Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ernest West Basden


 * 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. Spartaz Humbug! 11:43, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Ernest West Basden

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Why are we honoring this murderer with a Wikipedia article? I can't see any evidence of any special circumstances or long-lasting repercussions of this conviction and execution. Though I'm sure the murder would have got some news coverage somewhere at the time, it's a WP:ONEEVENT situation. An entry on List of people executed in North Carolina should be quite adequate. Sionk (talk) 00:15, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Strictly speaking, having a Wikipedia article has nothing to do with "honoring" the topic: notability is not a question of whether anybody approves or disapproves of the reasons why a person might be notable. Bad people get into Wikipedia if the reliable source coverage is there to support an article, and good people don't get into Wikipedia if the reliable source coverage isn't there. That said, what I'm not seeing in this instance is a strong level of media coverage — it seems to be based entirely on primary sources published by the state's own criminal justice division. To be fair, the article was created in 2003, at a time when he was relatively current news for some people — but I'm not seeing a compelling reason why 13 years later there would still be enough sustained interest in this case to justify keeping an article that's sourced this badly. Redirect to List of people executed in North Carolina, per nom, unless somebody can actually retrieve much better sourcing than this. Bearcat (talk) 02:08, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
 * The crux of the argument is whether this is more than a WP:ONEEVENT situation, regardless of whether there was media coverage or whether the subject is 'good' or 'bad'. I should have specified WP:CRIME, which covers perpetrators and victimes of crime. Most murders will get media coverage, but we wouldn't want Wikipedia articles about every murder. Sionk (talk) 21:53, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Delete, neither his crime nor he himself appear to support notability. The murder itself could probably support an article, if somebody wanted to write one.E.M.Gregory (talk) 23:02, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 02:20, 2 February 2016 (UTC)
 * delete no evidence of lasting notability. - üser:Altenmann >t 06:09, 2 February 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.