Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Oliver J Bridge


 * 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. Stifle (talk) 08:56, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Oliver J Bridge

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Non-notable person, not meeting WP:BIO. Has attracted no "published secondary source material", save for a letter to the Financial Times that he wrote himself. I certainly can't find any references that are "reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject." Lincolnite (talk) 13:54, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete I am in near-perfect agreement with Lincolnite. There's a note on a BBC website, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5177252.stm, where he's mentioned as one of three young entrepeneurs, but that's it. Drmies (talk) 22:48, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Keep Not withstanding the horrible unverifiable thing that I actually watched an article on the BBC about this guy he really has had a lot of media attention  . Nominator really needed to dig further before citing no secondary material and the BBC  would seem to be at the very least an approximation of a "reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject" secondary source. Pedro :  Chat  23:11, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
 * These three references aren't exactly from critical sources in the media. Drmies (talk) 02:23, 3 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Weak Keep - Let's get those sources into the article; it'll make the difference. &mdash;  X   S   G   23:59, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete - per article's author's comments. WP:COI. &mdash;   X   S   G   02:05, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Living people-related deletion discussions. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 00:00, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Weak Delete I had nominated this for Speedy Delete, but it was declined (the article lacked references at the time I tagged it). But even with the new sources, the subject appears to offer little more than flash-in-the-pan news that is of less-than-marginal value to this project. Ecoleetage (talk) 12:35, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I am changing my vote to Speedy Delete since it has become obvious that this is a vanity article (see below). Ecoleetage (talk) 00:25, 30 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Strong Keep. Hi I'm the author of the article, and as you've also realised, the subject. I'm new to Wikipedia, and thought I would try to raise my profile by talking about my current business and charity projects on this site. As a result, I might be a bit at odds with the rules, and I apologise for that.

There seem to be a number of underlying concerns with this article, which I shall try to address.

1) Most urgently, the lack of independent sources.

A Google search of "oliver bridge bigger feet" reveals (on page 1) that I am featured on the Make Your Mark website (a project sponsored by the Treasury), Startups.co.uk (an important entrepreneur portal), Simon Woodruffe's RadioYo podcast series, and the Independent's Top 40 Children print edition - which is why it is called the Independent on Sunday in the link. You will also note that I am featured in a Philiip Allan book (number 8 on the google search) but since it is a PDF file, I was not sure how to link to it.

If you would like me to personally send you copies of the TV footage from BBC Breakfast (both occasions), CNN, BBC Look East, The Richard Hammond Show, BBC Switch and The Money Programme, I can arrange that, but please appreciae that as a newbie to wikipedia I have no idea how to authenticate and link these to my wiki page.

There are also a large number of sources which I could not cite in the article since they are newspaper articles or books. If you take a look at 'How to be a Teenage Millionaire' (Puffin Books 2007 - ISBN 978-0-141-32316-9), you'll see that there is a hefty profile on page 70.

I have also featured in the Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail (an article where I am pictured receiving the Make Your Mark award from Gordon Brown), Daily Express, and the November 2005 edition of Director Magazine, published by the Institute of Directors. If someone could help me in explaining how to cite these sources I would be grateful.

As a 20 year old entrepreneur, I'm not sure how I could have accumulated any more sources to support what I've acheived - both Phillip Allan and Puffin have written about me in published books. I'm not sure what else I can add.

With regards to Entrepreneur Exchange, Forge Properties and Pebbleo, as infant projects, there will be little credible evidence to support their activities. Unfortunately I can't offer anything here. The best I can say is that I have a personal reputation to uphold (which is why I created this page in the first place) and I have no intention of lying or embellishing on the truth, because eventually some clever journalist will catch me out and that'll be the end of all my free press attention.

If you have access to Lexis Nexis and want to try and call my bluff, do a search. Im sure its all there.

2) Non notable person

Admittedly, I am not a famous entrepreneur in the sense that Branson or Sugar are. I've realised that the connecting links I made to this page from others were not suitable. My apologies - when I saw an orphan message appear on my page requiring that links be made, fearing deletion, I created the most relevant links I could think of. If others think they're not suitable that's fine - I was just worried as a wikipedia newbie and didn't want my page to get deleted for the sake of not making a couple of links.

3) Self Authorship

I understand why wikipedia asks people not to make their own pages - to stop silly content being published. But this is a serious page with a good purpose.

I get two or three enquiries a month from young kids who have read about me and would like advice on business. I regularly have television productioin companies asking for participation in programmes - the most recent being May 24 of this year with BBC Switch on BBC 2. I've just been appointed as Alumni Officer of the Oxford Entrepreneurs - the biggest society for entrepreneurship in Europe.

People are interested in what I get upto and they have a right to know. Sure, I may have broken a convention by writing about myself, but if Richard Branson or Winston Churchill wrote about themselves you wouldn't ask for their article to be removed on those grounds.

I don't want you to confuse me for a being an arrogant self publicist. Yes, I am hoping that a higher profile in the long run will help my business activiites and my charity work (I have an idea for introducing homeless vouchers nationwide so you can give vouchers instead of money to homeless people), but I'm also aware that for some young people I've become a mini role model because they've heard about me in school.

PLEASE don't delete this page. It's genuine, has a decent purpose and is informative. I'm new to wikipedia - this is my first attempt at a page and I'm not so familiar with all the protocols, I apologise for that, but please don't over react.

If you have any more concerns, feel free to email me - ojbridge@gmail.com.

(Dinosaur888) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dinosaur888 (talk • contribs) 23:40, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete &mdash; for now. Being mentioned by a celebrity  does not establish notability. &mdash; Sunday  ·  Speak  13:10, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete: non-notable vanity page. While he's been mentioned on teh interwebs, it's no indication of notability; yes, he's been mentioned on several start-your-own-business websites as a good example; so what? It doesn't establish "this person is important!" it says "this person successfully managed to start a company, you could too! By the way, please click on our ad links and promotional business-starting merchandise". Ironholds 21:49, 30 September 2008 (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.