Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Johan Deprez


 * 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 as non-notable biography. —Doug Bell talk 09:47, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Johan Deprez

 * — (View AfD)

Notability. The only reason this person got in the news is a major prank he performs. Now Wikipedia is his following target. Luxem 17:20, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete. An anonymous user first tried a speedy delete, unsuccessfully. --Luxem 17:26, 10 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Reply by Johan Deprez
 * For the people who understand Dutch (like Luxem): on the page is a link to articles from 'Krant van West-Vlaanderen' that clearly have Jerome the Travelling Gnome as their main subject. Same goes with the broadcast that Belgian Radio2 will air on 21/12/2006.


 * Yes, the gnome paté petition is some sort of a prank, so is the travelling gnome prank or the actions of the Gnome Liberation Front. Both of them are listed in Wikipedia without being disputed. I do not understand why Wikipedia should be my next (not following) target if you see that I have corrected several other articles that have nothing to do with pranks or gnomes. While some may question the neutrality of the Johan Deprez article people who actually take the time to read the articles in the 'In the media' section would see that all information in the Wikipedia article is confirmed in said publications/articles/broadcasts.

--Brugopolis 17:32, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * The links in the media section are all to "http://wikipedia.travellinggnome.net/", your own site.
 * None of the information in the article from the "Krant van West-Vlaanderen" (a provincial -in all meanings of the word- weekly) verifies your biographical data. --Luxem 17:39, 10 December 2006 (UTC)


 * For obvious reasons I stored the scans of the original articles on my server. People that follow the link will see that they are in fact scans of the original newspaper articles


 * I don't really understand you problem with the fact that it's a local newspaper. Do you mean that local newspapers don't check their information, that they don't verify what they write? Other media that covered our Travelling Gnome are national. Take Radio2 for instance. It's even paid for with your taxes!

--Brugopolis 17:49, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * If you mean by biographical data my place of birth, place of residence and date of birth the articles I link to state my age, place of residence and the city where I was born. The only point of dispute may be my actual date of birth.
 * No, I mean the information in the "Projects", "How does he come up with it?" and "Memberships" sections. Do you have sources for them, apart from you yourself ? --Luxem 17:53, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * And actually, yes, the information in "Personal Information" needs a reliable source too, apart from your original research --Luxem 17:56, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * No, I mean the information in the "Projects", "How does he come up with it?" and "Memberships" sections. Do you have sources for them, apart from you yourself ?
 * For the part of 'How does he come up with it' I don't. For the memberships I can scan my membership cards but that's not what you mean. My name is featured on | Mensa BE's members pages and the other memberships are verifyable if you check with the organisations themselves. Feel free to do so.

Same goes for my projects. If you check 'Het Staatsblad' (published by the Belgian governement) you will see that I did all I claim to have done at MSKK. It has to be verified by a court before it gets published in 'het Stattasblad', did you know that? For Treinfreaks.net I suggest you use the |Way Back Machine


 * I read on Jean-Marie Dedecker that people call him 'brulaap'. Could you verify that or give the article up for deletion if you can't?
 * Why do I piss you off all that much? This seems personal... Do I know you? :::::--Brugopolis 18:01, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * No, I don't think we've met, IRL or on the net. You don't "piss me off", either, it's not personal, I just want to keep Wikipedia an encyclopedia.
 * Could you please thoroughly read WP:OR and WP:V ? You might understand better if you do. --Luxem 18:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Weak Keep . Vote withdrawn. We have verifiability and notability with the newspaper source cited. The article really needs some work, but it's not complete garbage. However, the subject and a friend of the subject wrote the article, so this is very much a vanity article at the moment. Also, take lengthy discussions to the talk page. ZsinjTalk 18:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Regarding this edit summary, verifiability has been achieved. The website every links goes to is just an effort to centralize the sources. While I disagree with this practice, the sources do exist. --ZsinjTalk 19:08, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm withdrawing all of my above statements to avoid being pressed to the issue by Luxem. I don't see why this particular user is so hard-pressed to get the above article deleted, so I'm not going to bother. I urge the user to assume good faith.ZsinjTalk 20:49, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I am actually assuming good faith on the part of Brugopolis. That's why I pressed him to read WP:OR and WP:V. --Luxem 21:57, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Did you actually read the newspaper articles ? Can you cite the passages where any of the information on Johan Deprez can be found ?
 * If you can't, which is the case, then how can you say that verifiability isn't an issue ? --Luxem 19:46, 10 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Information about Johan Deprez in the artcle:
 * Age 28, born in Oostende and residing in Brugge. Name of the store where the gnome was bought and the fact that it was handpainted. Cited as creator of gnome's biography. How he came up with the petition after seeing the paté in shops explained as well. (all this from first column of said article)
 * Name of the shop where gnome was bought, again. (from second scanned paragraph of the artcile)
 * Goal of the prank: taking people along in a fantastic story (third scan of article)
 * Goal of the prank: seeing how far people would go along in the story (from the scan of the Sibby-interview)
 * Information about Johan Deprez online:
 * | Membership of Mensa BE
 * | Treinfreaks.net indexpage citing Johan as admin via the Way Back Machine
 * | PR-function at MSKK, check the pagesource to see who created the website Via Way Back Machine
 * N-VA and Vlaamse Volksbeweging I can not prove right now but feel free to contact | N-VA Brugge and | de Vlaamse Volksbeweging
 * --Brugopolis 16:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
 * You still haven't read WP:OR and WP:V, have you ? --Luxem 16:36, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Delete Amusing, but not notable. Seems self-promotional. Akihabara 02:46, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Keep (Can I vote?) I created this article. The irony is, the original one, I flagged for speedy deletion. It was deleted. After doing further research on line, I changed my mind, because the gnome I was very aware of. It is the main reason why I keep asking for lawn gnomes for fathers day. The gnome is notable enough. I think we are all in agreement there. Isn't the man behind the gnome behind the gnome equally important?
 * I am in the US. I didn't remember it at the time, but Johan has been on the news (I admit, I remembered the gnome more then him - as soon as I saw the pic, I remembered the story). I want to make things clear. I do not know Johan, nor I have ever talked to him before the date the article was created. Turlo Lomon 08:03, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Delete I don't see how the subject of this article meets WP:BIO Deli nk 20:00, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete because he doesn't meet notability guidelines. Slideshow Bob 12:34, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete I would have voted differently had he taken the opportunity to wikify his article, but he has left in all the spam about what he thinks and plans.DGG


 * 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.