Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sulo Kolkka (2nd nomination)


 * 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.  Sandstein  06:43, 19 May 2018 (UTC)

Sulo Kolkka
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We are told:


 * Sulo Kolkka is the nickname given to the unidentified sniper of the Finnish army. This is a man who is said to have over 400 confirmed kills during the Winter War with Russia. / Kolkka is often reported to have killed over 400 [two sources] soldiers and officers during 105 days of the Winter War. As such he would be the second deadliest sniper of the Finnish army in World War II, after Simo Häyhä. / No further information is known of him. This would imply that either he was part of a secret part of the army, or that he is a fictional character. His name is not mentioned in Finnish Defence Forces archives, newspapers or magazines of the era. His name is hard to find even in post-war fictional war literature, and there exist no photographs of him. When compared to legendary real-life sniper Häyhä, whose name was used excessively for promotional purposes, it is reasonable to presume that there was no sniper named Sulo Kolkka.

The two sources are a 1998 book about guns (not about people using them), which I'll freely admit that I haven't seen, and a web page with the general title "Snipers in history" that doesn't seem to be available and that isn't at Wayback. Bits and pieces of the relevant website are at Wayback: it seems to be mostly a private website by one Scott Powers.

The article started as a translation from fi:Sulo Kolkka (sotilashahmo). This too cites two sources: the book mentioned above, and a vast web page (in Finnish) which I cannot read but which I'd guess is a multiple-author blog, or similar, and which mentions Kolkka briefly in two of its paragraphs.

So he probably didn't exist. Well, neither did Spring-heeled Jack. Mere non-existence doesn't damn a subject to deletion: however silly the notion of "Spring-heeled Jack", there's material about him. Googling for sulo kolkka sniper does bring up a couple of books at Google. But they're very unimpressive. (For one thing, they don't cite their sources.)

Fiction of trivial notability that, if simply deleted, is likely to be re-recreated by some well-meaning if rather simple-minded person who reads of the name in one of the feeble "sources" (e.g the Japanese WP article about this non-person; an article with a grand total of zero sources). Therefore salt. -- Hoary (talk) 07:06, 12 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Finland-related deletion discussions. Hoary (talk) 07:12, 12 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Weak delete this article about an evidently important subject, which, however, is not Wikinotable. As the article's text itself states: The subject's name "is not mentioned in Finnish Defence Forces archives, newspapers or magazines of the era. His name is hard to find even in post-war fictional war literature, and there exist no photographs of him. When compared to legendary real-life sniper Häyhä...it is reasonable to presume that there was no sniper named Sulo Kolkka." That's pretty much conclusive, as far as sourcing is concerned. If reliable sources are unearthed about this person/persona, we might want to reconsider. -The Gnome (talk) 17:38, 12 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete Non-notable war-time legend. Fictional legends could be notable, but this didn't even elevate to that status - also there was no need to because a real sniper was credited with more kills during the same war. --Pudeo (talk) 23:53, 12 May 2018 (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.