pop. 1) -- and some that have no population -- but all of them appear to be CDPs. The one i'm familiar with probably sleeps on the order of hundreds before winter closes its dirt roads to all but snow machines and maybe some timber trucks, and has numerous people gainfully employed in it, in two distinct industries -- trash burial and lumbering.

--Jerzy•t 03:03, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. If the place was notable once (as it clearly would have been when the building was a post office and consequently a center of commerce), then it does not stop being notable even if the population drops to zero. The idea that notability does not expire is a fundamental part of Wikipedia's definition of notability. But apart from that, the news coverage makes it notable. Consider this paragraph from Living History:Moonshine, Illinois : "In early 2004, CBS Sunday morning program even featured the store, with film clips from the early gathering of locals for coffee at 6AM, all the way through the noon guests of this eatery. During the hour and a half show, many "teaser" clips kept building the story of the reporter's quest to find this location in the wilderness." And GNIS has a listing at U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Moonshine, Illinois-- Eastmain (talk) 04:37, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - As far I can comprehend, the nom just throws up red herring arguments. Just because a place is not a census designated place doesn't mean it's not notable. A place can be notable for many other reasons. Being featured on the national CBS News Sunday Morning show, featured prominently in at least one book [1], very extensively in this online article and even featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Chicago Tribune [2][3] demonstrates passing WP:NOTABILITY. That the nom doesn't like the reason it passes WP:NOTABILITY ("a national TV reporter liked the burger or conversation they got there") does absolutely nothing to change its notability. I should also point out that historic towns and cities are still notable for historic reasons.--Oakshade (talk) 05:30, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
KEEP There are many places that dont have post offices and low population. The town I live in and haved lived in my whole life doesn't have an exact population, is unincorporated, and no post office Meadows, Illinois. There are several websites that refer to it and when I go thru it again I will provide a picture as I see one is being requested. The beauty of Wikipedia is the fact that you can search extremely unknown towns and learn about them. If we keep eliminating everything that isn't big and well known, we will lose alot of our heritage. And that would be sad. If it would appease you, I will re-write this, as it was one of my first wiki pages I created and probably is pretty crude.Stangboy7 (talk) 05:36, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - This place has been notable, as indicated by the references in the article; it is notable partly because of the attention it has received, which in turn is partly because of its extremely small population. In a nutshell, it's a special place. Even if it ceased to exist entirely, it would still be notable in a historical sense, and from my perspective Wikipedia has a substantial historical component. Omnedon (talk) 07:05, 22 November 2008 (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.