Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/F. B. Vickers

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 keep. Canley (talk) 12:38, 21 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

F. B. Vickers[edit]

Started by User:Gordouxx; prematurely speedy-delete-tagged early in development; speedy tag removed by User:Jayron32: "deny speedy request. Article needs a lot of help, but there is enough context here to see that this is an award-winning australian writer. If deletion is sought, try AFD."; later blanked by its author; better get various opinions on it. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 09:34, 15 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keep An Australian novelist with at least 26 published works to his name. Nick mallory (talk) 10:09, 15 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - A Google search reveals thousands of hits, although some refer to aircraft, a fair number referred to the novelist. TicketMan - Talk - contribs 13:28, 15 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Australia-related deletion discussions. -- Canley (talk) 05:27, 16 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - per the Auslit reference provided in the article - published Australian author meets notability guidelines. A great pity that a contributer was put off with gratuitous premature speedy-delete tags--Matilda ^talk 06:27, 16 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- To clarify specifically against the notability guidelines at WP:Bio, for Creative professionals (which includes authors), he meets represented within the permanent collections of several notable galleries, museums or internationally significant libraries - several of his works are in may Australian libraries (see the refs now in the article which have links to the Library collections) - but several are in 36 libraries across Australia - University and State libraries. He was commended in several literary award competitions (though didn't win). He was made a life member of the Dederation of Australian Writers in WA as he had been president of that organisation (not quite sure state or national level)[1] - ie recognised by his peers. He also has a reference library of WA books named in his honour. [2]. Perhaps he is marginal for notability - ie not Henry Lawson - but I believe still meets our criteria adequately and more notable than some. The issue is a lot to do with sources on the net - they do not cover mid twentieth century writers effectively. --Matilda ^talk 04:44, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Delete. I'm the one whose speedy-delete tag was supposedly "premature," but the article at the time clearly met speedy-delete criteria for no-context, and I stand by my assessment. While that is not the case now, I still don't think the subject meets notability requirements. A Google search for "F. B. Vickers" (in quotation marks to find the exact phrase) turns up very few hits. Most instead seem to refer to Lawrence Vickers, a fullback in the NFL — hence, FB Vickers. I'm unable to readily verify the claim regarding the number of published books. - Realkyhick (Talk to me) 16:10, 16 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Comment Pity this editor didn't look at the links that were provided in the article (at the time he !voted) - they would have verified the number of books published for example. Similarly a goodle search of F B Vickers shows the first few hits clearly relating to the author. Given the internet focusses on recent topics, an author who died in 1985 is unlikely to have much of an internet presence - this should be no comment on his notability.--Matilda ^talk 20:49, 16 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Reply: I did attempt to look at the links provided. However, the links provided did not go directly to the information about this particular author when I checked. As I clearly stated above, I did a Google search on the name "F. B. Vickers" — with the name enclosed in quotes, as it should properly be to search for the name and to cut down on spurious results — and aside from the Wikipedia article and this very AfD discussion, little else came up about the subject in the first few pages. I am also a bit leery of sources cited for which the verifying information is only available by subscription. While it appears that Vickers did publish several works, there still seems to be this lack of underlying confirmation that he was actually a notable write of Australian literature. While the Morning Herald prizes are a plus, an honourable mention and a joint third place seem to still be lacking. I suspect I'm fighting a losing cause here, and it may be just as well, but this still comes across as an author who sits on the cusp of notability, but isn't quite there. As you might be able to discern, I don't have especially strong feelings on this, but just this nagging suspicion that something isn't quite as it should be. - Realkyhick (Talk to me) 06:35, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Weak Keep though this author doesn't seem notable on any other criteria of WP:BIO for creative professionals (the award was minor), as pointed out above by Matilda his novels may be part of the collections of internationally significant libraries - a search on WorldCat shows that his novel Without map or compass is part of the collection of the Yale University Library, The New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and others. Marontia (talk) 20:22, 17 January 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.