Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/George K. Simon


 * 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   keep. A weak keep - based on national TV show coverage ( talk→  BWilkins   ←track ) 11:33, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

George K. Simon

 * – ( View AfD View log  •  Stats )

This article is an autobiography of a self-help author. All but two of the sources are primary. The remaining two are used to justify the article's only two notability claims: that one of the author's books is a "definitive manual", and that it is one of the "bestselling book[s] of all time" in psychiatry. However, I don't think the two sources are reliable; one of them is a blog post, and the other is a website (human-nature.com) which was last updated in 2005 and looks to be little more than a link farm for Amazon referral payments. One would think that a "definitive" psychiatric manual would have a huge number of citations in the scientific and medical literature, but Google Scholar shows a total of one citation (in an ethics paper).

The article had been tagged as having multiple issues since its creation in September, but recently a new SPA has removed the cleanup tags without rectifying any of the problems. —Psychonaut (talk) 20:20, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Probably Keep George K. Simon has written two books which appear to have had some impact in the self-help world. Besides the article's references, I saw a number of mentions on unrelated self-help sites about his books.  If there are issues with the article, fix it, but I think that the article meets the WP:AUTHOR notability guideline. NJ Wine (talk) 21:05, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
 * I wanted to check whether the link you posted is to a reliable source but it doesn't work for me. However, the site is on XLinkBot's blacklist due to copyright infringement and reliability issues, and a link to it was already automatically removed from the article for this reason.  You said there was more than one site; could you post some more so we can check if they establish the subject's notability? —Psychonaut (talk) 08:57, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions.  • Gene93k (talk) 23:21, 22 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I have added links to Dr. Simon's 5 minute interview on the O'Reilly Factor where the topic was his book "In Sheep's Clothes." Is my assumption that appearing on a nationally syndicated show would establish "notability?" Thanks Bclorenz21 (talk) 00:05, 25 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Also, my intention was to help this page. I was unaware that deleting the tags was a problem and I apologize. Bclorenz21 (talk) 00:05, 25 May 2012 (UTC)
 * The transcript of the O'Reilly Factor appearance cannot be used as a reliable source for factual claims concerning Simon's theories or books, since interviews are considered primary sources. However, the interview's existence is a testament to the fact that Simon was "noticed" and given air time by the press.  According to the criteria for academics, evidence of the subject's substantial impact outside academia is proven "if the person is frequently quoted in conventional media as an academic expert in a particular area" (emphasis mine).  A single five-minute appearance on a television show certainly wouldn't count as "frequently quoted"; so perhaps you could provide some further examples. —Psychonaut (talk) 07:00, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

Bclorenz21 (talk) 15:51, 25 May 2012 (UTC)
 * In 1997 Dr. Simon appeared on the nationally syndicated The O'Reilly Factor which originally aired on the Fox News Channel. In the Interview he discussed his book In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People. He has also appeared on CBS as well as Arkansas KTHV.  Other appearances include. 3-18-97  "AM Focus" WMC  NBC-Ch-4 Memphis, 3-28-97  "Metro Monitor"  WBRC  Fox Ch-6  Birmingham, 4-13-97 "Good Morning Texas"  WFAA Dallas, 9-3-96  "Ch 11 Evening News"  KTHV, 12-12-96  KTHV Morning Show.


 * Leaning keep – Television appearances on new shows qualifies as coverage in reliable sources, and this person has been covered in several television news shows. Northamerica1000(talk) 19:04, 27 May 2012 (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.