Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bill Ward (artist)


 * 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.  MBisanz  talk 22:48, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Bill Ward (artist)

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Cited only to a blog entry, I'm not sure how much this article can be trusted! An American 'seductive' cartoonist also named Bill Ward died in 1998 - is there some confusion? Either way, I can't see anything online to confidently confirm this British artist exists. Sionk (talk) 21:51, 3 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Delete Article does not meet WP:V. Even if it did, nothing in the article indicates that this person meets WP:ARTIST.  Blue Rasberry    (talk)   22:00, 3 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Keep The article meets verifiability because the biography of the artist is published online. The artist is a creative professional who published books for children but was best known for creating a style of figurative art that played a role in the creation and definition of several subcultures of the gay community.  From the late 1970s to the early 1990s Bill Ward's art was well known and pervasively exhibited and cited in the gay community in general as well as for Leather and Levi and Bear community events known at the time as Girth and Mirth.  The American artist Bill Ward cited above was a heterosexual who drew women, not a homosexual who drew men.  The two genres are different.  Attempts to delete this page amount to a kind of ongoing cultural war as homosexual art and media had to be kept secret and underground during these times and Bill Ward along with most of his audience died of HIV/AIDS before treatments became available.  The idea is that by making life difficult for gay people during those times the history can become blurred and then later erased.  Records of these works during this time are not well preserved because this desire to delete what was not respected has been strong from the start.  Is the goal of Wikipedia only to document what is relatively popular and cited through multiple sources, or are culturally relevant works worth recording?  Gay culture and politics play a significant role in society and Bill Ward's work prominently documented an influential minority during a period of struggle.  People weren't able to talk openly about this material when it was contemporary, then there was a mass die off.  This is an exceptional circumstance that makes documentation difficult.  Recently I have found what might be citable material at jackfritscher.com, cuirmale.nl, duskpeterson.com, vintagegaymagazines.com, drummerarchives.com, colorsofleather.com, and some other sites, but have not had time to plow through this material to look for specific works and references to Bill Ward.  If it is so important to have better citations then maybe people could work on that?  Deleting this material is not going to serve Wikipedia well and only denies the curious valid information about the history of an oppressed subculture. Please think carefully about this before deleting the article. M0llusk (talk) 02:11, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Visual arts-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 14:23, 8 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 14:23, 8 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.


 * Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Mediran  talk to me! 10:13, 10 December 2012 (UTC)


 * This is a pretty straightforward case, as it fails notability and verifiability in all senses. Delete -- =) khfan93 (t) (c) 05:36, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Delete I had a very through look and found some sources for the American cartoonist referenced in the nominator's statement (and even more for a more notable namesake's band), but nothing for the British version. I nearly !voted "Weak keep" as there were some book references but checked them out and they all match up to the American one, not this one. -- Ritchie333 (talk)  (cont)   21:35, 12 December 2012 (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.