Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Doug Smith (author, columnist)

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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 delete. - Philippe 21:50, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Doug Smith (author, columnist)

Doug Smith (author, columnist) (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) (delete) – (View log)

This was speedied WP:CSD#A7 a week ago and has reappeared with some references, but they are only the subject's own web-site and that of the local paper on which he is a columnist - not enough to establish notability. Probable autobiography - author is an SPA. JohnCD (talk) 21:46, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

  • Delete, no independent attribution of notability in article or found during search. Purely WP:LOCAL figure. (Not even the best known Doug Smith connected to the Quad Cities, either.) --Dhartung | Talk 22:09, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. -- Wisdom89 (T / C) 22:25, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Neutral To me, it would depend upon the notability of the Quad-City Times. I don't want to !vote as I'm having a hard time telling how big the paper is, but it looks too small to warrant an article for a columnist. Agree about the autobio, especially considering the title of the article. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 23:35, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
  • With that in mind, delete, I'd agree that the circulation isn't high enough to demonstrate notability. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 04:08, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

People are writing in slamming me on Wikipedia. You could write in and refute some of what they are saying.

I've read his articles and they are really well written and humorous. He's definitely only a local or regional personality, but is well known in Iowa and Illinois. The QC Times has an average daily readership of 60,000, but they also get 50K to 70K internet readers on a given day. Remember, population is pretty sparse out in the land of corn! They cover a ten county territory of Iowa and Illinois of 375,000. I may be mistaken, but I thought it was the largest or most productive paper in the entire Lee Enterprise chain. I would disagree about him not being the best known Doug Smith connected to the Quad Cities. There are no other famous Doug Smiths, and the basketball player Dhartung references is not from the Quad Cities. (talk)

  • Comment two paras above added by Forumguy13 (talk · contribs), the author of the article. JohnCD (talk) 15:01, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Delete. A guy who writes for his local paper in a small town is not a notable author and never will be unless he does something truly major, which so far, according to this bio, has never been in the cards for the guy. I mean, he's never even published a book with a major press, right? And there are certainly no WP:RS about him! I say we get rid of this thing. Qworty (talk) 00:46, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Evidence of WP:AUTO Something smelled really bad about this one, so I started to nose around, and I found that the handle of the guy who created the article, Forumguy13, appears on several collector sites, such as this one [1], in which Forumguy13 identifies himself as "Doug," which is the same name as the guy this article is about, and lo and behold, the article states that he is a collector. So I think this guy wrote the article about himself. Not only that, but he has now shown up in this AfD to defend the article he wrote about himself, behavior which violates WP:COI. I will now go do all of the appropriate tagging. Qworty (talk) 00:55, 14 April 2008 (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.