Talk:Ken Barlow

Requested move 19 December 2017

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved. (non-admin closure) Steel1943  (talk) 19:59, 26 December 2017 (UTC)

Ken Barlow → Ken Barlow (Coronation Street) – Given the three other Ken Barlows in the disambiguation hatnotes, a revisiting of the 2010 move request that made the Coronation Street character the primary topic is deserved.

After the recent successful Norris Cole move request, I am skeptical if a fictional character in a British TV show, even one who's been around for 55+ years, deserves to be the primary topic over three real people. Considering that Wikipedia should take a worldwide view, I think the Ken Barlow namespace should be converted to a disambiguation page.

Ken Barlow the TV character is well known mainly in the UK and other British Commonwealth countries where Coronation Street is broadcast - but not in the US. In contrast, Ken Barlow (basketball) had a notable college basketball career in the US and had a distinguished pro career in Italy and Greece. The US also has two notable Ken Barlows: the horse racer and TV weather reporter in Minnesota.

Furthermore, my Google search (from the US) of "Ken Barlow" has a mix of results about Coronation Street and the TV weather reporter in the Top Ten. Arbor to SJ (talk) 18:54, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose |Ken_Barlow_(basketball) per this In ictu oculi (talk) 19:12, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose - The presence of more than one hatnote is no indication that the other Ken Barlows enjoy equal notability and the nominator's point that Wikipedia should take a worldwide view is undermined by the following assertion that a minor American athlete is more famous than a leading character from an extremely succesful British soap opera. Wikipedia should indeed take a worldwide view and that includes not granting exorbitant attention to American culture at the expense of everything else. 79.65.126.84 (talk) 13:46, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Then it could also be argued that having the Corrie character as the primary topic is "granting exorbitant attention to British culture", to use your words. Arbor to SJ (talk) 16:42, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
 * No, that would be a very transparent and foolish attempt to use someone's words against them without addressing the points they raised. Thankfully nobody involved in this discussion is likely to do that. 79.65.126.84 (talk) 22:38, 20 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Oppose. I think this is one of those rare instances where a fictional person is primary over real people. They're rare, but they do happen. And this is one of the best-known characters in the longest-running soap opera in history and a major part of British culture. -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:11, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Yet Coronation Street is very obscure in the U.S. and non-English speaking world. Wikipedia can't be centric to a single country/region - it has to reflect the entire world. Arbor to SJ (talk) 16:42, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
 * I think you'll find there are many American topics that are obscure outside America that have been given primary status too! I'll give you an example: look down the List of current United States governors and see how many of them are primary. Yet we outside America have generally never heard of any of them! Well, it can happen the other way around too! -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:47, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
 * As Necrothesp says, and in this case 328 presumably British readers viewing one page daily vs 18 American readers viewing another page daily, with the much larger population of US means that Ken Barlow (basketball) isn't that well known in US. In ictu oculi (talk) 13:41, 21 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Oppose - Clear PRIMARYTOPIC here, It being british is irrlevent, As Necrothesp says hundreds of American people are PRIMARY even tho us British folk have never heard of them, The fictional character is clearly PT. – Davey 2010 Merry Xmas / Happy New Year 17:52, 23 December 2017 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

External links modified (February 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Ken Barlow. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120614192355/http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2009/12/maggie-jones-1934-2009/ to http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2009/12/maggie-jones-1934-2009/
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026698/

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Active years as a character played by William Roache
Re this edit: the HTML note says "Essentially he did not leave, just took a break. He was not 'reintroduced' in 2014, just returned to normal after his real-life court case." This is correct as he never left the show formally. Please don't edit war on this.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 06:20, 28 October 2019 (UTC)