Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Competent man (3rd nomination)


 * 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 merge‎__EXPECTED_UNCONNECTED_PAGE__ to Robert A. Heinlein. Daniel (talk) 02:27, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Competent man
AfDs for this article:


 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

Expended dictdef with no source to indicate it is in use. Fails the general notability policy. - UtherSRG (talk) 12:57, 15 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Fictional elements-related deletion discussions. UtherSRG (talk) 12:57, 15 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Delete per nom — TheresNoTime (talk • they/them) 13:12, 15 October 2023 (UTC)


 * The sources brought up by prior AfDs are interesting, but nothing that you can really expand an article over. I support a merge to Robert A. Heinlein. Ca talk to me! 13:23, 15 October 2023 (UTC)


 * Merge to Robert A. Heinlein. &mdash; The Anome (talk) 13:55, 15 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Literature-related deletion discussions.  WC  Quidditch   ☎   ✎  17:47, 15 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Merge to Jack of all trades, master of none, as this is really about the characteristic, rather than Heinlein's specific formulation of it. Once that is done I will nominate Jack of all trades, master of none to be moved to Jack of all trades, and the disambiguation page to be moved to the disambiguated title. BD2412  T 19:42, 15 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Strong keep. Meets WP:GNG with sources shown below. This concept indeed did originate in criticism of Heinlein's work, however it's extended beyond Heinlein to at the very least Harlan Ellison, Piers Anthony, James E. Gunn, and analysis of real world effects, via sources below. There does seem to be some amount of conceptual overlap with Jack of all trades, however I am not sure if merging is appropriate as risking OR, so even considering WP:NOPAGE, I still think keep is the best option. Here are some demonstrative sources from a non-exhaustive search in Google Books:
 * Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe's Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever has a discussion of the concept in relation to Heinlein and Ellison
 * Discussion relating to James E. Gunn in Michael R. Page's Saving the World Through Science Fiction: James Gunn, Writer, Teacher and Scholar
 * A discussion relating to author Piers Anthony's work from Willaim Glass, via Michael R. Collings' Piers Anthony
 * A discussion relating to cultural criticism of real world "AI" in Richard Heimann's Doing AI
 * More specific to Heinlein in Thomas D. Clareson and Joe Sanders' The Heritage of Heinlein: A Critical Reading of the Fiction
 * Some more specific to Heinlein in Farah Mendlesohn's The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein
 * &mdash;siro&chi;o 05:14, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * &mdash;siro&chi;o 05:14, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * &mdash;siro&chi;o 05:14, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * &mdash;siro&chi;o 05:14, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, CycloneYoris talk! 03:41, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Merge to Robert A. Heinlein, as it seems this is largely a term that refers to his works. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 18:56, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Merge/Redirect as this is almost exclusively related to his works. Shooterwalker (talk) 03:33, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Keep per siroχo's analysis of the sources. 𝕱𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖎𝖆 (talk) 03:31, 22 October 2023 (UTC)
 *  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.


 * Merge subject to later re-creation with the added sources. Right now, there's only four sources, two from one author. That's not significant coverage. It's also really part of a continuum with the Mary Sue trope. Bearian (talk) 01:22, 1 November 2023 (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.