Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Robert Chambers (killer)


 * 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 keep due to the large number of sources over the last twenty years, as well as the existence of a major movie on the topic. The recent coverage in the New York Times makes it unquestionable. This close should not be construed as a keep for Jennifer Levin, and a merge to Robert Chambers (killer) is strongly recommended. JoshuaZ 18:13, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Robert Chambers (killer)

 * – (View AfD) (View log)

This is part of a multiple nomination, following discussion of a number of pages at AN/I. Per Wikipedia is not a memorial, a page on this subject should be about the case and not the victim. However, tragic as the case may have been for those connected to it, it is not necessarily clear that the case is notable enough (among the 500+ murders in New York City every year) to warrant its own article.

This is not a "typical" AfD; a few points:
 * 1) There has already been a very lengthy discussion of these articles (archived - please don't modify it) which I'd urge anyone commenting on these articles to read, as many of the potential "keep" and "delete" arguments have already been raised there;
 * 2) Although this is one of a multiple nomination, could I request that anyone voting/commenting consider each of these cases on its own merits and not vote "keep all"/"delete all" — while these are similar articles, they are about very different cases, some of which may well be more notable than others. The articles are all being nominated separately and not as a single bulk-nom for this reason;
 * 3) I know you all know it, but just a reminder that AfD is about the validity of the topic and not about problems with the writing style of the articles; some of these articles are very poorly written, but vote on whether the article is worth keeping & cleaning up, not on its current stylistic problems;
 * 4) WP:NOT does not prohibit the writing of articles about victims per se. WP:BIO does, however, demand that article subjects be the subject of widespread coverage over time in the media.

And please try to keep this discussion WP:CIVIL whichever result you lean towards. As you can see from the AN/I discussion, the debate got a little heated — remember this is a discussion of the content of, not the contributors to, the article. Also, has stated that he's planning to contact the family of at least one of the subjects of these articles, so — while it shouldn't affect your decision — bear in mind when discussing that persons directly affected by this article may well be reading it. —  iride scent   (talk to me!)  00:13, 16 October 2007 (UTC)


 * That's a very long introduction, and there doesn't seem to be any actual discussion of a reason for deletion in it. You're asking if a murder case that is the subject of two books and a movie is notable enough to be included in Wikipedia? It seems to me that if you're nominating an article for deletion, you should detail your reasoning, because in this case it certainly isn't self-evident. If what you are suggesting is that the Jennifer Levin and Robert Chambers articles be combined into a single article on the Preppie Murder Case, no deletion is required, so your intentions are unclear. - Nunh-huh 00:23, 16 October 2007 (UTC)


 * (ec - reply is to Nunh-huh) As I say above, the discussions on this issue have already taken place - at great length - here, and rather than go into great detail again have provided a link to the initial debate. These are truly procedural nominations and may well all result in "keeps". This may well be the subject of two books and a movie, but if so the article makes no mention of it; I see nothing in the article that makes this look any more notable than any other manslaughter case. It also seems to contain some serious BLP violations - it treats him as a murderer, but specifically says he was not convicted of murder. —  iride scent   (talk to me!)  00:43, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Asking people to read thru vast reams of discussion really isn't an appropriate alternative to setting forth your reasoning concisely on the actual deletion request. Both books and the movie are cited in the article. So count this as a keep, with or without a merger. - Nunh-huh 00:49, 16 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Merge with the article about the killing of the victim. This is a famous and much written-about case. The killer was non-notable before the killing, and is known only for it. Per WP:BLP a stand-alone article is probably not warranted. My problem with the article is that it violates WP:BLP by making many derogatory stateements which lack direct in-line citations. It also says he was convicted of manslaughter, a lesser ofense than murder, but calls him a murderer (I revised the intro to say he was "convicted of manslaughter" to replace the previous statement that he is a murderer. We do not necessarily report "truth," we just report well-referenced facts, especially in cases involving living persons. The opinions of editors matter less than the findings of the trial court. The article can be improved by the addition of inline references for any controversial or derogatory statements, which are numerous. Edison 00:38, 16 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Merge with Jennifer Levin, rename Jennifer Levin manslaughter case. I'm not sure what to make of a statement like it is not necessarily clear that the case is notable enough (among the 500+ murders in New York City every year) to warrant its own article, as very few of the 500+ murders in NYC each year have television movies made about them, so I'm left with the impression that the nominator hasn't done any homework. I do, however, agree with the general point that in the case of a crime you have a criminal and a victim but a) the crime cannot make both of them notable and b) making one of them the focus of the article is inappropriate. There is no general rule, though, about which one gets to have their name in the article title, and I hate unwieldy titles. --Dhartung | Talk 02:22, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * And it may be the case that neither victim nor criminal winds up in the title; this was nearly universally described as "The Preppie Murder Case", and I'd argue that that should be the article title (by the "use the most common name" principle). - Nunh-huh 02:26, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree that "The preppie murder case" is the best title, since it was used often in the press, even without a murder conviction per se. Edison 16:39, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree, merge the articles and title it "The preppie murder case" since this murder is about more than just the killing of an innocent woman; it's about the dissolution of family, rich and irresposnsible kids raised by irresponsible parents, and the downward spiral of society, all of which is something that affects all people today.Maa 09:46, 22 October 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.242.10.254 (talk)

As to the issue of references and inline cites, it is true the article lacks inline cites for the contentious material. However, it does give voluminous references to the New York Times, the authoritative source in this case. The articles are still freely available online to registered users of the Times, and can easily be embedded. As a quick aside before I close, I had to laugh at the hair splitting about not calling Chambers a murderer. Of course he is. Since manslaughter in the first degree is the unlawful and intentional killing of a human being, in every land but Alice's Wonderland (and Wikiland, of course, which is often stranger than Wonderland) he would be classified as a murderer. Jeffpw 08:24, 21 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Merge killer and victim articles to an article about the crime. DCEdwards1966 14:10, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 *  Merge Keep into one article on the event (or under this name) and redirect the others Seeing the news article on him today makes it clear to me that he is now notable, regardless of the reason . JJL 00:00, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep and either merge or remove duplicative content. According to precedent, we de-emphasize the victim's name, and this is therefore the article to merge the others into. The 500 murders in NYC are probably not all notable, but are most certainly not all un-notable. Using a deletion reason that would indicate plans to remove all such articles seems a little absurd--some murders are notable, even in NYC. Of the ones in the last few decades, this is probably one of the most memorable./ However, the title is POINTy. He was convicted of manslaughter, not murder. Although it is killing, certainly, the correct phrase is (criminal) as in other articles. We'd only need to specify the crime if there were multiple articles on criminals of that name. DGG' (talk) 22:24, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep - I came to the article today via a New York Times article about crime victims. 20 years later Chambers is still notable for this murder. To address the "stand alone" BLP issue someone above mentioned: if you're going to delete this article, you might as well delete Mark David Chapman or John Hinkley. They are both only famous for one particular crime. The only difference I see is that the latter two's victims were famous and Levin was not.
 * Well, Manslaughter is a legally distinct crime from murder. It is not a subset of murder.  So murder is a distinctly different--and worse--crime than what Chambers was convicted of.  I don't think the hair-splitting is laughable, or a symptom of "Alice-in-Wikiland" syndrome.  By publicly stating that the man is a murderer when he hasn't been convicted of murder, Wikipedia and the article editors could very likely be commiting libel.  Chambers killed someone, but he still has the power to sue y'all.  --Bibliophylax 11:29, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep Given that The New York Times found it fit to write an article about him today for a drug charge, seems notable to me. (Bjorn Tipling 06:02, 23 October 2007 (UTC))
 * Keep The nimrod has made himself (in)famous again due to being busted for dealin in October of '07. Hes turning into the Paris Hilton of crime.64.85.245.43 06:39, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Indeed, the NYTimes is reporting today that he and his GF have been arrested fro dealing, and that this isn't the first arrest or conviction since he was released. Now NYC is filled with scuzzy low life criminals, but when one particular scuzzy low life criminal comes from a privileged background, goes to jail for murder manslaughter in the first degree, and learns nothing while he is incarcerated, then he continues to be notable enough for our purposes. Jeffpw 07:08, 23 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Keep As others have noted, this man has made front-page news again.  If major media thinks he is notable enough to warrant such coverage, it would be unwarranted to delete the article.  I also think that the value of previous comments/votes suggesting merge or deletion should be heavily discounted, since they predate the latest news about this notable subject. --Bibliophylax 11:23, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep I live in the UK and I've heard of him. This is a well known case and the page really should be kept. I can't really understand the rationale for nominating the page for deletion.Alberon 14:16, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep  This article could definitely use more source references. That just takes work but does not necessarily mean the entire article should be deleted.  It is a valuable and factual resource which needs to be cited more. Just exactly how long does “over time” coverage in the media mean? For the particular length of time this case was prevalent in the media (the time it took to cover arrest & trial, & write books & film movies), the media coverage was widespread.  I clearly remember it being on the news and in the papers daily, but of course I cannot provide those references at this time without research. In any case, this is not an article about the victim, instead it is about the perpetrator making it a WP:BIO and not WP:NOT. There is nothing I’ve found in Wiki that says when the victim is mentioned, it makes the article a memorial. The main subject of THIS article clearly is the perpetrator. The main subject of the Jennifer Levin article should be the victim. Regarldess of WHY it was famous, that fact remains that this particular crime WAS very famous in the 1980’s.  A revisionist view on history can’t change that because it may or may not fit into the current “notability” guidelines. It is true that there may be more than 500 other murders committed in NYC every year.  But THIS one got the coverage, therefore THIS one should be included in the encyclopedia.  In order to support this, would one need to see a majority of the sources cited from all of the media coverage from that timeframe? Or would common sense prevail? If it was not worthy of inclusion, why then were there books and movies based on this very event and not one of the other 500 murders that year? And if these facts were not referenced or cited, they need to be. By the way iridescent, in reference to your comment above, manslaughter (which Chambers was convicted of) is still murder, it is just that the killing was committed in the heat of passion or by mistake and was not premeditated.  Being convicted of manslaughter IS a bit different than being convicted of murder, but the perpetrator is still considered a killer.  In the world today, common usage of “killer” is synonomous with “murderer”. Murder is distasteful. Many people would prefer not to read about it.  But that should not be a reason for deletion.  Where do we draw the line? Nachtmuzic 16:40, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
 * keep very notable murderer. Achieved extensive press coverage both immediately after and in the years following. Just look at how many sources there are. This isn't a one-off event that got media coverage but a very major crime that achieved lasting notoriety. Notice how once user above isn't even from the US and was familiar with the case. Miles Naismith 17:19, 23 October 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.