Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2005 February 26

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] February 26

This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record.
The result of the debate was DELETE. dbenbenn | talk 13:18, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] T'ien_Lung_Tao

An ad for a Canadian martial arts school something. Gets 33 hits on Google. Squidwina 19:33, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)


This is not a Canadian martial arts school but an entire system of Martial Arts with school in the US, Canada, and Japan.

  • Comment The subject may be a system of martial arts, but it doesn't seem like a noteworthy one. The article is an ad nonetheless.Squidwina 21:46, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete, not notable, advertisement. Megan1967 01:47, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete: notability not established, advert. Wile E. Heresiarch 04:28, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • I've studied the Chinese martial arts for 21 years and I've never heard of it. Regardless, it could still be notable, but what is there doesn't make that case and isn't an encyclopaedia article in the least. Delete. Fire Star 04:27, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Yes it isn't a notable one, neither is Pai Lum or Chi Ling Pai Gung Fu which it is descended from. Squidwina thought it was a school and was wrong on that account. What else could Squidwina be wrong about? - Unsigned comment provided by 66.82.9.75.

I too have studied Martial Arts, since 1979. If you don't know who Daniel Pai, Manuel Agrella, Denis Decker, or Bruce Juchnik are then you probably don't know what T'ien Lung Tao is either. An advertisement would require contact information as how to join. What is provided is information about the system with no references as to where to get instruction in said system. So far you are not proving your point very well and showing to be more of the usual, our system is better than yours attitude. The fact is that no system is better than another. What can be better about a system is the scientific Theories it employs as a basis for its modality. Better questions result in better answers. I thought this place was supposed to be about information, not a place to flame. - Unsigned comment provided by 66.82.9.75.

This is a place for Wikipedia's editors to decide if the article should be kept. Fire Star 18:02, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

If you have an issue with an entry please be qualitative and quantitative about said post. Sweeping statements show a lack of ability to prove your point - Unsigned comment provided by 66.82.9.75.

Dear 66.82.9.75, my "sweeping statement" was admitting that I didn't know if the style was notable and I provided a context for that statement as well as saying that the article itself doesn't meet my standards for an encyclopaedia. I didn't say that I thought the style itself was good or not. I also said that I thought the article wasn't up to standards, and voted to delete it not just on the actual construction of the article (which can be fixed easily enough) but also informed by the context that I have indeed never heard of the style in all my years of training, judging tournaments and travelling to China. It is a new style invented by a Westerner and doesn't meet my standards for notability because of its newness, not its technical basis. I also considered your uncalled-for comments about Squidwina. I hope for your sake that such a tone isn't indicative of the philosophy of the art you espouse. That is my explanation, as you requested, and I have been shown no reason to change my vote as yet. I'm sorry that you felt that I also deserved a defensive response. I recommend that you read up on Wikilove. Fire Star 18:02, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Variety of Kung fu. Has a hit for a related book on Amazon.com. —Brim 17:46, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. I'm working on this with the original author to make it more suitable for an encyclopaedia by attaching history and an outline of its precepts. Muhuli 22:35, 2005 Feb 28 (UTC)
If the article is improved significantly AND evidence of notablilty provided (only 9 Google hits doesn't look good for it) I will change my vote. And please advise our unsigned friend on Wikiquette. Fire Star 23:38, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)


Dear “Fire Star”...

"it is a new style invented by a Westerner and doesn't meet my standards" sums up your argument and makes this appear as a personal issue, hence the seeming defensiveness. As I understand it, Wikipedia as a concept is supposed to be a living source of information. In this way, Wikipedia seems to embody a source of collective knowledge rather than a realm of personal myopic ramblings. Cataloging only what you feel is important leaves others to do without new and possibly desirable information, which seems to be contradictory to the concept of an open body of knowledge. As we are new here, it would be more constructive to assist us in sharing our information appropriately. We seek to share the history behind T'ien Lung Tao. We are not interested in ego conflicts.

We will continue to make revisions and if you wish to assist us that would be more helpful than what has been offered thus far.

Please note that we have added links to those persons and systems that have connections to T'ien Lung Tao. Many have been extremely influential throughout the Martial Arts world in the last 50 years ragardless whether or not you have personally heard of them. Our goal is to present only factual information in an unbiased way. If what we post does not come through that way please make exact reference to the issue so that we may clarify or remedy it accordingly. I am studying the Wikietiquette as you can see by my new signing. I have read up on Wikilove and haven’t seen much of it yet.AnDruidh 21:54, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)


I have been a student of the martial arts for more than twenty years and have been a referee and judge on the open tournament circuit for a large part of that time. During my years of training, I was taught by virtually all of my instructors that an open mind was one of my greatest tools as well as one of my strongest weapons. Nothing should be taken at its face value nor should it be dismissed out of hand. Unfortunately, I have seldom seen this lesson put into practice by many of my colleagues. With this in mind, I undertook a little research into the art of T’ien Lung Tao.

I had the distinct honour and privilege of meeting Grand Master Dennis Decker several years ago and trained with him on a couple of occasions shortly before his untimely death. Master Decker was a great innovator and leader on the cutting edge of martial arts education in North America if not the entire world. I had never met with anyone in the martial arts more noteworthy and remarkable…until now.

I met with Mr. Bober (his students call him Professor) and several of the instructors of T’ien Lung Tao, and have found that the system is indeed noteworthy and remarkable. The standard of education in their martial arts is beyond anything I have previously experienced and the quality of instruction is exceptional.

I also reviewed a number of entries (not exclusively martial arts) in the Wikipedia site as well as other sites of a similar nature. I find that the outline of T’ien Lung Tao is not very different from many other similar articles that have been accepted for some time.

Granted, T’ien Lung Tao has, until recently, been rather unknown, unremarked and little noticed. I am reminded of another small organization of printers and bicycle makers who were unknown, unremarkable, and of little note until one cold, windy day in 1903 at a little-known place called Kitty Hawk.

Keep the article. Snowbear 05:11, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)



  • Keep. - Greetings:

As this site is open to anyone, thus the danger of having “anyone” posting. This can be either positive or negative. To observe these statements, knowing full well that there was no serious form of research done is a shame and a miscarriage of justice.

We have already seen statements made that were proven false. One individual has already made mention that in all of his years of training and judging he has never heard of it! We do not know the validity and quality of those years, yet it seems ironic that we are to believe his argument based on that he has not heard of it.

An extensive amount of martial artists have never even heard of a system known as Hanko-ryu. This system was created in Okinawa, and its founder would become one of the most famous Okinawan karate instructors of all time. Several movies were made based on his character.

This system is hardly even known today. Hanko-ryu (Half-Hard style) was created by Chojun Miyagi. Of course several years after creating hanko-ryu, he re-modeled it into what is now known as Goju-ryu. Most Goju-ryu stylists do not even know this.

In China, there are literally hundreds of martial arts systems, and the earlier commentary on never having heard of the style presupposes that the individual has extensively researched all of them.

I think there should not be a major focus on the history of the system but the information presented, which is hardly even discussed in martial arts circles. Having been in the martial arts for a couple of DECADES, having traveled across North America, I can name many systems that you may not have heard about.

Furthermore, disagreeing with the post just because the system was founded in the US strongly suggests a serious ethnic misconception of movement and motion. I am sorry but Orientals do not own human anatomy and physics.

I suggest you keep this post, and perhaps even learn from it by actually researching some of the material mentioned in it. - jadescorpion

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.

This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record.
The result of the debate was KEEP, by a slight majority. dbenbenn | talk 14:54, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Robert Frost Middle School

Despite all of the verbiage, this is still just another non-notable middle school. RickK 21:27, Feb 26, 2005 (UTC)

  • Hmm, they're sure trying now. Still give it a delete. -- Riffsyphon1024 21:28, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • Not to mention that some of the categories of people are kind of inappropriate? (Economically Disadvantaged, Limited English Proficient, Students with Disabilities) -- Riffsyphon1024 21:31, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I think those categories are the ones mandated by the state and federal assesment systems. 205.210.232.62 22:58, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. I'm glad, for their sake, that they have some good teams, but almost every school has some teams that are halfway decent. -Aranel ("Sarah") 22:02, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Nice try, I give it BEEFSTEW points A, B, C, D, and E, for a total of 5/10. User:BrenDJ and User:Mathwiz2020 (who left himself some encouragement on his own Talk page, where's the welcoming committee?) put some serious work into it and the article is well organized. But, as RickK says, "just another non-notable middle school." Dpbsmith (talk) 00:38, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep - verifiability supplied - David Gerard 02:00, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep, contains information that distinguishes it from other schools, and necessary to the coverage of its local area. Kappa 02:31, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep, seems like a decent article. - SimonP 05:59, Feb 27, 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Agree with SimonP. --Andylkl 08:51, Feb 27, 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Wikipedia is not a guide to primary and secondary education facilities. Though well-written, there is nothing in this article to show why this school warrants an entry as opposed to the many thousands of other US middle schools. Arkyan 13:36, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. I can't see anything in this article which indicates notability. Jeltz talk 15:44, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. We don't need an article on every single secondary school in the world. Non-notable. DaveTheRed 18:44, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Round and round we go; it is because people try to delete articles like this that "non-notability" was not passed as a reason for deletion. If it were used more selectively then I imagine others would be more keen to allow it. Pcb21| Pete 20:26, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep -- Longhair 00:03, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Redir to Montgomery County Public Schools secondary schools, where I've merged the info that seemed encyclopedic and NPOV. I have similar issues with the demographic stats--also seems excessive and transitory, although a discussion of any historical trends might be useful. I would like a clarification on the copyright status of the pic, like a statement from the photographer. If it was taken from the website from someone other than the person who took it, it is probably not public domain. Second choice is delete--I would argue that it is not "distinguished"--most communities in the 'developed' world have secondary schools, and they almost all have teams of varying performance. FWIW, there are 16054 public middle schools in the US alone. Niteowlneils 00:19, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • No offense, but that merge looks ugly compared to the rest of the table. -- Riffsyphon1024 01:43, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Not notable. Jonathunder 03:50, 2005 Feb 28 (UTC)
  • Delete. Article does not establish significant notability. Gwalla | Talk 04:19, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Yet another middle school. Nothing to see here. Carrp | Talk 04:22, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Merge into Rockville, Maryland and delete - Skysmith 09:43, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete as per Carrp and Gwalla. Radiant! 11:11, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Middle schools are very seldom notable, and this is not apparently an exception. A quick Googling finds Robert Frost Middle Schools in Los Angeles CA, Deer Park NY, Louisville KY, Markham IL, New Carrollton MD, Rockville MD, and elsewhere—and none appear to be very exciting. At most, merge a brief snippet into the community's article or an article on local education if one exists. --TenOfAllTrades | Talk 16:53, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Abstain. On the one hand, it's not a useless stub like most of these articles, but actually has some content. On the other hand, I don't see anything notable about it. I'd vote to keep if there were something notable about it. Jayjg (talk) 21:23, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • Switching vote to Delete. Notability still not established 4 days laters, and article is heavily sock-puppet supported. Jayjg (talk) 16:43, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep This article displays details and is well written. Having articles like this is what makes Wikipedia different from World Book.--BrenDJ 22:13, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep This is a great article. --ARG 22:19, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: User's first edit. Jayjg (talk) 22:26, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • On "notability" - if this really is what the community means by non-notable, then should we revisit the Ram-bot issue again? Clearly thousands of tinpot little American towns are non-notable to the same extent as this school, but it seems absurd to me to want to delete the information. Pcb21| Pete 22:40, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep- Why would this be deleated versus any other middle school article that was written?--Johnwz 00:33, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: User's third edit. Carrp | Talk 02:33, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • You're absolutely right. We should delete the other middle school articles too. DaveTheRed 02:27, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete, there is nothing exceptional about this school--nixie 04:02, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep as a shining example of what other middle school articles on Wikipedia should aspire to be like. —RaD Man (talk) 04:11, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Delete. No notability, some POV writing on the school's strengths, and some statistics that will probably never be kept current. How is this a shining example? Indrian 04:51, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
      • In contrast to most other high school and middle school articles, how is this not a shining example? Notability is not a requirement for inclusion. —RaD Man (talk) 06:38, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
        • I will not go into a notability arguement at this time, but that does not address the other two issues I have raised. Keeping is fine if that is what you want, but callnig this a paragon of school articles is a bit extreme. Just because it is more than two lines and therefore superior to 99% of the school articles we have does not make it a shining example, which implies that a longer POV section and some unmaintainable statistics constitute an outstanding article on a school. Indrian 16:32, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
  • Reluctant delete on basis of non-notability. I think it should be acceptable for someone to move this to their personal user space, and I would welcome suggestions for transwiki (is there are relevant local wiki, for example?). -- Jmabel | Talk 08:13, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. The Recycling Troll 09:55, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep This belongs in wikipedia.--Rip87 12:47, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: User's third edit. Carrp | Talk 02:31, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep Has a lot of detail, describes why this school is important. --Freakox8723 13:04, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: User's second edit. Carrp | Talk 02:30, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep -The Robert Frost Middle School article should NOT be nominated for deletion because it is renowned across the county for its superior students. Not only do they perform excellently on standardized tests but they also excel in extracurricular activities, as noted by the article. (From Robert Frost Middle School Talk page)--J.A.S. 13:21, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • This section appears highly POV to me. If you want to present evidence of the excellence achieved by this school, it would be a good idea to quote some source other than the article itself, which seems biased. Indrian 16:32, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: User's fifth edit. Carrp | Talk 02:28, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep --ABC123 13:35, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note:User's second edit. Carrp | Talk 02:23, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • keep - it belongs on wikipedia. Yuckfoo 20:17, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Oh my goodness; it's a school, and who cares about that? Seriously, Wikipedia becomes more comprehensive when schools are written about in it, and there is no harm done to those don't like such articles. Stop this deletionist nonsense. 141.225.146.182 21:57, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: Anon user's second edit. Carrp | Talk 02:25, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: Unregistered and/or unsigned votes do not count on VfD. --Andylkl 06:34, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. It's only a description of the school...I suspect some kind of advertising... --Neigel von Teighen 22:02, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Why delete it? Why not just make it a stub?
  • I think I'm going to vote keep on this one. It really is well-written (though there are a few punctuation bugaboos) and the article actually does go to some length to establish at least a semblance of notability. This beats the living daylights out of the usual "bored student nanostub" type of school article. A BEEFSTEW of 5 is a lot higher than I've seen on this page. - Lucky 6.9 23:43, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep Why delete an already good article?--Sportsgirl1534 02:06, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: User's second edit. Carrp | Talk 02:22, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep 64.231.46.157 02:14, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: Anon user's second edit. Carrp | Talk 02:24, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Note: Unregistered and/or unsigned votes do not count on VfD. --Andylkl 06:34, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete Nicely written but still non-notable. Philthecow 02:17, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Gamaliel 02:27, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete, BEEFSTEW score of 2 (ABCDE, middle school). —Korath (Talk) 06:50, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep --Terpsfan 11:52, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Careful, socks. I loathe sockpuppets. Keep in mind that I will gladly my comparatively weak keep vote to a delete with just a couple of keystrokes if this continues. - Lucky 6.9 18:35, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Agreed, I also think this article should be kept, and strongly encourage the admin making the final decision to ignore as many idiot sockpuppets as necessary, and see that there are still plenty of people wanting this kept. Pcb21| Pete 21:47, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • *Not Voting I came across the Robert Frost Middle School page and noticed this page, I then read all the comments about not being notable, but the school apparently is one of the best Jazz teams in their State according to the article. --Scifi 22:25, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • User's fifth edit, first four edits were to create a user page immediately before making this edit. Jayjg (talk) 23:00, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep and allow for organic growth. Tis a shame about all the puppets. GRider\talk 00:55, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete No notable school. There must be thousands of schoold around the word with this kind of banal claim of being notable--LexCorp 03:54, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Thousands? More like hundreds of thousands. Jayjg (talk) 16:09, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Comment: You'd have a snowball's chance in hell if anyone thinks that sock-puppeting multiple "keep" votes would help save an article from VfD. Stop it and let the voting go on fairly, please. --Andylkl 06:34, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)

  • Delete. Non-encyclopedic -- ask yourself, would you or should you be looking up ordinary American middle schools in an encyclopedia? --Calton | Talk 07:05, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Comment. This is a fair question. So I ask you Calton, in addition to "ordinary American middle schools", do you honestly think you would ever find yourself looking up chancellor Albert Carnesale, "sex move" Donkey punch, Pokémon character Gary Oak, internet meme Numanuma, Slashdot, Star Trek versus Star Wars or, heaven forbid, the GNAA in a so-called real encyclopaedia? Many would argue that Wikipedia is not an encyclopaedia as it stands, so the inclusion of an educational institution should come as no surprise. In light of the other material that is kept on Wikipedia, this article is an easy and obvious keep. GRider\talk 17:09, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
      • The citation of a random seletion of other articles, some of which are also on vfd, does not establish notability for this article. Gamaliel 18:08, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
        • You are correct, it does not. My comment was a response to a question, not a motion to establish notability. This educational institution is inherently noteworthy and its a travesty that these sort of articles are continually being listed for deletion. GRider\talk 18:16, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
          • Is it necessary to rehash this sterile debate every time a school article comes up for VfD? Can't we all just acknowledge that there is no consensus on this point, agree to disagree, and just vote and move on? Dpbsmith (talk) 18:47, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
            • Yes, this will be possible once valid school stubs stop being listed for deletion. GRider\talk 19:06, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
              • So, in other words, debate can stop once everyone agrees with you. Gamaliel 22:41, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
                • In other words, once valid school stubs stop being listed for deletion we can move on. GRider\talk 22:56, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
      • Chancellor Carnesale seems to be quite notable, for reasons outlined in his VfD entry. Slashdot is a forum to which more than ten million messages have been posted by hundreds of thousands of users. Even Numanuma has been covered in the New York Times. Robert Frost Middle School (of which there are several in the United States) seems to be a generic middle school, with no notable alumni and no known appearances in the national media. It's not even a notable internet meme...why is this school noteworthy? --TenOfAllTrades | Talk 19:20, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
        • To say that any of those subjects are more or less noteworthy than this middle school would be nothing more than subjective opinion and POV, and you're entitled to that. GRider\talk 20:04, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
          • Actually, the evidence is quite objective in that those subjects have received significant media coverage, while this school has received none. Gamaliel 22:41, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
            • The belief that media coverage makes you more or less notable than something else is completely subjective and POV. There are literally thousands of articles on Wikipedia which are encyclopedically valuable and have never received any sort of "media coverage". Media coverage != encyclopedic. GRider\talk 22:54, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
              • So please tell us what sort of encyclopedic standard excludes Slashdot but includes Middle of Nowhere Middle School. Gamaliel 22:59, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
                • If you're intentionally missing the point here then I can't help you. GRider\talk 23:40, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
                  • What point am I missing? Care to answer the question I posed at all? Gamaliel 01:57, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
                    • Based upon the trends I have been following on VfD, one could concretely assert that Wikipedia is only a "real" encyclopaedia when it is a matter of convenience to be one. The entire matter of "notability" is one hundred percent subjective. As it has been so vibrantly illustrated right here in this discussion, many contributors to Wikipedia strongly DO believe schools to be inherently noteworthy and "encyclopedic". To answer your original question, which was incorrectly punctuated, yes, schools in the "middle of nowhere" are included in print-encyclopaedias without any mention of Slashdot. Does this really surprise you? Either we can agree to disagree and move on, or continue to repeat ourselves in this exercise of futility. Which do you choose? GRider\talk 17:43, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Comment: Please do not bite the newcomers. An influx of new users, especially on VfD, does not necessarily mean they are sockpuppets. However, anonymous and new users should be aware that we've had significant problems with sockpuppets in the past, so simple statements of opinion are likely to be ignored. Hard facts which add to the discussion, on the other hand, would be much more useful. Has this school had any notable alumni, for example? Or media coverage (besides local descriptions of athletic events)? —Korath (Talk) 08:00, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)
    • Response: I don't know why people would create sockpuppets, but I agree, don't bite them. As for notable alumni, I am compiling a list currently. This Saturday, there may also be media coverage if Robert Frost Middle School wins the regional science bowl (there was media coverage when the local high school won their science bowl last weekend.)
      • Response: Frost did win the Virginia/Maryland Regional Science Bowl and there will be an article in the Rockville Gazette newspaper. Coverage of a science bowl does not seem to fall under the category of "local descriptions of athletic events." The article will appear this Wednesday and, if they put the article online (which they do not do with all their articles), I will post a link. Besides, the vote is 35 keep to 25 delete. Even subtracting some keeps (because of the sockpuppets), it seems like keep won by a landslide. Although there aren't any notable alumni I have found as of now, there might be years from now considering there seem to be exceptionally gifted students (that won the science bowl for two states.) By the way, what's "vote stacking"?
        • Vote stacking, in this instance, would appear to be a term used carelessly and unrespectfully by a minority of deletionists who would very much like nothing more than to discredit honest votes from a large group of contributors to Wikipedia who passionately believe that this article is of value and should not be deleted. GRider\talk 17:53, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Non-notable instantiation of the middle-school concept. -- WOT 23:00, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Notice to reviewing administrator: There was an attempt to vote stack on this article. See GRider's contributions. Votes beyond this point need to be reviewed carefully and considered carefully. -- AllyUnion (talk) 02:49, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Users must consider all policies and former consensus before commenting for consensus: Please note, Wikipedia:Deletion policy, is not the only policy to consider.

Considerations should also be made to the following as well:

Users should remember that the Wikipedia is not an experiment in democracy. -- AllyUnion (talk) 02:49, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Having said and done all that, if a substantial number of genuine users (not sockpuppets) want an article kept, then it has to be kept. VfD is about establishing a consensus for deletion under deletion policy. If there are a lot of genuine users who want to keep (be they a minority or majority) then it will be kept. Where they "came from" is essentially irrelevant. Pcb21| Pete 00:09, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

  • Keep A model school article. Wincoote 20:01, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep This article hasn't been around for a month yet (first created 21/02/05!) - surely it needs time to develop lists of alumni and so on? Drw25 21:55, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Comment. That's putting the cart before the horse. There's no reason to create an article in the first place if the original author can't or won't add anything noteworthy. VfD also allows for five days of fairly intense scrutiny—if there's something notable to be said about this school, someone will probably find it. --TenOfAllTrades | Talk 22:04, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep I have to agree, why do individual fictional characters from Manga have their own encyclopedia entries, but schools are hit with VFD's left and right? For all we know a future US President could come from that school. --Oarias 22:09, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • My cat could start talking in Swahili in the future, too. Talking cats might be encyclopedic. So might middle schools with presidential alumni. This is neither. —Korath (Talk) 22:27, Mar 4, 2005 (UTC)
      • What is this might business you're talking about!?! RaD Man (talk) 22:49, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep, high schools and beyond are inherently encyclopedic (and I shan't get started on all the video game nano-cruft that lurks around here). I know this is a middle school, keeping this one seems helpful to me. Wyss 23:05, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Interesting school stub, wikipedia is not paper. --ShaunMacPherson 01:45, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep Very notable. -CunningLinguist 03:00, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Google return approx. 2,000 results, very notable given that even the most pretigious high schools in Singapore return only 500 results. - Mailer Diablo 12:15, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. JuntungWu 12:54, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. I think schools are inherently notable. Further, "notability" is not listed in Wikipedia:Deletion policy (even though I wish it were, and have tried to include it), so isn't grounds for deletion anyway. Dan100 17:53, Mar 5, 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Another time-wasting deletioncruft nomination.--Centauri 23:37, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. School.LukeSurl 23:47, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Article provides useful information. SCEhardt 00:02, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. --Ryan! | Talk 11:36, Mar 6, 2005 (UTC)
  • Comment: In regards to claims of vote-stacking, their are large amounts of people who beleive well-written articles for schools are inherently notable. Merely bringing an article to someones attention is no more votestacking than providing a link for someone is. If you'll notice, GRider's contributions were far and wide and not concentrated on any bloc or mailing list group. Speaking for myself, I evaluated the article and voted to keep it out of sincere belief that it deserved to be kept and not out of any votestacking motivation. I have faith that the majority of the other voters did as well. Thank you for your time. -CunningLinguist 03:55, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete. Middle schools are not inherently encyclopediac. --Carnildo 04:58, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. Substantial content. Useful information. Accademic performance seems to make it notable anyway.--cfp 18:39, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Provincial claims of academic or extracurricular excellence do not constitute notability. Delete. RadicalSubversiv E 00:39, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Delete'. No context. To be encyclopedic, a school has to have some wider resonance in general culture. --Wetman 20:49, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Comment: I added an aerial photo and a nice table. Is that enough to keep it?
  • keep i have to, they admitted me when i got expelled from private school in 5th grade.  ALKIVAR 04:09, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep. It's a real place, Mark Richards 21:01, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • I added a table, an aerial, and lots more information. There's even a newspaper article being printed tomorrow and a press release being wired next week! What more do you want? I think you should keep it and allow "organic growth." I also agree with someone else (I forget where I saw this) where we should just make a templete and put it on all schools to regulate them. Enough with all this VFD business.mathwiz2020\talk Image:Mathwiz2020.jpg 01:34, Mar 9, 2005 (UTC)
  • Keep - seems like decent article, verifiable -- Lochaber 15:22, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Pcpcpc says "a model school article". What xe really means is "a boilerplate school article". Most of this article is just an exercise in raw statistics within a framework that could apply to any school ("Headmaster X, enrollment Y, maths club, band, sports teams, motto ..." — data that are just extra columns in the tables at Montgomery County Public Schools secondary schools in fact), and gives one no context whatever. Moreover: When I pushed for improvement to establish notability early on in this article's history, what I wasn't pushing for was this exercise in academic boosterism. The school is "fifth in the county" in one respect, and "one of the only schools in the county" in another. What does it mean to be "one of the only schools"? And what are the standard deviations that accompany the various means (without which many of the raw statisics are pretty useless)? The prodding has just resulted in padding, I'm afraid. What makes this school stand out from the crowd of 37 middle schools in Montgomery County alone [3], let alone from the crowd of the hundreds of thousands of such schools in the world? Nothing, apparently. Niteowlneils has pointed out some of the other issues that I would have mentioned, such as the copyright violations in the included images and the lack of any sort of analysis that would warrant an article rather than a line in a table. Delete. Uncle G 19:41, 2005 Mar 9 (UTC)
    • Comment It is one of the sucesses of mathematics that large quanties of information can be summarised in statistics. The use of this in this article is well thought out and certainly encylopedic. A researcher looking at this page would be very happy with what he saw and horrified that all but "one line in a table" were to be deleted for the reasoning afformentioned.
What makes this school stand out from the crowd is evident on the page. A school does not need Nobel Prize Winners in its alumi to unique, this article is evidence that in-depth research into a school will uncover unique information. The above article simplifies articles' validity down to a one-dimensional scale, which is very tempting to do when considering VfD, of notablility of facts contained in article. On this scale, almost all schools will be deleted as they'd fall into the middle ground. However in reality the total is greater than the sum of the parts and a collaboration of these facts and figures in a coherent article builds up a real and encyclopedic picture of what the school is like.
As a summation, if you picked up one of the 1157 pupils in this school and placed them in one of the other 37 middle schools in Montgomery County do you think they'd consider the differences non-notable?--LukeSurl 00:29, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.