Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Twirlin' (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 soft delete. WP:REFUND applies. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:25, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

Twirlin'
AfDs for this article: 
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I'm somewhat torn on this nomination. I actually went looking for sources with the intention of improving this article, but found so little that I wound up deciding to AfD it instead. It's obvious that cane twirling or twirlin is a real art form with history and practitioners, particularly among African-American Greek fraternal groups. There are lots of discussions on forums about it, information on websites for the frats, photos of performances, etc - the interest is clearly there.

But what I can't find anywhere is a reliable and independent source which discusses the topic specifically - a book, a magazine or newspaper article, a scholarly study, anything. I tried "twirling" and "twirlin", adding "cane", "kappa", "greek" in various combinations, and didn't come up with anything.

The book A brief history of Twirlin' seems reliable on the surface. On closer inspection, the publisher "Think Enxit Press", appears to belong to author James Felton Keith: it has published two books and he is the author of both. Self-published books are not reliably fact-checked and cannot be relied upon as sources. Soulstepping was mentioned at the original AfD as a reliable source. It mentions canes, but the words "twirl", "twirling", or "twirlin" do not appear in it, so it can hardly be said to significantly discuss this topic. Steppin' on the Blues has some mentions of baton/cane twirling, but I'm not sure it rises to the level of significant content. I found other books, mostly discussions of fraternities and their history, that mention twirling trivially, but nothing that actually spoke about it in any depth.

I would suggest a merge to Stepping (African-American), but there's nothing reliably sourced in this article to actually merge. Redirecting without merging is also an option; I didn't want to unilaterally turn it into a redirect without a discussion, since it was previously kept. (As a side note, I have also tagged the similar article cane twirling for G12 as its entire history was a copyvio),

I would be delighted to withdraw if there are reliable sources about this. &spades;PMC&spades; (talk) 11:23, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Africa-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 11:52, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Dance-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 11:52, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus. Relisting comment: Nominator offers to withdrawn if reliable sources are found. Re-listing to further establish consensus

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, AmericanAir88(talk) 01:25, 8 October 2018 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus. Relisting comment: Relisting to get more clear consensus

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Kpg  jhp  jm  02:40, 15 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete. Dancing using canes as props goes back a lot further than the 1950s and I find the uncited claim that it is of African American origin highly dubious.  At least, we need unimpeachable sources for the claim.  Of the references in the article, the Fine and Malone books do not mention the term and I can't make out whether the Keith Group Innovation source is meant to be a book, web page or what.  The only thing that actually has a url or other kind of link that can be followed is the external link which is dead or broken. The claim that the "history of the cane dates back to Eastern African culture of the 4000th century BCE" is alone enough to set off very loud alarm bells. SpinningSpark 18:51, 15 October 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.