Say NO to the Wikipedia Zealots Who Want to Delete Andreas Antonopoulos’ Page
In a surge of destructive zealotry that, unfortunately, won’t surprise those familiar with the inner workings of Wikipedia, Andreas Antonopoulos’ Wikipedia page has been nominated for deletion .
The motivation:
“Subject is not notable outside the bit coin community. Has made one appearance in front of the Canadian senate and does not otherwise meet WP standards for notability. Most supporting statements/references will come from bit coin community “magazines” and “news” sites.”
It is interesting to note that the person who nominated the page for deletion didn’t even bother to find out how to spell “Bitcoin” correctly, which says something about his or her suitability to choose appropriate content for Wikipedia.
A very quick Google search reveals that Andreas Antonopoulos has been covered by tens, probably hundreds, of top mainstream news sites outside of “bit coin” (scare quotes deserved) “magazines” and “news” sites (scare quotes undeserved and offensive).
“bit coin” itself is, by any objective measure, a very hot and important topic that is covered every day by the most prestigious news outlets.
Those familiar with Wikipedia know that this is nothing new. Most Wikipedia users and administrators are great persons who dedicate a lot of unpaid time and effort to maintaining the precious common resource that is Wikipedia, and always strive for impartiality and objectivity.
However, there is a very vocal minority of zealots who interpret “notability” in selective and partisan ways and use it as a weapon to delete the pages of persons, organizations or ideas that they dislike. As it often happens, the most vocal and less reasonable participants tend to dominate discussions and win arguments.
It’s often easy to find zealots who, while trying to delete the Wikipedia pages of their enemies for insufficient “notability,” are the main editors of the pages of their friends and buddies whose notability is inferior according to any reasonable and objective criteria.
Andreas Antonopoulos is One of the Most Notable Experts on a Multibillion Dollar Economy
At this moment in the deletion discussion, the voice of reason is:
“According to the Canadian Senate, Andreas Antonopoulos is one of the most notable experts on what looks to be a multibillion dollar economy. From a quick glance I was able to find articles about him and mentions of him from publications outside the Bitcoin community, such as this article from PandoDaily, a general technology website. I searched Bloomberg and found dozens of mentions of and quotes by Antonopoulos. He seems to be at the forefront of his field and a noted expert on cryptocurrency. The article content could use some work, but I don’t doubt that it should exist.”
All Wikipedia users have the right to participate in the discussion, so if you have a Wikipedia account, please join the discussion, and vote Keep .
What do you think of the proposed deletion of Andreas Antonopoulos’ Wikipedia page? Comment below or (better) on Wikipedia .
Images from Wikimedia Commons and Shutterstock.
