Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Avraham Qanai


 * 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. Lankiveil (speak to me) 11:07, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

Avraham Qanai

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 * Delete — questionable notability. Rms125a@hotmail.com (talk) 13:01, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep. Avraham Qanai is a major contributor to Karaite Jewish theology and culture in the U.S.A. Thus, I believe the article falls under the criteria of a notable BLP: "The person has made a widely recognized contribution that is part of the enduring historical record in his or her specific field."  As per the "Creative professionals" subcategory of Notability, "The person...had works in many significant libraries."  A few of the numerous libraries that own the book co-authored by Qanai and mentioned in the article are: Columbia University Library, University of Florida Library, UCLA Library, University of Toronto Library and Memorial University of Newfoundland Library.  -- AFriedman   (talk)  17:35, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Then the article should be updated accordingly. It looked like a red-linked mess of a run-on sentence last time I checked. Rms125a@hotmail.com (talk) 22:17, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

I don't know enough to fill in most of the redlinks and add biographical details about Qanai. One of the problems here is that most Karaite Jews live in Israel, and many don't speak English. Many of the relevant biographical references may be in Hebrew, Arabic (I think this is the native language of some of Qanai's mentors), Karaite Judaeo-Tatar (Qanai's native language, I believe, although my source for this isn't verifiable by WP standards) etc. and other foreign languages. User:Isaackight may know about information for the redlinks, based on some off-wiki correspondence I've had with him. A while ago, I placed a tag after the sentences about Qanai's mentors. -- AFriedman  (talk)  22:43, 3 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Interesting. A career that mixes naturotherapy, workplace democracy and Karaite Judaism. Why not? But apart from websites that could be self-published, and a book that does not seem to have drawn any reviews, the only independent mention seems to be Quackwatch. Sources do not have to be in English, or in electronic format. Does he:wikipedia have anything on him? Aymatth2 (talk) 01:54, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks, and good work tracking down those additional sources. It's always nice to see neutral people working on articles like this one.  Supposedly, Qanai's family is Karaite and his ancestors came from Crimea and elsewhere--so if this information can be verified, that would explain the Karaite Judaism part.  I don't know how he developed his other interests, or what it says about him in he:Wikipedia.  Also, I'd like to know more specific information about his background in Karaite scholarship and his life story.  I've heard from other people that he speaks numerous languages and has lived in several continents, for example.  All in all, I think he's a very enigmatic person and a biosketch of him would be useful to people interested in Karaite Judaism.  On Wikipedia, I've encountered more than one user identifying as Karaite.  -- AFriedman   (talk)  05:23, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

 Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, JForget  00:34, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so consensus may be reached.


 * Keep per above. --Webley455 (talk) 00:59, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete, too little substantive independent coverage of him for passing WP:ANYBIO. The library holdings of his books are actually pretty low, per Worldcat search. Passes neither WP:ANYBIO nor WP:AUTH. Nsk92 (talk) 03:12, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * OK, rereading the section about "enduring historical record" it seems to me that Qanai doesn't meet that criterion. However, the WP policy about how many libraries should hold a book in order to make its author notable is quite vaguely worded.  I still say "keep" because the information in the article is useful to some people, and Wikipedia isn't running out of space any time soon.  -- AFriedman   (talk)  04:08, 11 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Judaism-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 19:26, 10 January 2010 (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.