Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Timothy Ballard

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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 merge‎ to Operation Underground Railroad. Courcelles (talk) 12:59, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Timothy Ballard[edit]

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Timothy Ballard (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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Fails WP:GNG and WP:N. Most sources in this article are either primary (articles written on his own websites, bare recordings of him talking in Congress, public database websites), promotional (announcements of public speaking events, advertizements in small blog articles, etc.) or only mention Ballard in a passing manner. The only existing reliable, secondary sources here are actually about Ballard's company (Operation Underground Railroad, O.U.R.), but ALL the other biographical sources that are actually centered around him as a person are exclusively primary and/or promotional. You can even check that the only sentences and sections of this page that are reliably sourced are the ones about his company (O.U.R. specifically, not the others). My WP:BEFORE only returned a few Fox News on-air interviews (which are generally not considered independent, and MIGHT be paid advertizing, but it's hard to be sure).

This article completely fails to demonstrate enough notability for this person to have a standalone article apart from O.U.R.'s already existing one. WP:INHERITORG says that "An organization may be notable, but individual members (or groups of members) do not "inherit" notability due to their membership.", and WP:N says that "articles on persons only notable for being associated with a certain group or event may be merged into the main article on that group or event." I believe that this is the case here, the fact that Ballard often appears in reliable sources as O.U.R.'s spokesperson and founder does not merit him a separate article. Since reliable sources listed here indicate that Ballard's name is highly attached to O.U.R.'s brand, as he is its founder and main spokesman, I believe that this article should be removed and/or redirected to Operation Underground Railroad.

(Also, if this is relevant, this article seems to have been created by two separate WP:SPAs that have WP:COIs with this page, see User talk:Mporenta, User talk:Operationundergroundrailroad and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard/Archive 161.) 🔥 22spears 🔥 21:55, 25 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • comment. Small correction: I mistakingly said that the two accounts above created the article, but actually it was created by User talk:MikiB in 2017. 🔥 22spears 🔥 21:58, 25 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The case for Keep: Some sources from the article: [1], Washington Post, meets SIGCOV; [2], New Yorker, meets SIGCOV (barely); [3], LDS Living, has interview material, but also substantial non-interview material; [4], Daily Hearld, meets SIGCOV.
When evaluated along with the other sources in the article,[5], [6] speaking before Congress [7] strongly bolsters the case for notability.
There is more but I think this is enough to meet GNG and BLP or a merge.
The case for a Merge is also strong. This subjects notability is completely tied to the org, INHERITORG is a factor to consider, and its a short article in itself and a merge would benefit the target article. Along with INHERITORG, considering this along with the advice regarding an EVENTs and BIOs, guidelines would usually defer to including the BIO content with the event/org rather than a stand alone bio, this is a good point to consider for this situation.
Personally I'd say merge (INHERITORG), but will defer to consensus if they decide this should remain a stand alone article.  // Timothy :: talk  13:48, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Merging seems reasonable. A lot of the content covered in his article already has a section and/or paragraph in the O.U.R. article, so doing that would be easy. 🔥 22spears 🔥 23:28, 4 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, ✗plicit 23:36, 2 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Merge to the article for Operation_Underground_Railroad. He is mentioned in sources about the organization but the emphasis is on the organization itself, with the exception of one article in LDS Living, which is about him. Most of the WP article is about the organization, not about him. If reduced to information about him it would be very thin. No prejudice against creating an article about him if sources are available in the future. Lamona (talk) 16:05, 5 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep there are multiple reliable sources focused on the person and not the organization. 128.6.36.94 (talk) 20:37, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Redraft by deleting or Merging all material not explicitly relevant to the individual, to O.U.R.'s article. A lot of this may become clearer at the end of the South America saga and the criminal investigation, after which, more is likely to be known about his personal behavior. I can see him being more widely notable by then, but for now he has a kind of celebrity status in the LDS community and is highly regarded by some government officials. --86Sedan 20:14, 8 May 2023 (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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