Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Portals in fiction


 * 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. Only Masem makes a reasonable argument for why the article should be kept; the other two "keep"s don't address the reason for the nomination at all.  Sandstein  22:01, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

Portals in fiction

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Heavily WP:SYNTH article that just reads like a poor man's version of Wormholes in fiction. There is really nothing distinguishing the two, as a wormhole is essentially a portal by another name. It's just an example farm with little original insight. There's also the fact that "portal" can mean "gate" or "door" as well, making the title ambiguous. ZXCVBNM (TALK) 11:29, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Fictional elements-related deletion discussions. ZXCVBNM (TALK) 11:29, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Science fiction and fantasy-related deletion discussions. ZXCVBNM (TALK) 11:29, 13 January 2020 (UTC)


 * Comment I agree there is a large overlap between this and Wormholes in fiction, and there is no clear need to have both. However, there are 9 interwiki links for the Portal article, and none for Wormholes, making me question which one is the more general article. Maybe the ambiguity of the word "Portal" is less limiting for fiction (good!) than the scientific "Wormhole" concept. – sgeureka t•c 12:36, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
 * "Wormhole" is, at least, more clear that it specifies a bridge between two places in spacetime. "Portal" has alternate meanings that make it hard to pin down. Is it about web portals in fiction? Doorways in fiction? Drawbridges in fiction?ZXCVBNM (TALK) 13:02, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Delete. A list of examples no more meaningful than Castles in fiction or Mountains in fiction. Clarityfiend (talk) 19:49, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Keep with refocusing? We have a decent article on a similar idea, List of films featuring time loops, which is a rather focused list. I think if one generates some specificity as to distinguish the nature of the portal (possibly spinning of those that specifically talk about hyperspace transit between portals, or portals connecting to alternate universes), this could be a possible list. And as a note, a quick search found two academic works related to portals in fiction, "Windows, Doorways and Portals in Narrative Fiction and Media" and "Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy". So there is justification to discuss the use of portals in fiction and thus have a list, but to be consistent with the time loop list, every entry must have a quality third-party source to state "portals are a major part of this work" or something like that. This should eliminate single episodes of a TV show that just happened to have a portal (like the ST:TNG episode listed) There's something here to keep but I'm not 100% on what that shape is. --M asem (t) 07:29, 15 January 2020 (UTC)
 * And given the coverage in the wormhole article noted, perhaps it would be clearer if we can find RSes that discuss the differences between wormholes and portals or other similar narrative concepts. --M asem (t) 07:34, 15 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Keep. Needs improvement, but a notable topic.--Jack Upland (talk) 03:53, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, — Coffee //  have a ☕️ //  beans  // 11:29, 21 January 2020 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Keep and improve the delineation between portals and wormholes (the former of which apparently requires no explanation of a mechanism, as opposed to the latter). BD2412  T 04:13, 22 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete. List of examples, just like Clarityfiend said. Plus some OR. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 15:46, 22 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete - I'm not a fan of these "X in fiction" articles. They simply attract a hodgepodge of unfocused junk. They need to be written from the perspective of detailing the actual history of the use of the topic with sources that can reliably connect the various usages without being OR. It's hard to say if that's possible for this particular topic. TTN (talk) 12:09, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  Sandstein   16:10, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete - The issue is, there are no sources being used that actually talk about the concept of "Portals in Fiction". The few sources that are being used, none of which appear to be from reliable and/or secondary sources I might add, are each only talking about a specific example.  Combining these sources on multiple different individual topics, and then using them to create an overall article on "Portals in Fiction" without a single reliable source talking about the concept as a group just reeks of WP:SYNTH.  And that's not even going into the fact that most of the article is completely unsourced, and in some cases, appears to be WP:OR.  Could a decent article on a similar topic based on the sources Masem found be created?  Probably.  Should this particular article, that contains no actual useful or sourced information that would be included or preserved in such an article, be kept around in the meantime?  Probably not.  Rorshacma (talk) 16:33, 29 January 2020 (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.