Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Saman Weerasinghe

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 no consensus. North America¹⁰⁰⁰ 00:15, 24 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Saman Weerasinghe

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Diplomats (including Ambassadors) are not automatically/inherently notable. This individual is a doctor & businessman neither role is notable. Whilst he was awarded Order of Honour (Russia) this is a widely awarded honour. Dan arndt (talk) 08:18, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sri Lanka-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 08:35, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Russia-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 08:35, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 08:35, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Bilateral relations-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 08:35, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Delete While I might otherwise make an argument about the Russian award being a qualifier for WP:ANYBIO, in this case he was already an ambassador and didn't (from what I see) earn the award on merit. Subject fails GNG. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:33, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. Ambassador to a major country, presidential adviser and recipient of an honour that probably passes WP:ANYBIO #1, given the eminence of many of those awarded it. He does actually appear to have received it on merit if you read the article. He wasn't ambassador at the time. The reasons for the honour are clearly listed here. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:32, 3 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Necrothesp: What merit? That he was the head of the Sri Lanka-Russia Friendship Society? This looks like a very political award. Chris Troutman (talk) 06:54, 5 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
And that looks like a very POV statement. It's not your place, or indeed Wikipedia's, to determine what is a meritorious award of a major honour and what is not. That would be getting into very dodgy editorial territory. The best test, given editing demographics, is always to consider whether this individual would merit an article if he was British or American. I believe he clearly would and that any attempt to get it deleted would be soundly defeated. -- Necrothesp (talk) 11:17, 6 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
To make a determination "what is a meritorious award of a major honour and what is not" is part of the task here. Unless the criteria state what is or is not then we as editors have to determine. Otherwise we have every tiny entity creating an award so suddenly all awardees become notable. I'll be the first to admit that the Presidential Medal of Freedom has turned really political, too. This isn't a matter of POV. Are you assuming notability if the award is notable? When a political entity gives an award to someone at least after a lifetime of notable work I might be ok. When that entity awards an ambassador that was essentially a foreign-born Apparatchik I balk. There are plenty of AfDs I ignore because I know the hoi polloi will be blinded by cognitive biases and take the consensus the wrong direction. I !voted delete because I thought there might be enough commonsense in the room to see this for what it is. Maybe I was wrong. Chris Troutman (talk) 23:31, 6 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I suggest you take your borderline insults elsewhere where they will be more appreciated and don't attempt to apply them to people who actually know what they're talking about. This is not an award created by some "tiny entity". It is an award given by one of the most important countries in the world. To give you an example of what we consider to meet WP:ANYBIO #1, we consider any recipient of a British award of a CBE or higher to be de facto notable under that guideline. We do not consider why an individual has been given this award; that is not our place. It is a high award and we consider that an award of this level given by a major country is notable. This award certainly fits into that category. -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:01, 8 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Chris troutman - Russia is not a "tiny entity". So we can discard that strawman and move on. I suggest you need to try and assume good faith and resist the urge to insult rather than mocking other experienced editors as, effectively, the uneducated ill-informed masses ("hoi polloi", noun, derogatory) with your snide remarks. It seems you're trying to sound all clever using big words like "cognitive biases" but it doesn't really fit the context so ultimately you just look rather silly. If you don't wish to participate in AFDs because the presence of the plebeians is causing you distress and you are having trouble discussing and debating on an adult level then please don't obliged to stay. AusLondonder (talk) 15:27, 8 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
delete there is routine coverage for work as an ambassador but a lackof indepth significant coverage of him as a subject. There is absolutely no inherent notability in being ambassador to a "major" country . This is reflected in strong community consensus that has deleted several such ambassadors. There also has been no attempt to discuss granting notability to "major" country ambassadors on the WP:BIO talk page. LibStar (talk) 17:02, 3 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Keep per WP:ANYBIO. The person has received a well-known and significant award for making a widely recognized contribution towards Sri Lanka-Russia relationships for 30 years.Source NEWS.lk. He is not a just another ambassador imo and some other awards he received for his diplomatic work includes;

Parliament of Russian Federation in appreciation of establishing and improving the international Relations and bi-lateral relationship between Russian Federation and Sri Lanka awarded a Merit certificate. This was awarded by the leading political party in parliament of Russian Federation ‘Unity of Russia’
The Shukov Fund awarded the medal for establishing strong Educational & Cultural ties between Russia and Asia Region including Sri Lanka. This was the first time a Sri Lankan was awarded this prestigious award.
The Russian National Committee on Social Awards accredited by granting one of the most prestigious medals in appreciation of the services in renaissance of Art, Culture and Charitable activities.
The Russian International Centre for Science and Culture under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation awarded the Friendship Medal for strengthening Cultural, Educational and Humanitarian activities between the two countries.
Diploma and Medal of Honour Awarded for the active assistance, to the inter-cultural relations development and major contribution to the humanitarian collaboration and the economic cooperation expansion between the Republic of Sri Lanka and the Russian Federation by State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (The Russian Parliament). - (Source)

−−LahiruG^talk 06:23, 5 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Delete as hardly any substance apart the sole claims of his ambassadorship which bestow no automatic notability at all, there's simply nothing else. SwisterTwister talk 03:32, 6 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- Apart from the award that clearly meets WP:ANYBIO #1, obviously! -- Necrothesp (talk) 11:17, 6 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Meets WP:ANYBIO as having received a well-known and significant award or honour. Also reasonable coverage in reliable sources. AusLondonder (talk) 17:17, 7 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, MBisanz ^talk 04:09, 9 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, ^BE _CK ^Y _SA ^{Y L}E _S 06:00, 16 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Provisional Keep @LibStar: The references appear reliable, and the award does appear to be significant. I'd like to see a list of diplomatic entries that have been deleted—at least in part to illustrate that there need to be clear criteria for evaluating diplomatic notoriety. The current "criteria" is a mess of equivocal 'officialese,' which translates as "We don't have any criteria and can't find a way to formulate them." Which leaves each individual article to be evaluated here. An inefficient, capricious way to do things. Tapered (talk) 07:41, 16 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

plenty have been deleted. LibStar (talk) 08:26, 16 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@LibStar: Have all those persons received significant awards or honor for their contribution towards their specific field? --LahiruG^talk 06:10, 20 February 2017 (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.