Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Rob McDowall


 * 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. There seemed to be some support building for userfication, but then the article's primary author chimed in to request deletion. If anybody else wants to work on it in their userspace, let me know on my talk page and I'll happily userfy it for you. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 03:47, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Rob McDowall

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I still fail to see how this article asserts notability. I originally nom'd it for CSD but that was probably a little over the top - this seems better. I know the policies and what makes someone notable, but I still do not understand why this person is notable at all. If you are going to vote keep, could you at least point out where it asserts itself? Thanks. αѕєηιηє t/c 10:51, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Rob McDowall is a 23 year old who has setup a peer to peer support site Health Thru Understanding which has been providing help and support to people in crisis and with a wide variety of health issues. Its self funded and has over 20,000 posts. He is a registered counsellor and provides free telephone crisis counselling to members of the LGBT community and engages with the police and local LGBT networks to maximise the number of incidents which are reported to the Third Party Reporting channels. He represents people at Tribunals and enquiries. He has strong links with Lord Waheed Alli (the UK's 1st openly gay peer), MSP Ross Finnie, MSP Doctor Bill Wilson, MEP Alyn Smith, MEP Struan Stevenson who all support him and the My Blood Not Good Enough Campaign. He started the campaign on gay blood and has given evidence to parliamentary hearings and has been called to give oral evidence to the parliament in April 2008. He has been invited to London on the 4th of April to launch a Young Professionals Network and develop a coallititon with UK unions with regards to LGBT policy. He launched the VOTE16 campaign and is campaigning to give 16 year olds the vote. McDowall also has been involved in the launch of the SaveJoJo campaign and direct policy discussions with the home office in relation to LGBT persons at risk of deportation to countries they face being killed or tortured in. He has appeared on Radio 5 Live and Clyde1 FM talking about his campaigns and providing counselling during the Clyde1's LateCall Show. Np097264 t


 * I think it is borderline. There may be some notability in the blood petition and campaign. It has been documented in the gay press and has apparently been supported by some Scottish politicians. Googling did not turn up much more than this. The author (see above) has been trying to improve the article but he keeps falling over his lack of experience with Wikipedia and getting into trouble. He would have been better off learning the ropes a bit before making a new article but I am not sure how he came to get a short ban. Nothing he has done looks like intentional vandalism to me. He got stuck on the references part. I told him to add references and he fell over the ban on Bebo links. The blood campaign actually hangs out on Bebo, just as some politicians hang out on MySpace, so I don't think he was spamming a personal blog or acting in bad faith by adding it. On the minus side, I think he may be too close to the subject to be objective. I am going to call it a very weak keep, for now, and suggest that the author be allowed to work on improving it on the understanding that it is slimmed down to only cover what is documented in reliable sources. --DanielRigal (talk) 14:19, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete. Does lots of very nice things, but isn't notable. Possibility exists that one or more of his groups could pass WP:ORG, though. --Dhartung | Talk 20:47, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

i know of the site health thru understanding and am familiar with what it provides to people. it is my contention that this is a very notable venture that is much needed by the people who use it. for the members who participate on a site such as this, it can mean the difference between having and not having the inner strength necessary for the challenges faced by the people there. in a world that is so full of self centredness i believe that it should be spoken of widely when an individual takes it upon themself to provide such a necessary platform for people facing challenges such as theirs. it is a totally selfless act and should be commended not considered for deletion.
 * KEEP

this leads me to the subject of equal rights now. we are living in a violent and judgemental world today. we are much better than we were years ago and will get better in time. but that can only happen when we have open communication and information. i truly believe that much of the prejudice and judgement people feel and express comes from ignorance and lack of knowledge. by deleting this communication it will set ourselves backwards. why delete something so positive??????

i consider what robert has done to be extremely notable and commendable.

with thanks, roseyoneRosyone (talk) 16:12, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Second edit  Dloh  cierekim  17:28, 1 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Comment:Please understand that we are not making a judgement on the cause here. We are making a judgement on whether it has reached a degree of notability that it belongs in an encyclopaedia. A lot of good people and things are not in Wikipedia and a lot of bad people and things are. Notability is defined objectively by coverage by things like independent reputable sources so that is what we have to look at. --DanielRigal (talk) 16:29, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree with roseyone! We need more young people with his drive to be role models for our youth and society in general. We need more people in this world reaching out to make a difference in our lives. What would be served by deletion? Thanks, toomuchforme —Preceding unsigned comment added by Toomuchfor me (talk • contribs) 12:57, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * KEEP
 * — Toomuchfor me (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. -- jonny - m  t  16:19, 31 March 2008 (UTC)


 * userfy Let's userfy it to the author's space and let him work on it there. Right now I'm not seeing a real claim of notability per WP:BIO but I'm willing to give him some time. JoshuaZ (talk) 20:43, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * userfy I was thinking delete, but JoshuaZ makes a very compelling argument. I would like to see this get some more time without losing the information. Mstuczynski (talk) 04:07, 1 April 2008 (UTC)


 * just delete it all ready. I am sick to death of this nonsense. I thought I would put it in as he was notable to the gay community in Scotland and has done a lot of things to change Scotland and the people who live in it but I cannot waste any more of my time to keep this going or have people snipe! How many people do you know that do all this??? None! DELETE --Np097264 16:55, 1 April 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Np097264 (talk • contribs)


 * Delete unless it is improved. Truly, a worthy individual. However, not an encyclopedic one. Being noble, good, or altruistic is not sufficient for an encyclopedia article.  Dloh  cierekim  17:31, 1 April 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.