RationalWiki:Articles for deletion/Rapa Nui

Rapa Nui | Result: Keep

Rapa Nui (edit|talk|history|protect|delete|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

Delete

1. Highly unclear if missional, lacks sources almost entirely. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 03:14, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   Let me clarify right now, also: I'm kinda really going for a vote on rewriting the page from scratch here to focus on the woo. Currently it's just an appaling, unsourced high school essay on Rapa Nui that attempts to stylistically ape a general encyclopedic article (which is off mission). The woo musn't be missed, but I suspect a brand new article would literally be best. That, or we slice the fat off of the current one - leaving about 15% of it standing, mind you. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 03:36, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   The page could be better, yeah (mostly lack of citations); but I don't think there are any fundamental problems with it, as such. Why do you want to trim it to 15%? Carpetsmoker (talk) 06:39, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   Well, I was under the impression that the article had perhaps strayed further from the mission than the mob actually considers it to have done - and I don't disagree with what's been said below. I was mostly struck by the length of an article lacking sources, the apparent lack of snark, the encyclopedic tone, topped off by the lack of template to quickly indicate what the woo was. Thus; I've updated my views on what constitutes an article worth keeping. Someone who knows how to set the result to Keep and conclude this AfD would be a dear to do so. But I still mean that the article will need a rewrite; never mind the inherent trouble in having a tall article with basically no sources. Having brought it to the attention of the mob has hope fully accomplished something in and of itself. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 12:22, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   Sure, this page could be a lot better, but "slice the fat off of the current one - leaving about 15%" is too fanatical IMHO. Not everything needs a pin-point focus on the woo, describing some history is useful for context, and describing other curiosities (like the writing) is just interesting (and why not?) ;-) Carpetsmoker (talk) 08:20, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

Keep

1. Rapa Nui is a wellspring of pseudo-archaeological woo. "The states were built by aliens!" "The statues are of aliens!" "The islanders are aliens!" There's also the typical history of Western imperialism and its impact on the indigenous inhabitants. Definitely missional, I would say. --Ymir (talk) 03:31, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
2. Keep. It just needs more references. Besides the outright pseudo-archaeology associated with Rapa Nui, Heyerdahl's hypotheses remain controversial. Heyerdahl was a real zoologist/geographer who helped popularize the study of ancient civilizations, but his hypotheses are for the most part one of 1) not widely accepted 2) wrong or 3) possibly partly correct. Bongolian (talk) 03:36, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   @Ymir and Bongolian: Can we atleast agree on a "keep under the condition of fixing it up"? Reverend Black Percy (talk) 03:41, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   That's fine with me, Reverend Black Percy. Bongolian (talk) 04:09, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

3. Come on. We actually need an article about Rongo-rongo. There's a lot of interesting real history, with ecological lessons that are also missional. The statues, of course, were built by little green men from Uranus. - Smerdis of Tlön, ^{LOAD "*", 8, 1.} 06:32, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
4. This was actually one of my very first introductions to woo; as a kid I read this "science" magazine which, in hindsight, promoted all sorts of wootastic views. The Easter island "mystery" (as it was presented there) fascinated me for years until I learned (not that long ago, actually) that it's all bullshit. Very keep. Carpetsmoker (talk) 06:36, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
5. relevant re: ancient aliens and Von Daniken. Aceⁱ⁹ 06:38, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
6. If you're in no doubt that an article is about a mission-worthy subject but think that the current article is crap, don't nominate it for deletion. If you're sufficiently interested in the subject, start editing the page to improve it. Be bold! If you're not, leave a comment on the talk page, appealing for interested editors to make the page better. You could also leave a message in the Bar in order to get more eyes on the page. We all know that Easter island is a truly wootastic place and there's really no question of deleting the page. Starting it again from scratch, maybe. Spud (talk) 07:10, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   Does the wiki generally delete articles that are about woo if they're overwhelmingly unsourced and poorly written? Sincerely asking, as I'm still learning the Magnificent and Mysterious Ways of RW.---Mona- (talk) 07:32, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   Typically, only if it's truly terrible (which this isn't) or if it may cause legal problems (obviously). Carpetsmoker (talk) 07:51, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   We have a few articles like this - prose popularisations that the main author never really got around to peppering with little blue numbers. Occasionally an article is so terrible that no article is an improvement on what's there, but I wouldn't say this is one - David Gerard (talk) 11:09, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

   I could've mirrored Mona's question - I'm still learning, too. So; good to get these replies from the community. As far as my own edumacation is concerned, you didn't all reply to this in vain. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 12:26, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

7. Keep, missional - David Gerard (talk) 11:09, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
8. Keep. Clearly missional. I have noticed a tendency to aFD articles here because they could be better. Surely that is not the purpose of an AFD?--TheroadtoWiganPier (talk) 11:32, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
9. 32℉uzzy; 0℃atPotato (talk/stalk) 14:49, 7 December 2015 (UTC)
10. More in-depth than most articles, but missional. -EmeraldCityWanderer (talk) 14:52, 7 December 2015 (UTC)