User:Tillman/Watts notability

Discussion of Anthony Watts with regard to Notability (people)
The most pertinent WP article to read regarding determining a person's notability is Notability (people). In particular, under "Basic criteria", that article states:
 * A person is presumed to be notable if he or she has been the subject of published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject.


 * If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may be needed to prove notability; trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may not be sufficient to establish notability. ...

The bar for personal notability at Wikipedia isn't set high. Multiple reliable independent published secondary sources, with non-trivial coverage of Anthony Watts, allow us to presume his Wikipedia notability. Many of these sources could also be used to demonstrate notability for Watts' "Watts Up with That" and SurfaceStations.org blogs.

Following is a list of what seem to me to be the best sources yet presented to demonstrate Watts' notability:


 * The National Climatic Data Center responded to Watt's surface stations work with Talking Points related to: Is the U.S. Temperature Record Reliable?. Note that Watts is referenced by name in the NCDC report -- see the references list at the end of the report.


 * "Scientists warm up to Watts' work" is a moderately-detailed 2007 article on Watts and his surface-station work, in the Chico Enterprise-Record, his home-town newspaper.


 * "Skeptics raise doubts on global warming", The Arizona Republic, 2007, news article with 5 paragraphs on Watts and his surface-station work. Could also demonstrate notability for Surfacestations.org


 * Climatologist Roger Pielke Sr. comments on Watt's report, "Is the U.S. Surface Temperature Record Reliable?". More Watt-related posts are online at Pielke's Climate Science site, which is a weblog by a well-known university climatologist, writing in his area of expertise.


 * "Global baloney: It turns out the last decade wasn't the hottest in history", opinion column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2 paragraphs on Watts and "Watts Up With That." Not substantial coverage of Watts, but could contribute to the notability of Watts and that blog.


 * 2008 Weblog Awards, Best Science Blog: Watts Up with That, Watts' blog. See Blog award: "Among the major blog awards are The Weblog Award..." This source might be better-used to demonstrate notability for that blog.


 * Additionally, there are dozens of other published reports on Watts and his work -- see Alex Harvey's list above, posted at 09:08, 27 September 2009; and see the Watts article talk page, here and here. Many of these reports are not substantial, perhaps even trivial, but they do add weight to the argument that Watts is a WP:notable person.

Note that editor Atmoz has objected to the use of opinion columns and blogs to demonstrate notability, citing WP:BLP rules. However, we aren't attempting to add this material to a BLP, but simply to demonstrate that the subject is notable. Hence WP:Notability and WP:Notability (people) have the applicable rules to determine Watts' notability.

It seems to me that the best solution to the Anthony Watts notability question would be to have one article about Anthony Watts, his "Watts Up with That" blog, and his Surfacestations.org blog, with appropriate redirects; published sources on Watts and his blogs generally mention more than one of these. I have no strong opinion on what the article's main title should be. --Pete Tillman (talk) 22:48, 28 September 2009 (UTC)