Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/James Sheppard (politician)


 * 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. consensus confirms our usual practice  DGG ( talk ) 18:01, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

James Sheppard (politician)

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The "About James Sheppard" link returned an error message when I tried it on March 20, 2017. However, it appears to be a publication of the subject's campaign, which would make it not a reliable source by Wikipedia standards. More sources are needed to establish notabiltiy. Eddie Blick (talk) 01:19, 21 March 2017 (UTC) Hello there. I can find unbiased news sources that back up this information, and will delete the "About James Sheppard" link promptly when more reliable sources are added. User:WuTang94 (talk) 01:39, 21 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Found another reference and added to article (Rochester Business Journal) Cllgbksr (talk) 05:14, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:24, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Law-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:24, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of New York-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:24, 21 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Delete Fails WP:NPOL. AusLondonder (talk) 22:42, 21 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Keep Meets WP:POLITICIAN criteria.  "Politicians and Judges"  (2) "Major local political figures who have received significant press coverage". 4 reliable sourced articles,  independent of each other covering subject. Cllgbksr (talk) 00:28, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Comment The subject was the focus of an in-depth article describing his career when he retired as Chief of Police in 2013. In his role as chief, and in his current position as a county legislator, he is frequently quoted in the local Rochester press. He has not, from what I could find, been the subject in any national press (although he was featured in a column in the Albany Times Union). --Enos733 (talk) 17:04, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Delete. For a figure of purely local notability, it takes quite a lot more than just four pieces of purely local media coverage to get them over WP:NPOL #2 — every single local police chief who exists at all, anywhere in the entire United States, could always show four pieces of purely local coverage. What it would take in this instance is coverage which shows him as more notable than the norm for his role, such as coverage extending significantly beyond the purely local and/or the number of available references being closer to 50 than to five. Bearcat (talk) 13:12, 23 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Comment Rochester, New York is the 3rd largest city in NY.  It's not Mayberry RFD.Cllgbksr (talk) 03:38, 24 March 2017 (UTC)
 * The size of the city doesn't provide a free notability boost to a police chief at all. An article about a police chief always lives or dies on whether he's been shown to clear WP:GNG on the quality and volume of the sourcing, regardless of whether he's the police chief of the biggest city on the planet or the smallest village. Bearcat (talk) 14:30, 25 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Comment Article is about a Mayoral candidate.  Cllgbksr (talk) 22:14, 25 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Comment If the subject was just a candidate for mayor, many editors, including myself, would apply WP:ROUTINE toward all of the coverage generated during the mayoral campaign. Candidates for public office are not presumed notable, and the position of chief of police or county legislator have also not been afforded the presumption of notability (Note: the election contest might be (e.g. Ohio gubernatorial election, 2014)). The question in this case is whether a) the coverage of subject (prior to running for office) is sufficient to meet WP:GNG or b) whether the subject was a primary topic in national or international news coverage. I comment because this is a close case. There are much more than four pieces of local coverage of the subject, and one regional piece (that I have found). At least one of the local pieces is an in-depth feature of his career as chief of police. (As an aside, a majority of the article should be about the subject's extensive career, not his current campaign). --Enos733 (talk) 03:28, 26 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Being a mayoral candidate doesn't assist notability either. People in politics get Wikipedia articles by winning election and thereby holding office, not by merely being a candidate in an election they haven't won. Bearcat (talk) 02:09, 28 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Comment - the subject is well known across Upstate New York, but I'm not sure how notable he is. FWIW, the incumbent is a friend of a friend of mine; we attended the same law school. Bearian (talk) 01:56, 26 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Delete Coverage of local figures has to be a lot more indepth to show notability than we have here. I distrust articles that use meaningless phrases like "a polarizing figure". If people cannot bring out reliable sourced discussion of what made the person polarizing, than we lack the indepth coverage needed to form a workable article.John Pack Lambert (talk) 05:36, 26 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Comment - I found more in-depth articles detailing Sheppard's career as police chief to explain why he is a "polarizing figure". Check out the new section on his police career career. User:WuTang94 (talk) 20:51, 26 March 2017 (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.