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 merge to List of recurring characters in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody or any other such article as may be created by editors. Stifle (talk) 15:50, 27 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Zack Martin (Suite Life) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log · Stats)

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The coverage (references, external links, etc.) does not seem sufficient to justify this article passing Wikipedia:General notability guideline and the more detailed Wikipedia:Notability (fiction) requirement. WP:BEFORE did not reveal any significant English-language coverage on Gnews, Gbooks or Gscholar. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 06:19, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Fictional elements-related deletion discussions. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 06:19, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep - As mentioned elsewhere, this character is a main character in two series spanning 158 episodes as well as a TV movie. The second series ended 9 years ago so sourcing is difficult as most sources are dead. However, that doesn't mean the character is not notable. --AussieLegend (✉) 06:49, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete'. Looks to me that this is a minor soap opera character, almost certainly fails WP:NFICTION in my opinion - GizzyCatBella🍁 07:03, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • The character is not at all a soap opera character and was not minor either, having been one of the two title characters in two series spanning 158 episodes and a movie. --AussieLegend (✉) 10:39, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

So, 158 episodes make him notable? And 58 would not? Which part of WP:NFICTION does this number satisfy? - GizzyCatBella🍁 05:46, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You have completely missed the point. Your claim that this is a minor soap opera character is incorrect. I do not see how you arrived at that conclusion. --AussieLegend (✉) 06:23, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep Major character on long running show. Donaldd23 (talk) 20:22, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wait...which source states he was a "major" character, what is the definition of a "long-running show", and how any of this meets WP:NFICTION? - GizzyCatBella🍁 05:52, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You do realise that not everything needs an inline citation don't you? The first program is The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. His name is right in the title. The sequel/spinoff is The Suite Life on Deck, which is about Zack & Cody living on a ship. There is no doubt that he was a major character in both series, or the TV movie. As for what defines a "long-running show", both series were 3 years long each. A children's TV series spanning 158 episodes and 6 years is long running. --AussieLegend (✉) 06:23, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete - Notability is not inherited. You can argue that the more popular the series, the more likely sources exist, but that does not always actually correlate. That's especially true with children's shows which require a specific niche to get actual academic coverage. TTN (talk) 20:50, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
• Merge to Cody Martin and rename to Zack and Cody Martin. The characters are twins who share in virtually all of their escapades; as a consequence, the articles overlap massively. Yes, they are notable characters, but basically only as a due, requiring a single article for complete coverage. BD2412 T 05:37, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That's actually a reasonable suggestion, although I'd go one step further and merge all of the main characters from both series into List of the Suite Life characters. Presently, one of the main characters is included in List of recurring characters in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody where he doesn't belong. Merging all of the characters into one article, with a bit of trimming, seems the best overall outcome. --AussieLegend (✉) 06:32, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In this case I would be inclined to have a separate article due to the unusual number of appearances of the characters in other shows. BD2412 T 13:17, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete. Notability is not inherited. WP:SOURCESMUSTEXIST is a particularly weak argument. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 06:44, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete: Not only is the bar for fictional characters set a lot higher than this one, there's nothing really noteworthy in this article that's not already in the articles about the shows. Certainly fails the GNG. Ravenswing 20:44, 26 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
• Merge with all main characters from the two series to List of the Suite Life characters per AussieLegend's suggestion. Corachow (talk) 20:58, 26 August 2020 (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.