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 soft delete‎. Based on minimal participation, this uncontroversial nomination is treated as an expired PROD (a.k.a. "soft deletion"). Editors can request the article's undeletion. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 23:15, 17 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Lalbazgaray[edit]

Lalbazgaray (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)

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A redirect to this article was nominated at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 July 8#Shafiullah Orakzai, leading to me investigating it, and I'm thinking this is a hoax.

First off, when google searching -wiki and -wikipedia, the only results for "Shafiullah Orakzai" are social media, and the only results for "Lalbazgaray" is one OpenStreetMaps edit by a user of that name. Furthermore, the original page creator is Lalbazgaray (who was recently unblocked, and I'm not sure that was a good move, given this edit after being unblocked). There is a Lalbazgaray at the coordinates given on both Google Maps and OpenStreetMaps, but given the OpenStreetMap history is also suspicious, with Lalbazgaray being the most recent editor and the location being published by Shafiullah Orakzai, I'm not convinced the Google Maps town is trustworthy (you can submit things to be added to Google Maps). Google Maps is also the only citation in the article, and I'm not seeing any evidence this town actually exists per google search.

Admittedly, I'm not experienced in catching hoaxes, and I could have missed something here, but this is extremely suspicious to me. (There are reviews for the POIs on Google Maps in the town going back a year or so, which does make me hesitant.) I'm taking it to AFD as such. Skarmory (talk • contribs) 22:08, 10 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Geography and Pakistan. Spiderone^{(Talk to Spider)} 09:22, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Comment - please note that the creator keeps posting a selfie into this article, presumably for vanity purposes. I'm trying to remove it as swiftly as possible but it's likely that the creator will restore. Spiderone^{(Talk to Spider)} 09:47, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• My sense is that it is not a hoax - there is a departmental Facebook page discussing a school there, and a Facebook post about a cricket tournament there, but I had to do a lot of magic to find that, and Facebook obviously isn't a reliable source. It's going to be impossible to determine this one without knowing the local language. SportingFlyer T·C 13:39, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Comment - The site of Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education Kohat lists a primary school "GPS Lal Baz Garay" (Sr. No. 2010) in the Orakzai District. So the town exists. Having a government's primary school, the town is obviously populated and legally recognized. Also the name in the article is misspelled. The name has two spaces in it: Lal Baz Garay. I couldn't find anything else about the town in both the English and Urdu sources. Insight 3 (talk) 16:53, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Comment Delete - not a hoax but Google Maps shows a tiny village with this name at the article's coordinates. This may not meet WP:NPLACE. --A. B. ^{(talk • contribs • global count)} 18:41, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Our article says Lalbazgaray is in the Orakzai District (known as the Orakzai Agency until 2018). The most recent national census (2017) lists "rural localities" in Orakzai; Lalbazgray isn't on the list. From this table, it looks like mostly they only track places above 1,000 people in that district although there are a few smaller ones noted. If a populated place doesn't meet WP:GNG, then WP:POPULATED requires "Populated, legally recognized places are typically presumed to be notable, even if their population is very low.".

Lalbazgaray's near Shahu Khel which is in Hangu District. I checked the Hangu District census; Lalbazgaray wasn't listed there, either. Maybe Lalbazgaray's inhabitants are included in the Shahu Khel numbers. In any event, Lalbazgaray doesn't look legally recognized.

--A. B. ^{(talk • contribs • global count)} 19:14, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Struck hoax claims in the nom as there's something here, though whether it meets WP:POPULATED is still a question. Good work on finding more info to all who did. I'm still leaning towards delete on the back of lack of legal recognition. Skarmory (talk • contribs) 23:04, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Speedy Delete as there is nothing but the AfD template left. DarkAudit (talk) 09:38, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  It's back to having content. The removal was by the initial author, but this doesn't qualify under G7 because of intermediate edits. Skarmory (talk • contribs) 11:52, 17 July 2023 (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.