Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chaetophobia


 * 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 redirect to List of phobias. with a possible merge to Specific phobia if there is any material that goes beyond a definition in a list. SpinningSpark 16:54, 7 September 2016 (UTC)

Chaetophobia

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There is some "tossing Greek around so you know I'm edikated" reference to hair on Victorian women and maybe on visible body fur but as usual nothing except the usual list books which make up names for everything one could potentially be afraid of. Mangoe (talk) 16:29, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Speedy Keep: Wp:BEFORE nominating this for deletion, a quick look would have shown this term falls under section 300.29 Specific Phobia of DSM-IV and many other reliable sources.  Tossing around greek is not a reason for deletion.  Toddst1 (talk) 16:56, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * keep This does indeed seem to be a legitimate topics: aside from the DSM (which should be sufficient, in my view) there is also a fair amount of other scholarly coverage (not all of those results are great, but there's a few quite substantive ones. Vanamonde (talk) 17:28, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Behavioural science-related deletion discussions. Coolabahapple (talk) 15:16, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
 * One should take a look at those 17 GScholar hits, because they don't give a picture of research into an actual phobia. There's the usual list of names works, and a few incoherent cites that also always appear, and then there's a bunch of articles talking about societal or whatever attitudes towards long hair. And perhaps the DSM does provide a list, but if that's all it supplies, we're still at DICTDEF. Mangoe (talk) 22:12, 24 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Comment. The term "Chaetophobia" does not appear in the DSM-IV, DSM-IV-TR, or the DSM-5. People can have a Specific phobia of literally anything, so this is only in the DSM in that sense that "Specific phobia" is in the DSM and people could conceivably have a specific phobia of hair. That's not to say this term doesn't meet GNG. I'm not prepared to weigh in on that aspect yet. Just wanted to make sure the part about the DSM was clear before more peopled !voted based on that. —PermStrump  ( talk )  03:25, 25 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Just to clarify, I didn't check if "Chaetophobia" was used in editions of the DSM earlier than DSM-IV, but I assume it wasn't and it would be so outdated that it probably wouldn't have a bearing on the decision here anyway, so I didn't bother. —PermStrump  ( talk )  19:42, 25 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Delete. There isn't enough coverage to offer more than dictionary definition. There's no indication in reliable sources that it has ever been used in a clinical sense, which is how the article presents it, and it doesn't meet WP:GNG as a social phenomenon like trypophobia or nomophobia because of the lack of in-depth coverage. The majority of the article is unsourced and I haven't been able to verify its claims in my own search for reliable sources. —PermStrump  ( talk )  23:11, 25 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep - even if not documented in psychological literature, this fear is attested anecdotally and in popular culture. Bearian (talk) 19:04, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Can you provide any examples of in-depth coverage in reliable sources? I can't find anything except definitions. —PermStrump  ( talk )  20:18, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes,, I just added several sources. Look under "fear of hair" or alternate spellings. Bearian (talk) 21:38, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * The sources had been removed as WP:OFFTOPIC by the time I saw this, and after looking them over myself, I agree that the material was justifiably removed. —PermStrump  ( talk )  00:57, 27 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Medicine-related deletion discussions. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 20:13, 26 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Comment. The article needs massive cleanup in order to determine if it is notable. QuackGuru  ( talk ) 22:28, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, I've been working on it. Every single source that I've added specifically names "chaetophobia" or "hair loss". Some sources give significant coverage, others in passim. Bearian (talk) 22:31, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I propose the unsourced claims be removed. I requested a ref. QuackGuru  ( talk ) 22:36, 26 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Merge after trimming out trivia and poorly referenced stuff either to specific phobia or List of phobias. We do not needs thousands of "Xphobia" articles with your favorite Latin or Greek word substituting for X. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 22:34, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Well, I've tried, in the face of vandalism and trolling to bring this article up to speed. I'm giving up. Bearian (talk) 22:39, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Note to closing sysop: Now that every single sentence is sourced, and the trivia has been removed, those are no longer valid reasons to delete. If, however, the consensus is that, despite decent sourcing, the topic is just what you all feel is not notable, or that we have used too many bytes on specific phobias, or that it's just too odd even for Wikipedia, then please, go right ahead and redirect, merge, or delete it to your heart's content. But don't blame it on not passing WP:GNG, because lots of people suffer from this phobia (not me, in case you're wondering; I'm a bear in real life). It's not without precedent here that people decide they just don't want such an article here at Wikipedia, and I can live with that. Bearian (talk) 22:56, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * The first source is a dictionary. I think a better source can be used. QuackGuru  ( talk ) 23:11, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Even if something passes GNG does not mean it has to have its own article. Fear of hair can be dealt with appropriately in the specific phobia article which I will work on soon. Doc James  (talk · contribs · email) 01:13, 27 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I encourage the closing sysop to look at this version of the article because a lot of sources that discussed fears or phobias of hair without using the term "chaetophobia" have since been removed from the article as of this comment, we're left with only sources that provide a definition of chaetophobia. —PermStrump  ( talk )  01:25, 27 August 2016 (UTC)


 * merge to Specific phobia from a medical perspective, this phobia is marginally notable. The one decent source here lists this as an example of animal phobias and that is one of the 5 kinds actually named in the DSM per our Specific phobias article. Given the proliferation of garbage articles about phobias and as part of our larger effort to clean these up,  this is the most reasonable outcome here  Jytdog (talk) 23:14, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I thought the "Specific phobia" page is for general information. It does not have detailed information on the different phobias. All the content cannot be merged into the "List of phobias" because it is only a list. QuackGuru  ( talk ) 23:42, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * , which source are you referring to? Did you leave this comment before you removed a bunch of material from the article as off-topic? I don't see one that uses the word "chaetophobia" in reference to specific phobia, animal type. I'm guessing there was previously a source that talked about the fear of hair as specific phobia, animal type without using the term chaetophobia. I'll put my foot in my mouth if I'm wrong, but I've been clicking on all of the sources at the article and talkpage and doing ctrl F for "chaetophobia" and "animal" and haven't found it yet and I'm out of sources. —PermStrump  ( talk )  01:25, 27 August 2016 (UTC)
 * it is - that somehow got lost and I just restored it. Jytdog (talk) 01:41, 27 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Foot in mouth. :-P But it's still just a passing mention and no more than a definition, so it doesn't affect my !vote or other comments. Also, FWIW I don't agree with that author's interpretation of specific phobia, animal type and neither does the DSM-5 (or any other clinical/academic sources so far). The Oxford Handbook of Mental Health Nursing says: "Fear of animals–for example, fear of human hair (trichophobia), animal fur (chaetophobia), or skin (doraphobia)". The DSM-5 says: "Code based on the phobic stimulus: 300.29 (F40.218) Animal (e.g., spiders, insects, dogs)" and the DSM-IV (and DSM-IV-TR) says: "The following subtypes may be specified to indicate the focus of fear or avoidance in Specific Phobia (e.g., Specific Phobia, Animal Type): Animal Type. This subtype should be specified if the fear is cued by animals or insects", so I'm not really seeing where those authors came up with the animal subtype meaning parts of animals, including humans, and it's especially weird that fur, hair and skin are the only examples they gave. Personally, I'd code someone with a specific phobia of hair as the "specific phobia, other" subtype, but that's neither here nor there. —PermStrump  ( talk )  03:08, 27 August 2016 (UTC)
 * yep a passing mention. this article should not exist. Jytdog (talk) 04:46, 27 August 2016 (UTC)
 * merge to List of phobias--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 23:52, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment. I just want to be clear that there's no doubt that people legitimately have a phobia of hair. It is well supported by reliable sources as a type of specific phobia. My issue is specifically with the term "chaetophobia", which as far as I can tell, is not used in any clinical, scholarly or authoritative sources that discuss specific phobias *is only used in one clinical source (Oxford Handbook of Mental Health and Nursing) where it's still just a passing mention with no more than a dictionary definition*. I'd be fine with a redirect either to Specific phobia or List of phobias, but there's nothing here to merge. As an aside, the specific phobia article could use a lot of improvement. —PermStrump  ( talk )  01:00, 27 August 2016 (UTC) *Updated 03:14, 27 August 2016 (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.