Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gabriel M'Boa

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 Central African Republic at the 1968 Summer Olympics. (non-admin closure) Left guide (talk) 13:20, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Gabriel M'Boa

[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)

Doesn't meet WP:GNG, to my eyes. Only non-database coverage is a two-sentence encyclopedia entry and a couple of other single sentences in assorted sources (e.g. [1], [2]). Thus, can't be said to have WP:SIGCOV. (May meet some NSPORT criterion, but all SNGs are subordinate to GNG in any case.) ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 13:08, 12 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Sportspeople and Central African Republic. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 13:08, 12 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Olympics and Sport of athletics. Shellwood (talk) 13:48, 12 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. That he has an entry in his country's national encyclopedia over a half-century after his career indicates significance. He was the first Olympian in the history of the Central African Republic and we've got a decent-quality article on him. His accomplishments are historic for his country (as demonstrated by being discussed in the national encyclopedia this year) and very likely to have been covered in the Central African press of his day, which we have not searched at all. What improvement to the encyclopedia would deleting this bring? BeanieFan11 (talk) 14:41, 12 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It upholds the reliability of the encyclopedia and respects the process involved. Oaktree b (talk) 17:53, 12 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Huh?? How does deleting articles on historic Africans without checking any relevant archives "uphold the reliability of the encyclopedia"?? BeanieFan11 (talk) 02:48, 13 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
We check what we have available to us; if you are able to search these archives, please present the sources found. Otherwise, it should be deleted for lack of sourcing. Oaktree b (talk) 13:31, 15 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
That doesn't answer the question. BeanieFan11 (talk) 17:16, 15 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Beanie, I have an inherent great respect for your work in researching athletes even if we find ourselves on opposite sides of AFD discussions all the time. I must ask of you however to find sources however instead of using assumptions to justify keep votes. At least before I vote or nominate delete, I try to make an effort to search sources that I have access to. In the future, consider searching newspapers yourself before scrutinizing us for not doing so; it can sometimes seem borderline hypocritical if you don't search them yet yourself but criticize others for neglecting to do so. InvadingInvader (userpage, talk) 15:15, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The thing is, if the sources that are "accessible" are not from the subject's era, or if the sites don't function, or if they're not from the same country, that's really not confirmation that the subject is not notable. I'll add that the subject satisfies WP:ANYBIO per having an entry in the national encyclopedia. Virtually every time archives are searched (relevant archives – a search of 2020s African newspapers is not sufficient for a 1960s subject), coverage is found – the main ones getting deleted are the ones for which no archives are being searched. BeanieFan11 (talk) 17:32, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
And you know that is not how the GNG works. You know that the onus is on editors to demonstrate that reliable sources exist, not the other way around. The curious premise that if there's some excuse for reliable sourcing not to exist, or to be too difficult to find, subjects get automatic and free passes is nowhere found in any notability guideline. Ravenswing 18:37, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Its not an "automatic free pass" we're giving. He already meets a notability criterion (WP:ANYBIO). BeanieFan11 (talk) 18:39, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Delete: About the only thing I can find is this brief mention [3]. Not enough for notability. Besides brief mentions, even the sourcing now in the article isn't enough. Oaktree b (talk) 23:38, 12 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Redirect to Central African Republic at the 1968 Summer Olympics – As WP:ATD. Svartner (talk) 03:54, 13 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Delete: I haven't found anything but casual mentions either. If BeanieFan11 or anyone else knows of any reliable sources providing "significant coverage" to the subject, by all means produce them, but of course neither WP:ITSIMPORTANT or emotional appeals are not part of any notability criteria. Ravenswing 11:01, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
- Of course, we haven't even checked one single newspaper in the history of his nation... BeanieFan11 (talk) 13:20, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  I expect that "we" includes you, as to that. However ... (points downward) Ravenswing 18:25, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  How many of those are from when he was active? (0) Why should we ignore WP:ANYBIO and delete a quality article on someone with an entry in the national encyclopedia when no sources from his era were searched? BeanieFan11 (talk) 18:37, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  Feel free to start searching, then. We don't give automatic notability passes for the putative quality of the article writing either. Ravenswing 18:39, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  We don't give automatic notability passes for the putative quality of the article writing either. – you're right, but meeting WP:ANYBIO does equate to a notability pass. BeanieFan11 (talk) 18:42, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  Presuming that this IS the "national biography." It's also, as the nom points out, two sentences long. There is no way in creation we'd accept that as a GNG-qualifying source. I can't particularly see this qualifying as a substantive biography entry either. Ravenswing 22:11, 15 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  WP:ANYBIO only says it needs to be an entry in the national encyclopedia, which this is; it does not say it needs to be a "biography that everyone agrees is SIGCOV". BeanieFan11 (talk) 19:02, 17 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  If WP:GNG is not met, it doesn't matter if the subject meets WP:ANYBIO. See community consensus that "no subject-specific notability guideline supersedes the General Notability Guideline". ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 14:02, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  Then explain why does ANYBIO exist if we will delete every article passing it unless it meets another criterion? BeanieFan11 (talk) 15:10, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  
  You do know btw that ANYBIO states that Failure to meet these criteria is not conclusive proof that a subject should not be included; conversely, meeting one or more does not guarantee that a subject should be included. It's good guidance but doesn't necessarily supersede the GNG. InvadingInvader (userpage, talk) 19:35, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  So, it's pointless. ~WikiOriginal-9~ (talk) 19:42, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Redirect as suggested by Svartner. My Google searches as well as my searches on Centrafrique-presse.info, Sango Net, Journal de Bangui, and Radio Ndeke Luka got nothing. I also searched the website for The Standard, a Gambian newspaper, as well as the websites for Fatu Network and Gambia News Daily. No hits. Unsure on the exact archives content, but at least from my searches, I wasn't able to find any SIGCOV from independent reliable sources. InvadingInvader (userpage, talk) 15:18, 14 July 2025 (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.