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 Mystery Science Theater 3000. King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 23:38, 21 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc[edit]

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Delete - there do not appear to be independent reliable sources that offer significant coverage of this group. The group's claim to notability is its supposed role in getting MST3K picked up by Syfy but there's nothing that supports it. Are You The Cow Of Pain? (talk) 14:25, 14 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete - fails WP:WEB. The assertion of notability is based on an unverified single event that itself should be covered only in the MST3K article.--137.122.49.102 (talk) 16:00, 14 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete MST3K was one of the first shows widely recognised as having an online cult fan presence, and it's probably reasonable to assume (though not necessarily conclusively proven) that that fan base contributed to MST3K being given 3 more seasons on SciFi. However, the newsgroup is just part of that fandom, and can't really take credit for the renewal. Indeed, I notice the Mystery Science Theater 3000 article doesn't even mention the newsgroup except as a "see also". So yeah, fails WP:WEB. Andrew Lenahan - Starblind 01:45, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete no notability per WP:WEB. Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ^{(Otters want attention)} 03:10, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete, non-notable usenet group. --Nuujinn (talk) 10:12, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Internet-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 15:29, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Keep or merge to MST3K or even merge to rec.arts.tv when that redlink turns blue. This Google News Archive search finds two newspaper references from 1995 and 1996. Someone with library access could look at this Scientometrics journal mention. I have also added the following references found with Google Scholar and News searches:
- Godes, David (August 2003). "Using Online Conversations to Study Word of Mouth Communication" (PDF). pp. 10–11. Retrieved 15 September 2010. We found 169 diﬀerent groups that contained messages about the shows in our sample ... Table 3 ... 20 Top Newsgroups in the Sample ... rec.arts.tv 9,649 ... rec.arts.tv.mst3k.mis 578 ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
- Lieck, Ken (July 14, 1995). "The Information Dirt Road Marketing Your Band on the Net". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 15 September 2010. groups where obsessos of all types get together and exchange information about their favorite TV shows (news:alt.tv.brady-bunch, news:rec.arts.tv.mst3k)
- Werts, Diane (May 14, 1996). "A MSTie Farewell to Mike, The 'Bots and Bad Flicks". Newsday. Long Island, N.Y. pp. B.53. new MST feature flick which just ended its NYC run and should hit the burbs soon check the Internet newsgroup rec.arts.tv.mst3k -84user (talk) 20:24, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Two of the three sources are simply mentions of the group in sources that are not actually about the group (one is an academic study of online communication and the other is a news story on the same subject). The Newsday article is PPV but from what's visible it appears not to mention this group at all but instead mentions rec.arts.tv.mst3k.announce which is a different thing altogether. In any event, these sorts of trivial mentions do not establish notability per WP:GNG. Are You The Cow Of Pain? (talk) 20:32, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And the Scientometrics article is about mad cow disease, for heaven's sake! Are You The Cow Of Pain? (talk) 20:33, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, I have pruned and merged the first two paragraphs into Mystery Science Theater 3000#Usenet groups, only including claims with cited sources. I now propose redirect rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc to Mystery Science Theater 3000#Usenet groups, thus avoiding the need to delete and allowing readers to find it when they search for the newsgroup name. -84user (talk) 23:30, 15 September 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.