Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sedley Alley


 * 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 no consensus, defaulting to keep. Can&#39;t sleep, clown will eat me 08:28, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Sedley Alley
Unsourced and - ahem - not entirely neutrally worded biography of a dead man. No indication that this is particularly notable compared to other similar dead men. Seems entirely generic to me. Just zis Guy you know? 18:09, 19 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Keep appears to be a notable murderer. NawlinWiki 18:10, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree that some murderers are notable. Can you show me why this man is notable as a murderer? -- FloNight  talk  18:15, 19 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I was relying on the article statement that this was "one of the most horrific crimes in the history of Shelby County, Tennessee." (Shelby County is Memphis, a major metro area), as well as having had the death sentence carried out. I'll go with the consensus on whether those are enough for notability. NawlinWiki 18:31, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * That statement, like most of the rest of the article, is unsourced. A notable murderer would be someone like Lee Harvey Oswald or Harold Shipman. All executed murderes get a few years of "Smith not dead yet" stories in the paper, but almost all of this is related to the process of appeals, not to the murderer themselves. Just zis Guy you know? 19:47, 19 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Delete Agree that all people convicted of murder and executed do not need articles. Delete, unless someone can show a reason that this person is notable.  FloNight   talk  18:13, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete per nom. SynergeticMaggot 18:25, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep as per WP:BIO, "The person has been the primary subject of multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the person." Subject is the the focus of regional and national news stories in Nashville News, The Tennessean,Tennessee Independent Media Center, Eyewitness News (WPTY TV), WBIR TV News, WREG TV News, The Nashville Post,CBS News, MSNBC,WVLT TV News, and The Jackson Sun (just to mention a few). A google search seems to yield plenty of multiple, non-trivial coverage of Sedley Alley's crime, trial, appeal, and execution. Scorpiondollprincess 18:31, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Verifiable sources are a necessary, but not sufficient, requirement for someone to have an article. In this case I'd say the reason for the coverage was the crime not the man.  Rape is a notable topic, capital punishment is a notable topic, people involved in them are not automatically notable. Dalf | Talk 07:28, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Keep I enjoyed this article as it was well written and some of the content was unusual. Also, as ive just noticed, he has been featured in many publications. - (chubbstar)  — talk
 * Keep per Scorpiondollprincess. hateless 18:53, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete per nom as fitp. Eusebeus 19:10, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Keep. He committed a capital crime and was sentenced to death for it. The case has received a reasonable amount of coverage. Keep and clean up. Capitalistroadster 22:14, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete I'm not sure what makes him notable. Are we going to create an article for every person executed for a crime?  I'm sure there is a WP:NOT for htis some where, though even if not as I said I don't find this especially notable. Dalf | Talk 07:23, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete per nom and Flonight. Paddles TC 13:53, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Keep per Scorpiondollprincess. The man is scum and I could have happily lived the rest of my life never knowing about his horrific crime (and I'm sure there will be other Wiki-readers who will feel the same) but, unfortunately, it is notable. Agne 06:35, 21 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Keep There has been an enormous amount of news coverage regarding the crime and his execution. Unfortunately the only place on the web to get a good synopsis of the story is Wikipedia. Other websites, such as answer.com have the info, but they are only copying Wiki. The crime was notable (one of the most horrific in Shelby county history), the execution was notable (only the second one in Tennessee in 45 years), and the fact that there are still questions about his guilt or innocence is notable. The DNA evidence was never tested, and the Shelby County prosecutor's office still refuses to hand over the evidence for testing. Also, the crime was a major part of the book "Journey into Darkness" by John Douglas (former FBI profiler). This is a good article, and it will continue to evolve. Martylunsford 04:46, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Keep per Martylunsford. Hebron 23:42, 24 July 2006 (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.