Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/William Henry Porter


 * 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. Davewild (talk) 12:01, 9 May 2015 (UTC)

William Henry Porter

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very minor author, references are either to the Yale alumni listing, or to obsolete non-critical bibliographies that do not show notability  DGG ( talk ) 15:57, 22 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States of America-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 17:30, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Christianity-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 17:30, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 17:30, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Keep. I've been going through the Yale obits looking for people of minor notability who don't have Wikipedia articles. No question some of them like this one are borderline cases. I thought the authorship of a few books and a holding a few minor posts created sufficient notability but I understand that others might disagree. Gamaliel ( talk ) 17:41, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I agree it's borderline. Offices held are very minor; if he's notable, it would be as an author. How significant are his works? Are they mentioned by other authors? At least one of his religious writings appears to be essentially self-published. Jonathunder (talk) 18:02, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm not well-versed in 19th century publishing, alas, but both books appear to be published by reputable publishers.  Gamaliel  ( talk ) 23:34, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
 * This one, at least, appears to be reputably published. I'd call this a borderline keep. Jonathunder (talk) 23:50, 23 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Comment: Other authors published by James Munroe & Co. in these years included Emerson (Essays) and Thoreau (Concord & Merrimack).  MarkBernstein (talk) 20:40, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Comment One doesn't inherit notability from other authors of the same publisher. In fact, I wouldn't use a publisher as anything but a hint to the notability of an author, especially from that time period. Publishers are known to publish for reasons other than authorial excellence. LaMona (talk) 21:39, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.
 * Comment -- My initial reaction was that he was a NN minister and I was going to vote "delete" on the basis of NOT OBITUARY. My only doubt is as to whether one of his books may have had some significant influence, but frankly I am very doubtful as to its merits.  Peterkingiron (talk) 17:44, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 08:57, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
 * keep I added details of his career from a reliable source: Carter, Nathan Franklin (1906). The Native Ministry of New Hampshire. Rumford Printing Company (a reputable New Hampshire publisher of the era), so it now has 3 RS beyond the alumni register, although Yale is in a category of older colleges that takes the documenting of the lives of its old-time graduates seriously.  The career is interesting as part of the intensely-felt theological quest of the era (this guy walked out on a pretty good career because he became convinced that Swedenbourg was correct).  Mostly, however, it is reliably sourced and I see no policy reason to delete it.E.M.Gregory (talk) 10:48, 7 May 2015 (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.