Testwiki:Articles for deletion/Myrna Williams

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 keep. Neıl ☎ 10:55, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Myrna Williams

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This nomination is for the disambiguation page entitled "Myrna Williams". There is only one (arguably) notable Myrna Williams (politician), a Clark County, Nevada figure who had been in public office on the state and local level between 1984 and 2006. The other two names on the disambiguation page are of a top movie star of the past, Myrna Loy, whose birth name was Myrna Williams, and Myrna Williams (actress), an unknown individual whose sole IMDb credit is a bit part in a 23-year-old movie, The Toxic Avenger. One would no more search for Myrna Loy via "Myrna Williams" than one would search for Cary Grant by entering his birth name, "Archibald Leach" (another misused disambiguation page which contains no other viable entries). In this case, the Myrna Williams (politician) page should be moved to "Myrna Williams" and the "Myrna Williams (disambiguation)" page deleted—Roman Spinner (talk) 22:19, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

• Keep as the current disambig page It is certainly possible that somebody may search for Myrna Loy via her birth name (and Cary Grant via Archibald Leach for that matter). Given that there are three individuals, although one is of arguable notability, a disambig page makes perfect sense. I see no reason to make the politician the sole target, especially as they do not themselves seem to have more than minor notability. Random Fixer Of Things (talk) 22:55, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
• Keep. It is a disambiguation page. Clearly there are two notables with this name and there are several others with this name not mentioned, including at least 1 actress. Having a dab page hurts nothing. Vegaswikian (talk) 23:05, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
• Delete, in this case (not Archibald Leach) I agree with the nom, primarily because there are only two potential targets (and a search doesn't reveal any other candidates). This may better satisfy the least surprise principle with a hatnote in the politician's article, which can be moved here. --Dhartung | Talk 07:41, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

• There are actually at least three targets, and the second actress should not be dismissed as a potential article. Now that this article exists, going to the trouble of deleting it seems pointless. Even if a hatnote were used it should still point to this disambig page. Random Fixer Of Things (talk) 03:20, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

• Nomination update. In justifying this nomination, I need to place greater emphasis on the nature of notability. As an article inclusionist, I do not question the existence of the Myrna Williams (politician) biographical entry, although deletionists might. Disambiguation pages, however, are another matter. If there were six or seven notable or, at least, marginally notable individuals named "Myrna Williams", it may, perhaps, be less obvious, but with only three names, it is untenable. The Trivial Pursuit entry on Myrna Loy's birth name might have been able to receive a William Henry Pratt-like redirect to Boris Karloff (who is also included in the (barely justifiable) disambiguation page for other individuals named William Pratt), but with Myrna Williams (politician) already in possession of the name, the redirect should not be forced with this disambiguation page—it should be simply abandoned. Finally, the matter of one Myrna Williams "(actress)", a name found on IMDb and included to (slightly) pad the names on the disambiguation page. This name appears 33rd down on the cast list of the 1985 film The Toxic Avenger and...nowhere else. Staying with Williams (surname), it may be useful to examine the notability, or lack thereof, of the hundreds of thousands of names on IMDb by examining Robert Williams, a common name which not only has an extensive disambiguation page on Wikipedia, but has at least 41 listings on IMDb, including studio drivers and stagehands. A couple of those 41 Robert Williamses are even notable enough for Wikipedia, but even so, none has so far found his way into the disambiguation page, to say nothing of the numerous book, movie and theater characters who were given that name or "Bob" or "Bobby". If Wikipedia disambiguation pages are meant to be taken seriously, they must not cram every use of the name in existence, but confine their purpose to non-trivial references within the bounds of existing articles.—Roman Spinner (talk) 10:29, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
• Keep Diambig pages are "cheap" and helpful. Fosnez (talk) 12:48, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
• Keep, although it is a minor political figure, it does seem to fall within the guidelines for notability. I would suggest someone clean up the article a bit.--Sallicio^$\oplus$ 07:59, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

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.