This discussion was subject to a deletion review on 2017 March 14. For an explanation of the process, see Wikipedia:Deletion review. |
The result was delete. §FreeRangeFrogcroak 17:49, 18 November 2014 (UTC)
Deletion is requested in behalf of the subject of this article, who has objected to its existence in VRTS ticket # 2014110810005782. The standard response is to offer to correct errors or nominate the article for deletion. He was given the opportunity to correct errors in the article, but he prefers deletion, with the understanding that the community may elect to keep it. I have no objection to its removal. ~Amatulić (talk) 19:45, 11 November 2014 (UTC)
...
I wish my privacy to be respected by Wikipedia. As I have already demonstrated, the capacity for error in such entries is very great. You have acknowledged this by removing the reference to Millfield School. I do not ask if you have replaced it with citation of Preston Manor County Grammar School because, of course, I wish no mention by you at all.
During my working life, I have met 10 other people called Michael Cole, including a newspaper journalist, a Royal Navy Admiral and a producer of BBC television programmes for children. The possibility of mistaken identity is just one of the hazards in the path of a person with as common a name as mine.
In addition, things become rapidly out of date. After 14 successful years, I wound up my highly solvent company, Michael Cole & Co. Ltd., in good order in 2012. But this significant change goes largely unremarked or is passed by in allegedly authoritative listings, although Companies House was notified as legally lequired.
I do not complain abaout this and it is hardly surprising as my company was not WPP. It was one of a sole trader and that sole lonely figure was me!
Disolving my company was just one of the ways in which, at the age of 71, I have sought to assert and protect my privacy. Being removed from Wikipedia is another.
I have neither the time nor inclination to work through my entry correcting all the errors, unwonted inferences and obvious misunderstandings. Indeed, I should not be expected to do so in order to protect an invaluable abstract, my right to privacy.
You mentioned a newspaper and the BBC and in such a way as to suggest that they are impeccable sources of factual information. Well, I worked for newspapers for 7 years and for the BBC for more than 20. I have to tell you that your faith is misplaced; the BBC and newspapers often make factual mistakes and more often than not, they are not promptly corrected and sometimes never.
Correcting the record is notoriously difficult, particularly as most newspapers are very reluctant to admit it when they have made a mistaken, as you would know if you have ever tried to do it.
If you have ever read a story or heard a report about something of which you have close, factual knowledge (it does not have to have a personal connection) you will know that the journalists always get something wrong. They may not mean to but they do.
So, please do the decent thing and comply with my request.
You will have your own ways of doing things but I should like to think that whomsoever is making the decision in this matter should be fully aware of our e-mail correspondence in the hope that it will enlighten him, her or them to the perfectly respectable, rational and reasonable reasons that have motivated this earnest request to you.
...
Yours sincerely,
Michael (Dexter) Cole
Speedy deletion: The short contribution history shows the appearance of a couple other editors expanding the article, but all of those additions have been removed, leaving dominant only the contributions of Keresaspa, who created it. And he has no objections to its deletion (see his comment above), bringing this article into speedy-delete territory on WP:CSD#G7 grounds. If Keresaspa happened to tag the article with ((db-g7)), its subsequent deletion would be speedy and uncontroversial.
Liability: According to Mr Cole's statement reproduced above, the article is rife with errors because the cited independent sources misrepresent facts, and he has no interest in correcting them because he wants the article deleted. Even considering WP:NOTTRUTH, if the sources didn't get the facts straight, Wikipedia's purpose in disseminating knowledge isn't served by compounding the problem, and exposes the WMF to potential liability if libel issues arise with the cited sources.
Position vs person: An influential post at the BBC may be notable, the person who inhabits may not be, particularly if no coverage about that person in the context of that post can be found. Ford Motor Company has had several presidents, for example, but not all of them are notable enough to merit an article here.
Inherited notability: The remaining sources imply that the subject inherited notability through Mohamed Al-Fayed. Appropriate parts of this article could be merged there, and this article could be converted to a redirect.
I admit that second point is weak, but with all four taken together, I am leaning toward deletion. The article would not be missed, and the subject would be grateful. ~Amatulić (talk) 20:02, 14 November 2014 (UTC)