Talk:William Fraley

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Hoax?

I'm confused as to how this is a hoax when there's census records and the friendsofcems page (with sources) confirming this is real. Howtodotheharlemshake (talk) 20:50, 18 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Notability

Is there any reason to believe this person merits a Wikipedia article? My reading of the sources is that he exists in things like census and slaveholding records, but that there is absolutely no indication that he was anything except...some guy who lived a long time ago. No specific coverage, no connection to any notable event etc. AntiDionysius (talk) 21:08, 18 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy tag @Solo4701 AntiDionysius (talk) 21:14, 18 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

He was an entrepreneur and was the head of a family which became quite prominent in the area. I’ve seen several articles with people of even lesser notability who have had pages for years—I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, but if you don’t, I can send you a lengthy list of examples. Solo4701 (talk) 16:41, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Whether other articles meet the Wikipedia notability standard isn't the issue here though. The question is whether this article meets the notability standard. And I'm not seeing a compelling case that it does. We measure it by coverage in sources, and it just doesn't seem like this guy has been covered in sufficient detail. AntiDionysius (talk) 18:24, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Right – and even if he was the head of a prominent family (which we have no idea if he was, since there are no sources), that would not make him notable. --bonadea contributions talk 18:39, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If you look at the FriendsOfCem article, there are a decent amount of references to books and reliable articles that have information pertaining to him. Your average person (when it comes to notability), which you are supposing Fraley is, from any given era wouldn't be documented to that extent, relatively speaking. Solo4701 (talk) 21:51, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are we sure that all of those sources are about him specifically? The article is mostly about people he was connected to, rather than going into detail about him.

I'm not contending that Fraley is an "average person", whatever that means. I'm asking whether he meets the Wikipedia notability guideline. AntiDionysius (talk) 22:52, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"I'm not contending that Fraley is an 'average person', whatever that means"

I clarified that I was specifically addressing the lack of notability as the criteria for defining what is considered "average." You did say he wasn't "anything except...some guy who lived a long time ago."

Regarding the sources, you can refer to this. It's also worth noting that the examples listed here aren't the ones included in the FriendsOfCems article, but they do serve as a further testament to his notability. I'll review their sources again when I have the chance.

There's actually quite a bit of information that hasn't been covered yet. Solo4701 (talk) 23:10, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]