Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Rick Roeber

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. JERRY ^talk _contribs 20:19, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Rick Roeber

Rick Roeber (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

Fails to assert notability. All references are general in nature (i.e. a WSJ article speaking about barefoot runners in general, a Fox News interview covering the same thing). Seems like a nice guy, but not encyclopedic. Tijuana Brass (talk) 00:24, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

To revise that some, one of the external links from the article is a site which features other television interviews, some that focus a little more specifically on Roeber. Even so, it does little to reinforce Roeber's notability. Tijuana Brass (talk) 00:27, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Delete non-notable, self-referenced, see talk page also.-Grey Wanderer | Talk 00:34, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

• Delete per nom - subject fails WP:BIO references cited highlight barefoot running but not specific to subject of this bio. All the Complete Running.com link does is link back to the subjects own webpage! Fails WP:SOURCES in my opinion. Now here's the important thing to consider. Does the article as now is satisfy WP:BLP? This is important because WP:BLP is policy and not just a guideline. So this article does not adhere to WP:NPOV, WP:V and also in doubt is WP:NOR. Sting_au Talk 01:06, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
• Delete - As per above; Fails WP:BIO, NN and references aren't sufficiant. Spawn Man ^{Review Me!} 03:32, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
• Keep – Sorry to disagree but I found two articles from verifiable, creditable, and reputable newspapers with just a quick Google News search here

[1] and here [2]. In addition, several more references here [3]. Shoessss |  Chat  03:56, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Don't be sorry for disagreeing. Always a good idea to point out sources if found. It's strange because I did a Google News search and came up with nothing? I guess I used his name and you may have used the nickname "Barefoot Rick"? However, not just notability problems involved with this article. The article has large WP:NPOV concerns for me. To pass WP:BLP all of the comments contained in his article need to be properly referenced. Article as is is unencyclopedic. But sure add the references if you think it will help. Sting_au Talk 04:30, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Sting's right, it's good to include references if you find them. However, these don't really add much to notability. The first doesn't really say much about why Roeber would be notable, and in the second, he's just mentioned as someone who happens to be in the race. It's interesting that he runs without shoes, but encyclopedic? Not on its own. Did you find anything in the other references to help fill out this article some? Tijuana Brass (talk) 05:13, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

• Weak keep. The article is terribly promotional and needs a complete rewrite, but even though not all the sources are in depth he's treated as one of the more prominent barefoot marathoners, and there certainly are plenty of sources (not all of which need to be included on the webpage, we are not a GodTube portal). --Dhartung | Talk 06:53, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

• I've tried to stay out of the fray and just do some editing in the background to try to bring the Rick Roeber page up to notability standards. This has been a learning experience for me. (I hope to add some other notable "fringe" type runners like jump roping marathoners and juggling marathoners.) Anyway, when the notability issue came up, I was perplexed about those that stated that Roeber was a footnote in the articles mentioned. True, the WSJ article is about several barefoot runners, but the FOX News piece is exclusively about Roeber. Then, started pulling in bunches of references from articles about Roeber from the Chicago Sun-Times, the Deseret News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as well as other local TV news spots on GodTube that were exclusively about Roeber. One can go back and check the versions because they still have the links. Regardless, Grey Wanderer did a wonderful job cleaning the page up without taking away the notability of the WSJ article, FOX News, and the KC Star Preview Magazine lead article from March 2007. Seems like Roeber or whoever does his webpage did a good job referencing his own media mentions, however the majority of them are now in archive status at various news banks which makes it harder to verify. However, several are PDFed from the originals which, I think is according to Wiki standards, is credible.--Yarkoski1012 (talk) 22:01, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Thought I should pull in the links for consideration until the AfD discussion is over. As Grey Wanderer and others suggested, this many links are overkill and of course Wikipedia is not a GodTube portal!
    • Complete Running: http://completerunning.com/links/
    • Wall Street Journal: http://www.triclubsandiego.org/stories/5059551.html
    • FOX News: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=7ad467cb4127f4374a3c
    • Shawnee Dispatch: http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2005/apr/06/benefit_race_draws/
    • Deseret News: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20060721/ai_n16670936
    • Estes Park Trail Gazette: http://www.google.com/custom?domains=eptrail.com&q=roeber&sitesearch=eptrail.com&client=pub-3696365051484592&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&safe=active&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A000000%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1&hl=en
    • Columbia Missourian: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/09/04/rick-roebel-runs-another-barefoot-marathon/
    • Chicago Sun-Times: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/sundaydrive/106106,CST-SPT-drive22.article
    • Barefoot Rick's KCTV5 Kansas City Rescue Mission Interview: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=60096e0556e594c4008c
    • Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/running/whiterock/stories/121007dnsporockbriefs.214ff58.html
    • Barefoot Rick's NBC5 DFW Free Wheelchair Mission Interview: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=7835c2c2bb65bb94b19b
    • Barefoot Rick's 4th Annual Polar Barefoot Run Benefiting the Free Wheelchair Mission Interview: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=1dcea76e14e8dcf84430
    • Google News (Rick Roeber): http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&ned=us&q=Rick+Roeber&ie=UTF-8
    • Google News (Barefoot Rick Roeber): http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=Barefoot+Rick+Roeber&btnG=Search+Archives&hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8
    • Other Media: http://barefootrunner.org/news.htm --Yarkoski1012 (talk) 22:41, 14 January 2008 (UTC)--Yarkoski1012 (talk) 22:24, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Comment – LOL, I think you went just a tad overboard on the reference area here --yarkoski1012 (talk). However, it does prove your point better than mine. Definitely, you are a contributing editor to Wikipedia! Good Luck and Happy Editing. Shoessss |  Chat  22:59, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

• Keep - due to the work put in by yarkoski1012. This article is now a keeper in my opinion. Well done for the effort. Sting_au Talk 10:17, 15 January 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.