Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/William J. Callahan

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 redirect‎ to William Callahan (with anyone welcome to move the page history as discussed below). Extraordinary Writ (talk) 18:43, 5 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

William J. Callahan

[Hide this box] New to Articles for deletion (AfD)? Read these primers!

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Fails WP:GNG and WP:BIO. Not all senior government officials are notable enough to justify a WP article. Mentions of Callahan in WP:RS are WP:TRIVIAL related to his WP:ROUTINE job duties and not WP:SIGCOV focused on Callahan that would establish his notability. Longhornsg (talk) 01:17, 16 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If you came here because someone asked you to, or you read a message on another website, please note that this is not a majority vote, but instead a discussion among Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia has policies and guidelines regarding the encyclopedia's content, and consensus (agreement) is gauged based on the merits of the arguments, not by counting votes.

However, you are invited to participate and your opinion is welcome. Remember to assume good faith on the part of others and to sign your posts on this page by adding ~~~~ at the end.

Note: Comments may be tagged as follows: suspected single-purpose accounts: {{subst:spa|username}}; suspected canvassed users: {{subst:canvassed|username}}; accounts blocked for sockpuppetry: {{subst:csm|username}} or {{subst:csp|username}}.

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Politics and United States of America. Longhornsg (talk) 01:17, 16 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Law, Maryland, and New York. WCQuidditch ☎ ✎ 03:13, 16 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 23:39, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose - sufficient sources are included in the article to satisfy notability.XavierGreen (talk) 14:56, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I see little justification for deletion - he held the position. Political? OLDGUY50 (talk) 15:24, 23 July 2024 (UTC) — OLDGUY50 (talk) • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic[reply]
I also see little justification for deletion as he held the position and was within the agency for 25 plus years. 198.100.2.74 (talk) 16:31, 23 July 2024 (UTC) — 198.100.2.74 (talk) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]
Comment. So far no policy-based justification or RS presented to justify keeping. Only source with WP:SIGCOV in the article is a WP:TRIVIALMENTION and an official biography. Longhornsg (talk) 16:37, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Delete: "Gov't official did gov't official things". Nothing notable in his actions, nor in the coverage, which remains trivial. Both of the references fail WP:SIRS for this topic. - UtherSRG (talk) 20:08, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Redirect to Director of the United States Secret Service#William J. Callahan (with the history preserved under the redirect) per Wikipedia:Deletion policy#Alternatives to deletion. In my searches for sources, I found only passing mentions about the subject. The subject does not meet Wikipedia:Notability#General notability guideline or Wikipedia:Notability (people). The closest additional criteria is Wikipedia:Notability (people)#Politicians and judges, but the Director of the United States Secret Service is not a politician or judge so that part of the guideline does not apply.
A redirect with the history preserved under the redirect will allow editors to selectively merge any content that can be reliably sourced to the target article. A redirect with the history preserved under the redirect will allow the redirect to be undone if significant coverage in reliable sources is found in the future. Cunard (talk) 07:54, 25 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I support this WP:ATD. - UtherSRG (talk) 12:51, 25 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Delete He exists, yes. Is he notable per WP:NBIO? Clearly not. No in-depth coverage, just name drops and primary sources. Don't strongly oppose a redirect but also not sure it's desirable when there are other people of the same name who attracted media attention such as a soldier killed in Iraq AusLondonder (talk) 17:18, 25 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Two sources on a BLP is not notable. Felicia (talk) 17:58, 25 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
- Two sources would be sufficient for a BLP to pass Wikipedia:Notability (people)#Basic criteria if these two criteria were met:
  1. the two sources were independent reliable sources that provided significant coverage of the subject and
  2. the two sources did not cover the subject in the context of only one event
  The two sources in this case are either not significant coverage (the first source) or not independent (the second source) so do not establish notability. Cunard (talk) 06:55, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: AusLonder raises a good point that there are other people with the same name. Instead of redirecting William J. Callahan to Director of the United States Secret Service#William J. Callahan, I propose a redirect of William J. Callahan to the disambiguation page William Callahan which can cover all of the people named William J. Callahan who are mentioned on Wikipedia. To keep the history of the new disambiguation page separate from that of the Secret Service official, the article on William J. Callahan could be moved to William J. Callahan (Secret Service)—which matches the disambiguation for another Secret Service director article, Joseph Clancy (Secret Service)—and then redirected to Director of the United States Secret Service#William J. Callahan.
I could not find the soldier killed in Iraq mentioned on Wikipedia. According to this search on "William J. Callahan", except for three articles, all of the mentions are of the Acting Director of the United States Secret Service. Those three articles are Ancient Regime of Spain (where there is a William J. Callahan who is the author of a reference), Sacco and Vanzetti (where there is a William J. Callahan who is mentioned as an attorney), and 1936 United States Senate election in New Hampshire (where there is a William J. Callahan who is mentioned as a political candidate).
Some of these people can be mentioned at William Callahan per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Disambiguation pages#Items appearing within other articles. Cunard (talk) 06:55, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Delete: Fails notability. Wakeupking (talk) 19:53, 28 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Move then redirect per Cunard. This is a very thorough and well thought-out ATD that respects page history, PRIMARYTOPIC and COMMONNAME. Bobby Cohn (talk) 16:35, 29 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Relisting comment: These suggested ATD instructions are too complicated. I was going to close this as Delete because they are confusing but decided to relist instead. Just state what you want to happen with THIS article not other articles. And if you want this article Moved, then "vote" to Keep and later editors can discuss a page move after this AFD is closed. AFD has a limited number of closure options, please make your argument from among them: Keep, Delete, Redirect, Merge and Draftify.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 21:24, 29 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Keep for the reasons i stated above.XavierGreen (talk) 22:15, 30 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
XavierGreen, you can't vote twice. Longhornsg (talk) 23:15, 30 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Im not voting twice, the Admin stated to clarify votes, see above.XavierGreen (talk) 23:18, 30 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. Deputy director of a federal service such as the USSS in a major country, especially one who has (albeit briefly) acted as director, is clearly notable per WP:COMMONSENSE. -- Necrothesp (talk) 10:21, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Police-related deletion discussions. Necrothesp (talk) 10:21, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: In response to the relist comment, the title William J. Callahan should redirect to William Callahan with the page history preserved per Wikipedia:Deletion policy#Alternatives to deletion. It is not required to split the page history to William J. Callahan (Secret Service). If the page history is split, that can be handled outside of AfD. Cunard (talk) 08:45, 2 August 2024 (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.