Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Brett Perlmutter

Brett Perlmutter

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Fails WP:GNG SadHaas (talk) 00:17, 13 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Subject does not appear to meet the qualifications surrounding notability. Subject has held a managerial role at a publicly traded company, something that many people can claim. Negotiating an internet agreement with Cuba is not a notable enough accomplishment in and of itself to justify this person having a Wikipedia biography. Although the rest of the subject's pedigree is impressive, nothing in his background appears to meet the notability requirements.

This article was previous proposed (but not nominated for deletion), but the proposal was removed by the original creator of the page on the defense that "signing the first Internet agreement between a US company and Cuba is much more than a business achievement; it is a historic moment in the development of Internet in Cuba (see articles related to that subject)." This rationale is faulty for several reasons.

First, the source material confirms that the subject DID NOT sign the internet agreement in question. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, signed the agreement. The subject was part of a several-person team that took part in negotiations.

Second, the source material referenced is from the Penn Gazette, which is the alumni magazine for the subjects Alma Mater, University of Pennsylvania. Per this publication's own website, the magazine is "written for, about, and frequently by alumni" of the University. I would call into question whether an alumni magazine with such a mission statement would constitute an independent source.

On further review, it appears that much of the source material comes from alumni magazines, a Google sponsored blog for its own employees (certainly not an independent or unbiased source given the topic of this page), as well as several legitimate news articles where the subject is only mentioned in passing or has one of his blog entries quoted. In one Wall Street Journal from 12-16-2016, Brett Perlmutter is not mentioned in the article at all, although he is pictured in an image attached to the article. On reviewing the source material, I cannot identify a single article where the subject of this biography is also the main subject discussed in the article, unless that article is from a publication affiliated with either the subjects company, or a school he graduated from.

All that the source material confirms is that Mr. Perlmutter was indeed employed by Google, and has some role in the negotiation of this internet deal. However, the claim that Mr. Perlmutter was alone instrumental enough in orchestrating this deal to meet the requirement for notability is not supported by independent source material. Further, even if the source material did support this, the signing of an internet deal with Cuba alone still might not meet the notability requirement.

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Businesspeople and Colorado. Shellwood (talk) 00:31, 13 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Comment I'm kind of on the fence. There is a fair amount of source material, but this could be considered WP:1E, as he doesn't seem to be notable except for his involvement in the agreement between Google and Cuba. Is there perhaps an article with which this one can merged? — Preceding unsigned comment added by JMB1980 (talk • contribs) 06:15, 14 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Shell, as the general rule per WP:1E is to cover the event and not the person, I think the most appropriate outcome is to merge some information regarding the internet deal into the existing article "Internet in Cuba", and delete the individual article on Brett Perlmutter. The Internet in Cuba page currently mentions nothing about this specific deal and would be the most appropriate place to move such information SadHaas (talk) 16:03, 14 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Update to the above: The "Internet in Cuba" article does have a single line referencing the Google deal. The source for that specific line (a Business Insider article) has a brief mention of Brett Perlmutter's role as negotiator of the deal.

I question how significant of an event this is if Wikipedia's "Internet in Cuba" article has such a small reference to it. I think this event can be expanded on in the "Internet in Cuba" article instead of warranting a stand-alone article for Brett Perlmutter SadHaas (talk) 17:24, 14 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Merge: per Nom. -- Otr500 (talk) 16:01, 15 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

KeepThis Person is a significant and meets all threshold for notability. I've added sourced highlighting Perlmutter's seminal role in not only the development of Internet in Cuba but also the Cuban Thaw. See changes and referencing here too: https://phys.org/news/2016-12-google-cuba-faster-access-company.html https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cuba-google-move-improve-islands-connectivity-62004795 https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0321/How-Google-plans-to-improve-Internet-service-in-Cuba https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/el-hombre-de-google-en-cuba-201642500 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lobsteroll (talk • contribs) 02:41, 16 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Some other notes --

this person is responsible for many events, so WP;1E does not apply
Sourcing is much more vast than alumni magazines, please review sourcing

Lobsteroll (talk) 02:47, 16 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sourcing only confirms Perlmutter's role involving Google's expansion in Cuba. Referring to this as more than one event is a stretch.

All other achievements are sourced from either alumni magazines or the transcript of an interview with Perlmutter by a representative of his alma mater. A transcript of an interview does not meet the threshold of an independent source, as is it quoted from Perlmutter himself and therefor not independently verified.

Added source material does not appear to validate claim that Perlmutter held a seminal role. Each article has, at most, a quote by Perlmutter. (I exclude El Observador from this observation as it is written in Spanish).

Wikipedia threshold for source material dictates that context matters WP:CONTEXTMATTERS

Sources should directly support the information as it is presented in the Wikipedia article.

All that the added source material supports is that the event occurred, and was of some notability. The references to Perlmutter are insufficient to warrant his own BLP SadHaas (talk) 00:59, 17 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A few other notes:

1. Per Wikipedia:Notability (people)#People notable for only one event"If the event is highly significant, and the individual's role within it is a large one, a separate article is generally appropriate"... In this case, the person has had a highly significant role not only over one event, but of the course of multiple events

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-and-obama-administration-connect-over-cuba-1458763836 ... in which perlmutter is the key person

2. Wikipedia:Notability (people)#People notable for only one event "It is important to remember that "notable" is not a synonym for "famous". Someone may have become famous due to one event, but may nevertheless be notable for more than one event." ... It is important to note that Perlmutter is notable for more than one event, but famous for a key few

2. Independent source materials do show that Perlmutter was responsible for orchestrating both deals (December 2016 and March 2019), as well as creating the first internet center with high speed broadband in March 2016, which was announced by President Obama

https://www.forbes.com/profile/brett-perlmutter/?sh=48acc2861e69

https://apnews.com/article/cuba-north-america-technology-caribbean-business-d076fa0c68b440ada320cec8478a08dc ... in which Perlmutter signed March 2019 deal ... again nothing short of historic to sign the first deal to pave the way for US-Cuba subsea cable

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-signs-deal-with-cuba-to-speed-services-1481573940 ... Perlmutter in photo caption is clearly present at signing of Dec 2016 deal Lobsteroll (talk) 03:40, 16 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Finally, this article meets a higher threshold of notability than other BLPs, including: David Haberfeld Lobsteroll (talk) 04:04, 16 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

1. This event is not highly significant, and the broad article Internet in Cuba has only a brief mention of this event. Google signing a deal to operate servers in Cuba, the 63rd largest economy in the world with a population of 11 million, is hardly highly significant. If it is, why does it not have its own article, or at least more detail on an article exclusively dedicated to the Internet in Cuba?

2. As perviously mentioned, none of the source material seems to support the assertion that Perlmutter alone was responsible for bringing internet to Cuba. The Wall Street Journal Article above does not mention Perlmutter at all, save for a caption indicating his presence in a photo. This does not support the assertion that the subject had a significant role; it refutes it.

3. The Forbes source material clearly indicates that its contents were provided by Brett Perlmutter. A profile provided by the subject constitutes self published material and fails to meet the threshold of reliable, independent source material.

4. If a user has concerns about the notability of subjects of other BLP, they can propose that article for deletion. The notability of David Haberfeld is irrelevant to this discussion. SadHaas (talk) 01:27, 17 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

KEEP: Finally, many Google executives pass the notability threshold: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Google_employees ... thus that is not an argument for deletion of this page — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lobsteroll (talk • contribs) 04:59, 16 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Delete The event itself does not meet the standard of a highly significant event and the included source material is either inapplicable or fails to demonstrate that Perlmutter meets notability standard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SadHaas (talk • contribs) 01:32, 17 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Merge some data into page Internet in Cuba, which only sparsely mentions the event the subject is involved with. As it Google's internet deal with Cuba that appears noteworthy, not the subject, further elaboration of the internet deal should be merged to the existing article on Cuba's Internet history SadHaas (talk) 15:33, 17 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]