Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dean Willard


 * 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 regarding Willard, delete the other two. Jayjg (talk) 00:34, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Dean Willard

 * – ( View AfD View log  •  )

Non-notable per WP:POLITICIAN and WP:BIO; no significant coverage online in WP:Reliable sources; online news coverage only extends to passing mentions in local press, candidacy for Congress doesn't of itself make someone notable. Prod contested by creator. MuffledThud (talk) 19:06, 30 January 2010 (UTC) I am also nominating the following related pages because they are similarly non-notable candidates in the same election, with online news coverage only extending to passing mentions of their candidacy in local press:
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions.  —MuffledThud (talk) 19:07, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Washington-related deletion discussions.  —MuffledThud (talk) 19:07, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * MuffledThud (talk) 19:56, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * MuffledThud (talk) 19:56, 30 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Keep - I am contesting the initial Prod and now AfD. I deleted the Prod notice because I believe that Dean Willard is noteworthy.  Willard is notable on three counts - for being a former Partner and Vice President Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) and a former Vice President of T-Mobile as well as being a candidate for Washington's State Senate.  He has also been very active in the Democratic party in King County. kgrr  talk 20:40, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * comment Dean Willard meets WP:GNG. The Prod notice was put up 7 minutes after I posted the article.  And, the AfD notice was posted a mere 15 minutes later.  Many of the comments were made before I was even given a chance to complete the article.


 * 1) "Significant coverage" - there are several reference that give Dean Willard much more than a trivial mention.
 * 2) "Reliable"  - there are secondary sources.
 * 3) "Sources," - there are multiple sources.
 * 4) "Independent of the subject"  - the sources are newspaper articles and are independent of the subject.
 * 5) Presumed" - I believe that Dean Willard does have significant coverage in reliable sources.  Wikipedia is not specific as to how many articles are required to meet "significant" coverage.  On some articles, this had to be three references or more, on others the wiki deletion police/cabal required as many as 50.  Please judge the article now that it's much more complete.  kgrr  talk 03:59, 5 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Delete all. None of these meets WP:POLITICIAN, clearly; and as far as I can tell none meets WP:GNG.  Although they've been mentioned in local newspaper articles about their candidacies, that cannot amount to "Significant coverage" of a politician, or else every pretty much every city council and board of education candidate in America would be encyclopedically notable.   Glenfarclas   ( talk ) 21:23, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * comment when you wrote this comment (a mere two hours from creation), all three articles were mere stubs. A significant amount of research and information has been added to the articles since the articles were created. kgrr  talk 19:03, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep Dean Willard as he appears to be a serious politico already, but delete the two other candidates as not meeting WP:POLITICIAN. Bearian (talk) 03:06, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
 * David Spring, a teacher and Gregory Hoover, a lawyer are running for State Representative positions, not for dog catcher. Admittedly, neither of the two meet notability under WP:POLITICIAN.  However the guideline does say: "In the case of candidates for political office who do not meet this guideline, consider redirecting to an appropriate page covering the election or political office sought in lieu of deletion."  I would be happy to create a page that covers the 2010 Washington State election and re-directing those candidates David Spring, and Gregory Hoover to that page. kgrr  talk 10:09, 31 January 2010 (UTC) the Washington State House elections, 2010 page and re-directing those candidates David Spring, and Gregory Hoover there. kgrr  talk 01:53, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment User:Bearian, could you please expand on how Dean Willard is notable per WP:POLITICIAN? Thanks, MuffledThud (talk) 10:51, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Reply According to the article, he's a major political person in the Seattle area.  For example, "he's a district committeeman ... and the chairman of the King County Democrats endorsements committee."  Also, "Willard worked behind the scenes on several campaigns including Joe Mallahan's recent Seattle mayoral campaign..... Willard was a legislative assistant."  Individually, these are not great accomplishments, but it at least appears that he's a behind-the-scenes politico and the citations appear to show he's got some political power in Seattle. I think he barely meets the standards. King County, Washington is the jursidiction over Seattle. Bearian (talk) 23:17, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
 * comment: Willard has had plenty of coverage. Barely would be a back page mention.  Yes, a couple of articles mention his assistance to a campaign in passing. But there are several articles dedicated to his own campaign and his name is on several Democratic party pages.  Also he is notable enough in his career to be chosen as a panelist in several conferences.  kgrr  talk 19:03, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete. Fails WP:POLITICIAN notability criteria.  Notability does not arise from being a candidate for political office and his "behind the scenes" work is not enough for notability either as a politian or under the requirements of WP:ANYBIO.  Wikipeterproject (talk) 19:08, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Merge and Redirect. Even if being a candidate alone is not sufficient, I believe that Wikipedia has a responsibility to respect the work of authors and individuals being written about. The content, or a summary of the content, should be merged into a page that would provide basic information on all of the candidates for office in 2010, similar to what we did in previous years like 2008 and 2006.  If people go to Wikipedia looking for information and resources on candidates and races, do we want them not to find anything?  Or do we want to be a resource?  We can be a resource without having a separate article on every single person who has ever run for office anywhere in the world.  So let's build Washington State House elections, 2010 into a page where people can go to find information on candidates with links to more information.  Chadlupkes (talk) 23:52, 3 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment: WP:USEFUL discusses content that, although useful, is not encyclopedic. WP is an encyclopedia.  There is a lot of information that is useful that is not suited to such a medium.  So, as a resource, WP is useful for encyclopedic information.  Anyone looking for other information will need to use another resource.   Accordingly, I am not sure I support Chadlupkes's argument entirely, although I understand what he saying and appreciate his comment.  Wikipeterproject (talk) 00:14, 4 February 2010 (UTC)
 * WP:PRESERVE, a core policy on Wikipedia states that we should preserve useful information that is sourced to reliable sources. As such, Chadlupke's proposal is a good compromise. I support a merge/redirect to United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2010. Cunard (talk) 08:33, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment: Gregory Hoover, David Spring, and Dean Willard are candidates for Washington State Representatives, not the US House of Representatives. This is why the Washington State House elections, 2010 page I had proposed makes much more sense for the non-notable candidates.  Also, most incumbants already have their own Wikipedia pages.  While I agree that Gregory Hoover may not meet WP:POLITICIAN and WP:GNG.  However, David Spring, having made a run for State Representative in 2008 does meet WP:Politician, having had significant coverage as per WP:NOT's definition: "Significant coverage is more than a trivial mention but it need not be the main topic of the source material."  And, Dean Willard also meets WP:POLITICIAN and WP:GNG's requirements for notability.  Willard was a vice president of two notable companies and has been a well known politician behind the scenes with significant coverage.
 * 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.