Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Irish American writers


 * 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. Jaranda wat's sup 06:24, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

List of Irish American writers

 * – (View AfD) (View log)

I prodded this with the stated reasoning: "Despite the laudable efforts to include reliable sources that the listed writers are, in fact, of Irish descent, I'm suggesting that this list be deleted because there's no evidence given that their heritage is relevant in any way. (For example, why should we have this list and not a "List of blonde writers", "List of writers who wear wool socks," etc.)" Prod was removed with the comment: "Ethnicity in a writer is important to their work, at least somewhat more than their clothing is." But there is no evidence or assertion that the ethnicity of most of these writers is relevant to their work. For some of them, it obviously is, but that's extraneous to the listed criteria, which is only that the writers be "famous" and fall under the definition of Irish American. Propaniac 12:27, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Comment - if this sort of info is required, perhaps it should be as a category instead? Exxolon 12:32, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep Notable and does not violate List and is based on RS sources Taprobanus 12:45, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete and as per Exxolon, make into a category. This is rather subjective (WP:NOR), and doesn't make it clear what the inclusion criteria are. EyeSereneTALK 13:11, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep. Personal history is always important to a writer, as it forms source material for the work they produce.  Ethnicity and cultural heritage forms a part of this. JulesH 13:36, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I can't help but point out the list's entry for Alex Haley, and the accompanying quote from Haley: "On my father’s side, both paternal grandparents were the parents of white Irish fathers and black slave mothers. Therefore, I’m part Irish. I can’t feel Irish to save my soul, but it’s a fact." (I think he either misspoke or was misquoted and meant that his grandparents were the children of Irish fathers and black mothers.) In my AFD nomination, I didn't mention specific entries such as Haley's because I didn't want to overshadow the fundamental flaw of the list. But I think it rebuts the assertion that all writing can be defined in some way by the slightest trace of specific ethnicities in the author's lineage. Better criteria for a list similar to this might be if a reliable source referred to a writer's Irish ancestry while discussing the writer's work. Propaniac 14:06, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete article, possibly create category. Genius knows no nationality. Plus, many of the mentioned writers have only a distant connection to Ireland. Categorizing anyone but politicians in terms of nationality doesn't make much sense IMO (think Albert Einstein, Nicolaus Copernicus, et al.)--Targeman 17:40, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete Because this is a trivial intersection. I think creating a category would also violate that.  Corpx 20:11, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Categorize per Exxolon as it is more appropriate then a possible incomplete list.--JForget 00:57, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Strong Delete OK, it's well researched, and author obivously worked hard on it, but honestly... isn't this just a list of writers who happen to have Irish ancestry? What does "being Irish" have to do with the works of any of these people?   Merge this into some Irish-American culture article.  Mandsford 02:28, 14 July 2007 (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.