Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/J. Otis Ledbetter (2nd nomination)

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. Carlossuarez46 21:07, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] J. Otis Ledbetter

J. Otis Ledbetter (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

Unreferenced since forever and tagged as such in March, not fixed since.

This individual is stated to have been featured on a number of Christian broadcasts, but there is no reference for that, and in any case "featured" is a weasel word meaning he appeared; he does not appear to be a regular contributor. There are a numb er of mentions on the Internet about him (as there are for any conservative Christian speaker, they have a sort of cottage industry in interviewing each other) but there's nothing that looks like an independent biography, and this article looks like a puff piece, which is unsurprising given its provenance. It was created by User:Jason Gastrich as part of his campaign to boost Louisiana Baptist University, and there is not much interest from anybody else - all substantive edits are by Gastrich or those patrolling his edits, everything else is maintenance. Survived AfD 1 as "no consensus" after sockpuppetry and canvassing by Gastrich, I suspect that a reappraisal of this article is now due. Guy (Help!) 14:49, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Delete. Six months are plenty of time to find an independent reliable source. Accordingly, none of the assertions in the article are verifiable. —C.Fred (talk) 16:36, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Delete. Agreement and affirmation with the two gentlemen above. There has been no establishment of notability according to my understanding of Wikipedia standards, that is, it has not been established by verifiable sources independent of the subject. Guy makes an excellent point when he writes, "there are a number of mentions on the Internet...they have a sort of cottage industry in interviewing each other." The subject has a fairly insignificant publication record even within a publishing genre that is somewhat notorious for its lack of standards, and is all but completely unknown outside of the conservative Christian community. - Nascentatheist 00:15, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

• Keep - the Gastrich thing was before my time, but Ledbetter is a published author and one of the higher ups in James Dobson's organization. I hear him on BBN occasionally. Even if the article was created in bad faith, the guy is well-known. --B 06:45, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

  Comment. Hello, B, please see my comments on the talk page. - Nascentatheist 00:11, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

  I have reviewed your comments. I share your concern about there not being much in the way of online sources. That is the only reason that I would consider deleting the article. (Of course, as reasons go, it's far from a bad one.) I'm unconvinced by the rest ... he's a "minor player" inasmuch as he is not Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc, but so are most of the people we have articles on. If the article had not been created by a now-banned user or if it were not about a Christian, would this even be an issue? --B 02:34, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

  Hi, B. Thanks for your reply. Sorry I didn't respond sooner. I'd say that Ledbetter's Christianity is irrelevant. There are quite a few "Christian" entries that I, as an atheist, would never want to see deleted. It's a fair point to suggest that Jason's origination of the article has caused it to receive some of the attention that it has received. However, I'd qualify that by simply saying that the source of the article only made it's appearance occur more quickly as a subject of an AfD. Had Jason been completely independent of the article and I had run across it, I'd nominate it for the reasons I've stated; and I suspect that lots of other editors might be inclined to do the same thing. As it is, I didn't nominate it, but I support its deletion. Ledbetter's notability has not been established or supported, and he meets none of the criteria that I cite on the talk page. If there are lots of articles about "minor players" of this sort at Wikipedia, perhaps that's part of the problem that needs to be addressed, and that needs to start somewhere. - Nascentatheist 08:09, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep I know that JzG and Nascentatheist, among others, are systematically going around deleting anything started by Jason Gastrich, but what possible harm can this article do? Do you not think some people will get some utility from being able to read that article? Uncle Davey (Talk) 17:51, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

  Comment Response on the talk page. - Nascentatheist 00:20, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

• Delete No claims of notability. No sourcing to speak of. So far as I can tell, this is indeed another case of Gastrich inflating the importance (in the larger scale) of a minister. KillerChihuahua^?!? 11:57, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete I get the feeling that this guy is almost notable, almost worth keeping, almost important ... but every time I tried to find something to fill in the "almost" and give this article meat, the substance kept evaporating. Not every author is worthy of an article, and that's really all this guy has going for him. Jason Harvestdancer | Talk to me 18:55, 4 September 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.