Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Will Stutely


 * 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 merge to Merry Men. Liz Read! Talk! 04:35, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

Will Stutely

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

This unreferenced short article doesn't indicate the subject's notability (minor character related to Robin Hood's folklore). The article, in its current form, violates WP:OR/WP:V and in form, WP:IPC, since it's pretty much just a list of a few works he appears in (there is even no plot summary to speak off...). My WP:BEFORE is not finding anything that meets WP:SIGCOV (and what I see is a plot summary with no analysis of the character's literary significance); I suggest redirecting this to Merry_Men. PS. To add insult to the proverbial injury, there is a comment on the talk page, from 2006, signed by one " Allen W. Wright", of this that suggests the content here is both wrong and a copyvio (" Whoever originally wrote this article got some facts seriously wrong. Unless Stutely is considered a permutation of Will Scarlet, then he does not appear in any of the early ballads as originally stated. Also, the one pre-existing accurate bit was copied directly from my website. I've now changed the text a bit and corrected the mistakes.") - no website has been linked, unfortunately. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 17:31, 30 January 2023 (UTC) Relisting comment: To discuss merge/redirect targets. Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, -- Patar knight - chat/contributions 08:55, 7 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Fictional elements, Literature,  and England. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here  17:31, 30 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Keep or merge to Will Scarlet. Characters in such well-known folk tales as these are certainly notable, but as he is usually conflated with Will Scarlet then it would probably be reasonable to merge with that article. -- Necrothesp (talk) 11:09, 31 January 2023 (UTC)
 * No referenced content to merge, but if we can find RS for the claim present in both articles that he is a mispelled version of the other name, it would be good to add it there after a redirect. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 04:22, 1 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Well, appearances in literary works don't actually need referencing, since the works are references in their own right. You don't need one work to tell you that a character appeared in another. That would be senseless. -- Necrothesp (talk) 11:25, 1 February 2023 (UTC)
 * You are missing the point - such information is WP:INDISCRIMINATE trivia. See also: MOS:POPCULTURE, WP:IPC and WP:NOTTVTROPES. So not only is this content unreferenced, it is also unencyclopedic. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 12:30, 1 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I really don't think you can apply this to appearances in medieval ballads! It's not really some trivial pop culture mention. The fact a character appears who is often conflated with another much better known one is clearly significant and not in any way unencyclopaedic. -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:54, 1 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I was primarily referring to the latter half of the article ("Later adaptions"). Anyway, if we can find a RS for the fact that he appaered in some older ballads and/or was conflated with another character, I'd certainly support mentioning this in the better known character article (where, as I noted, this is, I think, already mentioned, but without a reference). Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 04:00, 2 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Merry Men, where he is already listed and described with pretty much all of the information regarding his role in the couple of ballads he appeared in. Even if the article had reliable secondary sources (which it currently does not), I would still argue that per WP:NOPAGE, it would be far better to have the information contained on the main Merry Men article, than also have a rather pointless spinout article that just reiterates the exact same information. If any reliable sources are found that actually discuss the possible conflation with Will Scarlet, it could perhaps be merged there instead, but this should not be done without some sources discussing it. Rorshacma (talk) 16:16, 6 February 2023 (UTC)
 *  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.


 * Redirect to Merry Men per Rorshacma 𝕱𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖎𝖆 (talk) 09:03, 7 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Merry Men. The information is already there. Joyous! | Talk 16:55, 8 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Merge or redirect to Merry Men. This isn't a notable character but there is a logical place to preserve this information. Archrogue (talk) 17:43, 8 February 2023 (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.