Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Timeline of the near future


 * 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 keep. The consensus leans more towards keep/improve than delete. Some major restructuring and sourcing is definitely in place here but deletion seems an overkill. Tone 21:12, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

Timeline of the near future

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Wikipedia does not predict future events Jeb3  Talk at me here  12:01, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of History-related deletion discussions.  Jeb3  Talk at me here  12:01, 11 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Keep: By that rationale, every Wikipedia article on an upcoming year should be deleted.  Serendi pod ous  12:03, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep Article is well-cited from reliable sources. This is an important article with about 200 views per day. We have an entire project, WikiProject Futures studies, devoted to articles that should seemingly be deleted if we were to follow the nominator's apparent rationale. Examples include Ultimate fate of the universe. In any event, I'm not seeing what aspect of WP:CRYSTAL the nominator is seeking to base their argument on. Edwardx (talk) 12:55, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Well cited? Less than 25% of the events listed have sources.  The first event with a source is 3 years distant. Of the 6 events listed for 2020 (next year), the only one that doesn't really need a source is the US elections. Rockphed (talk) 13:57, 15 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Delete - to hear some people talk, there is uncertainty that the US will have elections next year (though the same sort of people have been spreading those sorts of rumors as long as I can remember). After about 2040 most of the listed events are in the extreme WP:CRYSTAL realm.  Aside from the future astronomical events, which should be put in a list of future astronomical events, I think this entire list is WP:NOT. Rockphed (talk) 18:11, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep the majority of events covered in this article are pretty much certain to happen, this is not WP:CRYSTAL Seasider91 (talk) 18:26, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Yet for the about 100 events listed in it, there are only 23 sources, 2 of which are used on the same item. The only things that are "pretty much certain" to happen are astronomical events (eclipses and such) and very near term political events (2020 US elections, 2020 Olympics). Even things like the voyager program ending next year are not certain until the program actually ends (albeit it is reaching the technological limit to continue them). Rockphed (talk) 13:57, 15 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep: According to the WP:CRYSTALBALL section itself, A schedule of future events may be appropriate if it can be verified. While I do think that the article could benefit from more citations (such as for the claim that "all Bitcoins will be mined" by 2140, for instance), I also think that problem is easily fixable and thus the article does not warrant deletion. TheHardestAspect OfCreatingAnAccount IsAlwaysTheUsername  21:46, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Comment, this is an intriguing article but why/how has the "near future" been defined as "from the present until the end of the 23rd century."? where are the sources that back this definition? why not "until the end of the 21st/22nd/take your pick century"? a couple of centuries from a geologic pov is not "near" try a couple of million years, while for a teenager it would be a couple of hours, for most individuals/countries/peoples even 50 years is not the "near future", so for me this is a delete. Coolabahapple (talk) 07:57, 14 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep Wikipedia, while not a service that predicts the future, does keep these sorts of articles because, quite simply, there are some events that are guaranteed to be notable that will happen in the near future. There are many cases where Wikipedia articles should be deleted; this is not one of those times. 128.210.106.65 (talk) 21:14, 15 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Of the 33 items in the next decade, 23 do not have sources. At least 1 has been in this list, unaltered, for the last 8 years, and is probably out of date. Several have sources from further in the past than there is time until the event happens.  People looking for information on a future event would be better served by going to a page that actually discusses the event. The only exception is, as I noted above, future astronomical events, which can be moved to a list of future astronomical events. Rockphed (talk) 17:03, 16 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Merge any notable and properly sourced items into the relevant subcat at Category:Future_timelines. Unlike Timeline of the far future this page is redundant. --mikeu talk 19:49, 16 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Comment, following up on the arbitrariness of what is the "near future" that i mentioned above: when this article was created in 22 june 2011 the near future was apparently until the end of the 21st cent, then, on 1 July 2011 it was changed to the end of the 22nd century, and then on 25 July 2011 changed to the end of the 23rd century, all of these with no sources. Coolabahapple (talk) 07:45, 17 October 2019 (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.