Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of currently erupting volcanoes

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. There's rough consensus that a list of this type presents NOTNEWS problems (a list of historical eruptions by year would probably be OK). I'm discounting the two "Keep but rename to List of active volcanoes" opinions because they make no arguments. Sandstein 10:26, 18 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

List of currently erupting volcanoes[edit]

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It is really unclear what is meant by "currently erupting" here, since no dates are involved. The article was dates back to 2009: is it a list of volcanoes that were erupting then, or since then? Are all the volcanoes on this list really erupting right now? You can't tell from the article, and there are no references. What happens if you find a cached version of this? I think if this was to be saved, then we should do things by year, e.g., List of volcanoes erupting in 2021, then it's clear when the eruptions were taking place. But if we're not willing to create that kind of list, maybe this should just be deleted. Mike Peel (talk) 18:28, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 18:30, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Geography-related deletion discussions. Lightburst (talk) 18:34, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Environment-related deletion discussions. Lightburst (talk) 18:34, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Keep The nominator has not provided a valid rationale for deletion; an unclear (to them) title is certainly not a valid reason. Like many other similar pages, "currently" means as of the version date, so today's version should be those that are erupting today, and the article should be edited whenever a volcano stops erupting (to remove it from the list) or starts erupting (to add it to the list). Of course a 2009 version from the article history would be a different list. UnitedStatesian (talk) 18:43, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@UnitedStatesian: Remember that we have offline Wikipedia browsers, like Kiwix, you can't assume that the version of the page is being read today, you have to write it to last. Happy to see alternatives to deletion - as I suggested, 'by year' may make more sense. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 19:28, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Keep I don't understand the nominator's confusion, "currently erupting" means erupting currently. The nominator's claim of "there are no references" is so false it's embarrassing: the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program has the definitive source for this, which is used to source the article as a footnote four times! It would be easy to make into a sourced table with start dates from that, though I am somewhat uncomfortable with an article that merely duplicates one source. I see no reason to do this by year, though List of large volcanic eruptions in the 21st century could be expanded beyond major ones. Reywas92^Talk 19:04, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Reywas92: See above about offline versions. Adding start dates to the eruptions would be a good start. Looking again at the references, it seems that one reference per section header has been used, which really isn't enough, it needs to be one reference per line to make it clear that the reference covers that eruption. Otherwise, someone can come along and add a volcano to the list, which happens, and it's not clear if this is still from the reference or not. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 19:28, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
- Okay, good suggestions for improvement but I see no basis for deletion. Very easy to add "as of"s or whatever to aid in keeping updated and accurate for offline or cached views. Reywas92^Talk 19:34, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  @Reywas92: A move / split would be my preferred outcome here rather than deletion, but "currently erupting" is very problematic, so if we can't move/split then deletion is best. Having specific pages per year of eruption would avoid the issue. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 19:50, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A name change to "ongoing" could be doable. I don't think a surplus of annual articles is a good approach either. Maybe break down List of large volcanic eruptions in the 21st century by decade to account for intermittancy and duplication of multi-year eruptions. Reywas92^Talk 21:26, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

delete per WP:NOTNEWS. A list of active volcanoes makes sense because it changes relatively slowly, but eruptions start and stop all the time, so that this article ought to match the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program current eruptions page. And of course, it does not. And they say that "Detailed statistics are not kept on daily activity, but generally there are around 20 volcanoes actively erupting on any particular day; this is a subset of the normal 40-50 with continuing eruptions." (their emphasis) They don't take an eruption off their list until it has been quiet for at least three months. It seems unlikely that someone is going to commit to checking the GVP page every week to keep this "current" list actually current. This is a case where an external link to the actual authority makes much more sense. Mangoe (talk) 20:02, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've just browsed the Lists of volcanoes and it's puzzling that they don't seem to distinguish the active and extinct volcanoes. I agree with Mangoe's point that it would be better to focus on the acive volcanoes than have this half-baked real-time tracker. Andrew🐉(talk) 20:32, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Of course that's because as Volcano#Volcanic_activity says, there's not a clear definition for an active volcano. But most of these lists do provide the most recent eruption, which is the key indicator for such classification. It makes sense to have a place for recent activity vs. having had some activity in the last century or more. Reywas92^Talk 21:26, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Delete A List of volcanic eruptions in 2021 series would make sense, but not this difficult-to-maintain WP:NOTNEWS failure. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 19:16, 22 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Events-related deletion discussions. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 19:17, 22 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Keep I do think a list of erupting volcanoes is notable enough to be kept as an article; however, I certainly see Mike Peel's point here. Perhaps the name of the article should be changed to "List of volcanoes that have erupted since (certain date)?" As Mangoe said, volcanoes stop and start erupting all the time, so it's almost impossible to keep track of which are erupting at a given second. (side note: I did create the article so naturally I am biased toward keeping it) --THFSW (talk) 21:24, 23 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete per WP:NOTNEWS, WP:RECENTISM, or repurpose as an article on every erupting volcano in 2021 or the 2020s. That way, it isn't a live update ticker, and can actually be maintained to proper encyclopedic standard. Joseph2302 (talk) 10:09, 24 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Keep, as currently erupting is reasonably clearJackattack1597 (talk) 21:28, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Sandstein 11:28, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Delete Per WP:NOTNEWS, as this seems like it will have to be updated every time a volcano is erupting or stops erupting, classifying it as more of a news ticker than an encyclopedia article about something that already happened._{ZXCVBNM (TALK)} 22:54, 3 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America¹⁰⁰⁰ 04:19, 6 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Delete has to be updated incessantly forever to stay useful, failing WP:NOTNEWS; per some above this could easily just be a list of eruptions in the current year which is then capped and archived for future reference, which is far more encyclopedic. Also indiscriminate, since there are loads of eruptions that are, say, at the bottom of the sea or slow and perpetual like Hawaii, that don’t make the news. Dronebogus (talk) 05:12, 6 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
- This list has several "slow and perpetual" eruptions, it is not based merely on the news. Reywas92^Talk 17:18, 8 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Keep but rename to List of active volcanoes. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 09:44, 6 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
- @Lugnuts: That would be an improvement, but it wouldn't solve the issue with exactly when the volcanoes were active/erupting. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 19:55, 6 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete, the list would have to be constantly updated, adding new ones and deleting old ones, forever. Wikipedia is not a news site and it isn't its job to try to record every change as it occurs and then forget it, that's simply not an encyclopedia's job. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:15, 6 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Comment I have converted the list to a table which should present the information better with clear dates so less likely to become substantively out of date and addresses some voters' concerns. I don't believe NOTNEWS applies to this: being based on current information that can change is not a restriction on articles' topics. Since there is not a clear definition of what makes a volcano "active" the suggestions for that above aren't great, but this could also be converted to a List of volcanic eruptions in the 2020s without a deletion. Reywas92^Talk 17:18, 8 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Keep based on recent updates, but rename to List of active volcanoes. Caleb Stanford (talk) 00:27, 15 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete ridiculous article. Wikipedia is WP:NOTNEWS. Nobody's going to keep this listicle even close to up-to-date, which makes it functionally useless and unencyclopedic cruft. Strongest possible delete. AlexEng^(TALK) 06:16, 16 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Weak delete it's just confusing. I don't think this exact topic merits its own article - who's going to bother keeping it up-to-date every day and account for every eruption? On the other hand, another related article such as "List of active volcanoes" per Caleb Stanford would work better. Liamyangll (talk to me! | My contribs!) 10:27, 16 November 2021 (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.