Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Yopu

Additional comments subsequent to closure of VfD discussion on Yopu

The Yopu article was generally believed to be an obvious hoax, and had overwhelming consensus to delete. In the course of the discussion I mentioned that I had emailed a journal editor to query the accuracy of a reference cited by the contributor and said I would summarize the reply if I received one. I have received a reply, and it indicates, as expected, that the article does not exist.

I think it is important to put this on record, because it proves the contributor's bad faith and validates the sound judgement of the sysops who blocked the user and deleted the article as patent nonsense.

To recap:

When challenged for evidence that the alleged legend actually existed, the contributor, User:Tteexx asserted that  This is one of several stories researched and published in a recent online journal.
 * Lewinski and Manes. "Legends of Rural Tibet." The Journal of Asian/Diasporic and Aboriginal Literature. http://www.kuixing.panopticonasia.com/fall04/yopu.html. Fall 2004.

When it was pointed out that the link yields a 404 Not Found, the contributor stated that "The link to our article has been taken down, as the Journal seems to be undergoing some updates" and "The site is going through some changes and I'm sure the journals will reappear soon."

I contacted the email address identified on the website as that of the editor of the journal, and received a reply from that address, stating: 
 * Kui Xing has not even had a first issue out yet; it would also be available online. Sadly, we have had thus far just one submission for possible publication and that is available in the "Workshop" section of the website.
 * What you find at the Kui Xing website (http://www.kuixing.panopticonasia.com) is all there is. How terribly distressing if indeed somebody has used our website as a defense for a hoax of some sort. Hopefully this sort of thing does not happen too often!
 * Thank you for notifying me.
 * Sincerely,
 * [editor's name]
 * Kui Xing: The Journal of Asian/Diasporic and Aboriginal Literature

Just to make things perfectly clear, the single article submitted to the journal is entitled "The Sojourner Tradition in Yan Zhen's White Snow, Red Dust: An Episode in the Maple Country." The author's name is anonymous while the article is under review, but it has nothing at all bearing on Yopu or the alleged legend. Dpbsmith (talk) 23:38, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)