Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Curtis James

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. Courcelles 00:07, 18 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Curtis James[edit]

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This is an elaborate hoax, which has been maintained for two years by four SPA editors and a number of IPs, though in April an IP tried to blank it with edit summary "This whole page is a fake"; unfortunately he was reverted as a vandal and no one checked the article. Congratulations to another IP who yesterday wrote on the talk page "Guys, this is all made up... ", and to Utcursch who added a hoax tag, both these additions being promptly removed by an IP.

The references that work are from GATFXC.com, which records high-school track and field results. They date from 2009 and 2010, and show a non-notable high-school athlete finishing 51st, 123rd, and anywhere from 4th to 131st. All the detail about his early spectacular professional career, 17 gold medals, sponsorship deals etc. is fantasy - the sources are deadlinks, and my searches find only stuff based on Wikipedia mirrors. It is inconceivable that so starry a career would have left no trace online. JohnCD (talk) 14:59, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sports-related deletion discussions. —JohnCD (talk) 15:08, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If we are able to find any sources from newspapers or such about his high school career, why not just edit his page to be a High School athlete? OmniousOK (talk) 15:13, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- It is not likely that a high school athlete will be notable enough to have an article - see WP:ATH#Athletics/Track & Field and long-distance running for the standard. JohnCD (talk) 15:24, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  - I thought I latched on to a good thing here. I saw some old Washington Post articles for this subject and thats one of the reasons I edited it so religiously. I agree with all thats said here though, and to be honest those IP edits did do some damage in my opinion. OmniousOK (talk) 15:39, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete this nonsense. Guy (Help!) 02:05, 12 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete as hoax -- the achievements seems to be made up. Even if the guy is a real athlete, he's not notable. utcursch | talk 03:33, 12 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete as hoax. I'm very skeptical of the claim that the subject became a professional track and field athlete at the age of 9. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 13:59, 12 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A whole host of evidence, on-wiki and off-wiki, has led me to suspect that the single-purpose account OmniousOK (talk · contribs) is in fact this article's creator and sole editor. See also Reginald James (AfD discussion) for prior related AFD discussion. Uncle G (talk) 07:33, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete - 5k cross country time of 19 min (which appaers in valid source) is slow for claimed 100m and 200m times. Age and birthdate are incompatible with claimed pro record. Racepacket (talk) 16:50, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Strong delete – Independent of the result in the relevant SPI case, this reeks hoax bigtime. Explain to me (being involved in track & field IRL) how you conceivably go from 49.97 (which would be an outstanding high school time) in the 400m in 2007 down to the high 50s in 2009. Explain how this athlete goes from 2:09.58 in the 800m to 2:17 in 2009 and 2:30 in 2010; while I'm at it, how is it possible to run a 52.9 in the 400m and then run 2:30 in the 800m? It makes no sense whatsoever. I also question the validity of File:Curtis James 2009.jpg; the summary says he's "leading the pack" in a cross country race with a 3 1/2-second lead. Where is the rest of the pack, then? If the pack is not shown in that picture, then he either has a commanding lead or is dead last. –MuZemike 21:49, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Photo and caption are highly suspicious. Racepacket (talk) 22:05, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  - See the note about off-wiki evidence in the SPI case for more on the various images. Uncle G (talk) 03:41, 14 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Good reasons to doubt this is genuine have been explained above, and the only sources are highly dubious and not suitable as the basis for a BLP. Sources do not support notability per WP:ATHLETE. Johnuniq (talk) 02:22, 14 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete as hoax. Considering the number of SPAs involved and the length of their involvement, suggest Salt as well. Edward321 (talk) 05:03, 14 November 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.