Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/James Leonard Park


 * 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.  MBisanz  talk 00:15, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

James Leonard Park

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The subject of the article does not seem notable. A Google Books search for James Leonard Park shows several books he has written, all of them published by Existential Books, which has not published anything by other authors and does not seem reputable. The article cites a book called Lessons from Sedona, which discusses his work briefly, but it itself is published by iUniverse, a self-publishing company. The article also claims that he teaches at the University of Minnesota, but the university's website lists him as an alumnus. Neil P. Quinn (talk) 18:07, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Philosophy-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 22:39, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 22:39, 12 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Keep Added two reliable independent sources that discuss his life in some depth. The New York Times confirms he was a teacher, probably retired from teaching now given his age and life philosophy. The relevant text from the Chuck Hega source I posted an extract in Talk:James Leonard Park. -- Green Cardamom (talk) 23:36, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.


 * Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Dori ☾Talk ☯ Contribs☽ 00:24, 20 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Green Cardamom, thanks for finding these sources. The New York Times article cites Park as an example of a person living almost entirely on Social Security, which unfortunately does nothing to establish his notability as a philosopher. On the other hand, it seems like the Chuck Haga articIe does deal with him as a philosopher, so it does start him down the road to notability. But it's just a start, and he has a long way to go before he meets the threshold. At any rate, I can't fully judge Haga's article since I haven't been able to find the full text anywhere; by any chance could you post the link? -- Neil P. Quinn (talk) 19:39, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
 * The Haga article is in a commercial database accessed behind a paywall so no outside link but I posted the relevant text in the article talk page. It makes up a good portion of the article. I didn't want to post the rest for copvio concerns. The NYT article and the Haga article shows that multiple independent reliable sources chose to interview him for a quote as an expert or representative person on this subject which adds to his notability. -- Green Cardamom (talk) 16:28, 27 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.


 * Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  Gongshow  Talk 12:54, 27 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Delete, refs do not establish notability, fails any applicable notability guideline you care to choose. (WP:PROF, WP:CREATIVE, WP:GNG, etc). Hairhorn (talk) 13:44, 27 October 2012 (UTC)


 * I just searched some more for the Haga article and found a link to the paywalled original on the website of the Grand Forks Herald. An article in the Grand Forks Herald confirms he is employed by that paper, strongly suggesting the article was origally written for it. So, we have a total of one reliable source citing Park as a philosopher: a column (not a news item) in general-interest newspaper with a circulation of less than 35 000.


 * The New York Times article Green Cardamom mentioned does quote him, but only as a man on the street, not as an authority on any subject, let alone philosophy. The only paragraph in that article that mentions him having anything to do with academics runs:


 * "Others see Social Security as a way to keep going, perhaps in a simpler way. James Leonard Park, an eccentric former Methodist minister who retired in 1968 at age 27 with $5,000 in the bank, has taken this approach to another level. Until he started collecting Social Security at 65, he lived a bohemian life in Minneapolis on about $2,000 a year. Most of that came from teaching adult education classes on voluntary simplicity, though he said he has written 15 books."


 * For Wikipedia's purposes, Park is not notable. Period. —Neil 04:29, 28 October 2012 (UTC)


 * I was hoping someone would find more sources because he seems like he could be notable but it doesn't look like any more sources have shown up. Notability doesn't have to be national, probably this a regional persona who was better known in the 70s-80s, probably sources on microfiche somewhere in county libraries. -- Green Cardamom (talk) 06:16, 28 October 2012 (UTC)
 * It's certainly possible; I didn't know Haga's article existed until you found it. But given what we have, I agree that this article doesn't make the cut. —Neil 16:36, 28 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Delete - The two references now in the article New York Times 12 Sep 2012, Grand Forks Herald February 13, 2011, is all I found as well when looking for "James Leonard Park". Those two articles provide some biography information, but not enough to put together a biography article per WP:GNG. I didn't find anything about his major work, Our Existential Predicament: Loneliness, Depression, Anxiety, and Death. There might be more under James Park or Jim Park, but there's no easy way to look for that information and you probably would need to know where it is first. His website does not list any press coverage. However, James Leonard Park would know of each press coverage he received and if he posted those at WP:AfC, there might be a way to get an article in Wikipedia on the topic. Journal of Heart Centered Therapies September 22, 2001 might have inspired his Our Existential Predicament: Loneliness, Depression, Anxiety, and Death book. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 15:51, 3 November 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.