Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Aberra Molla (2nd nomination)

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 Speedy delete. 23:49, 1 October 2009 Kwamikagami (talk | contribs) deleted "Aberra Molla" ‎ (G7: One author who has requested deletion or blanked the page: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Aberra Molla (2nd nomination), plus Aberra Molla himself blanking the page) (non-admin closure) Ron Ritzman (talk) 23:58, 4 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Aberra Molla

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A vanity autobiography (as also, it would appear, is the WP-am article); now that the self-aggrandisement has been removed, there's nothing notable left. I wouldn't mind a stub about such a person, if it weren't for the aggressive egotistical nonsense in creating it himself. In the previous AfD, one editor said that Aberra Molla is notable in the Ethiopian community; AFAIK there is a philanthropist named Aberra Molla who is notable, but is a different person from the pretender to having invented Amharic wordprocessing. kwami (talk) 00:14, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.ethiopic.com/advances.htm; no mention of him being a veterinarian. Michael Sheflin (talk) 01:03, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that is not his claim to fame. But it would appear to be factual (AFAIK that patent actually is his), whereas his claims to fame appear to have been falsified, or at least exaggerated beyond credibility. So, if the only verifiable thing about him is not considered notable by the man himself, is it notable for us? kwami (talk) 01:08, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm commenting only on the stub that exists: This: [CITATION] Colostral immunoglobulin absorption in intubated and bottle-fed calves

A Molla - 1977 - Colorado State University

Appears to be a vet patent from Colorado State to A Molla, so actually I kind of reverse what I previously said. Regardless, I emailed him. If he cares he'll post on this page. Michael Sheflin (talk) 01:12, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also this: http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT4501816&id=iGw4AAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=%22Aberra+Molla%22&printsec=abstract#v=onepage&q=%22Aberra%20Molla%22&f=false (again vet. patent in CO to A Molla). Michael Sheflin (talk) 01:16, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This AfD nomination was incomplete (missing step 3). It is listed now. DumbBOT (talk) 15:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

~~Keep for now~~ Neutral. The article needs serious verification by someone proficient in Amharic and I am not sure of what to think of the discusson above. There are sources indicating that he,indeed, contributed to Amharic Unicode inclusion [1]. I don't know if it's enough for inclusion but at least the issue needs clarification. If there is a case of WP:FRANKIE, as suggested above, it needs to be disentagled before taking any decision. --Cycl^opia - ^talk 18:12, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also: All references to his (possible) Unicode contributions have been wiped out in the article. What is evidence for sources being wrong in such claims, and why has the paragraph on his computer work been deleted?--Cycl^opia - ^talk 18:16, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I removed all claims that could not be verified. His own site admits he never actually finished, published, or marketed anything for Amharic word processing; his claim has been that the Unicode consortium stole his work. The people I've talked to who've worked on Amharic wordprocessing say he's a "kook" and a "nut case", and that if anyone contradicts his claims he launches bizarre vitriolic personal attacks. (I'm not sure how private I should keep an email that says "Because his claims are so outrageous, slanderous, his logic twisted and ridiculous no one knows if he's actually done anything of note", but can send a copy privately to WP if needed.) The source you cite is on Molla's own website; he notes it was copied from ethiopianmillennium.com, but when I made a search of his name at that site last AfD there were zero hits. However, looking through it again, I dug it up here.[2] So that's better, though it's not been researched by that website, and would appear to only be the wording of the nomination by one Seifu Abdi. It does seem a bit odd - he was nominated for "Ethiopian of the millennium" for a font and perhaps keyboard that he never finished? And look at the claims that are made:

"he succeeded in 1990 in standardizing Ethiopic and caused its inclusion in Unicode"

- this would appear to be false. Unicode gives him no credit whatsoever, and AFAIK he never even submitted anything to Unicode.

"recognition in 1990 by the Ethiopian Research Council for computerizing Ethiopic and revolutionizing the Geez script."

- I'd like to see that. He certainly did nothing at all to "revolutionize" Ge'ez, or to change it at all for that matter.

"Dr. Aberra is also deservingly credited with being the father of Ethiopic."

What? Is he now claiming to have created the script itself?

"His successful innovative work has meant that Ethiopians can now and will in the future communicate in their native langue using computer devices."

Again, per his website he never actually finished anything for anyone else to use.

"Ethiopians are grateful to him"

This would strike me as being a vanity nomination much like his WP article, for all we know made by Molla himself under an alias, or by a friend of his. (Not that it means anything much, but a Google search of Seifu Abdi only turns up this nomination.) kwami (talk) 20:10, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much for your explanation, it seems convincing. I remove my !vote, and I'd suggest you notice some Wikiproject related to Ethiopia, African languages or similar, just for the sake of reaching informed consensus. --Cycl^opia - ^talk 21:11, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

BTW, he is mentioned at List of veterinarians and List of Ethiopian Americans, so it's not like he isn't even mentioned; I just don't think he deserves his own article, esp. since he created it as an exaggerated vanity page. kwami (talk) 21:45, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: If he isn't worthy of an article, he should not be in the above lists, either. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 23:24, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral As the guy who looks after the Ethiopia-related articles, I've been aware of this one for some time, but have not acted on it because (1) I've learned the hard way that many Ethiopia-related topics which look to be sure candidates for deletion are, on further research, actually notable; & (2) I admit that I am an inclusionist, & having this article doesn't hurt anything. That said, Kwamikagami makes a persuasive case for its deletion, & if this discussion is closed as a delete I'm not doing to object. -- llywrch (talk) 16:17, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have to agree with Kwami too, some mention of him somewhere in the encyclopedia in his field of study is approprirate but I don't think he qualifies for a biographical article about his whole life as such... I would lean towards delete because I think of it as would it be damaging to wikipedia if we lost this article...Probably not... Himalayan 16:37, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Molla blanked most of the article here,[3] which (blanking) I've restored as I think a person should have some say in such things. (It was, after all, only there to begin with because he wrote it.) He's also blanked the AfD's - is this maybe his way of saying he doesn't want a debate? kwami (talk) 16:56, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

When the person pushing us to keep the article is likely the subject himself Mr. Molla, then it makes it clear that we should delete. Acting in self-interest on here is not acceptable and we are not a forum to promote and flatter yourself. I'd like to see what a fluent language speaker has to say about this subject who is neutral. Himalayan 17:44, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

During the previous AfD, this editor ID'd himself as such. He's reduced his autobio to the single line that he's an Ethiopian vet living in the US, birth date, and Amharic spelling of his name. That's hardly even a stub, and I've copied it to List of Ethiopian Americans. kwami (talk) 19:46, 30 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

With [edit], he's deleted all content of the article, even the link to WP-am. Since I doubt anyone would argue that he shouldn't be able to delete his own bio if he so chooses, I'm going to go ahead and delete the article name. kwami (talk) 03:46, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I argue vehemently. Deleting your own bio without serious reasons to do so is a blatant violation of WP:COI. Now the article was next to useless and in a wrecked state, but technically this is a serious disruption of the AfD process and of conflict of interest. Since this time I don't disagree too much with the outcome, I won't ask delrev of something like that, but I hope this never happens again. Kwami, please refrain to do so in the future without AfD consensus. --Cycl^opia - ^talk 09:06, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. In this case, however, it was also the subject who wrote the article. It wasn't as if he had deleted someone else's work. kwami (talk) 09:29, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough too, agree :) I would non-admin close this, but it seems a too weird AfD to feel free to do that. --Cycl^opia - ^talk 10:13, 2 October 2009 (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.