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. Redirected to alligator shear following deletion The Bushranger _{One ping only} 02:58, 30 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Crocodile shears[edit]

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The article has existed with no footnotes since 20 March 2006‎. It's listed reference cannot be found via the standard search engines. A Google search of the subject on .edu sites results in no meaningful hits. Searches of Infernal Device: Machinery of Torture and Execution[1] & The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present[[2] also come up with 0 results. This article has propagated out on the internet via Wikipedia info cloning and thus, as it stands, appears to be an expanding hoax. Unless someone can provide some reference basis for it's existence, I think it should be deleted. Alcmaeonid (talk) 20:47, 23 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of History-related deletion discussions. Northamerica1000^(talk) 21:53, 23 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Europe-related deletion discussions. Northamerica1000^(talk) 21:53, 23 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Strong delete as a probable hoax. A torture device applied to the penis with no WP:RS. This is a bad joke. It should have been deleted in 2006. --Artene50 (talk) 02:40, 24 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
- In 2006, we were busy trying to work out what to do about the Pear of Anguish (AfD discussion). Uncle G (talk) 12:52, 24 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Delete - unless there's independent substantiation this should be considered a hoax. Skier Dude (talk) 03:49, 24 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I cannot find the book, either, nor anything else that doesn't come from Wikipedia or this so-rare-no-one-anywhere-seems-to-have-a-copy book. But since this is an easily verifiable alternative name, in both English and German (Krokodilschere), for an alligator shear, I recommend a redirect there. Uncle G (talk) 12:52, 24 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Comment A redirect to alligator shear is reasonable as long as the contents of this existing article here is deleted. --Artene50 (talk) 22:50, 25 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Delete -- Looks like a Hoax to me, becasue the English (unlike the French) did not practice torture in the medieval period. For example, those seeking to destroy the Templars were not allowed to extract confessions by this means. Furthermore, since no king was killed in circumstances where a charge of high treason by regicide would have been preferred, it would never have been used. Edward II, Richard II, and Henry VI were all murdered, but only after they had been deposed or abdicated, so that they were not cases of regicide. The citation of a book, allegedly pseudonymous, without an ISNB also leads me to suspect a hoax. Suggest deletion, including its history. The article should htne be recreated as a redirect to alligator shears, where the lead gives the term as a synonym. Peterkingiron (talk) 18:33, 28 July 2012 (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.