As predicted, the article's back, with the DRV closed by our very own
User:Thebainer.
But they're promising to "relist" it in a week's time, at which point the endless partisan bickering presumably starts all over again.
QUOTE(bainer @ 13:55, 28 February 2007 (UTC))
How do we proceed from here? There is no apparent consensus in this debate other than that if the article is to be deleted (and there is significant support for that outcome) it ought to be done properly, allowing sufficient opportunity for rational and reasonable debate. I note here that several editors have commented that while there seem to have been many previous debates about deleting this article, in reality, only one of them (the second) could really be considered to have resulted in a consensus (most were speedily closed for various reasons) - and that was November 2005; their point is that consensus can change, and may well have in that amount of time. This matter has certainly not been wanting for discussion, but it has been wanting for quality discussion.
I have concluded that the article should be listed at articles for deletion. The listing will not be speedily closed, it will be allowed to run its full course (as is the consensus of this debate). Following the suggestion of some editors here, the listing will not open immediately: I will open it in one week's time, to hopefully allow some of the dust to settle, and to allow all the arguments to be prepared properly and fully, and presented in a reasonable fashion. In the meantime the article will be undeleted. Editors should also feel free to submit alternative proposals (for example, proposals for merges) in the meantime.
Lucky for them there's copy 'n' paste! Otherwise they'd have to type those votes back in again from scratch!
Also, what really
is the "proper" way to delete an article? Should one simply use the mouse to click on the "delete" link, or is it better to use the cursor and tab keys to set focus on that link, and then press the spacebar?
As I've often done, I just want to redundantly reiterate here once again that
the only way the internal WP squabbling over this will ever stop is if the article goes away completely. Regardless of what anyone here says about it, there will always be sound moral justification for getting rid of this article, and little or no sound moral justification whatsoever for keeping it. To a large extent, this debate isn't ultimately about "content" or "notability" at all, or even about bad publicity or excessive internal squabbling. It's about
morality, and the people voting to delete are the ones who are guided by their sense of morality - at least to a greater extent than the people who are voting otherwise. And sure, Daniel Brandt may be a mean ol' rotten SOB, but so are a lot of folks - and in my experience at least, they usually get that way because other people just won't let them get on with their lives in peace.
Anyhoo, morality isn't something you can just wish away. Some people have it, some people don't. The question is, which side is WP on?
(I mean, obviously we all know how most of us here are going to answer that one...)We'll just have to see, I guess.