Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Marilyne MacLaren

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 delete. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:10, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Marilyne MacLaren

Another failed election candidate, although at least she does hold elected office as a councillor. Precedent is to delete these, but No vote at the moment. [see below] --Mais oui! 16:36, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

• Delete - non-notable and won't be contesting national elections again, article says. Martín (saying/doing) 16:44, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
• Keep - I would agree with deleting most articles on councillors, but I believe that Marilyne MacLaren is notable. She very nearly got elected at the last election (one of the most marginal seats in the country?) - as well as being notable for getting one of the worst ever results for the Lib Dems in the Hamilton South by-election, and has contested 3 other parliamentary elections. She is fairly well known in Edinburgh - especially among the student population - due to the HMO quotas proposal, which did spark a fair bit of controversy at the time. --Vclaw 16:51, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
• Delete per nom. There are no prizes for coming second. Ohconfucius 04:14, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
• Delete per nom (but there are prizes for coming second, everywhere from the Olympics to most lotteries). Re Vclaw's comments, she didn't seem to generate much in the Scotsman beyond routine reporting, which suggests that she isn't that important locally. She's certainly not Eric Milligan. Angus McLellan (Talk) 22:38, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
• Delete per arguments above. If her claim to notability rests upon "being notable for getting one of the worst ever results for the [insert party] in the [such-and-such] election", then all dire performances would automatically elevate the perpetrators to Wikipedia fame! --Mais oui! 23:02, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
• Comment - in response to Mais oui - when was the last time a Lib Dem candidate lost their desposit (and finished in 6th place!) in a Scottish election? I'd say its a fairly unique occurence. Anyway, I wasn't saying that was the only claim to notability, just a small part of it. May I just a comparison to, for example Angela Constance, a shorter serving councillor and parliamentary candidate once. I note Angus McLellan voted keep on that, largely on the basis of mentions in the Scotsman etc - I note MacLaren has 4 times as many unique hits. I would also suggest comparing to other councillors / candidates Peter Kearney or Laura Love who have not been listed for deletion. Of course, their party political persausion has nothing to do with this... --Vclaw 00:14, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

• Mmmm... that last comment there is near the borderline to failing WP:AGF and WP:NPA. Kearney's claim to notability seems to rest upon his prominent position as a public face of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. Love's notability is more contestable. Feel free to AFD if you so wish: I would probably vote Keep for Kearney, but Love? ... I am open to listen to all arguments. No hard feelings about comment by the way, let's not fall out over trivia. --Mais oui! 10:38, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

• Hi all. I created this article way back when, and occasionally wondered if it would ever get AFDed on a "no wins, no notability" basis... Vclaw, thanks for letting me know it was listed. MacLaren's notability is not great, but it's a cumulative thing. She's contested five national elections (albeit two of them on a list); one of these was remarkably bad (Hamilton South - I don't know of a worse LibDem record) and one remarkably close (Edinburgh South 2005). She's held Party office, and she's been on the council of a major city for twenty years. None of them necessarily things which give notability in and of themselves, but I'd argue that when applied to the same individual they're reasonably notable. (I wouldn't have created the article if I didn't think she was!). Incidentally, if councillors in the main aren't notable, it might be an idea to clean up the redlinks at City of Edinburgh and the like. Shimgray | talk | 08:00, 16 August 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.