Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Walter E. Hoffman Jr.


 * 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. Discounting IceFishing as blocked sock.  Sandstein  19:37, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

Walter E. Hoffman Jr.

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Biography of an airline pilot and operator of smalltown aviation services, "referenced" only to his paid inclusion death notice on the self-published website of a funeral home rather than any evidence of notability-supporting reliable source coverage about him in media. As always, simply owning a business is not an automatic notability freebie that guarantees a person a biographical article just because you can offer technical verification that he existed -- the notability test is the depth and range and volume of journalistic coverage he did or didn't receive about his business career in media, and is not fulfilled by just showing a paid death notice. Bearcat (talk) 22:55, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Aviation-related deletion discussions. Bearcat (talk) 22:55, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Pennsylvania-related deletion discussions. Bearcat (talk) 22:55, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

My understanding is that Wally was a well-known local character, and I have included more references in the press and on the web to his airline and his airpark and resort (which first got me interested in this, since I fly over it all the time). Dclunie (talk) 00:01, 4 February 2020 (UTC) dclunie — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dclunie (talk • contribs) 23:27, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

Delete - I believe that User:Dclunie was acting in good faith when they created the page, but the subject appears to fail WP:BIO.IphisOfCrete (talk) 23:31, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete Wikipedia is not a place to post local-color articles, we need substantial reliable sources and for people of local interest we need articles outside of hyper locals. Not everyone who gets an article in a hyper local paper is notable.John Pack Lambert (talk) 20:09, 4 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Keep I added some material and sources, primarily, however, my argument is that he established two companies, a small airline and, separately, a honeymoon hotel with its own airstrip, both have articles and I readily found sources form which both articles can be expanded (I have not carried out these expansions).  I do see enough here to keep - (totally apart from  coverage of the former Eagle Scout who started killing Pennsylvania State Troopers and went to ground in the abandoned hanger of the abandoned honeymoon hotel air field where he was found after a massive manhunt.)IceFishing (talk) 19:59, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete I'm not seeing a WP:GNG pass. Maybe redirect Pocono Airlines? Best, GPL93 (talk) 00:07, 6 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete per WP:MILL. I'm not seeing anything that remotely could be considered notable. This is an ordinary businessman who worked part-time as a pilot, or alternately, who used his day job to subsidize his hobby that never went anywhere. Bearian (talk) 11:32, 7 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Weak keep There seems to be enough here for an article to pass GNG though barely. ~ EDDY  ( talk / contribs )~ 19:53, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

Regardless of what you decide, thank you all for your thoughtful consideration (and IceFishing for your interesting additional reference about how full-time aircrew have a lot of spare time to moonlight). It has certainly educated me on what Wikipedia is and is not, and I accept that even though the concept of notability (or utility of any kind) is hard to quantify, that there is a marginal cost to adding an entry to Wikipedia, which is resource constrained. Previously I had thought that the more information in Wikipedia the better, no matter how narrow the audience might be (i.e., a sort of Encyclopedia Galactica containing all information about everything). I now understand that it is not nearly that simple. As someone whose day job involves  standards and  document maintenance, it is also interesting to be even peripherally involved in your  consensus,  decision making and discussion tracking process. Rest assured that I am not dissuaded from continuing to make my minuscule contributions in the fields with which I am engaged (Aviation and Medicine), and will try and research and apply the correct procedures more effectively in future. Dclunie (talk) 16:40, 9 February 2020 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  Sandstein   17:37, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete. Unless there's something interesting that I'm missing, it doesn't satisfy GNG. Dorama285 18:57 10 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete per nom. No independent articles about the man himself. I'm not all that familiar with aviation notability guidelines, but I'm also wondering if Birchwood-Pocono Airpark and Pocono Airlines should also be deleted. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:52, 11 February 2020 (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.