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 delete. Barkeep49 (talk) 01:18, 1 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

William Mahlon Davis (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Fails WP:GNG. Non-notable soldier. Lettler^{hello • contribs} 22:09, 17 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. Lettler^{hello • contribs} 22:09, 17 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Military-related deletion discussions. Lettler^{hello • contribs} 22:09, 17 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Canada-related deletion discussions. Lettler^{hello • contribs} 22:09, 17 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete lacks SIGCOV in multiple RS necessary to meet WP:GNG. Mztourist (talk) 05:54, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the Article Rescue Squadron's list of content for rescue consideration. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 14:01, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete My WP:Before is turning up mostly personal memorial/genealogy websites or wiki mirrors. The only promising thing I found is this, though it seems to lack independence from the subject. Fails GNG. -Indy beetle (talk) 15:00, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Comment You evidently missed Barrett, Matthew K. (August 12, 2015). "The Concussed, Lieutenant Colonel William M. Davis". PATRIOTS, CROOKS AND SAFETY-FIRSTERS: Colonels of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Retrieved February 18, 2021.. Not to mention the five books cited in the article. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 16:09, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• That is a blog post from self-described "history PhD student at Queen’s University in Kingston". Students are not considered experts sources when they self-publish material. If Barrett actually had PhD that would be different. -Indy beetle (talk) 16:33, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete. The article is not sourced well enough to get him over WP:GNG — it's far too dependent on primary sources and blogs, with not nearly enough evidence of real media coverage — and claims nothing about him that would be "inherently" notable enough to exempt him from having to get over GNG. Just listing a bunch of books as a "bibliography" section separately from the references, without footnoting any of the body content to those books to provide some concrete evidence of how much the books do or don't actually say about the subject, is not dropping the mic on a notability question. Bearcat (talk) 16:40, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • The book sources are the same list of sources listed at numerous articles on likely less than notable Canadian officers written by User:Victoriaedwards (full list of their article creations on their user page). Examples include Douglas Gordon Cunningham, Donald Agnew, Cameron Bethel Ware, William Prine Hayes. It's quite possible Davis isn't actually mentioned in some of those books at all, or is only mentioned sporadically. -Indy beetle (talk) 17:15, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete - not nearly enough in-depth coverage from independent, reliable sources to pass WP:GNG. Onel5969 ^{TT me} 16:42, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete, somewhat regrettably. I don't see how he meets WP:SOLDIER nor the general notability criteria. PKT(alk) 16:58, 18 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep Meets WP:GNG. Not the article it was when nominated for deletion. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 18:11, 19 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep Davis was the first commanding officer of the 24th Regiment Grey's Horse; he is mentioned is that article. Davis was also the first Commanding Officer of the 54th (Kootenay) Battalion, CEF, later 54th (Central Ontario) Battalion. Durindaljb (talk) 22:41, 19 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete Some sources have been added since this was nominated, but they're things like single sentence trivia items in newspapers, Obituaries, and what is probably the best source available : The annual journal of a trade association printing brief biographical sketches on its own members. I don't believe that any of this constitutes notable, significant coverage. ApLundell (talk) 02:13, 20 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep or Merge. First choice is keep due to significant coverage in multiple reliable sources. Second choice is merge to 24th Regiment Grey's Horse since he formed the unit and was first commanding officer. -- GreenC 16:11, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Comment. I could seeing keeping the article if it was expanded to show notability. I did not see the obituary either. I would suggest adding to Introduction paragraph why he is notable with secondary sources. Thanks! --Greg Henderson (talk) 20:48, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete in my view doesn't meet GNG. A merge to the 24th Regiment Grey's Horse would be a second choice. Intothatdarkness 17:00, 26 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete There is two obits on him, but he as not really done anything to stand out. I was checking him out at the cat:nn site expecting to find something mysterious, but there is no mystery. scope_creep^Talk 16:40, 28 February 2021 (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.