Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ronnie Lee Smith


 * 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. -- Kinu  t/c 19:11, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Ronnie Lee Smith

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Non notable person. Vast majority of refs are self published youtube etc. Although the individual seemed outspoken, and is now dead, WP:BLP applies, particularly WP:BLPPRIMARY for the court records etc. Gaijin42 (talk) 16:06, 12 May 2014 (UTC)


 * This is a good article. Ronnie is a notable person. You are wrong about that. There are no refs that are self published. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FCC8:AA20:4801:6CAF:A171:BAB2:34EF (talk) 20:18, 12 May 2014 (UTC)


 * None of the references were self-published by me. There's many article references used, as well some youtube clips that have Ronnie Lee Smith speaking himself, and Ronnie Lee Smith is used as 1 of many references about his own life. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.28.86.241 (talk) 20:37, 12 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Self published doesn't mean self published by you. It means they were published by someone individually, not a reliable organization. WP:RS for a WP:BLP (recently deceased, but still) will exclude all blogs, youtube, WP:PRIMARY sources (especially about legal actions), etc. LEaving you with one or two local WP:ROUTINE coverage articles. The guy does not meet WP:GNG. Doesn't mean he was a bad guy, but his life was not of encyclopedic notability. Gaijin42 (talk) 20:47, 12 May 2014 (UTC)


 * He was silenced in life so it's no surprise he would be silenced in death too. Many would love to just delete Ronnie Lee Smith's entire presence upon this planet... and if he wasn't notable, why are so many folks so angry at him? He didn't hurt anybody. He just had beliefs that Colorado and Washington both believe in. And he ran for the highest public office in a Kentucky county to put those ideas into practice. For some, the truth is subjective. I do not believe this. Either something happened, or it did not happen. His autobiography is relevant to his biography, and who are you to decide who is encyclopedia worthy, or not? I've seen threads on Wikipedia where they had no references at all, and the only objection listed is "there's no references" to this article. It seems like I would have been more successful doing it that way. That's Howard Zinn's way. But wouldn't you rather know where the information came from? 1 example of where I used something Ronnie published himself was on "comedian", right after his name on the very first top paragraph. To prove that he was a comedian, I posted 4 video references of him at comedy clubs telling jokes. What reference would you deem plausible to "prove" that one was a comedian? An article by New York Times is weaker evidence for "proof" than a video of them actually doing their work. So instead, I combined elements of public news clippings, and his own words... one's own autobiography, while not a biography, does have merit to the biography. Of course they are biased towards themselves, but to silence their own words is to allow their enemies to define them. Ronnie Lee Smith changed the game completely, and being for the legalization of marijuana, he was treated poorly, mocked, disrespected, sent into exile, and eventually politically assassinated, which led to him being on the run, in Arizona, without his family, little resources, and eventually, possibly, even his death. His radical ideas only received 4% of the vote, but just the possibility of him winning caused so many to attack him, silence him, stop his medication, and then he died. There's questions about his death too. Some say he had a bad batch of hemp oil. Others say the Arizona jail didn't allow him to have his cancer medication, and that was the cause of his cancer resurging. Of course he is notable, for his life, as well as his controversial death. Ronnie pushed for Hemp Oil to be legalized, and Kentucky legalized it. He is the first Libertarian to run for Sheriff, and Jackson County, Kentucky had a Libertarian Sheriff touting the same ideas Ronnie was putting forward, which ran counter to Obama's attempt at gun control, gaining national headlines. I have also heard from other folks that their cancer, or seizures, or other issues were cured by his hemp oil. Where's the evidence for this? Youtube videos. Witness testimonies are one form of evidence that a thing either did, or did not, happen. And lastly, if curing over 150 people's cancer isn't noteworthy, I wouldn't know what is. The proof that he did... is between the conversations and actions between his clients and himself. No books. No newspapers. And with Kentucky being #1 for all cancers all across the board, somebody should investigate these probable leads, and maybe one less grandmother won't have to die of an ailment where there is a known cure.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FCC8:AA20:4801:6CAF:A171:BAB2:34EF (talk) 01:10, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

Delete doesn't meet criteria for WP:BIO particularly WP:ANYBIO & WP:ARTIST. Being outspoken doesn't make someone notable. Judging by the content on the article page and here suggest it's been written as a fan page rather than a notable encyclopaedic article Rehnn83 Talk 15:43, 14 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States of America-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 00:32, 14 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Kentucky-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 00:32, 14 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Medicine-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 00:33, 14 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 00:33, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

Curing cancer is not notable. Delete him! Delete him now! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FCC8:AA20:4801:9026:9155:1202:ECDE (talk) 00:32, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Delete – No evidence he ever received significant coverage in reliable, independent sources. --Hirolovesswords (talk) 18:42, 14 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Curing cancer is very notable. Claiming to cure cancer is a dime a dozen. When reliable sources say Ronnie has cured cancer, come back and try again. Gaijin42 (talk) 00:57, 16 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Neutral (could go either way yet). "Ronnie Lee Smith donated $500 to the Crystal Lake Fishing Tournament" isn't merely non-notable, it's trivia at best. It's hard to see the core of this article for such fluff. This article is hard to judge as it has a great deal about "RLS did " and much less about "Senator said it would be a hard race against candidate RLS". We need comment from outside RLS and his entourage. Did independent commentators pay attention to him? Not merely the anonymous apparatus of the state grinding him down as an individual, but did independent, separate and free-thinking (i.e. not just traffic cops reacting to his plate) make comment on him?
 * So far I'm not seeing this – it might be there, but it' not leaping out at me. Andy Dingley (talk) 09:11, 16 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Delete - awful story support - nothing would be left after improving the story Mosfetfaser (talk) 11:02, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Delete - Semi-coherent hagiography about a possibly colorful but completely local "celebrity". The run for sheriff produced a smattering of press releases in the local Kentucky Enquirer, so nothing much there.  The one hint of actual news is the coverage on a local Fox affiliate of some bizarre "breaking my cousin out of the hospital" story.  That's a single source, and if another could be found it'd run around on WP:ONEEVENT issues. There's nothing redeemable here. Tarc (talk) 14:29, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Delete While the cited 1998 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer is independent, and reliable (editor Hirolovesswords's comment above notwithstanding), it does not appear that Smith meets either the general notability guideline or WP:BIO. --Bejnar (talk) 15:12, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Delete No significant coverage from reliable sources to support WP:BIO. OhNo itsJamie  Talk 15:41, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Delete He was a candidate in a minor election and he came last. And he apparently believed he could cure cancer, though quite how he did this is unexplained. I suspect it will remain so. Paul B (talk) 15:44, 16 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Can someone just speedy WP:SNOW this so we can stop wasting time cleaning up the RS and other violations in the article and move on to real work? Gaijin42 (talk) 19:25, 16 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Delete - doesn't meet our notablity requirements. I've removed some of the really badly sourced stuff (something about him starting a lawsuit - so what? - sourced to a pdf on someone's site, and a quote from him sourced to a comment on a media article). Left that really trivial bit about a donation although that would never last in a biography. Dougweller (talk) 19:29, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

Delete - clearly not notable. --bonadea contributions talk 19:33, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

Delete - I wanted to sit this out while I looked for sources, and thankyou to everyone for removing the most egregious BLP violations, but I can't find anything that will make this article stay, no matter how much I would like to "stick it to the deletionists" and improve it. There simply isn't enough national coverage out there to meet our notability guidelines. Ritchie333 (talk)  (cont)   20:37, 16 May 2014 (UTC)


 * delete not notable. Do NOT snow delete (what's the hurry? Discussion is ok, right? And maybe someone finds something interesting in the remaining 3 days, no?) - Nabla (talk) 22:30, 16 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Delete as an unsuccessful fringe politician, but lets not snow this one, lets do it by the book because I have a feeling it will end up with more non-constructive bickering at DRV if the usual process is short-circuited. Lankiveil (speak to me) 08:22, 17 May 2014 (UTC).


 * Delete not notable. the sources are not suitable for any article, let alone a BLP article. -- Aunva6talk - contribs 01:47, 18 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Delete Questionable notability. The article also contains trivia that is not of any interest. E.g., "On September 11, 2010, Ronnie Lee Smith donated $500 to the Crystal Lake Fishing Tournament"Jersey92 (talk) 19:00, 19 May 2014 (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.