Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Local Baron


 * 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. No discussion for it's inclusion after 14 days. Coffee //  have a cup  //  ark  // 09:43, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Local Baron

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Even though this term has been used in Romanian politics for some years, I couldn't find a reliable source to define it. The article has an external link to a self-published source giving a definition, but this definition differs from the one on the wiki in significant ways. The only thing that comes close to a source is the English translation of a magazine article which contains a Romanian psychiatrist's opinions on the typology of local barons. Alas, he has every elaborate theory about what causes something he doesn't bother to define, except vaguely as Nouveau riche.

The wiki article also had a boatload of WP:BLP violations added by anonymous users over the years, which I've removed version before. None of the source that could be checked even referred to those guys as local barons. So, this article is a libel magnet too. It's not too hard to find one Romanian editorialist or another call one politician or another "local baron", but as far as I can tell what they mean by that varies from one writer to another...

Now, the term baron (without "local") is defined in a 2007 Romanian slang dictionary to mean "member of the Social-Democrat Party that autocratically dominates the economical or political life of a city or county". But many journalists use it outside this context, so big YMMV if an article can be written without WP:OR at this time. I should add that even the Romanian Wikipedia doesn't have an entry on this topic (it should be at ro:Baron local) Pcap ping  11:09, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Romania-related deletion discussions.  -- Pcap  ping  11:20, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

 Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Tim Song (talk) 02:48, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment - the term is widely used, including in reliable English-language sources:, , , , . Whether a valid, full-fledged article can be built around the topic, I'm not sure. Ideally, we should revamp the article on the PSD and mention the term there, although there are a few potential PNL (Dan Ilie Morega, Relu Fenechiu) and PDL (George Scripcaru, Antonie Solomon) barons as well - perhaps even UDMR (Attila Verestoy). So I'm undecided for now; perhaps at least a redirect is warranted if nothing else. - Biruitorul Talk 18:31, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so consensus may be reached.


 * Further OP comment - after looking through some sources are not about Romania (just clicked on the links at the top), it's clear that "local baron" is a juxtaposition of words common in English and used in many contexts outside Romanian politics. E.g. it's used to refer to mayors in Western Europe or Asia. The contemporary Romanian application does not appear unusual, not even in its metaphoric aspect. So, I'd say delete as mere WP:DICTDEF: people understand what the attribute local in front of baron means. Even adding this info to baron seems totally superfluous. Pcap ping  10:40, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of History-related deletion discussions.  -- Pcap  ping  10:42, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politics-related deletion discussions.  -- Pcap  ping  10:43, 15 December 2009 (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.