Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Richard Carroll (jeweller)

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 speedy delete. hoax DGG ( talk ) 05:14, 28 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Richard Carroll (jeweller)[edit]

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This biography is a hoax, probably fabricated to create a history for a brand of iPhone covers. The biography was started by a single-purpose account, User:Jeweller m, on English and Russian Wikipedias,[1] using a URL from the Ukraine Google Books.[2] It was also expanded by a Ukraine IP, Special:Contributions/95.81.10.73. The sources don't support anything about a jeweller or goldsmith named Richard Carroll, and they don't mention the supposed Caiman's brand of jewellery in London. An exhaustive search found nothing at all about this guy or his brand. It's quite suspicious that a recently formed "luxury" brand of iPhone cover called Caimania can be found in English-language and Ukraine sources. Binksternet (talk) 05:25, 20 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Pinging Graphium who twice declined the AFD three years ago. Also Rankersbo who asked for dates from Jeweller m. A week later, Dodger67 thought this biography was suitable for mainspace. Note that INeverCry and Ellin Beltz recently deleted images of Caimania iPhone brand (File:Iphone_5_caimania.JPG, File:Caimania-logotype.jpg) from Wikimedia Commons for copyright violation reasons, and Ellin Beltz also nominated the notional Richard Carroll image for deletion because of its patently false declaration of ownership.[3] Binksternet (talk) 05:44, 20 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk • mail) 05:58, 20 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of United Kingdom-related deletion discussions. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk • mail) 05:58, 20 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Businesspeople-related deletion discussions. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk • mail) 05:59, 20 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: the Russian article ru:Кэрролл, Ричард has an additional paragraph with a story about how Carroll was saved by a caiman when his boat capsized in Colombia, and so called his shop "Caiman's Jewellery", and his descendants revived the brand as "Caimania" to sell expensive mobile-phone cases. There is such a brand, and the same story appears on the their website. That can't be regarded as a reliable source, and in view of the doubts about the image expressed at Commons::Commons:Deletion requests/File:Richard Carroll.jpg I am leaning delete as a hoax/marketing ploy unless some other confirmation can be found. Unfortunately, I don't have access to any of the books cited as sources. JohnCD (talk) 09:53, 20 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Per nom. The creator's deleted uploads on Commons include File:Caimania-logotype.jpg, File:Caimania-logo2.jpg, and File:Iphone 5 caimania.JPG. INeverCry 19:44, 20 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. I believe this is a hoax, but even if it isn't, the fact that it is impossible to find any verification of any of the content in any reliable source means that he is not notable enough for an article. (In addition to other reasons for thinking it's a hoax, it is very doubtful indeed whether it would be so difficult to find information about him if he really had made jewellery for Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, as claimed in the article. Also, as discussed in the commons deletion page linked above, there are reasons for thinking that the photograph used in the article is a forgery.) The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 17:50, 21 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. When I found the photo and it was so obviously a fake, I searched for information about this jeweler, and found nothing about him and Queen Victoria and/or King Edward VII. The article doesn't even have birth and death dates for the subject, nor was I able to find if the subject ever existed with or without the Caiman or Colombia. I think the article is a fake, probably for marketing reasons. Ellin Beltz (talk) 01:05, 22 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. This masterpiece of marketing skills shouldn't be perpetuated like the Henryk Batuta hoax. The article on ru.wiki is already deleted. Sealle (talk) 09:27, 24 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. I had hoped to get access to one of the books cited, but did not succeed. However, the improbability of the caiman story, the dodgy image, the probability that if the story of the royal connection were true there would be some independent confirmation, and the likelihood that there is a marketing ploy behind this convince me that WP would be better without it. JohnCD (talk) 16:12, 24 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You can see by searching the text file of the book English goldsmiths and their marks that there's nothing inside about Richard Carroll or caiman. Same with the book Traditional jewelry of India, using snippet search. Binksternet (talk) 16:32, 24 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Delete as by all means, nothing comes close to actual substance. SwisterTwister talk 06:19, 26 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete as potential hoax. K.e.coffman (talk) 05:55, 27 August 2016 (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.