Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Louis Tharp

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
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The result was delete. Mackensen (talk)

Louis Tharp

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basically an advertisement for his book DGG ( talk ) 22:08, 30 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. SwisterTwister talk 00:50, 31 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sportspeople-related deletion discussions. SwisterTwister talk 00:50, 31 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sexuality and gender-related deletion discussions. SwisterTwister talk 00:50, 31 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States of America-related deletion discussions. SwisterTwister talk 00:50, 31 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Delete likely as the current sourcing is questionably solid and thus may also not satisfy WP:CREATIVE. SwisterTwister talk 00:51, 31 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Keep It was not intended as a promotion for his book. It is just that most of the sources that would meet wikipedia's requirements have been written as a consequence of his book. However, they directly address the subject (Louis Tharp) and I have tried to write this article in a neutral way to reflect on his achievements and not in order to promote him or his book. Please let me know how I can improve it. I only mention the book once, I can remove any mention of the book if that helps. The rest of the article is purely facts about what he's done (writing the book was one of these things which is why I mentioned it). SometimesIWriteThings (talk) 17:50, 1 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete lacks sources to establish notability. Not notable as an athlete or a writer.John Pack Lambert (talk) 04:26, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete I cannot source notability as an author or as an athlete, he does self-promote his activism and professional career on social media.E.M.Gregory (talk) 15:15, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

~~*Keep~~ Yeah, that was actually me too, on his behalf. Trying to fix a damaged reputation. If you do some digging you'll find a defamation case that he won, there are still articles on Google that refer to the original issue, which he won the case about because they are inaccurate, and we're trying to get rid of those. He was arrested and blackmailed for something he didn't do. Won his case, had articles written about it (inaccurately) and won a defamation case against that. What does social media have to do with Wikipedia? If Harry Styles (should find a more suitable example but can't think of any right now) promotes One Direction or himself on Social Media that does not make his achievements any less wikipedia-worthy if you refer to reliable sources in Wikipedia. I am not referring to any of the social media in the wiki article, and he doesn't care about promoting himself. The only thing I'm trying to do is outrank some articles that are complete and total nonsense and have been there for years. This is just some of the material I had to work with to try and outrank them. He does have notable achievements, he competed in the Gay Games, the Outgames and WorldMasters, which are all national or international swimming competitions, and won bronze, silver and gold medals. There are multiple articles covering this and you can check the results for the Masters, Gay Games and outgames here. I made sure that everything I wrote on his wikipedia page has a source. Here is some of the coverage in Seattle Gay News, Wind City times. And as you will see in the talk page I have asked politely for help if anyone has any feedback of how to fix anything. I, nor the subject, will care if you find a particular fact not well sourced enough or too promotional and I can remove or rewrite any details you like. Just let me know and I will fix it. SometimesIWriteThings (talk) 17:20, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Weak delete None of the sources here are very convincing, and most are basically interviews, with a significant amount of the material quotes or paraphrases. I don't find better sources, unfortunately, because in general his story sounds interesting. LaMona (talk) 21:41, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

~~*Keep~~ Thanks for your feedback. These are some other sources on Edge Media Network Gay Games Athlete Profile and he was mentioned and quoted in this article. There were more sources that are mentioned on his own site and that of his publisher, but the links no longer work so I think they have all been archived. I know that most sources include a lot of quotes but we're talking about a person. How can you know any information about a person unless they tell you? I understand anyone can say that they won medals in the games, but that is why I included the actual results for proof of that. Someone's actual story , such as how he decided to start swimming and train at West Point can only come from the person themselves or other people involved right? There are a few blogs that he wrote such as this one on realjock. How I understand the guidelines is that self-published sources are allowed to be used when they are about yourself, as long as not the entire article is based on them. So I tried to stay away from using them but if you do think we can use any, please let me know. If it helps, all proceeds from the triathlon book went/go to the west point triathlon team, so there is no way he profits of the book himself. (which is mentioned here at this blog.. which could be used as another source thought I though the Seattle News and Wind City Media would be more credible) But again, if you want me to remove the book, I will.

Otherwise, to try another angle: Besides swimming and writing he is a social entrepreneur and has co-founded CreakyJoints in 1999. This was the first online patient community for people with arthritis. They now have over 100,000 members. The organization has been merged into Global Healthy Living Foundation, which includes other patient advocacy organizations. Louis and his co-founder Seth Ginsberg advocate on behalf of people with chronic diseases such as against the Fail First policy with Fail First Hurts : 1 2 and 3, on biosimilars -where Louis is quoted here and wrote this blog and this one, they do patient research through Arthritis Power (which was covered in the Rheumatologist) among probably other places, etc. etc. I've linked to a few of his blogs and op-eds on this tumblr and he wrote a bunch more. I wish there were better sources covering more about them and their organization because it is interesting and it seems like important work that is making a difference. Still do you think there is something we can use here? For example they had an article in the Boston Globe a week after they founded CreakyJoints, but again this source has been archived and you can also find it on highbeam. So I don't understand why there are no other major publications. However, they are mentioned on PCORI a number of times: 1 2 and 3 Most of these are more about his co-founder Seth though. And then they cover a bunch of the speeches they delivered in this book.. though that is obviously not independent, which is why I haven't used it in this article, but still, it shows the work they do... Moreover, he took an appointment with the Obama Administration. He reports to the Secretary of the Army and serves on the Army Education Advisory Committee which you can see here. He was appointed in 2012 and reappointed for 3 years in 2015.

If there is anything you think I should be using please let me know. SometimesIWriteThings (talk) 01:34, 4 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Struck multiple Keep votes.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 15:42, 6 February 2016 (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.