Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Way2SMS

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. SeraphWiki's detailed analysis of sources is compelling, Spartaz ^Humbug! 08:33, 29 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Way2SMS (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log · Stats)

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References point to either non-notable outlets or passing mentions, a quick WP:BEFORE didn't turn up much more. Drewmutt (^ᴥ^) talk 05:12, 10 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Companies-related deletion discussions. ^{Babymissfortune} 05:40, 10 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Websites-related deletion discussions. ^{Babymissfortune} 05:40, 10 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of India-related deletion discussions. ^{Babymissfortune} 05:40, 10 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Move to draft space A quick google search turned up numerous mentions on the service. The current article is not encyclopedic so suggest to move to drafts and build article. Hagennos (talk) 04:06, 11 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Mind sharing some of the reputable sources you uncovered? I didn't have such luck. Drewmutt (^ᴥ^) talk 04:10, 11 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I found a significant mentions like the one's from Hindu, Economic Times,Livemint,NDTV. These are all reputable sources from India which is the primary market for this application. Hagennos (talk) 14:28, 11 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep This company has garnered significant coverage in many reliable, independent and secondary sources in India. I reviewed this article and rated it as a Stub. Surely it needs further developments, but that does not mean we must move it to the draft space. Wikipedia says that Stubs are 'ugly ducklings' and are expected to become Swans eventually. And that is why it is a stub. Certainly, deleting it would not make any sense either. However, it is a good idea to seek the consensus of the community. Thanks! Dial911 (talk) 03:14, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep This is not encyclopedic but it is also not incorrect, whatever the relevant and important information needs to be provided has been added — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chandrakanth Kollu (talk • contribs) 08:36, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete The Hindu and Economic Times sources appear to be routine announcements. The Livemint source and NDTV source seem ok. But the article is not just a stub, it is promotional, and doesn't discuss what these sources say like The service bombards you with ads, and the promotional emails reached us before the verification mail did. Also, we would recommend against using the Way2sms Android app - it requires a huge list of permissions and this includes "modify or delete the contents of your USB storage", "test access to protected storage", "read sensitive log data" and "precise location (GPS and network-based)". SeraphWiki (talk) 21:44, 21 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep I agree with SeraphWiki's analysis of The Hindu as little more than a press release, and Livemint and NDTV as okay, but would also place The Economic Times in the okay column. Although their news coverage was triggered by a company announcement (just as the media does stories on Facebook when Zuckerberg announces changes to its news feed), Way2SMS's change of direction is business news, not trivial marketing fluff. It's part of a larger market shift, and The Economic Times's story adds history and context not present in any company communiqué.

To these three good sources, one can add an article in Rediff.com, a second Livemint article, an article in Business Standard, and one in The Times of India. These seven articles show the significant coverage, over a period of time, in independent, reliable sources that is called for by WP:CORP. The coverage is even in notable outlets, to satisfy anyone who wishes to add that as a requirement.

Deletion or draftification are not the solution to Hagennos and SeraphWiki's concerns about unencyclopedic and promotional content. The solution was to rewrite the article using the identified sources. The only other recommendation I would make in the context of this discussion is that the article be moved to Way2Online, which is the name of the company. Way2SMS is their best-known brand, and can be retained as a redirect to the company. --Worldbruce (talk) 03:01, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that it may be "business news" but I also think most M&A, hirings and firings, and routine company announcements are also business news. But as a company, Way2SMS doesn't seem to be notable for anything other than routine announcements about M&A and rebranding per simple statements that a product line is being sold, changed, or discontinued and brief announcements of mergers or sales of part of the business. There is an article about a legal complaint, but without more then one article about it, I don't think that is going to be enough either. For example:

• [1] - is basically a restatement of a company announcement.
• [2] is largely based on quotes from the founder
• [3] is a routine M&A announcement
• [4] launch of a new product (ok, but not enough for notability imo)
• [5] another rebranding announcement - this one seems to be for Way2

Which leaves:

• [6]
• [7] a fraud complaint with no followup sources?
• [8] how to send free SMS - ok, because it includes some balancing content, but iffy as a fundamentally promotional "how to" piece.

Adding that I think the WaySMS service is free, but not open-source, and monetized through advertising. (So freemium kind of?) That said the company seems to be a pretty big deal in India, but as far as the sourcing goes, it all looks to be routine and very similar to hundreds of other companies. (See also this similar article LearnSocial for another company/product by the same founder with external links all through the article text).

SeraphWiki (talk) 03:42, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Also per the article creator's talk page User:Chandrakanth Kollu says I am a digital marketers based out of Hyderabad with huge experience in handling online branding for various clients but I don't see any explicit COI declaration anywhere in connection with this article, nor have I asked him about it. His keep vote in this AfD above is This is not encyclopedic but it is also not incorrect, whatever the relevant and important information needs to be provided has been added. Unsurprisingly, the creator of LearnSocial is an SPA with 12 edits all the article, inactive since 2015. There is no COI declaration to that article - probably the two editors are unrelated. Maybe the COI issue should have been followed up on before an AfD? - I don't know how all of that works because I am still relatively new at AfC. SeraphWiki (talk) 04:23, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@SeraphWiki: Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I PROD'd it as spam. Drewmutt (^ᴥ^) talk 05:20, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete There are no indications of notability and despite the many Keep !votes above, once again there appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding among some editors on the differences between sources that meet the criteria for establishing notability and the *lower* standard of sources required for citations to support facts or information within an article. In order for references to meet the criteria for establishing notability, they must be intellectually independent - broadly speaking, this rules out references that are largely based on company announcements, hiring and firing news and references that rely extensively on interviews and quotations from company employees or related companies. Based on SeraphWiki's analysis of the sources above, I would add that [this livemint article is extensively based on an interview with the founder and fails WP:ORGIND, this timesofindia reference is not about the company but about the ex-CEO with the company being a mention-in-passing and fails WP:CORPDEPTH and the gadgets.ndtv.com reference relates to using a product provided by the company and is not an in-depth article with company details and also fails WP:CORPDEPTH. The references fails WP:CORPDEPTH and/or WP:ORGIND, the topic therefore fails GNG and WP:NCORP. HighKing⁺⁺ 22:36, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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.