Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mehdi Shahbazi

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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 no consensus to delete , default to keep. The sources provided by Graeme Bartlett are mostly good, but the Times Daily one is a WP mirror. The other three should be added to the article. lifebaka++ 13:59, 5 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mehdi Shahbazi[edit]

Mehdi Shahbazi (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) (delete) – (View log)

Non-notable suicide. Fails WP:N. Only numbered reference is a letter to the editor, which is less less reliable a source than a blog (and blogs are not accepted as reliable sources often in Wikipedia). Alternative is to merge with the Shell Oil Company article (which is already mentions the man). Furthermore, this man is known only for his death, not his biography. However, even a "Hunger Strike of Mehdi Shahbazi" article is not very encyclopeic.

Wikipedia is also not a memorial. This man was not known for anything other than the hunger strike. People looking for the hunger strike information may look to the Shell article but they are not going to remember the man's name and type it in. Presumptive (talk) 04:01, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • Delete' - In contrast, the Murder of Joseph Didier has been written about for the last 35 years, including every year between 1999 and 2008 and drew the protests of over 50,000 people in a city of about 80,000 adults and this article was deleted as being non-notable despite what I think was a lack of consensus. This article is far less notable in comparison and nothing has been written about it in 2008, even a year after his hunger strike in contrast with the Didier article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Murder_of_Joseph_Didier_%282nd_nomination%29 This isn't WP:Point but simply using other articles as guidance. Presumptive (talk) 04:08, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep He is notable for his hunger fast. He is not just in a letter to the editor, but actually in may blogs as well, if blogs count, but he actually has his own newspaper stories to establish his significance.
Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:39, 23 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so that consensus may be reached.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Keeper ǀ 76 22:08, 28 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In light of new sources found by Graeme Bartlett, I feel this needs to be relisted. Delete #1 uses an otherstuff argument, delete#2 incorrectly uses a speedy tag, basically saying "he's just not notable. Need stronger consensus one way or the other. Keeper ǀ 76 22:08, 28 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This man is so obscure that no administrator would close it! How about the new administrators? They all promised to use the tools. Where are they! :P #1 isn't just the "other stuff" explanation. Shouldn't it be "The suicide of Mehdi" and even that is a stretch to be WP material. Presumptive (talk) 06:33, 2 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete The only press coverage that I could find on this topic was a very limited pool of local news. This didn't even spread state-wide. In addition, it appears to be the same Associated Press article showing up again and again. Searching within a news pool, I thought I struck gold when I read the headline "Shahbazi quietly becomes a giant" in the Boston Herald. However, the article was actually about a set of office buildings. I am not a very experienced editor here and am only just dipping my toes, but this doesn't appear to be notable. I can't find any evidence that Shell were particularly bothered by this protest, not even a slight mention that the oil giant was concerned, or fighting, or even very interested. If the protest had hit their profits or their publicity, then perhaps Mehdi Shahbazi had achieved something. Also, the fact that he died as a result of the liquid diet really isn't relevant. Liquid diets don't kill people (I don't think so anyway, if they are done properly); it was stated that there were "complications" which were down to the state of his health prior to, and during, the fast. I suppose that bears about as much relevance as if he had died in a car accident. As was pointed out in a previous comment, he hasn't received any mention in 2008, even though his death was in late 2007. And no, blogs don't count. (I write about all sorts of crap on mine! :))) ) Maedin (talk) 07:39, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep Mehdi Shahbazi got quite a bit of press coverage before his death and before the hunger strike. He was on Lou Dobbs on CNN and he was featured on the front page of AOL under the title "who's having the worst week ever". Mehdi had lost his ability to sell gasoline from shell after his posting of signs and handing out flyers with information that big oil companies (he never mentioned shell specifically) were as he said "profiteering and gouging consumers". He was spreading information from sources like the EPA and saying that the price hikes around Katrina had nothing to do with shortage of supply. As a result shell revoked his ability to sell gasoline and then his home. It was local news at first but then it attracted quite a bit of attention. The news not only spread state-wide, but nation-wide. Shell was very bothered by his protest, according to Mehdi Shahbazi's last press release Shell hired Bingham McCutchen LLP who put five lawyers and a number of paralegals on the case. Shell was interviewed a number of times by the press and continued to deny Mehdi's claims. I don't think it matters if he is still getting news articles, It matters that he did and if anything, it has made quite a bit of people feel ripped off when they are paying the extremely high gas prices with huge quarterly earnings reported by the oil giants. Mehdi's liquid diet wasn't a proper liquid diet, he basically simply drank Gatorade, fruit juice and occasionally some vegetable juice. His diet lacked protein, fat, and sufficient calories (I know this because I knew him personally). The so called "complications" was liver failure from the lack of food that doctors said may have been caused by long dormant hepatitis that he may have obtained when he lived in Iran.
    The article could use some rewriting and more references, but deleting it is totally unnecessary. The article wouldn't be appropriate for a traditional print encyclopedia's, but wikipedia covers extremely diverse topics that would never be in a traditional print encyclopedia. People and things that have no real significance besides for briefly being on tv or in pop culture are all over wikipedia without any consideration for deletion. News articles and information about Mehdi Shahbazi are more difficult to find online now because many of them have been archived. --Kwhubby (talk) 04:48, 2 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
User:Kwhubby wrote "(I know this because I knew him personally)." This person has more personal knowledge of the man than most people but WP requires reliable source and notability. WP:NOTMEMORIAL prohibits memorial article on people but lack of a WP article does not imply that the man's life was worthless or not touching to some people.Presumptive (talk) 06:30, 2 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
User:Persumptive wrote "WP requires reliable source and notability." I will dig up the old newspaper article to cite with some of the comments from his doctor about his fast. My personal knowledge is covered in news articles, interviews, court cases, and articles written by Mehdi Shahbazi himself before he died. Just about everything I said I can backup with a citation if this was for the actual article. But I was simply arguing with the incorrect assumptions made by Maedin about his media coverage and liquid fast. Also, this isn't or shouldn't be a memorial, but an informative article about this man's story of his quixotic campaign against big oil. User:Persumptive wrote "worthless or not touching to some people." I'm trying to say that this man grabbed the attention of more than just "some people" but people followed his story throughout the national and even in different countries through the nation-wide and even world-wide media coverage he got. Although his story might not have been noticed by everybody, his story is significant to more than just a few people. Gas prices are something that affects everybody in the civilized world. --Kwhubby (talk) 23:31, 2 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have a few links here to some the things I was talking about:

The San Jose Mercury News had quite a few articles on Mehdi Shahbazi, but to access them now you need to have a pay subscription on their website. I will post some more links later.
I think merging is a bad idea, because Mehdi was never trying to target shell specifically about gas prices, but all oil companies in general. [1] --Kwhubby (talk) 06:27, 3 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • Delete. Per above. Notability is hanging on one event and that event was his death which, like most deaths, was reported on the local news. Slightly unusual deaths do not warrant Wikipedia articles. This is not Deathopedia. —Wknight94 (talk) 13:51, 5 August 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.
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