Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Tom Papania

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. Tone 17:37, 19 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Tom Papania

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Delete Advertising or other spam without relevant content /just promoting himself and his organization/ not notable/ story only verified by himself

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Σκυρόδεμα ακριβείς μεθόδους (talk • contribs) 2010/03/12 03:23:26

This AfD nomination was incomplete (missing step 3). It is listed now. DumbBOT (talk) 13:47, 12 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete as spam (GregJackP (talk) 14:46, 12 March 2010 (UTC))[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 23:30, 12 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Christianity-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 23:30, 12 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Crime-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 23:30, 12 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete, due to a lack of reliable, verifiable information. He definitely exists, and was interviewed by James Dobson. The fact that he might be a hoax makes him interesting, but not necessarily notable. The interview was in 1997, and the Focus on the Family website says "The tape "From Mafia to Ministry" featuring Tom Papania was aired several years ago and is no longer offered through Focus." But it doesn't say why, though plenty of other websites are happy to fill in the gaps. We can't take Papania's word for it, but nor can we merely say that he has "claimed" all this. StAnselm (talk) 00:15, 13 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. Lack of non-trivial WP:RS coverage. Google, Google News, and Google Books searches turn up only passing mentions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:20, 13 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Keep but rewrite. Nothing worth saving in the current article. I've heard his stories and also that he allegedly stole said stories from Robert Scarfone. Seems there might be an article there, for example the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calls him a nationally known speaker, but per WP:BLP we would need to completely scrap what is currently here in favor of reliable sources. There seem to be a few non-trivial mentions on gnews, all pay links though. —Joshua Scott (LiberalFascist) talk 04:58, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Spam. "News" are announcements of him promoting himself and organization, telling his un-verified story. There is nothing notable about him.

--SuperHappyPerson (talk) 05:21, 14 March 2010 (UTC)# SuperHappyPerson[reply]

Comment. This paragraph in a 2001 Christianity Today weblog [1] addresses his notability at that time (italics mine):

Ex-mobsters face off on conversion stories

Tom Papania has appeared on Focus on the Family, CBN, Charisma magazine, and a host of other Christian media. And why not? He's got a great testimony, "From Mafia to Minister," about his life from organized crime to Jesus. Only one problem: another ex-mobster, Robert "Rocky" Scarfone, says Papania is stealing his stories. "I'm claiming he used true stories to bolster what is untrue—his testimony," Scarfone says. He filed a lawsuit against Papania, Focus on the Family, and CBN, saying they conspired to steal his story. (The cases against Focus and CBN have been dismissed.) Papania's lawyer says it's all part of fame: "You're going to have people coming out of the woodwork filing frivolous lawsuits. It's the cost of doing business for becoming well known."

--Arxiloxos (talk) 06:49, 14 March 2010 (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.