Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alvan Lafargue


 * 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   no consensus. Nakon 02:57, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Alvan Lafargue

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Claim to fame is being mayor of a town of 20k people, which doesn't come close to meeting WP:NPOL. As far as WP:GNG goes, sources consist of an Angelfire site, genealogy sites, and a few mentions in Louisiana historical publications. OhNo itsJamie Talk 15:15, 13 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Keep. The person is notable as a physician of fifty years. He was also a mayor of Sulphur, LA. The article has been on Wikipedia for four years. The principal source is from the Louisiana Historical Assn.: Billy Hathorn (talk) 16:08, 13 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Delete Just being a physician, even if for 50 years, does not make one notable. Nor does having been a mayor of a very small time. Length of article on wikipedia does not show the person is notable.John Pack Lambert (talk) 16:20, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Automated comment: This AfD was not correctly transcluded to the log (step 3). I have transcluded it to Articles for deletion/Log/2015 February 13.  —cyberbot I   Talk to my owner :Online 17:49, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Louisiana-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 21:58, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 21:58, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Medicine-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 21:59, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.
 * Delete. The age of an article is not a measure of its quality or notability. This subject's medical career does not meet criteria for notability by extension from wp:PROF, and WP:NPOL #3 is pretty clear that local politicians don't meet criteria for notability unless they get significant coverage from independent sources. A mention on a historical website doesn't seem to meet that standard. BakerStMD T&#124;C 16:49, 15 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Reply. The Louisiana Historical Association says that Dr. Lafargue is notable.Billy Hathorn (talk) 18:47, 15 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Delete. Mayor of a city of 20,000 people. Just not notable enough. -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:33, 17 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Keep The sources meet GNG. If the Louisiana Historical Association say he is notable enough for their encyclopedia, he meets GNG. The size of the city is a red herring. Sources determine notability, not population statistics. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 17:39, 17 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Keep per WP:BASIC The Louisiana Historical Society and the Louisiana Research Collection at Tulane University both consider him notable. There is further significant coverage from reliable sources appropriate to the time period. 24.151.10.165 (talk) 17:24, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, -- Sam Sing! 15:40, 20 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Keep Louisiana historical groups consider him important, that should be enough for WP:GNG and WP:BASIC — Preceding unsigned comment added by Suppafly (talk • contribs) 15:53, 20 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Delete We have not handed over the determination of Wikipedia notability to the Louisiana Historical Association. Entries in local biography compendia are not adequate to satisfy WP:BIO or WP:NPOL.The online biographical dictionary has no explanation or criteria as to how the persons listed are chosen, or what qualifications a submitted biography would have to meet, so it appears to be an indiscriminate compendium. The collection of papers at Tulane are primarily those of other members of his family, and notability is not inherited. The site says "The papers primarily concern Arnaud, Pierre-Adolphe, Adolphe J., and Annie Lafargue." The fact that he was mayor of a town of 20k and a physician for 50 years are not adequate to justify a biography in Wikipedia. Edison (talk) 20:52, 20 February 2015 (UTC)
 * The Louisiana Research Collection overview also contains a two paragraph biography of Alvan Lafargue that refers to Lafarge as, inter alia, "a noted physician, civic leader, and politician." Far from handing over determination of notability to Louisiana authorities, these authorities' biographies constitute WP:SIGCOV going to meet WP:BASIC, in combination with the other references in the article. 24.151.10.165 (talk) 15:58, 21 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Comment. A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography has an article on Dr. Alvan Lafargue; it does not have articles on Adolphe Lafargue (a state legislator and judge and Alvan's father) nor Malcolm Lafargue (a U.S. attorney and Alvan's nephew). But Adolphe and Malcolm have met the notability threshold for Wikipedia. I have looked for other sources for Dr. Lafargue. There is the 1981 book by Erbon W. Wise (a Sulphur author), Brimstone! The History of Sulphur, Louisiana, which has information on Dr. Lafargue. However, I don't have access to that book for the material there. It could be obtained through Inter-Library Loan; that would take some weeks to do, beyond the decision on whether this article stays. Billy Hathorn (talk) 00:22, 22 February 2015 (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.