Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/County flower

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 of the debate was Keep  (aeropagitica)  (talk)  15:12, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

County flower

This article is being used as a promotional tool for a charity. Outwith Lancashire and Yorkshire there is zero "tradition" (a much abused word) of county flowers in any other part of the UK, and there never can be in Scotland, because the counties which could have adopted them were abolished over 30 years ago. Mais oui! 09:21, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

• Comment. First Bwithh deleted all the references to county flowers from relevant articles, citing this AfD, despite the consensus being clearly in favour of the retention of the article. When I replaced the mentions, Mais oui! went through them adding {{fact}}, with the edit summary: "citation needed: at what date adopted? by whom? Plantlife? Liverpool County Council? Noddy?". Given that each article linked to county flower, which has adequate citations and explanation, this was absurd, and I've been removing the templates. I don't know why this has aroused such strong emotion in these editors, but would they please leave articles alone at least until this AfD's over, and prefereably afterwards? --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 18:00, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

• Weak keep, after moving most of the content to Plantlife (the charity in question). It does appear that some counties in the US and elsewhere also have their own 'official' county flower. --BillC 09:48, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
• Weak keep - at least some local authorities are promoting this, and the BBC also picked up on it. I would actually move most material from Plantlife to county flower rather than the other way. --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 10:55, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep - This was a perfectly legitimate competition open to the public to choose a flower for their county (including counties in Scotland which were not abolished 30 years ago despite what you think). Owain (talk) 12:31, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
  • Yes, indeed, Scottish counties really do still exist: but only in your very, very fertile imagination. Meanwhile, back in the real world, they were explicitly abolished by statute in 1975.--Mais oui! 14:26, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
    • Comment: as far as the list of county flowers goes, whatever Owain or Mais oui! think about counties, the ones that were used by Plantlife (the people who compiled the list) are the only ones which are relevant here. --RFBailey 22:49, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep --Terence Ong 14:56, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep Notable. Stringops 17:46, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep and merge as suggested by OpenToppedBus. Accurizer 21:17, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
• Weak keep, but make sure the article indicates that this listing is not official, in the manner that US state flowers are. --RFBailey 22:49, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
• Delete non-notable/marketing abuse of wikipedia - mentions of the county flower should be deleted from all county pages except for Lancashire and Yorkshire (and any other county which has historic or state or local government designated flower emblem). Bwithh 03:39, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Mentions of the county flowers have been spammed into the lead sections of UK county and city pages - at most, this may belong , with the disclaimer that this is not an official emblem, in a trivia section or a flora section; nothing more Bwithh 03:47, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

• Strong Delete No such thing exists in Cornwall - I agree with the above comment Biwizz 07:51, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep the first two paragraphs, as it describes what a county flower is without mentioning its contest, but Merge the rest into Plantlife. --LBMixPro^{<Speak|on|it!>} 07:28, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep but tidy up and explain context. A contemporary competition is still notable enough for a Wikipedia entry. Also needs to be gereralised to include County flower systems outside UK. Lumos3 08:56, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep; in many counties, such as Oxfordshire, the county flower was chosen by the public in a campaign supported by wildlife trusts and the like. I see that Bwithh has been deleting mention of county flowers from articles, citing this AfD, despite the fact that consensus is curetly clearly for keeping the article. --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 10:21, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep County flowers exist for counties in other countries too. I added details of a few to the page. The competition is notable enough for inclusion, assuming proper explanation is given. --David Edgar 10:49, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Strong keep Interesting to see the information together on one page. FloNight ^talk 17:12, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Keep but needs cleanup and explanation of context. Johnwalton 18:53, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Weak keep in so far as this article is factual information. However, I am sceptical that the edits to individual county pages (and pseudo-counties such as Birmingham which apparently has a county flower despite not being a county!) to record these flowers are appropriate as these flowers have no official recognition or historical validity. Valiantis 18:58, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
• Strong keep: Wikipedia is not here to "make the world right" or the way any particular wikipedian would like it to be. Whether Mais oui! disagree with the concept of county flower is academic. In any case, no harm would be done if the sentence "Following a campaign by Plantlife," precedes mention of county flowers in any county articles. Regards, Asterion 02:40, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

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.