This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
Jessica Watson is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page.AustraliaWikipedia:WikiProject AustraliaTemplate:WikiProject AustraliaAustralia articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women's sport (and women in sports), a WikiProject which aims to improve coverage of women in sports on Wikipedia. For more information, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.Women's sportWikipedia:WikiProject Women's sportTemplate:WikiProject Women's sportWomen's sport articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of women on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.WomenWikipedia:WikiProject WomenTemplate:WikiProject WomenWikiProject Women articles
Jessica Watson is within the scope of the WikiProject Sailing, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Sailing. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.SailingWikipedia:WikiProject SailingTemplate:WikiProject SailingSailing articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women writers, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of women writers on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Women writersWikipedia:WikiProject Women writersTemplate:WikiProject Women writersWomen writers articles
I think this entry should be removed. The paged is plagued by factual inaccuracies and seems to have been captured by people representing Ms Watson's interests and by her sycophantic fans. I have made a number of attempts to correct the page's accuracy, but these are invariably shouted down in favour of alternative facts. Further, Ms Watson has fallen from the public eye and her former celebrity status was the only justification for this entry's existence. Ms Watson did not achieve anything of note and most importantly did not achieve the thing she claims to have achieved. Pke81885 (talk) 20:55, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
Pke81885 (talk) 20:55, 28 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Personally I view Ms Watson's accomplishment as noteworthy irrespective of the records standards, and I found the entire page interesting, engaging, respectful of Wikipedia requirements, and well composed. And the "Notable?" debate in the first archive of this talk page seems to support a notable consensus.
And I perceive no evidence of significant factual inaccuracies or domination by undisciplined editors.
If honest and objective observers can't control a subject due to persistent editing misconduct by interests who are unable or unwilling to remain objective perhaps removal would be required as a last resort. But I see no evidence of that here - on the contrary the talk archive seemed vigorous and well populated by hearts of high integrity through early 2015, and almost no conversation has occurred since. In my view removal of the article clearly isn't warranted and would be harmful to Wikipedia's mission, the article's editors, and to everyone associated with the subject.
The editorial discipline may not breach Wikipedia's standards, but given that Ms Watson did not achieve what she claims to have achieved (I.e. to sail around the world), one still has to question why this page exists. What exactly did she achieve that is sufficient to justify this page? One might argue the case on the basis that Ms Watson was awarded Young Australian of the Year. However that, in itself, is not sufficient. Several recipients do not have Wikipedia pages. The same goes for recipients of the OAM.
The existence of this page might be justifiable if it was centered on the attainment of celebrity status by claiming to have achieved something which you did not, but that is not its primary focus. The page needs to be either substantially edited (without interference by people representing Ms Watson's interests and her sycophantic fans), or removed. Pke81885 (talk) 23:26, 8 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Whether fully deserved for her sailing achievements alone, or not, Watson has gained a level of notability that probably justifies this article existing. The controversy about the level of her achievement is discussed in the article, but clumsily. It's mentioned in the lead, and discussed in more detail in both the Circumnavigation and publicity and Criticism sections. This isn't ideal, but would take considerable effort to clean up. What concerns me too is the first sentence which, while technically accurate, doesn't tell us much at all about things with the words "...for completing a southern hemisphere solo circumnavigation". It sort of qualifies the achievement, but in a way that will be unclear to lay readers. I will think about improving this situation. (All other efforts welcome of course.) HiLo48 (talk) 04:48, 9 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I agree there are grounds for the page's existence, but the impression given by its current form is that Ms Watson achieved some form of circumnavigation, whereas in reality she did not achieve what she set out to achieve and has subsequently claimed to have achieved. There are two reasons behind Ms Watson's notability: 1. Prior to her departure, there was an extraordinarily high level of public opinion claiming that she was too young for the voyage and that authorities should intervene to prevent it, and 2. That she did not achieve a global circumnavigation yet has persistently claimed afterwards that she did.
The phrase "...for completing a southern hemisphere solo circumnavigation" is certainly misleading. That wording is actually a compromise after previous efforts to add the word "attempted" to the first sentence were shouted down by Ms Watson's supporters. To say that Ms Watson attempted a global circumnavigation should not be controversial. Yet her supporters point to contemporaneous news articles claiming that Ms Watson actually completed a global circumnavigation to justify the claim, notwithstanding the fact that those news articles are now known to be incorrect. I will make another attempt to edit the first sentence. Stay tuned for the reaction.Pke81885 (talk) 22:43, 24 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]