- 300-page iPhone bill (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) (restore|cache|AfD)
Closed as delete against both the number and substance of comments. Delete reason given was WP:NOT#NEWS even though only 3 of 35 comments supported delete on this basis, and 2 others refuted it directly. Balance of delete comments were predominately based on novel interpretations of WP:N against that guideline's reliance on objective evidence not subjective judgments, and were widely refuted on that basis. This appears to be a case of the closing admin casting a super-vote overriding the community consensus expressed in the discussion.
- Overturn as Keep Keep comments were not only more in-depth, they were also more consistent with policy. Closing admin relied on an activist view of WP:NOT#NEWS, which states: "Wikipedia properly considers the long-term historical notability of persons and events, keeping in mind the harm our work might cause. The fact that someone or something has been in the news for a brief period of time does not automatically justify an encyclopedia article...." While there is no precise definition given, a reasonable interpretation is that a brief period of time is a small number of news cycles. As one commenter pointed out, Google News had coverage spanning 15 days, and the article and references were expanded to cover this time period during the AfD. This is an exceptionally long time compared to most news stories. Also, the cautious language of that policy should not be interpreted without due caution. It says that not everything in the newspaper belongs in an encyclopedia, not that everything in the newspaper does not belong. The number and substance of the references shows that this is not the type of fluff or filler news that WP:NOT#NEWS is addressing. A topic that received full-length articles with in-depth coverage primarily about the subject in multiple mainstream secondary sources around the world is clearly outside it's scope. The weight of coverage (not to mention the video itself) bears witness to its notability forever--notability is not temporary. Dhaluza 23:23, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn Sufficient good secondary sources make it notable regardless of individual opinion. For an internet meme like this, coverage over several weeks is sufficient to avoid the novelty effect. DGG (talk) 23:33, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn Many reliable newspaper articles were written about this topic. Many possible merge targets were given in the AfD but none of them were satisfactory. Also, I don't think the article Justine Ezarik as it is now [1] goes into enough detail about the phone bill - it doesn't talk about the impact it had on AT&T's billing policies. And nor should it - her article is about a person, not her phone bill. Graham87 00:29, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Comment Exactly my point, though - if someone who is notable for not much else (i.e Justine Ezarik) does something that has some marginal notability, surely that information belongs in their article, rather than a separate one. To give an example, if a previously little-known sportsman broke a world record, would you create a separate article called "Breaking of world record by X?" No, you wouldn't, despite the fact that it would be immaculately sourced - you would put that information in the sportsman's article, as I suggest the couple of lines in Justine Ezarik would serve here. ELIMINATORJR 06:23, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Your example is not really relevant, because the world record would only relate directly to the person who broke it--you even put "by X" in the title. In this case, the subject relates to many others, as was pointed out in the merge points/counterpoints, and the person's name does not even appear in the title. It's not just about her, she just brought it to everyone's attention, so the article opens with this, then shows how she changed the world in a disproportionate way: i.e. recent college graduate posts a 1-minute viral video shot off the cuff in a coffee shop, and 9 days later one of the largest global corporations sends a mea culpa message to its customers--AFAIK, that's unprecedented. Dhaluza 08:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn Excellent use of citations and proof of wide coverage. While it is possible that some of this article could be placed in various other articles, none would do it justice in terms of explaning just what went on. -- Huntster T • @ • C 01:53, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn Notable and a valid addition to Wikipedia.. I have no idea why this was deleted. DeusExMachina 04:42, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Comment as closing admin Since the nominator of this DRV (also the author of the article) seems to be unable to assume good faith and accuses me of "casting a super-vote" despite me already having explained why I closed as delete, I'll explain again. As far as I could see, a good percentage of the votes were for Merge into either iPhone or Justine Ezarik. The Keep votes, however, were mainly either WP:ILIKEIT or WP:ITSWELLSOURCED, as opposed to explaining exactly why it didn't violate WP:NOT#NEWS. (That's another problem, btw - is the article about the phone bill or the video about the phone bill?). So, I was going to close as Merge - but what into? Looking at it more closely, I believed that the trivial notability of the subject was served enough by mentions in other articles - it was already mentioned at Justine Ezarik, and as I said in the close, it could be mentioned in iPhone too if anyone wished to do so. So my closure was Delete. ELIMINATORJR 06:13, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Reply as author and nominator WP:AGF does not mean ignore all evidence, it only says don't assume malice, and I don't. I carefully set out the reason for the conclusion before drawing it, and though you may not agree, I don't think it is unreasonable given the facts. Whatever your intentions, your actions had that effect. I did discuss this point with you on your talk page so you were not blindsided by this. Also, merge != delete: merge means the content belongs somewhere else (not in a black hole), but the specific suggestions were also widely refuted in the discussion, so it's not surprising you could not find a suitable merge target. The reason WP:ITSWELLSOURCED is a redlink is because there is no consensus for this either--the community does not care if you subjectively decide it's notability is trivial, it relies on objective evidence of what RS consider notable. For the question as to what the article is about, it was about the confluence of many related things, which is why they belonged together. Dhaluza 08:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- You're missing my point. I was suggesting that a number of the Keep votes were saying "OK, it's well sourced, therefore it must be notable", which is putting the cart before the horse. Notable articles are generally well sourced, but not every well sourced article is notable. Existence of WP:RS sources does not automatically confer notability, which is what you're appearing to say (whilst, I have to point out, failing once again to assume good faith). And another point, an article about "a confluence of things"? Are we an encyclopedia, or a collection of trivia? ELIMINATORJR 09:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Your point is not consistent with community consensus, specifically WP:N: "A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." That guideline clearly contradicts your assertion. The comments you dismissed were in fact citing this guideline. As far as AGF, I will only say that using this as a defense is also offensive. Dhaluza 00:09, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- I don't think I'm assuming bad faith when you use language such as "..the closing admin casting a super-vote overriding the community consensus.." or "the community does not care if you subjectively decide it's notability is trivial". As for the sources, we have been over this discussion many, many, times - usually in cases of WP:BLP1E about people whose are only notable for a single event, despite having a lot of coverage in reliable sources. Many of those people's articles are deleted, or more often merged. While this article is not about a person, the concept is similar. ELIMINATORJR 06:29, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- BLP is a necessary exception, normally only applicable when the subject does not deliberately seek attention, and courtesy deletions at the subject's request are highly controversial. Your cite of WP:BLP1E ends with, "Cover the event, not the person," which is exactly what this article did. You are turning this advice on its head as well. Dhaluza 10:13, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- I was merely using BLP1E as an example that well-sourced articles aren't always notable, not saying that this article is subject to it. ELIMINATORJR 10:38, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- No, well sourced articles are by definition Notable on Wikipedia, well sourced meaning sufficient in number and depth, but they can still be deleted for reasons other than Notability. Dhaluza 04:19, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn WP:NOT#NEWS does not forbid articles about recent news topics, it merely asks that they be appropriately contextualised. The article discussed the effects the bill had on AT&T policy, personal security, the environment and it's role in the wider debate about the 700 Mhz wireless spectrum auction - indeed, this article provides far more context than many articles about less recent topics. Incidentally, the story is still getting new news stories about it almost a month after it was released.[2] [3] Overall, I believe this article has established both notability and context, and is perfectly in accordance with all policies, including WP:NOT#NEWS, the rationale used for deletion. Laïka 06:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Endorse deletion. How many articles do we need on this? We already have one, as noted above. Also, I don't count still being talked about by bloggers after nearly a month as being lasting cultural impact, and as for the section "other noted iPhone bills" - well, I have not the words. Guy (Help!) 07:16, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Endorse deletion - For now, the comments on the AfD that appeared to have more logic behind them were leaning towards merge, I certainly don't agree on the justification provided for the article's deletion but I can't support a entire article for something with such a trivial notability, so I support its deletion unless the recreation's purpouse it to merge the material into a related page, in this case iPhone. - Caribbean~H.Q. 10:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Comment: I think if there is an unclear merge target, the article's history should be kept by default so all users can see the content and decide on a merge target. I'd lean towards a merge - and a merge target would become more clear as time passes and the historical significance of the video can be evaluated. Graham87 14:57, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Graham, I know merge may seem like a reasonable compromise, but each of the merge targets is problematic: 1) iPhone is the least appropriate since even Ezarik said it was not about the phone, 2) Justine Ezarik would be out of context and against WP:BLP1E as mentioned above, 3) AT&T Mobility is the most logical, since they are at the root, but it would also be difficult to contextualize there. Also I think the free use image is important, and the free use guideline says it should only be used in an article about the video. Dhaluza 10:34, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- Surely any merge must be to Justine Ezarik, because to be honest her notability is purely based on this event. If this article survives, then I'd guess you'd have to merge her article into it because otherwise, as User:JzG states above, we'll effectively have two articles about the same thing. ELIMINATORJR 10:43, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn - there was no clear consensus to delete. If anything there seemed to be consensus to merge this article, and as stated above by Graham, even if no clear merge target exists, pick one and let discussion on the talk page sort out any issues as to where it's been merged to. ɑʀкʏɑɴ 15:05, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn there simply was no consensus to remove this material. Merging is a possibility but should be an editorial decision left to the relevant talk page. Closing the debate as delete goes beyond the usual range of admin discretion. Pascal.Tesson 18:10, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- Strongly Endorse Deletion. WP:NOT#NEWS is policy & that larger consensus trumps the accumulation of overwrought navel-gazing ILIKEIT and ITSIMPORTANT votes. Eusebeus 22:45, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- Endorse, sortof... do not merge to Ezarik, which should be deleted itself. At most, it should have a mention in iPhone, so, restore, merge to iPhone, redirect. Although, honestly, consensus clearly says keep, for better or worse. A merge would allow the content to remain, but not satisfy the community consensus. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 23:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
- Change of heart from closing admin. I've reviewed this, and agree with some of the points above. I would support either (a) a Merge into iPhone, retaining the content per the above editor, or (b) a Keep, only if Justine Ezarik is merged and redirected to this article, because as the nominator of the DRV rightly points out, Ezarik is not notable outside this event per WP:BLP1E; thus leading to the situation pointed out by User:JzG that this article and Ezarik's are effectively about the same thing. ELIMINATORJR 00:02, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
- Overturn. The vast majority of delete arguments were rooted in subjective evaluations of importance (albeit expressed in terms of 'notability') and some seemed to be essentially variants of WP:IDONTCARE. Edison's argument for deletion was by far the strongest, but it was rebutted by Dhaluza. Whether we agree with the rebuttal is a different matter, but it was not the type of argument (e.g. WP:ILIKEIT) that could be simply discounted. There was no consensus to delete the article. Any discussion about a merge from this article or to this article is entirely outside the scope of the "delete" outcome and of this deletion review. – Black Falcon (Talk) 01:22, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
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