Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Eric Gould Bear


 * 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 History of OS X.  MBisanz  talk 01:15, 20 January 2013 (UTC)

Eric Gould Bear

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I'm concerned about his notability (good faith!). Perhaps I'm wrong, but, the majority of the citations here are press releases, or papers written by him, and patent documents - which don't establish notability. Again, I could be wrong. On a slightly related note, we've had some concerns about neutrality, and about a potential COI editing the article. But, it's the GNG that concerns me the most. Hoping others can help either establish it, or help us decide on whether to keep this article or not. Thanks. SarahStierch (talk) 00:55, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Computing-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 00:55, 6 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 00:55, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

— Znacznik (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. — ixnthar (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. — rickhowe (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. 
 * Delete per nom, basically. Google seems to suggest that what sources there are are already well described by the nominator. Ray  Talk 19:50, 7 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Keep. The article has been edited for neutrality, expanded with more obvious points of significance, and populated with diverse citations. Clearly meets GNG / biography notability guidelines at this time -- multiple reliable secondary sources, multiple well-known awards and nominations, subject is known for originating significant new concepts and techniques, verifiable, etc.  In reference to nominator's comments on papers written by the subject, note that the guidelines specifically frown upon self-published materials, but not materials published in peer-reviewed journals as those previously cited.--Znacznik (talk) 15:33, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Keep. The article is not an advertisement for the subject. In its present form, it states facts clearly and straightforwardly, citing public information sources not controlled by the subject. The subject is notable as a technologist, thinker, and legal challenger to major corporations, as supported by independent sources cited by the article.Tdgrnwld (talk) 21:49, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Keep. In addition to the KEEP comments above, this and similar articles are essential for software designers as they research technologies, techniques, and derivations. The subject clearly has produced a significant, indeed notable, body of work.ixthnar (talk) 02:33, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Keep. I wrote about Eric Gould Bear's work in my column (The iTV Doctor) in June, 2010.  I find his work to be original, compelling and disruptive in the television technology space.  http://www.itvt.com/itv_doctor/6889/itv-doctor-monkeymedia-defines-true-telescoping  User:rickhowe  —Preceding undated comment added 14:29, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.


 * Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Mediran  ( t  •  c ) 02:26, 12 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Weak delete Reluctant keep - I'm seriously unimpressed with the WP:SPA creation and subsequent meat-puppetry here (including from someone who claims to have written about the subject and is cited as a source in the article). I'm also unimpressed by the use of the subject's CV as a "source" (seriously, I kid you not) and the original research that has been used to interpret some of those sources and extract "facts". If I were the subject, I would be very embarassed that someone had attempted this in my name. Nonetheless, there's enough actual coverage of the subject to meet WP:GNG in my opinion. Someone should take a machete to that "source" list, but the article should probably be kept. A real shame that people thought a genuinely notable subject needed to be spammed into Wikipedia in this manner. Stalwart 111  10:03, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Having had a think about it and having seen more of the same at Talk:Eric Gould Bear, I think I would like to see more significant coverage of the subject that isn't WP:BLP1E in style, with regard to the legal challenges. Either that or one of the subject's many just-add-water supporters could have a crack at a re-write with due regard to WP:NPOV and WP:PROMO. Stalwart 111  10:17, 12 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Delete This is quite a difficult one. For notability, there are a few hits in Google Books, but without adequate preview to assess. Patents alone are insufficient and some of those mentioned are the subject of litigation (see The Register ref). I can see little press coverage for anything other than patent litigation against Apple, etc. The overall impression is of a career in the IT industry leading to a career in patent enforcement and litigation. And a very professionally promoted image of which this article appears to be part. It is just possible that there is something there for WP:GNG, but ironically may be obfuscated by all the promotional and corporate material. Mcewan (talk) 13:35, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Delete. He doesn't seem to have the citation record (under old or new names) to pass WP:PROF, so any notability would have to rest on WP:GNG. I removed some very low-quality sources from the article (search results, primary sources, and sources that didn't mention the subject) in an attempt to sift through what's there to see whether we have any nontrivial coverage of him, but didn't find enough. There are a few reliable sources that mention him trivially   in the context of the ongoing patent litigation, but that's all I found, and I don't think it's good enough. —David Eppstein (talk) 23:06, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Comment I quickly went over the article, trimming it down to the parts that are at least fairly well-sourced. There's not much left. It looks like he might be notable. The article looks like it was written to promote him as an extension of his resume and website. I think it needs a complete rewrite, hopefully from better sources that more clearly demonstrate his notability. --Ronz (talk) 03:17, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Delete, the meatpuppetry and poor article quality are disappointing, but not themselves reasons for deletion. However, after looking a bit closer I don't really see anything other than a professional doing work in the industry.  The fact that the industry is very much "on line" seems to be skewing Google searches so it looks like there's a lot there, but I don't feel in all honesty that the sources provided show that he meets any notability bar.  Lankiveil (speak to me) 07:58, 19 January 2013 (UTC).
 * Merge the bit about the patent infringement claims to History of OS X, delete the rest per WP:BLP1E. The only reason the available third-party sources are covering this guy is for the patents about summarization, and his company suing Apple. Diego (talk) 18:58, 19 January 2013 (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.