Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ken Ring (astrologer)


 * 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. Consensus was that the subject is a notable individual for a combination of his writings and his weather prediction claims raises him above the WP:GNG - (non-admin closure) Off2riorob (talk) 18:32, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Ken Ring (astrologer)

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Ken Ring uses the moon to make long range weather forcasts and to predict other natural events. His methods are highly controversial and mainstream science considers them psuedoscience, but he does have quite a few followers. Recently there are claims he predicted the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake and subsequently made a predicition that a big Earthquake would strike at midday today (give or take 3 days). Fails WP:ACADEMIC and as his books are self published probably fails WP:AUTHOR. Plenty of info can be found in reliable newspapers, but they most seem to be about this prediction, so WP:NOTNEWS may apply. I am putting this up because there are various issues and before I attempt to address these I would like the communities opinion on his notability. Regards AIR corn (talk) 08:56, 20 March 2011 (UTC) AIR corn  (talk) 08:56, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Striking self-published sentence. I thought Random House just distributed his books. AIR corn (talk) 05:38, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: contested prod AIR corn (talk) 08:59, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of New Zealand-related deletion discussions.  —AIR corn  (talk) 09:03, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions.  —AIR corn  (talk) 09:08, 20 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Weak Keep - setting aside my opinion of the man, he has been widely known for several years prior to the earthquake prediction saga. And quite a number of his books seem to have been published by Random House. dramatic (talk) 11:12, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep - if we had a specific notability criterion for cranks, he'd almost certainly pass it. Grutness...wha?  11:22, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep - The man is responsible for hundreds of people temporarily leaving Christchurch, and is openly believed and trusted by very well known NZers such as Ian Ferguson (Olympic canoeist) and Brendan Horan (former TV weather presenter). I'm no fan of Ken Ring, but he's certainly/unfortunately an influential person in NZ right now - and IMHO that's worth recording. Timothym (talk) 12:10, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep - pretty contextual history if you ask me, I can't believe people try to abuse wikipedia by suggesting deletions in this way118.90.52.246 (talk) 03:48, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete - Does not match Wiki criteria for notability. All his works are self published. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 111.69.254.34 (talk) 04:36, 21 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep The alamancs aren't self published - they're random house. Also some of his other books were published. Not by large complanies maybe, but far from *all*. His following and recent media attention is significant. Also he has caused (allegedly?) a lot of fear and panic VIQleSthe2nd (talk) 05:34, 21 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep Alas infamy is as notable as fame. Stuartyeates (talk) 19:12, 21 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep His methods may be complete rubbish and his results may be no more accurate than the horoscopes in the paper. However, he is now, for better or worse, one of the most recognized and talked about people in New Zealand.  In the past two or three weeks he has probably been the topic of more conversations in New Zealand than any other person, including politicians and notable sports people.  I've just checked the Wikipedia notability guidelines for people: "A person is presumed to be notable if he or she has been the subject of multiple published secondary sources which are reliable, intellectually independent of each other, and independent of the subject."  I believe Ken Ring fits this profile.  Some of the articles about him:
 * Ken Ring: the biggest story of the week (Yahoo NZ News)
 * Ken Ring can’t predict earthquakes (National Business Review)
 * Christchurch earthquake: Ring's tip sends families fleeing (NZ Herald)  TeWaitere (talk) 08:50, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep - "Rubbish" is exactly the right word to describe his methods, but nevertheless Ring seems to have achieved notability. See Jeane Dixon for a comparable American example. Doc  Tropics  14:20, 26 March 2011 (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.