Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lyall Howard

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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 wasWithdrawn by nominator while I still have concerns about notability, the sourcing is still incidental accounts in relation to John Howard the recent editing of the article by Sarah and Lester has removed the serious issues of it being a John Howard attack page and POV fork. Gnangarra 00:33, 2 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Lyall Howard

Lyall Howard (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

Lyall Howard the article says He is notable for being the father of current Australian Prime Minister, John Howard., notability isn't inherited. Additionally WP:BIO#Criteria for notability of people has 6 criteria for people, Lyall doesn't meet any of them. Lyall's service records shows no decorations or mentions in dispatches only that he was gased in france, as was tens of thousands of other soldiers he was discharged as a private so theres no rank to establish notability. Owner of a service station isnt notable, only the PNG plantation issue gets close, but that's WP:BLP1E and the use of dummies/proxies wasn't confined to just Lyall, which then has undue weight issues in that 2 of the 4 properties were purchased by Lyall's father Walter yet this article focus is on Lyall but includes Walter's property in every statement. Gnangarra 15:09, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Reply: I wish to point out that someone recently changed the wording of the intro which made the subject sound less notable than previous versions. I will change the intro to more accurately refect his life.Lester2 15:20, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
resp I note Lester has add more information(inc. sourcing) and reworded the lead, the issue still remaiins the sourcing is about John Howard not Lyall the additional content is about Walter not Lyall. The issues of notability, undue weight have yet to be addressed. Gnangarra 01:14, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Merge to the article about his notable son? Corpx 15:34, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Delete Only one of the articles is really about this person; the others mention him in the context of discussing the PM's history. We can add any useful information to an appropriate section at John Howard article. -FisherQueen (Talk) 15:41, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Speedy Del Per Gnang. Twenty Years 15:46, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
comment speedy isnt appropriate based on my nomination because WP:CSD states Non-notable subjects with their importance asserted: Articles that have obviously non-notable subjects are still not eligible for speedy deletion unless the article "does not assert the importance or significance of its subject". If the article gives a claim that might be construed as making the subject notable, it should be taken to a wider forum. emphasis added. A claim for notability is clearly stated in the article and included in the nomination Gnangarra 15:52, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep The practice of dummying in PNG is notable, and in Lyall Howard we have a link between this colourful episode in Australian imperialism and Lyall's notable son. --Pete 17:14, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Delete The article is a badly written attack piece on a non notable person, centered around an incident wikipedia has yet to even find notable. If people agree it is notable then a sub section should be created at History of Papua New Guinea. Prester John -(Talk to the Hand) 17:48, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Delete: The subject is not notable however the events in PNG may be notable. It is probably worth deleting the current article and exploring an article of "dummying in PNG" (which in itself is probably poorly attested) rather than hiding it in an article about a low notability person. Shot info 23:08, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep (?): A while back i would have sympathised with the argument that this Lyall Howard material should be merged into the John Howard article. However, that piece is a bit of a war zone, and to some extent the peace is being kept by moving some material out of it into appropriate separate entries. i do not think it is helping Wikipedia if we argue on one page that contentious material is better in a separate entry, and then elsewhere say that that separate entry's is not notable and should be deleted. Another alternative might be to merge this to the history of PNG. For the moment, though, i favour keeping, and revisiting this whole debate one day in either a few months or a few years when John Howard is no longer PM and a longer-term view can be taken of all this. We should take advantage of the dynamic nature of WP to keep material like this for periods, recognising that it will perhaps not be notable for all time. hamiltonstone 00:35, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
notability at WP is permanent once acquired. This is an encyclopedia, not a transient news publicationDGG (talk) 00:36, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Creating a WP:POVFORK because another article is subject to an edit war isnt normally the way the community establishes notability. Gnangarra 01:22, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Delete the notability is so marginal generally and the crime relatively minor, so I see no basis for keeping on either account. BLP is otherwise satisfied by the documentation. DGG (talk) 00:36, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Regretfully, delete. Regretfully, because the accusations themselves are probably notable for John Howard; also, this is a model article about a minor individual in terms of referencing. All the references, however, are to articles that specify notability only with reference to John Howard, and I can't see that Lyall is in himself notable. Hornplease 01:23, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Much like Josiah Franklin, hmm? Let's pull that flag down andsee who stands up. --Pete 03:39, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Skyring/Pete, instead of just voicing WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS your welcome to nominate Josiah Franklin article, like this it doesnt assert notability. Though I'd expect given your above comment most people would say its a bad faith WP:POINT nomination and it'd get speedy closed. Gnangarra 04:49, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I looked at it, intending to see what sort of arguments would be mustered in support, but there are [probably enough mentions of JF in biographies of his famous son to constitute enough secondary sources. Perhaps LH is included in biographies of his famous son? Don't have time to look at this right now, about to hit the road for a twelve hour shift. --Pete 04:58, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
  • KeepThe material needs to be edited to remove any disparaging undertones and possibly developed into a completely different article but I'd like to keep it. I think this material is a very important part of the JH story which is obviously not appropriate for the main bio and I think it would be a shame to lose it. Sarah 05:42, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep per Sarah. It would wrong to merge all of this into the JH article. While it does need some minor tweaking to move away from being an underhand attack piece, I think that fathers of notable sons are worth knowing a bit more about, and this is too interesting to be lost for the sake of a hardline interpretation of the notability guideline. —Moondyne 09:01, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep There was coverage of his dealings in PNG in reliable sources. Notable enough. Recurring dreams 11:50, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep There appear to be enough reliable and independent sources to meet notability requirements. Gillyweed 11:53, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
comment In the article sources 4 and 5 are the same piece written by David Marr for fairfax, at best its a soap box which alleges inappropriate behaviour by John Howard based on actions by his father before JH birth that were legal. Reference 2 is about John Howards(Aust Government) defence policy. reference 3 is about a Senate inquiry into JH(Aust Government) industrial relations policy. reference 6 is a book about JH and G.W.Bush and the alliance between US and Australia. Only reference 1 is actually about Lyall but its the same documents retained for 376,000 or so Australian service personal from WWI, as I said in the nomination there nothing in his records that asserts any notability, no decorations, no rank etc. When you look at WP:N A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. there's no significant coverage of the subject only incidental coverage in article about his son. Gnangarra 13:02, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I've found plenty of articles on Factiva and tomorrow I'll check the Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre but I think all of the information can be sourced to other references. The article is definitely verifiable by reliable sources. Sarah 14:22, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep We're still working on the article and it is still expanding. He's notable for 3 reasons: 1: The New Guinea plantations coupled with a high-level government inquiry into the matter with historical records and transcripts of those accounts 2: The extraordinary meeting on the battlefields of World War I, and 3: He's the father of the Australian Prime Minister. Of the references supplied, all have accounts of Lyall Howard, and more than one are entirely about him. Please let this article grow! Lester2 15:05, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
comment Point 1 -- the event may warrant an article, but Lyall wasnt the only person involved rough calculation he had 2.5% of the land granted(inc Walters grant). 2. refers to a 4 word entry in a dairy thats not in the public domain. 3. Being someones father isnt notable, if that person is notable then his father gets included there. Gnangarra 02:45, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Delete per nom. The only reason any of these stories were published in the first place is becuase he was the Prime Minister's father. Otherwise, the man would be entirely non-notable. It seems to me that the only purpose of the article is to disparage the Prime Minister using information that could not be kept in the article on him. It is a blatant POV fork and has no place in Wikipedia. Those editors who seem so committed to having this information in Wikipedia should look at writing an article on the topic of plantations in the colonial period in PNG. -- Mattinbgn\ talk 20:51, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
    It's an article spinoff, not a POV fork. Just because content is moved from one large article and used to create another article, doesn't make it a POV fork. I can't speak for anyone else but I don't find Lyall's story notable in the context of the plantations or PNG and I have no interest in writing about PNG plantations. I find the whole Lyall story interesting in the context of John Howard. JH has spoken in some depth about his father numerous times and I think this is an important part of the JH story which cannot and should not be in the main bio. As for the BIO guideline, in my opinion, the question is has Lyall Howard been the subject of non-trivial coverage by reliable sources and the answer is yes. And if that isn't convincing, then I would argue to keep it purely on the basis of Moondyne's position that this "is too interesting to be lost for the sake of a hardline interpretation of the notability guideline". The other issues raised here, like undue weight and such, are editorial issues, not reasons for outright deletion. Deleting an article which offers an interesting and *completely verifiable by reliable sources* background to our second longest serving PM simply because it falls between the cracks of typical notability criteria is like cutting off our noses. Sarah 01:26, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
It really can't be classed as an article spinoff as the material was never suitable for the John Howard article to be spun off from. There was a disagreement between editors about the inclusion of material and the end result was a new article was created. Surely, that is a POV fork. With a spin out a summary version would normally be included in the main article, which surely wouldn't be suitable here. I agree the topic is interesting but not because of who was involved but because of what happened. The focus of this article seems to be on Lyall Howard, an otherwise non-notable person when I see the focus should be on the activities (dummying) which took place of which Lyall Howard was only one of many involved. The article as it stands is non-encyclopedic trivia about a non-notable individual designed to justify the inclusion of material that wasn't suitable for the John Howard article. -- Mattinbgn\ talk 02:18, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Delete per Gnangarra and Mattinbgn. The article has improved since I first read over it, but I still err on the side of the subject not being sufficiently or independently notable.--cj | talk 02:52, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
Article updated. The Lyall Howard article has had significant work on it since the above comments were made. I hope the Wikipedians who have already commented on it have time to reread it for a second opinion. The additions considerably affect the notability of the subject. On 2006, author Les Carlyon published the book The Great War, which signnificantly refers to Lyall Howard's war diary, not because he is the PM's father, but because it provides a rare historical account documenting it from a soldier's manuscript. The historical photograph shows Lyall Howard's battalion leaving Melnourne in 1916. Lester2 19:56, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep per Sarah. The article contains information about verifiable, significant, relevant events pertaining to the immediate family of a notable living person. The war service, petrol station ownership and other aspects of Lyall's life inform the background of one of Australia's most enduring political figures, and serve as a genuinely interesting historical thread in the Howard family tapestry that ought not be lost --Bren 06:28, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Keep As a non-Australian who'd be hard pressed to name any Australians other than Shane Warne and Harold Bishop, I came away from this article feeling like I'd learned something. Whatever the reasons for the man being famous, he does receive press coverage in his own right, and I can't see a problem with this article at all. I've never held with people who say WP:USEFUL is an invalid keep reason; as long as it's properly sourced, in my opinion WP:USEFUL is the Wikimedia Foundation's primary purpose — iridescent (talk to me!) 19:18, 1 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.