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. Scott Mac (Doc) 13:15, 7 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

London Buses route 260[edit]

London Buses route 260 (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log • AfD statistics)
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Yet another non-notable bus-route, with neither a claim to notability nor any evidence of notability per WP:GNG.

I PRODded it, but the PROD was contested on the grounds of a pre-existing discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject London Transport. However, there is no discussion there of individual bus routes, other than a few comments such as this wholly unjustified praise for London Buses route 187, an article which offers no evidence at all of the route's notability. One editor is insisting that these articles should be redirected rather than deleted, but 187 is praised as an example of a redirect which was converted back to an article. Rather than have this sort of non-notable material resurrected, a consensus here to delete will requires proper scrutiny of notability before it is overturned.

The editor who removed this PROD also contested a series of PRODs for West Midlands bus routes for which there was no evidence of notability, such as this one this. If WikiProjects don't follow accepted standards of notability, and editors block the use of lightweight deletion mechanisms such as PROD, then inevitably articles gets brought to AFD which should be deleted with less effort from the community.

If editors want to keep this article, please can can we have some actual evidence of notability per WP:GNG rather than the repeated cycle of procedural objections which have disrupted other similar AFDs? Thank you. BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:08, 30 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Disclaimer (as per talk page request) Fans of the London bus system are not really Nazis. This was a joke. However, I still think bus routes are not suitable topics for WP articles since they are only of interest to potential riders.Steve Dufour (talk) 15:21, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Nonsense. I find them very interesting and have no interest in riding them. Aiken ♫ 15:47, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I could see an article on the whole system being interesting, and I'm sure we have many good articles on transit systems. But why would an article on a bus route be interesting? I sincerely want to know. Also I did not vote to delete because I don't like buses, because I do like them. Steve Dufour (talk) 21:27, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
This is not about if it interests you or not. It's if it's notable enough for inclusion on Wikipedia. Nobody enjoys everything. I find buses and transport interesting, and that includes the routes. However, I voted to delete most of them because they are not notable. But on the other hand, I have just created a new route article that is notable. Aiken ♫ 22:04, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
What would make an article on a bus route interesting (as opposed to just useful to potential riders)? I sincerely would like to know. Thanks. Steve Dufour (talk) 23:09, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Personally, I find articles on cricket incredibly dull, and I would never read them or find them interesting. However, cricket is a notable topic, and so are the matches, players etc so they warrant articles. The same goes for some bus routes. They are notable topics discussed significantly in mainstream sources. If you don't find them interesting, so what? You don't have to read them, but they're still notable. Aiken ♫ 23:16, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't care about cricket either. However an article explaining the game would be interesting, but not blow by blow accounts of matches. Steve Dufour (talk) 23:45, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Steve, see WP:ILIKEIT and WP:IDONTLIKEIT. The issue here is notability, and the question of whether any editor (or group of editors) finds a topic the most fascinating thing ever or an instant anaesthetic is utterly irrelevant to whether the topic is notable. Please do read Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 05:52, 4 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comments:

1.) While I still support this being kept, even if the majority say delete, it should be merged to a parent article, and the edit history retained, so in the future, someone can dig up what is already written in an old version, and improve upon it.
2.) Steve Defour's comments are extremely offensive and should not be considered in the final closing. He should possibly be blocked for them. Being of interest only to a small crowd, such as bus riders, is not a good reason NOT to include an article. I was in London in 1999 on a trip and I rode the buses there. I do not see any guideline that says an article must be deleted if it is only of interest to a small number of people. Dew Kane (talk) 04:54, 4 April 2010 (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.
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