Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/BMI Chart (height 150 - 174cm)

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. The raw totals are 10-6 in favor of deletion. That comes pretty close to no consensus as it is. But several of the Delete comments were "per TheronJ", and TheronJ's comment was (originally, and even still after he changed his actual bolded summary) predicated on TransWikiing this to WikiSource, which is not an option. So it's not clear that some of the Delete comments envisioned completely destroying the information in the article as opposed to moving it to WikiSource. So I don't see a clear consensus for deletion. Herostratus 20:41, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] BMI Chart (height 150 - 174cm)

What it says in the title but Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. Unencyclopedic. Might be accepted at Wikibooks but otherwise, surely this info. is available in numerous places on the web already? -- RHaworth 12:00, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

• Keep Well, it seems to me that this is useful information in relation to the Body mass index article and so is not indiscriminate. Readers of that article may well be not too keen to do the arithmetic themselves. Perhaps it should be embedded there, however, though as an "appendix" it seems fine to me. There are other articles on WP of this nature and the present one could be developed to the standards of, say, Table of prime factors which seems to be standing the test of time. Thincat 12:21, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
• Delete, we're not the place for tables of calculated data or reference numbers. Night Gyr (talk/Oy) 13:24, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
• Keep Although there are BMI calculators linked from the Body mass index article, a table like this is not linked, as such I think it makes a usful addition to the article. Additionally, the graphical BMI chart contained within the article is not freely licensed. --TimSmall 13:27, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
• Delete or transfer to Wikisource Per WP:NOT, "Complete copies of primary sources (including mathematical tables, astronomical tables, or source code) should go into Wikisource." (See also Wikipedia:Don't include copies of primary sources). This isn't a "complete copy", but the principle is the same - put a complete BMI table in Wikisource and link to it. TheronJ 13:41, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

• Changed recommendation per Night Gyr. TheronJ 01:46, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

No Transwiki -- Wikisource has instituted policy against tables of reference data or calculated numbers. This would not be welcome there. Night Gyr (talk/Oy) 21:14, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

• Delete or Transwiki per TheronJ.-- danntm ^T _C 14:27, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

  Removing Transwiki option per s:Wikisource:What_Wikisource_includes, as pointed out by Night Gyr.-- danntm ^T _C 02:09, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

• Delete per TheronJ. Also BMI is bunk anyway :-) Mine is 25.4, which makes me officially overweight, but my body fat is under 15%. Guy 14:50, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

BMI is only a guide and has limitations, but is has uses and is well recognised. Snowman 08:32, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it's well recognised as bunk :-) Anyway, WP:INTERESTING is not policy whereas WP:NOT is. This is a primary source and doesn't belong on Wikipedia. Guy 11:51, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

BMI is used by NICE in the UK in their guidelines of medical (and surgical) management of certain conditions.

WP rules are not always as concrete as you suggest; it is a WP policy that any WP rules can be broken, providing that this is done in good faith to improve WP pages. Snowman 12:16, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

• Delete WP:NOT. kingboyk 14:51, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
• Delete per Theron. Recury 16:25, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
• Delete per TheronJ. We most likely have articles on other subjects that include mathematical formulae (like engineering articles, for example), but we don't provide the charts. Body mass index should take care of the topic. --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 16:44, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
• Transwiki to WikiSource per TheronJ Hello32020 20:16, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
• Delete I'm sure the average wikipedia reader has the intelligence to divide their weight by the square of their height, without a table listing every possible answer. --IslaySolomon 23:39, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Gosh! Wikipedia exists very much for people who may well be very intelligent but still have difficulty calculating their BMI! But I still say we don't need the article. -- RHaworth 18:50, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

You are indicating that BMI charts are only used to calculate an individual's BMI. BMI charts are also used to quickly see an individuals target weight or target weight range, which is much easier to do with a chart. Snowman 08:32, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

• Keep. I think that the chart is 100x more useful than some pages. The wikipedia has a page on Mary Poppins so the wiki can have a BMI chart pages, I feel. Snowman 12:30, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comment "Wikipedia articles should not include instruction - advice (legal, medical, or otherwise), suggestions, or contain "how-to"s". The subjective usefulness of the chart is irrelevant. This page is unencyclopedic and helping readers calculate their ideal weight is far outside wikipedia's remit. --IslaySolomon 02:59, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

There is an old BMI chart on the BMI page, but no one has suggested that this should be deleted. Snowman 10:48, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

WP:BEANS applies. Guy 11:49, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

The page is in tutorial style and not giving-advice style. Snowman 09:29, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

• Keep until a free use image version of a BMI chart with appropriate contour lines for the boundaries between categories can be obtained or created. Getting into specific BMI values is a bit indiscriminate, and best left to calculators (though it would be wonderful if there were a way to wikicode such calculators) but a graphical chart with the contour lines of the BMI categories marked is useful and appropriate, and until a free use chart is available, this table is an acceptable alternative. Caerwine Caer’s whines 01:02, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

It would be very easy to make a such a calculator written with java script on a WP page; but users' computers will need to be set to allow javascript actions or else alarm notices will spring up on the screen. Snowman 08:25, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Comment. I have uploaded a "free" BMI chart to Image:BMIchart.png which uses WHO's cut-off values. It needs some colors and labels, but it's a start. Woseph 18:49, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

• Keep - per Snowman's comments about the table's use in calculating an ideal target weight range, even though it clearly is not required in calculating one's own BMI. Is potential in adding into main BMI article, and table itself could be tidied to make it more readable in style of forementioned Table of prime factors. Asp 08:42, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
• Delete per TheronJ & WP:WIN, Tewfik^Talk 19:25, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
• Keep - this is useful as a quick reference and adds to the article, IMHO InvictaHOG 00:19, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

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.