Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of African Americans

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was keep. Sjakkalle (Check!)  07:21, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

List of African Americans
Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. Brownman40 04:44, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Notable concept, notable figures, fits in with the other lists, can be broken up if it gets too big. CanadianCaesar 05:45, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. We have lists of other kinds of Americans arranged by nationality/race.  This list is general, and is probably quite useful to many readers. --Idont Havaname 06:16, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong keep. Useful information.  Zoe 06:43, August 17, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, wikipedia is a discrimate collection of information. Kappa 06:59, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep. This is a list of notable African Americans only. As discussed on the talk page, the reason why the page just says "List of African Americans" is because anyone with a Wikipedia article is supposed to be notable. --FuriousFreddy 11:02, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep. Now, Get on the Bus. Project2501a 12:41, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Question for those who want to keep Unlike a list of African Americans in the US Congress, this list can never be complete, and thus accurate. Based on the actual definition of the title, this list is supposed to contain every African American.  How do you reconcile this fact? Brownman40 15:26, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Something else that can never be complete: Wikipedia. --DavidConrad 03:48, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Alternate suggestion What about a more appropriate title (such as List of African-Americans in Wikipedia) and a redirect? Brownman40 15:30, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment. I find these lists ridiculous, but note that we have lists for just about every ethnic and religious group on the planet. Sdedeo 15:45, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. A group this large is best maintained using categories, not lists. Hall Monitor 18:33, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment. If you do it to one, you have to do it to all the others. Every item on the List of Americans page should be deleted if this one ends up going. What if we shaved the list to bare essentials, titled it List of notable African Americans, and only included the people you'd find in good textbook on Black history instead of leaving it open for every black person with a Wikipedia article? I'd also suggest organizing said list by categories (politicians, entertainers, etc.)--FuriousFreddy 19:47, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * What you are proposing is inherently problematic. What you will end up with is various editors warring over what is notable enough and what is not.  Are there any real advantages of making this a list rather than using existing categories?  The only thing that comes to mind is the ability to add a red linked name, but a solution to that already exists at Requested articles.  Hall Monitor 19:54, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete We shouldn't divide people up by race. Would the people who are voting keep support a list of white Americans? Osomec 23:53, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
 * If they become a minority. Kappa 23:55, 17 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Delete, oh and Whites are a minority in Texas and California.Gateman1997 00:10, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Well there you go, someone should start a List of white Texans Kappa 01:06, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep a list useful for Black History month and for looking at how comprehensive Wikipedia is. Capitalistroadster 00:58, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep I was going to point out that it should be and then the wiki software would keep the list up to date automatically as long as the articles were properly categorized, but I see that there is already such a category, and this list does something the category does not, viz. give a brief description of each. I think this is worthwhile. --DavidConrad 03:33, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Exactly what Brownman40 said above.  There is no way to possibly list every African-American person that has an article in this list.  It would be way too long, and it obviously cannot list them all.  Should there be a White person list too then?  This article is not needed. (Notorious4life 06:30, 18 August 2005 (UTC))
 * Given that Wikipedia is not paper, if it gets too big, what exactly would be stopping us from breaking this up into List of African American politicians, List of African American actors, List of African American musicians, and/or List of African American civil rights leaders? I am surprised anyone would vote to delete this. CanadianCaesar 22:09, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Please note that I am not against the creation of a more manageable and narrowly defined list, such as List of African American politicians or actors, but the scope of this particular list is too broad to be useful, in my opinion. Hall Monitor 22:22, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Blow it up now and everyone will have to start from scratch. That's not helping in building a better encyclopedia, that's a needless step backward.  CanadianCaesar 23:30, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, useful information. - ulayiti (talk)  19:34, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 2nd comment. I'm watching the discussion over at Votes for deletion/List of Jews. In all fairness, if one is kept, then so should the other, and if one is deleted, then so should the other. Again, I say rename it List of notable African Americans and only retain links for persons who do or should have their own articles here. --FuriousFreddy 21:10, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Break Apart Think the list should exist . . . but it's just not right to see Aaliyah and Ralph Abernathy on the same section of the same list, let alone to have Aaliyah topping it. Like many suggestions I've seen on the page, break up by why they are notable figures.  A name can appear on two lists if they are notable for separate reasons.  Breaking up lists makes the reference more worthwhile for the reader, and prevents Trolling.&mdash;  &lt; T A L K JNDRLINE T A L K &gt;     23:27, 22 August 2005 (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 an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.