Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Susantha De Alwis


 * 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. While ambassadors aren't inherently notable, there's disagreement about whether there is enough coverage for an article about this one.  Sandstein  21:32, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Susantha De Alwis

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Fails WP:GNG and WP:ANYBIO - being an ambassador does not establish automatic notability. Dan arndt (talk) 07:18, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sri Lanka-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 07:21, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Bilateral relations-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 07:21, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 07:21, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Japan-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 07:21, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of South Korea-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 07:21, 28 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Keep - Per WP:DIPLOMAT: " If an individual who is, or was, the "head of mission" meets the criteria in a well-respected essay (such as WP:SOLDIER) an individual biography article can be created ". Therefore, since the subject was a head of mission. It justifies the presence of this article. Cossde (talk) 16:06, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment There is no inherent notability of ambassadors. Dan arndt (talk) 00:53, 29 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Reply Says who ? Dan, if flag rank officers are considered notable per their rank, heads of missions are notable. Cossde (talk) 07:52, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * there is no inherent notability of ambassadors, otherwise none would be deleted. Secondly there have been at least 2 proposals at WP:BIO to give ambassadors inherent notability. Both have failed. LibStar (talk) 09:07, 30 October 2016 (UTC)


 * delete no inherent notability in being ambassador. A gnews search shows very limited coverage indicating fails WP:BIO.  LibStar (talk) 17:17, 29 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment Multiple articles found in local media: Susantha de Alwis passes away,Dr. Susantha de Alwis - demise of former Ambassador for Sri Lanka in USA, History of the UN Association of Sri Lanka, {http://www.island.lk/2009/04/19/features11.html Tribute to Susantha De Alwis]. Cossde (talk) 07:50, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * thankyou for finding these. The first one appears a dead link. The 2 obituary articles may be suitable. However is there coverage during their life? LibStar (talk) 09:10, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete As this is not a notable individual. Sportsfan 1234 (talk) 00:47, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  MBisanz  talk 01:09, 9 November 2016 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, — UY Scuti Talk  19:12, 16 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Keep. An ambassador is the official represent of one nation to another - It's hard for me to see a better argument for eligibility than that! Oleryhlolsson (talk) 13:00, 17 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment, there is no such thing as automatic notability simply because an individual is an ambassador - needs to be supported by evidence that the individual is notable. There is plenty of precedence for the deletion of articles on ambassadors where there is no evidence of notability. Dan arndt (talk) 14:34, 17 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment Personally I fully disagree - I see no reason for not having articles on ambassadors! Oleryhlolsson (talk) 14:41, 17 November 2016 (UTC)
 * this is a WP:ILIKEIT kind of reasoning with zero demonstration of how WP:BIO is met. LibStar (talk) 14:47, 17 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Firstly if there was such thing as inherent notability of ambassadors, then none of the articles on ambassadors would be deleted, which is not the case. Secondly there have been at least two proposals, that I am aware of, at WP:BIO to give ambassadors inherent notability. Both of which have failed. So unless you can provide evidence that there is a WP policy that supports your view, the article fails to establish notability. Dan arndt (talk) 14:55, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

*Redirect to Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Ambassadors are not inherently notable. Per WP:WHYN, we require coverage to have an article. In this case, we don't have enough to write an article. However, I do see a claim of significance in being the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. There might be coverage which we haven't found out. Accordingly, I would suggest a redirect to this article. This preserves the edit history and in case someone can find more stuff, it can be restored. --Lemongirl942 (talk) 06:47, 25 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Update: it seems the subject may not have been the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. Struck my previous comment. --Lemongirl942 (talk) 08:50, 25 November 2016 (UTC)
 * According to this biography, he did hold the position, but note that this was the UN in Geneva. The list in Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations includes those in New York, not Geneva. See the official NY list. Icebob99 (talk) 02:13, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
 * The Island (where that biography/tribute is published) is, I think, the second largest English language newspaper in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the tribute is written by Leelananda de Silva, so it is not completely independent. Smmurphy(Talk) 03:28, 2 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Keep - Found some more interesting sources. says that he was the Sri Lankan representative at Geneva. It also says that he served as the Secretary of the Political Committee of the 1976 Colombo NAM Summit.  &  &  articles which say that he was the Ambassador to Washington. Here is an article he wrote for LA Times .  He was good enough to be at White House State Dinners with the prime minister of Sri Lanka and a select few other guests, according to this Washington Post article . Ambassadors to USA tend to be the best among the lot in most nations. Lack of more references can probably be attributed to Sri Lanka's lack of news worthiness in the world stage. PierceBrosnan007 (talk) 04:17, 26 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep - newspapers.com isn't the best for finding recent articles, and I can't access these, but the site shows a few US articles from the 1980s and early 1990s that do seem to provide in depth coverage of De Alwis. Smmurphy(Talk) 13:26, 30 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment essentially these are the exact same article reprinted in different regional newspapers - which is basically a mention in passing, nothing in depth that establishes notability. Dan arndt (talk) 23:38, 30 November 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure I agree. The newspapers.com link I gave has 8 articles, 5 of which are unique. None of the repeats come from different papers, rather they come from different printings of the same paper. While the papers could be considered regional, all were nationally respected at the time and, I think, had reporters that covered national news.
 * Also, note in your searches that there is a common alternate spelling, "Susanta De Alwis". Under this spelling, a couple more titles show up: in 1978, he was chairman of the Co-ordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Countries and in 1987, he was elected chairman of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization. Smmurphy(Talk) 00:05, 1 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Delete, I agree with the nominator that this person fails WP:GNG and WP:ANYBIO. I could not find any significant coverage from independent reliable sources on a Google search. See also my comment replying to LemonGirl942. Icebob99 (talk) 02:20, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep. Ambassadors to major nations are often notable, and the sourcing for this individualis sufficient.  DGG ( talk ) 04:36, 3 December 2016 (UTC)
 * no. There is no inherent notability of being an ambassador to/from a 'major nation". As an admin you should know better. LibStar (talk) 10:09, 3 December 2016 (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.