I added an entry into Wikipedia last week.
The entry, Frank Arrigo – notable Australian tech and Microsoft celebrity and yes, he’s my boss.
Well the locals over at Wikipedia seem to think that Frank doesn’t deserve to be there. That he’s “not notable” enough and now the entry is being considered for deletion.
As the original author of the article, obviously, I disagree.
So, if you feel that Frank’s entry should be saved (and the my faith in Wikipedia should be restored):
- Contribute to the article
- Contribute to the deletion discussion in a meaningful way
This is my first real contribution to Wikipedia and I’ve got some observations.
Seeing that the article was under the axe, I decided to rally the troops. “The locals” (or “the others” as I’m gonna start referring to them) have taken issue with the fact some of the supporters of article have had some connection or existing knowledge of Frank and Microsoft Australia.
I don’t get it, of course some of the supporters know about him, isn’t that logical? How is that an issue? You wouldn’t defend his “notability” if you didn’t know about him and you wouldn’t know of the articles (and subsequent deletion discussion) existence if you weren’t notified of it.
Also, since when does the majority have to agree for something to be valid? I would be disappointed if “the others” won the case for the article’s deletion. A bunch of noisy locals shouldn’t shape Wikipedia, all you need is a few people to agree on it for it to have validity.
There are a few others how are rallying behind the cause:
- Laurel Papworth has put the call out to spread the word and to save Frank
- Meg from Dipping into the Blogpond has her thoughts too. Meg was responsible for collating a list of popular australian bloggers which is being called as evidence in the virtual courtroom of Wikipedia. She has some very valid thoughts as to the importance of the list.
- Nick Hodge also puts the call out to save Frank
- Frank has mentioned the article on his blog but is not getting involved in the conversation
Oh, and for the record, me adding the article was unsolicited by Frank. Actually, I don’t think he knows it’s me that did it.