Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/John Carpenter (Who Wants to be a Millionaire winner)

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was keep (no consensus). Mindspillage (spill yours?) 00:27, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

John Carpenter (Who Wants to be a Millionaire winner)
Winners of the game shows are not inherently notable, there isn't an article on the American version of the show to redirect this to, delete--nixie 13:37, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, I am inclined to agree. Thue | talk 13:46, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * So he won something. What else is there to say? Nothing. Delete. (It can be redirected to the show if someone's interested in keeping a list of the winners). Mgm|(talk) 17:35, Apr 13, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete a great example of something that is verifiable, but does not belong in wikipedia. Dave the Red (talk) 19:21, Apr 13, 2005 (UTC)
 * M & R to show. A listing of big winners is interesting in the context of the show. Shimmin 03:31, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable. Megan1967 07:09, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and expand. I don't know if winning the top prize on this show is easier in other countries, but from watching the Norwegian version, winning the top prize is a very rare event (it has only happened once in Norway), and with so many watching, that's enough to make the winner a small celebrity. And if Carpenter is the first top prize winner, then that counts in the article's favor as well. So I will give this article the benefit of the doubt. Sjakkalle 08:13, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Weak delete, how is this more notable (even if it's based on skill rather than luck) than winning the lottery? Radiant_* 08:41, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Lotteries happen in utter anonymity, gameshows are broadcast to a million people or more. Sjakkalle 09:43, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Where I live we do have extensive TV shows for lottery winners. Not sure how many people actually watch that though. But anyway I found Kelv's argument below rather convincing, so weak keep and tag for cleanup. Radiant_* 09:09, Apr 15, 2005 (UTC)


 * Weak keep but this needs to be completely rewritten. 23skidoo 13:34, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. First Millionaire winner in the United States. Still notable, even if it's for his fifteen minutes of fame. Mike H 16:53, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, famous, used skill and courage not just luck to get to his position. Kappa 21:11, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, on par with Ken Jennings for game-show notability &#151 FoodMarket&nbsp&nbsp talk!  22:03, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, while I'd have to disagree with the Ken Jennings analogy; if he were as notable, why is there such a disparity in his Wikipedia coverage? --DanielNuyu 22:04, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * haha probably because someone is trying to delete the whole article. wikipedia is by no means complete, and the length of articles is not an indication on the importance of subjects.  For example, an article on an episode of a tv show might be of the same length as an article on renaissance art, for example.  &#151 FoodMarket&nbsp&nbsp talk!  20:12, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment - Carpenter is notable in the respect that he was the first notable big money winner in the so-called late 90s quiz show revival, so an article about him should exist, but this article really really needs a whole lot of work for it to be keepworthy. kelvSYC 03:24, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge and Redirect to WWTBAM - Sure, he was the first, but he certainly wasn't the only one. Not really notable outside the game show itself.  Ken Jennings may deserve a bit of mention in his own respect for setting a record on Jeopardy!, a long-running game show deeply embedded in US culture (though I might debate whether he deserves an article, too), but John Carpenter really falls more under the "First of many" category for a game show with far less cultural impact (i.e. most people nowadays will beat you over the head with large blunt objects if you ask them "Is that your final answer", but humming the Jeopardy! theme when observing someone in deep thought is far more acceptable).  But, at the VERY least, if this is kept, the article needs a drastic rewrite.  Most notably, to include the infamous last question.  Sock it to ME? CaptainSpam actually remembered to sign it this time 22:40, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, or maybe merge, but just being the first winner on the show does not make him worthy of an article. Ken Jennings is a different case, as he was on the air for months. sjorford &rarr;&bull;&larr; 14:53, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * They stopped my high-school dance to announce that Carpenter had just won the million... it was a big deal back then and it did signal the arrival of the game-show renaissance.


 * I just re-wrote the article to a much better version.  &#151 FoodMarket&nbsp&nbsp talk!  20:21, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.