Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sultan Masood Dakik


 * 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__EXPECTED_UNCONNECTED_PAGE__. North America1000 11:54, 5 August 2023 (UTC)

Sultan Masood Dakik

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

This article was deleted in 2020 per WP:GNG and WP:BIO. It had been created by a notorious sockpuppeteer, whose sock now has recreated this article. See for more information.

Although Sultan Masood Dakik has allegedly received Germany's Federal Cross of Merit (cant access the cited source to verify it), I still fail to see how thats enough to warrant having an article. HistoryofIran (talk) 00:58, 15 July 2023 (UTC)


 * The source confirming the award can be accessed freely, just select "RP Basic" on the subscription options screen. That said, the award may require confirmation in an official source, as this article alone feels insufficient. However, if the subject has indeed received the Federal Cross of Merit, then it may be enough for them to have an article on Wikipedia per WP:ANYBIO. — kashmīrī  TALK  01:07, 15 July 2023 (UTC) The subject has received the lowest class of the Federal Order which, being distributed en masse (several per day), per discussion below does not translate into automatic notability for Wikipedia. Edited: —  kashmīrī  TALK  13:50, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

Relisting comment: Relisting. According to Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 200,000 people have received this award which really deprives the award of its notability and distinction. Is that the only factor that establishes this subject's notability? Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz Read! Talk! 00:59, 22 July 2023 (UTC)
 * CU note I have just blocked the account that recreated this article as a sock of, whose socks have been responsible for previous versions of this article at a couple of different titles. Girth Summit  (blether)  10:08, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Royalty and nobility and Afghanistan.  Spiderone (Talk to Spider) 11:13, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment Too many other editors have worked on this article to delete it as a CSD G5 so its fate rests upon the opinion of discussion participants here. Liz Read! Talk! 22:18, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Keep as meeting WP:ANYBIO point 1 based on receipt of the Bundesverdienstkreuz. (At least, I haven't seen any argument so far that this is not a well-known and significant award or honor). Although unfortunately paywalled, a contemporaneous 2015 report of the award is here, in the Neue Ruhr Zeitung. The sparsity of coverage seems a bit odd, and anyone can claim to have received a medal and hope that the reporter doesn't check. And I guess anyone motivated to engage in elaborate block evasions might also be motivated to forge a photo too. But the existence of a contemporaneous report in a legitimate German newspaper, to my mind, reduces the odds of hoax or puffery to near zero. -- Visviva (talk) 04:09, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I tried to google up more about the order, and found its official web page. Translating: If that number is true – and it most certainly is – then the Federal Cross of Merit is arguably not a "major award" as intended by WP:ANYBIO but is a routine recognition by the state that one in every 1,000 Germans get. —  kashmīrī  TALK  11:35, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Per this listing, there were 1,404 recipients in 2015, and even this was a far cry from certain earlier periods when more than 8,000 awards were being distributed annually. — kashmīrī  TALK  11:58, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
 *  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.


 * Comment: Darn. All right. I'm not thrilled at spending even more time trying to justify the retention of some sockmaster's bad-faith creation, but I think we still have sufficient article material here:, , , , . All are bylined reports in respected German newspapers, entirely about the article subject and meeting WP:SIGCOV in that no OR is required in order to extract the content. Most contain a substantial amount of biographical information. Outside Germany, here is some English-language coverage from Pajhwok Afghan News: , . There's more, but I don't think it adds much. Overall it seems to me that we have significant coverage in multiple published secondary sources that are reliable, intellectually independent of each other, and independent of the subject, thus meeting WP:NBASIC. -- Visviva (talk) 06:09, 23 July 2023 (UTC)


 *  Soft delete Delete per WP:NOTLINKEDIN and WP:NOTPROMO, and also because creator and main contributor has engaged in long-time disruption of Wikipedia and article has been created in violation of socking policy. Primarily, I struggle to find any policy-based rationale to keep this poorly sourced biography. The articles offered by Visviva are without the slightest doubt promotional:
 * Dakik offering his COVID-19 vaccination slot to his employee. The entire article is dedicated, you've guessed it, to a praise of Dakik, how selfless and noble he was by offering his vaccination slot to his employee. Yes, seriously.
 * A "royal" wanting to help refugees . The whole article is about Dakik's expressed desire to "help refugees", and obviously about his Cross of Merit. It's not about any actual help; just about his desire.
 * Two of the remaining three articles again give no reason why the person should be notable; any of his achievements. They just start from the Cross and then try to present recipient's biography, which in itself doesn't feel remarkable. The fifth article is paywalled.
 * Worth noting that, to the best of my knowledge, the titles "royal", "prince", etc., have a different meaning in the context of Pashtun tribes than in Europe. There, they are commonly used by all people who belong to one of many Pashtun clans that claim royal ancestors of centuries ago. Such titles there are rather a family/clan tale than actual titles of nobility in the European sense. In this case, the Dakik family call themselves "royal" because they claim they have descended from Hasan al-Askari, one of Muhammad's successors in Shia Islam. But calling Dakik a royal in Wikipedia voice, or in news, is peacock; he's unrelated to the King of Afghanistan. — kashmīrī  TALK  15:25, 23 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Kashmiri, "Soft deletion" is only possible is certain situations: When there has been low participation in an AFD discussion, when the article has not been PROD'd and when there have been no Keep votes. So it is not possible as an outcome in this discussion. Liz Read! Talk! 05:38, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Ah, ok, thanks for explaining, @Liz. — kashmīrī  TALK  13:37, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I guess I'll leave it at this: WP:IDONTLIKEIT is not a rationale for deletion. If you really want to claim that six different reporters for four different media outlets in two different countries are all in the pocket of the article subject, you're going to need to come forward with actual evidence. If you want to claim that articles entirely about the article subject do not qualify as sigcov, then I guess that's an opinion you are entitled to have but it is definitely not supported by the actual language of the guideline. -- Visviva (talk) 02:06, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Six articles doesn't equal encyclopaedic notability, especially when they are articles about nothing, just page fillers. — kashmīrī  TALK  13:39, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

Relisting comment: Relisting as I see no rough consensus, darn it. Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz Read! Talk! 04:35, 29 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment. As the lowest grade of the Verdienstkreuz, I don't think the Verdienstkreuz am Bande satisfies WP:ANYBIO #1. It's the equivalent of an MBE in British terms, which we have always considered to be well below the level required. About 1,000 crosses are given out every year, and it used to be as many as 4,000 every year. I would say that the Großes Verdienstkreuz would be the lowest grade to satisfy ANYBIO. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:33, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
 *  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.


 * Keep per Visviva's excellent work digging up solid refs
 * (as well as his rejoinder to the implausible allegation that 6 independent journalists were in promotional cahoots).
 * -- A. B. (talk • contribs • global count) 05:11, 29 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Nobody suggested cahoots. It's just that the articles are all promotional, rising to the level of absurdity (e.g., title: "Royal visit to Sangerhausen", when the subject has nothing to do with Afghani royalty), and so they are unreliable to establish notability. — kashmīrī  <sup style="color:#80f;font-family:'Candara';">TALK  08:06, 29 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Positive ≠ promotional and  admiring ≠ promotional when written by an independent journalist with editorial oversight at a reliable source.
 * -- A. B. (talk • contribs • global count) 16:05, 29 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Perhaps. Yet these articles are promotional, as there's no objective reason for such admiration. — kashmīrī  <sup style="color:#80f;font-family:'Candara';">TALK  09:31, 30 July 2023 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> 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.