Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Donovan Taplin

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 14:00, 21 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Donovan Taplin[edit]

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Delete. WP:BLP of a politician with no strong claim to passing WP:NPOL, as his only substantive claims of notability are serving as a local municipal councillor in a small town and being appointed to advisory committees, and no strong evidence of satisfying WP:GNG, as the referencing here is entirely to government press releases, a blurb about him winning a university scholarship, and a single news article about him in the local media where coverage of local municipal politics is purely WP:ROUTINE. As always, Wikipedia is not a place where a person is automatically entitled to an article just because he exists -- if he keeps it up he's quite likely to get back into Wikipedia under an actual inclusion criterion someday, but nothing here actually gets him an article today. Bearcat (talk) 23:13, 14 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Keep. While a local politician, Taplin is the first openly gay elected politician in his community and is the only listed openly gay elected municipal politician in all of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in the wikipedia article List of the first LGBT holders of political offices in Canada. When one also considers he is the youngest municipal official ever elected in Newfoundland and Labrador, his political achievements are indeed province-wide not just local. He has been recognized for these accomplishments through appointed roles from the Heads of Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Canada, in addition to being awarded two of the largest merit scholarships in the country. This article is worthy as it speaks to an example of the often underrepresented achievements of LGBT youth.

Firstly, being the first openly gay elected politician in his own community is not, in and of itself, a reason why somebody gets a Wikipedia article. If a town isn't large enough that serving on its municipal council would already have gotten him an article anyway (a status which only cities on the order of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or Ottawa get), then distinctions like "youngest" or "first member of an underrepresented minority" do not inherently make him more notable than his other colleagues. He would have to hold a much more nationalized distinction, such as being the first out LGBT holder of any office in all of Canada, to get included on that basis — but he's far from that. And he isn't even the first LGBT officeholder in NL, either, as Gerry Rogers beat him to that by at least two years.

Secondly, winning a merit scholarship does not make a person notable enough for an encyclopedia article in and of itself either — thousands of university students win different merit scholarships to study at university every year, and winning one does not automatically make him more special than most of the others.

Thirdly, serving on political advisory committees is not a notability claim that gets a person into Wikipedia either.

And fourthly, notability on Wikipedia is ultimately not determined by what an article claims about its subject; it's determined by the depth and quality of reliable source coverage that can be shown about the subject. Which means substantive coverage in media, not press releases or blurbs or university student newspapers. There's only one reference here of the correct type ("Meet Bell Island's boy wonder") — but (a) that's local human interest coverage of the type that would be routinely expected to exist in the local media for a young achiever, and (b) one piece of legitimate media coverage is not enough media coverage to pass WP:GNG just because "media coverage exists". Bearcat (talk) 17:20, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Gerry Rogers is the first LGBT office holder in Newfoundland (Provincial MHA), Taplin is the first LGBT municipal office holder. He is the youngest ever municipal councillor not just for his hometown, but the entire province. There are no student newspapers cited, The Gazette of Memorial University does feature student contributions, but is operated, published, and written by university staff. The "Meet Bell Island's Boy Wonder" article is complemented by the "How to go to University Without Paying a Cent" article which was nationally published in Maclean's Magazine and speaks to Taplin's accomplishments. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Islander1999 (talk • contribs) 17:50, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Firstly, please note that you get only one "vote" in an AFD discussion. You can comment in the discussion as many times as you like, but you do not get to preface any further comments with a "keep" or "do not delete" vote — followup comments are comments, not new votes, and may not be prefaced with a new restatement of the vote you've already made.

Secondly, again, "first LGBT holder of office at the municipal level in his province" is not a notability claim that gets a person into an encyclopedia. If he were the first LGBT holder of any office anywhere in all of Canada, that would be a legitimate basis for an article, but "first person to hold one particular level of office in one province, when that level of office isn't inherently notable in and of itself and he's not the first overall LGBT holder of office period" is not.

Thirdly, just because a university newspaper is written primarily by the university staff rather than the university students does not make it not a university newspaper. And secondly, this does also cite the McGill Daily, so even your hairsplitting over the MUN Gazette still does not make it true that "no student newspapers" are being cited.

And fourthly, a blurb in Maclean's about his winning a scholarship does not equal substantive coverage in Maclean's. A person does not automatically qualify for a Wikipedia article the moment his name has been mentioned a single time in Maclean's — a person qualifies for a Wikipedia article when he's getting substantive coverage in Maclean's in a noteworthy context, which "winning a university scholarship" is not. Bearcat (talk) 18:08, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the note on "votes", apologies, my mistake. I have removed the piece from the McGill Daily as the citation which followed it from the Huffington Post suffices. We diverge on interpretation of notability in terms of the significance of his being the youngest and first LGBT holder of municipal office in Newfoundland and Labrador. The section of the Maclean's article not only speaks to his scholarship wins but also his electoral accomplishment. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Islander1999 (talk • contribs) 18:18, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Huffington Post is a blog, so it's not a suitable source either: it can be used in instances where it's acting as a straight reprinter of wire service content from the likes of Canadian Press (because the citation is ultimately to the originator of the content, while HuffPo is just serving as a convenience link), but it's not a source that counts toward meeting WP:GNG if a person is mentioned in original content written by one of HuffPo's own staff bloggers. And the fact that "his electoral accomplishment" happens to be mentioned in a blurb whose purpose for existing is because of the scholarship does not make that blurb "coverage of the electoral accomplishment" — because again, "his electoral accomplishment" is not grounds for an article given that it's at the municipal level of office and not the provincial or federal levels. Bearcat (talk) 18:32, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I have added an article from the Toronto Star after the Huffpost Blog. Merely getting elected to a municipal office may not be cause for inclusion in an encyclopedia article itself, but the nature of his election - framed within LGBT and youth contexts - makes it significant in a broader way. Maclean's' mention of this in his section of their article demonstrates their acknowledging of that electoral feat as significant enough to include in their coverage of his work after winning both of Canada's largest merit scholarships. comment added by Islander1999

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Canada-related deletion discussions. Bearcat (talk) 17:20, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions. Bearcat (talk) 17:20, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Delete a local political office holder.John Pack Lambert (talk) 01:13, 17 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Keep a notable individual for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and Canada. CuriousGeorge94 (talk) 21:28, 19 January 2017 (UTC) (CuriousGeorge94 talk contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]

Delete A political office holder at the lowest possible tier. The GNG threshold is not met by the list of local publications, university paper articles or "blog"-type content. Exemplo347 (talk) 01:02, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Delete I would like to change my orginal vote. Thank you to the rest of those who contributed to the discussion - I learned a lot about Wikipedia expectations and guidelines. Cheers! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Islander1999 (talk • contribs) 01:13, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- Alright. Since you've changed your !vote (and the fact that you can only vote once), I've struck out your initial !vote for you. Also note that {u|Islander1999}} is the article creator. JudgeRM (talk to me) 02:28, 20 January 2017 (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.