Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Winfield High School (West Virginia)

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 keep. Can't sleep, clown will eat me 06:04, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Winfield High School (West Virginia)

Winfield High School (West Virginia) (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

This is just an unnotable public high school --ASDFGHJKL=Greatest Person Ever+Coolest Person Ever 01:58, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

• Weak delete. Non-notable school with no notable alumni or non-trivial media coverage.--TBCΦtalk? 02:12, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
• Delete. Fails all criterion in WP:SCHOOL. Sr13 (T|C) ^{Editor review} 07:23, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

• Changed to Keep after reconsideration. Sr13 (T|C) ^{Editor review} 00:36, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
• Delete Schools aren't inherently notable, and this one makes no assertion of notability. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 08:01, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
• Delete Some schools are notable, even if just for a good sports record, but this school has just about nothing to brag about. Alex43223 ^{Talk | Contribs | E-mail | C} 10:57, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
• Changed to Keep Recent improvements since the beginning of this discussion have changed the direction of this article. Has enough notability to hang on to. Alex43223 ^{Talk | Contribs | E-mail | C} 23:32, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Comment:The second half of your statement is a pretty thoughtless way of describing something that is probably loved by someone else, and the way it's worded adds no real value to this discussion. If you don't see something notable there, just say it simply, don't sink into what could be interpreted as a sneer. Please apply the Golden Rule.Noroton 16:34, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

My apologies if that's the way it was interpreted, I just meant it didn't have anything significant to keep an article on. Alex43223 ^{Talk | Contribs | E-mail | C} 23:32, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

*Delete clear case of non-notable school. PeaceNT 15:48, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

• Changed to keep per article's improvement, should meet WP:SCHOOL now. PeaceNT 02:57, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
• Strong Keep High schools are inherently notable IMHO, and no harm would be done if every high school in the nation had a Wikipedia article (well, aside from attracting vandals). WP:SCHOOL is not official policy. This article is lousy, but perhaps the deletion nomination will get some local patriot to improve it.Noroton 16:34, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

A thought about media coverage: Rich communities have money to spend, which means advertisers can support more local newspapers, which means more articles get written about local high schools, making it easier to meet Wikipedia notability guidelines. Newspapers in poorer communities may not have a Web presence or have as many of their articles on the Web. That may not overcome the objection about notability, but it's something to keep in mind. The Web, and therefore to an extent, Wikipedia, tends to emphasize what the rich have, de-emphasize what the poor have. I don't know about Winfield, but it doesn't appear to be wealthy.Noroton 16:40, 18 February 2007 (UTC) Additional comment: This school doesn't appear to be in a poor community at all (and wealthier than most of West Virginia) and it does have some coverage from several local papers) I've added a couple of small bits of information to the article. Noroton 17:33, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

• Delete per nom or merge per WP:LOCAL (latter preferred). This is simply more tedious schoolcruft from the schoolspammers. The claim "High schools are inherently notable" directly contradicts established consensus. However, a merge to an appropriate article about a school district is usually the best way to avoid inappropriate recreations. Xtifr _tälk 19:14, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
• Delete per my arguments presented here. Soltak | Talk 20:14, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, a school is just like a grocery store in the same way that a home is like a dormatory, a mother like a jailer, a father like a boss, a sister like a coworker. That's why we have grocery store yearbooks, homecoming celebrations for watermelon season and class rings for the store employees. Ah yes, I'll never forget marching down the canned vegetable aisle in my cap and gown to hear the commencement speech in the deli section. My point isn't that the metaphor is flawed so much as the idea is flawed: schools aren't school buildings just as homes aren't houses or apartments. Schools carry a lot more importance than that in the lives of students and communities. That's a good part of what makes them special. We allow Wikipedia articles for local communities because we recognize their importance to people, not because they're all significant far beyond their boundaries. High schools get seared into the memories of those who go there, whether they love the experience or hate it. They have a natural importance which I call inherent. When that basketball team won the state championship it was important to the community at large. How do I know that? Because it always is. Even to people who had no kids in the school at the time. Even to people who never went to the high school and had no children. High schools are one of the things that communities put their money, their interest and their hopes into. Take out the high school articles that don't identify some notability for people far beyond their borders and you really just diminish Wikipedia.Noroton 05:04, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

• Keep. Noroton (talk • contribs) has improved the article since it was nominated. --Eastmain 22:58, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

  Comment Yes, Noroton did spruce up the article, but a reality TV show contestant isn't really worth keeping the artice. Possibly the state championship, but that would be a streach. --ASDFGHJKL=Greatest Person Ever+Coolest Person Ever 01:13, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

• Delete, I originally leaned towards "all schools are notable," but Soltak's arguments convinced me, it's pretty much tantamount to "all supermarkets are notable" or "all post office buildings are notable." Krimpet 03:49, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep, as the article has substantially improved since it was nominated for deletion. WP:SCHOOLS is a proposed guideline which is unlikely to gain community wide acceptance, and the current version of this article clearly demonstrates notability anyhow. RFerreira 07:14, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
• Delete. Inadequate references, and notability not proven. Seriously, if having a reality show contestant as an alumnus is taken as a claim to notability, we might as well just fold up the tents and move on. WMMartin 13:28, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep per the improvements made by Noroton, article now meets WP:SCHOOLS criteria for inclusion. Myles Long 17:27, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep — Meets my criteria for H.S. notability. Thanks for nominating this page for the High School Article Improvement Drive. ;-) — RJH (talk) 20:16, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
• Comment I've just added significantly to the content, making the article two or three times longer. It is now a substantially different article. I was surprised to find so many awards for academic excellence for the school (I hadn't seen them when I was searching the Web before). It seems to me the school is, academicly, one of the best in the state. I think editors who have voted here should re-evaluate the article. Noroton 20:18, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep, the vast improvements to this article are such that it now meets the bastardized WP:SCHOOLS proposals. Also see User:Silensor/Schools for supporting rationale. Silensor 20:20, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep on the basis of the court case. Schools with such more generally relevant material can be N.DGG 04:19, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep Noroton's additions have substantially improved the article, and thus, with notability now asserted, I'm happy to change my vote. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 04:20, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep as rewritten, article now meets various proposed WP:SCHOOL guidelines and firmly illustrates the notability of the subject. roy<sac> ^Talk! .oOo. 06:20, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep since the rewritten version passes a reasonable bar for notability, backed by reliable sources. (jarbarf) 00:21, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep. Secondary schools are notable, and this is a particularly well written article. Yamaguchi先生 02:33, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
• Keep per Yamaguchi, et al. --Myles Long 19:15, 22 February 2007 (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.