Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sameh El-Shahat

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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 Spartaz Humbug! 22:58, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sameh El-Shahat

Sameh El-Shahat (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

Notability not established: the links are not by independent sources, or if they are, they do not assert any notability of the subject (e.g. an editorial piece where he is quoted as dining with the editor ?!) Raistlin (talk) 16:33, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Raistlin, I believe that Time Out and NYT are unbiased sources and the fact that the author had dinner where the subject was present does not make that article biased. As for notability, I believe we can assume that the fact Thomas Friedman (whether or not we agree with his views) is a respectable and notable journalist and knows of the importance of the subject Sameh El-Shahat and respects him and his opinion to the point writing an entire editorial about it. It is notable that he wasn't lauding El-Shahat's work, please do bear that in mind.

I did take out the NYT quote if that is the reason for deletion

I live in London and I can tell you that this guy is very respected amongst art collectors (who collect his pieces as art). On the net, he seems to be googled a lot, not only for his furniture, but for his views as well.

It would be a shame if there wasn't some information about him on Wiki.

Best

Artisticcc —Preceding unsigned comment added by Artisticcc (talk • contribs) 18:58, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


  • Let us see point by point the citations used to claim notability:
  1. [1] an article on "Time Out", which is not exactly a premier art magazine, which interviews him and another person
  2. [2] Biography on a gallery of arts
  3. [3] Editorial by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times where he is deemed "One guest, Sameh El-Shahat, a furniture designer".
  4. [4] his own website
  5. [5] Letter he wrote to the Times Newspaper

Google searching turns out a handful of results. So, please, substantiate, modify the article, or this is a snowball delete in my opinion. --Raistlin (talk) 19:39, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

  • Delete; with a total of 25 unique Google hits, only one that I could remotely refer to as notable and non-trivial (the Time Out Dubai article), I don't think he meets WP:BIO. Tony Fox (arf!) 20:41, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
  • Delete unless independent reliable sources are found substantively treating the subject. Google news and books return no results whatever. I also checked various London based newspapers including The Times of London, The Telegraph and The Guardian. The burden is, of course, on the creator. We cannot "assume" anything Artisticcc. We must have proper sourcing verifying the content and sufficient to show notability of the subject, or an article should not exist.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:13, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


Hi Guys,

Point taken. He is an artist of growing repute and as such there are not as many sources available about him as Newson or Le Corbusier for example. I did find an article which is mostly dedicated to him in the Gulf News newspaper, which is the most respected English Language publication of the Gulf which I added (http://archive.gulfnews.com/weekend/arts/10153407.html ). I believe it shows notability. I took away the bit about his painting as the artist himself does not want to publicise it. I also altered the shape pf the article.

As for the comments by Thomas Friedman, I believe that a good reason why he did not say "world famous furniture designer Sameh El-Shahat" is because it is really beyond the scope of the article. However, it shows the furniture designer to be pre-eminent enough to have his opinion taken on subjects outside his speciality by one of the most respected journalists in the world today.

Let me know what you think and I thank you both for highlighting these points. I hope you will not delete it after the changes.

Best

Artisticcc —Preceding unsigned comment added by Artisticcc (talk • contribs) 10:29, 21 November 2007 (UTC) Artisticcc (talk) 10:07, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Hello,

I am sorry, it seems that i did not sign my last 2 previous entries for which i apologise. I truly hope that the article on El-Shahat will be removed from the Articles for Deletion category today. Artisticcc Artisticcc (talk) 10:07, 26 November 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.