Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ed Bolian

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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. This AFD seems to have attracted a lot of outside attention, and while we are happy to consider evidence the article passes the criteria for inclusion, these new, single purpose accounts fail to understand the criteria, as demonstrated by their arguments. In contrast, the delete voters cite BLP1E, which is not successfully challenged using our policies. In the end, we have a lot of passionate pleas to keep and a lot of logic to delete, which cites actual policy reasons. There was some mention of redirecting, but consensus isn't clear and scant discussion was had on this idea. This close shouldn't not be a bar to someone being bold and creating a redirect after delete if they have reason to believe it would truly be useful. Dennis Brown - 22:50, 16 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Ed Bolian

Ed Bolian (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log · Stats)
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The subject of this article is known for a single event only, that of driving across the country in 28 hours. Apart from this one action, the subject fails WP:Notability. In addition, the article is extremely misleading stating that Bolian broke a "record". His drive across the US was not sanctioned by any official record agency and was in fact deemed a criminal act by several states and counties. There is in fact currently an open investigation in New Mexico where Bolian's vehicle was tracked at 158+ mph. -O.R.Comms 23:30, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. Vipinhari || talk 11:39, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States of America-related deletion discussions. Vipinhari || talk 11:39, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 00:29, 8 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment: While this article is centered around a single event, there are multiple articles of other people attempting and accomplishing the same record, documented here: Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. The legacy of such an event should be recognized. The subject has also recently participated in the The 2904, which is another coast-to-coast endurance race [1]. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:30A:2CEE:7080:24AF:AD40:C825:B7B6 (talk) 16:59, 15 March 2016 (UTC) 2602:30A:2CEE:7080:24AF:AD40:C825:B7B6 (talk) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. The preceding unsigned comment was added at 2602:30A:2CEE:7080:24AF:AD40:C825:B7B6 (UTC).[reply]
  • Comment: This page is actually about me. As mentioned, there were a few things mentioned that had not been added that may be useful in establishing notoriety. it appears that those have been added although some further edits may be required. I won the 2015 running of a cross country driving event called The 2904. That event has a page here but it has not included the 2015 results. I have a book set to be released this year regarding the 2013 record and hope to do a few more interesting things in the future. I am past the statutes of limitation for all states and there will be no legal repercussions for any of the drives. I appreciated having the page added and I hope it can stay. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Edbolian (talkcontribs) 17:25, 15 March 2016 (UTC) Edbolian (talkcontribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]
I have updated this page with more information related to Ed as a car persona. The Cannonball Run and other endurance races have deep roots in car culture and the community is incredibly interested in the people who challenge it. --Mmp7700 (talk) 17:33, 15 March 2016 (UTC) Mmp7700 (talkcontribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]
With all respect to the above comments, which I do believe are in good faith, they all appear to be single purpose accounts created solely to comment on this AfD and there is quite possibly a violation of WP:MEAT if different people were advised to come to this AfD and post uplifting comments. Also, with respect to the person claiming to be the article's subject, Wikipedia has a general rule to Ignore credentials so the original problem of the article, lacking notability, stands as a reason to delete. -O.R.Comms 17:43, 15 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
WP:IAC is simply an essay. It's not correct to claim it is a wikipedia rule. We do have a conflict of interest guideline, however, and that one applies to the above account claiming to be the article's subject. Tvx1 21:15, 15 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep: Subject is listed in the legacy section of the page for the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash but as the drive was not part of their events, the last of which was in 1979, it makes sense as a reference there and to have its own page. There are over 10,000 mentions of the record throughout the internet including virtually every mainstream media source. It was discussed on television over 500 times and it was the most read story on CNN.com internationally during the first day it was released with over 4 million views and 7,000 comments. That should justify the notability standard and the additional objection of be a singular interesting talking point seems to have been overcome by the additions made to the page (MTV show, 2904 victory, etc.). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Edbolian (talkcontribs) 17:25, 15 March 2016 (UTC) Edbolian (talkcontribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. Note to closing admin: Edbolian (talkcontribs) appears to have a close connection with the subject of the article being discussed. [reply]
  • Comment: The notion that there must be an officiating body to hold a record not only is an argumentum ad verecundiam fallacy, but it begs the question since who officiates the officiator? Guinness refused to award Bolian the "record" because what he was doing involved the illegal activity of speeding. The notion that it was unlawful does not imply in any capacity that the activity was not a record. There are articles on persons like John Wise and Thaddeus Lowe who may or may not have actually contributed to the first transatlantic flight; however, they are seldom discussed even in the history books. Bolian made national news which is why I heard of him to begin with and continues to make news in the car enthusiast realms. As personal experience in aircraft/supercar deals which I conduct in Atlanta as I travel there frequently, Bolian's record has been brought up more than on occasion. Alex Roy is another person with more exposure but few actual accomplishments. The details of his record are dubious, yet his page is not marked for deletion. Consider long and hard before you actually delete this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by User:40.131.227.42 (talkcontribs) 40.131.227.42 (talk) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. The preceding unsigned comment was added at 40.131.227.42 (UTC).
  • Delete - as nom. I am adding this delete statement for the purpose of affirming the nominator has not withdrawn the nomination for deletion and also that the only comments or votes made to this Afd so far have been SPA accounts who are possibly engaged in meat puppetry. The Afd might need to be protected if it continues to be filled with comments from SPA ip addresses, but that is above my level. -O.R.Comms 20:06, 16 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep: This came across my purview and I see this as a significant human achievement that has not been duplicated, nor replicated. For the posterity of amazing human achievements, this is worth noting. If the previous arguments against this hold water, then any single human triumph of this type of notability would not be documented. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:30A:2CEE:7080:79FF:BF79:E257:E77C (talk) 20:25, 16 March 2016 (UTC) 2602:30A:2CEE:7080:79FF:BF79:E257:E77C (talk) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. The preceding unsigned comment was added at 2602:30A:2CEE:7080:79FF:BF79:E257:E77C (UTC).[reply]
Please note that the above account appears to be the same user as User:2602:30A:2CEE:7080:24AF:AD40:C825:B7B6 which commented above. Ip addresses are identical. -O.R.Comms 20:36, 16 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete as a WP:BLP1E, and a dubious one at that. ScrpIronIV 20:58, 16 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete per nom as a WP:BLP1E. RickinBaltimore (talk) 21:00, 16 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete. Classic example of WP:BLP1E. There are four reliable sources and one blog about his 29-hour drive; that's the notable event. There is one blog story and no reliable sources about the 2904 race. No sources for biographical information, such as college and former job. The article claims that he was "a personality featured" in an episode of True Life called "I'm Rallying to LA", but the information about that episode at sources like IMDb and tv.com does not mention him, and other references like this and this suggest that he was merely one of "dozens" of people featured in the episode. --MelanieN (talk) 21:02, 16 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, instead of "Delete" I recommend Redirect to Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, where there is already a decently sourced paragraph about him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MelanieN (talkcontribs) 21:08, 16 March 2016
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.