Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/University of Birmingham Debating Society


 * 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. -- Cirt (talk) 00:06, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

University of Birmingham Debating Society

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Contested prod. Non-notable student debating society - this Google search gives only 38 hits and I can't find any reliable sources. Fails WP:N and in particular WP:CLUB. There are thousands of such societies worldwide - this one may be older and better than some of them but it doesn't require its own encyclopaedia entry. andy (talk) 00:25, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Apologies for not knowing the correct method of responding. The society does require its own encyclopaedia entry for a variety of reasons. Firstly the society is integral to the University, having been founded by the person who founded the University and because it has played an active role in Guild politics. Secondly it is a much more active society that most others with a history outlasting most others. The IV competitions it runs, the schools competitions it runs, the way its members engage with the local community and so forth means the society has a long tradition on having an impact not only on University students but also the Birmingham and international community. The unusually large impact the society has had is a very good reason for why the society deserves an encyclopaedia entry. Thirdly most of the information generated about University debating societies is by other societies and the Universities at which they are based. This means that the most common Internet reference to such a society is from other societies at the Universities - unfortunately any references to the society pre-2000 (when debating received a presence online) is all paper based. However this entry also has other sources such as the English Speaking Union an independent charity wholly seperate from any debating societies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nothingbutgreenlights (talk • contribs) 00:40, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Almost none of which is relevant. This is an encyclopaedia.  Articles are not included or excluded on the bases of subjective notions of fame and importance (or, indeed, "impact").  It is only the question of whether the subject has been documented in depth by multiple published works, from people independent of the subject with good reputations for fact checking and accuracy.  It doesn't matter that the published works are in print.  But it does matter that they exist.  The in depth knowledge of this subject must already have been properly documented and published outwith Wikipedia. Uncle G (talk) 01:35, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Organizations-related deletion discussions.  -- Jclemens-public (talk) 03:17, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete Most UK universities, particularly older ones (and I include Birmingham in that category) have debating societies. Very few will achieve general notability in a global English-language encyclopedia without being covered in broader media. We are not talking about the Oxford Union here, which is a different kind of animal, but a student society which, as noted above, has not achieved the breadth of coverage we would normally expect to see here. Rodhull  andemu  03:34, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete. I prodded this before, nobody objected, and it was deleted. The page has no independent secondary sources, and I can't find any with my own searching. Abductive  (reasoning) 05:27, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete If there's third-party reliable coverage, it's buried in all the facebook entries and so on. If you want article to remain, please point to specific coverage demonstrating notability. EEng (talk) 17:34, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Schools-related deletion discussions.  —• Gene93k (talk) 00:38, 17 December 2010 (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.