Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/The Traveller Films (2nd nomination)

If this page gets deleted, then I'll reopen it..

Andrew Merkelbach happens to be a close personal friend of mine and I will not stand by and watch some very sad individuals try to stop him from promoting his films which he makes out of his own pocket!
 * No one's stopping Merkelback from promoting his friends where appropriate. But he's not guaranteed a place on the Wikipedia just for existing, as Wikipedia is not a free host, blog, or webspace provider - he can promote his films (and himself) anywhere he wants, provided he follows proper procedeures to secure that hosting and/or promotion elsewhere. Here on Wikipedia, there are standards for notability, and in the view of quite a few of us, based on the evidence from Google and the previous deletion vote, Merkelbach and the Traveller films do not meet those criteria - and here's the important part - yet. We're not saying he won't - just that right now, there's not enough evidence to support inclusion. Some time later, if he or his fanfilms actually become something of note, and people NOT directly connected to them think they're worthy of inclusion, then I'm sure someone will include them. But that day is not today.
 * And by the way, the use of multiple sockpuppets to try and make it look like you have multiple editors with common interests isn't helping your case. End of line. MikeWazowski 15:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Don't give me that crap. I don't know **** about doing stuff on Wikipedia. Andrew is NOT using Wiki as a blog - he has his own website.

What do you mean by multiple sockpuppets. I registed this account on my laptop in the UK and I make all my posts on it!

Delete away, by all means
As someone who worked with Merkelbach on a couple of early projects, I've been following his "career" somewhat closely. What I've found so far is considerably more spin than credibility, to the point that I agree he is undeserving of a Wikipedia entry.

Merkelbach's films essentially do no exceed what one might expect of any other indie filmmaker trying to make a name for themselves. To date, they have garnered little legitimate publicity (outside local circles), and the "international acclaim" Merkelbach often claims of them pretty much boils down to a couple of people outside of Australia (one of whom is one of his writers!) writing reviews of his work. I'm sure he has some fans outside of Australia, but it's also worth observing that his official mailing list only has about 90 members, and his web site has, in the several weeks it's been up, received barely more than 500 (non-unique) hits.

I think his "delusions of grandeur" (a phrase I use only because it's a cliche, and not as an intended slur against the man) are best typified by Merkelbach's "campaign" to be the 10th Doctor Who. I have on record much documentary evidence to show that he genuinely believed he was a firm candidate for the part -- or at least that he wanted his audience to believe that. I've done searches of this campaign on the web: his own links to "campaign sites" (actually fan web pages that carried tiny banners on his behalf) were more numerous than the results I got. Thorough searches of official BBC feedback forums, which he recommended as sites for his "fans" to express their support, revealed absolutely no hits featuring his name.

In short, I suspect his Wikipedia page is merely another element in his recently widening stream of self-publicity, and certainly does not constitute information on an especially notable man nor on especially notable productions. Of the three Traveller films he has completed to date, only one has been released ("Red" is still pending release), and it never received an official distribution, having been self-distributed after a limited professional pressing and subsequent reissue on DVD-R. (For this I also possess documentary evidence.) Its one cinema screening appears to have occurred under an arrangement by which Merkelbach hired the screen for a night, then sold tickets himself. (This is somewhat understandable as the film has received no distribution, was shot on a 1-CCD MiniDV camera, and has never been blown up to a larger format.) Even there, newspaper reports suggest that significantly less than 150 people were in attendance, including friends, family, cast and crew.

Under the rules, there's no doubt his page should be deleted -- at least until such time as even one of his productions has been distributed by a legitimate distribution company, a case which would confirm that industry professionals outside his sphere of influence believe his work to be significant enough to put hard cash behind.

As an aside: Until such time as the entry is deleted, or in case it isn't, I have updated the entry to make it more accurate and comprehensive. All changes are based on thorough research and documentary evidence, and all are completely accurate to the best of my knowledge. I have also removed intimations that these films somehow represent "TV episodes", which is a hope on Merkelbach's part and not a fact, and which was expressed in a garbled manner in the first instance.