Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Belchertown Board of Selectmen


 * 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 delete. Information could be added to town's article, perhaps in a collapsible table, but there's no indication that the topic is independently notable. 78.26 (spin me / revolutions) 15:01, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

Belchertown Board of Selectmen

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WP:NOTDIR MB 16:36, 2 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Delete as this article is not relevant. Steve Lux, Jr. (talk) 14:49, 3 June 2019 (UTC)

Boards of Selectmen are the executive authority in most towns in Massachusetts and in some other New England states. They perform the same functions as Mayors in Massachusetts cities: appointing department heads, offer a budget, supervise the Town Administrator or Town Manager. By comparison, the Wikipedia site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Boston lists Mayors of Boston since the 1800s. This site lists the equivalent officials in Belchertown since the 1800s. All of these officials were elected by voters. In almost every case, their election were contested.

It could be argued reasonably that it should be merged with or linked to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belchertown,_Massachusetts. However, I believe that it should not be deleted. Prosbus (talk) 17:48, 3 June 2019 (UTC)Prosbus


 * Keep: It seems consistent with Category:Lists of mayors of places in Massachusetts, but List of mayors of Chicopee, Massachusetts says they didn't have a mayor until 1890 because they were still incorporated as a town; I don't know if Board of Selectmen deserves their own article per town, but there are 6 pages at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/intitle:"board of selectmen". They should be named consistently. -- Shyam Has Your Anomaly Mitigated (talk) 01:36, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, T. Canens (talk) 06:43, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Massachusetts-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 10:55, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Keep: Wikipedia should continue to be a collaborative effort to collect and preserve information. The important question is not size. Rather, for hundreds of years selectmen have had the full executive power that mayors have in other places. Under Massachusetts General Law, Belchertown could vote to become a full city with a mayor as executive authority instead of a board. (There are cities in Massachusetts which are smaller than Belchertown.) In this case, it is the Massachusetts legislature that decided Belchertown is large enough. But rather it is the powers of the board that make it worthy of inclusion. Establishing an arbitrary size rule within Wikipedia surely would lead to unintended consequences. Would there be different rules for different centuries? Would there be different rules for different countries? Where would the lines be drawn? Why would Wikipedia want to delete historical information that has already been posted? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prosbus (talk • contribs) 19:13, 16 June 2019 (UTC) * Note to closer Prosbus was the creator of this article. Newshunter12 (talk) 06:46, 17 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Delete or Merge with Belchertown, Massachusetts. There is a big difference between having such a list for a major US city such as Boston and a significantly smaller municipality such as Belchertown. Best, GPL93 (talk) 13:26, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Delete: Seriously? This is a small town we're talking about (ironically, I live in an adjacent town).  This is a massive fail of WP:POLITICIAN, and that they were elected in competitive elections is utterly irrelevant, as is the absurd comparison between a small New England town and a large city of international recognition and repute. If there are similar "board of selectmen" articles based on municipalities of similar size, bring them to deletion as well.   Ravenswing    15:33, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Comment: As it happens, the important question is size. The notability standards already in place for politicians make those distinctions, and those standards are determined by consensus of Wikipedia editors, not by the Massachusetts state legislature.  (Indeed, there is a single city in Massachusetts smaller than Belchertown, but being a "city" by Massachusetts state law has zero impact on notability standards.)  Are there different rules for different centuries or different countries?  Nope.  City councilors of internationally renowned metropolitan areas qualify regardless of the century or nation.  Since Belchertown has never been one, the point is moot.    Ravenswing    00:12, 18 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Delete Per Ravenswing. This article is indeed a massive failure of WP:NPOL and the comparison of this small town to a big city like Boston is ridiculous. WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS is not a valid reason to keep an article and in this case, I agree that it would be a call for further AfD's. Newshunter12 (talk) 06:46, 17 June 2019 (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.