Talk:Bobby Harris

Requested move 11 October 2016

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Moved. This editing guideline applies here, and consensus below has decided that the rename target is the primary topic. If an article is written about the musician, then this may be revisited at that time. (non-admin closure)  Paine  ^u/c 01:52, 5 November 2016 (UTC)

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Bobby Harris (gridiron football) → Bobby Harris – Sole subject of Wikipedia biographical entry bearing this exact name, thus obviating need for qualifier. —Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 21:07, 11 October 2016 (UTC)--Relisting. © Tbhotch^™ (en-2.5). 01:58, 20 October 2016 (UTC) --Relisting – to give this a little more time to garner a consensus.  Paine  ^u/c 22:06, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:TITLE. If there are multiple Robert Harris and Bob Harris then making a stub sit over Bobby Harris doesn't make sense. In books the Bobby Harris who comes up top is the Bobby Harris (musician) redirecting to Dazz Band In ictu oculi (talk) 07:06, 12 October 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose: Ambiguity isn't just a matter of exact title matches, and several others have been known as "Bobby Harris". —BarrelProof (talk) 11:28, 12 October 2016 (UTC)
• Support per WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. None of the articles on Bob or Robert Harris that I can see indicate that the subject is also known as "Bobby". Dazz Band, the only article with coverage of another Bobby Harris, can be linked in a hat note.--Cúchullain ^t/c 14:58, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
• Support. This is the primary topic of those named "Bobby Harris". -- Tavix ^(talk) 15:36, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
• Relisting note: This requested page move has been announced on the Wikiproject talk pages.  Paine  ^u/c 22:36, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
• Support -per Tavix, current WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. UW Dawgs (talk) 23:10, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose. This person is of insufficient notability to warrant the requested move. My searches (google and newspapers.com) do not turn up significant coverage, and there is some doubt in my mind as to whether he even passes WP:GNG. Google searches reveal numerous individuals known as "Bobby Harris", including the CEO of BlueGrace Logistics (here), automobile racer Bobby Harris (full page feature story here) and All-American basketball player Bobby Harris (here and here), jazz trumpeter Bobby Lewis (here), and the leader of the Bobby Lewis Trio (here). Cbl62 (talk) 23:23, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Another notable Bobby Lewis is the Pittsburgh Panthers baseball coach (referenced as "legendary" in the linked article and also here as Pitt's winningest coach) who led the team for 36 years ending in 1990. He is clearly sufficiently notable to warrant his own article (and far more notable than the subject here). Cbl62 (talk) 23:43, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

• Weak support based on our current articles. This isn't a matter of primary topic, as this is the only topic we currently have with this title. No reason for a parenthetical if there's only one content page with this title. However, as Cbl has pointed out, this guy had an extremely insignificant career and likely only has an article because he passes WP:NGRIDIRON. If there were another article with this exact title (sans parenthetical, of course), I'd probably oppose the move. Lizard (talk) 23:30, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
• Support This is the only article with this name. A hatnot to a dab page solves any issues. -DJSasso (talk) 12:35, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Discussion

1. No one else named "Bobby Harris" was listed at the time of the nomination, although two WP:DABMENTIONs have been appended to the Bob Harris dab page shortly after this nomination was posted. The fact remains, however, that Bobby Harris (gridiron football) is the only one who is the subject of an article.
2. It should also be noted that leaving stand-alone names without a qualifier is standard Wikipedia disambiguation page practice (and not simply WP:OTHER STUFF EXISTS) — there are scores of entries for James Smith and a number of entries (under separate dab pages) for Jim Smith, Jimmy Smith and Jamie Smith, but there is only one Jimmie Smith, who is listed without a qualifier.
3. Such examples are so numerous that it suffices to visit any lengthy dab page to find them (although dab pages of any size contain instances). Some "Charles" pages may have several "Charlies", but only one "Charly" or "Chuck"; some "Richard" pages may have several "Ricks" and "Dicks", but only one "Rickie" or "Dickie"; some "William" pages may have several "Wills", "Bills" and "Billys", but only one "Willy" or "Willie", and so on. Few will argue that the single "Willie" needs a qualifier because the dab page on which he appears also contains two subjects named "Willy".
4. The unhelpful dab page format would feature redirect links, thus creating the illusion that these entries are actually the subjects of Wikipedia articles --- as in this hypothetical example:

• Bobby Harris (gridiron football) (born 1983), professional American and Canadian football offensive lineman
• Bobby Harris (musician), founder of the 1970s Ohio Dazz Band [the only example featuring a misleading redirect]
• Bobby Harris (singer), 1960s singer on Shout Records

The helpful format for the same example, as already partially featured at the Bob Harris dab page, would appear thusly [arranged in chronological order by period of activity]:

• Bobby Harris, 1960s singer on Shout Records#Shout Records artists [may be piped as Shout Records or left in its full form]
• Bobby Harris, founder of the 1970s Ohio Dazz Band#History [may be piped as Dazz Band or left in its full form]
• Bobby Harris (born 1983), professional American and Canadian football offensive lineman [the absent qualifier illustrates this entry's appearance in the event the nomination is successful]

None among the three Bobby Harrises is slighted, but only the one with the article has a link. A hatnote below the proposed Bobby Harris (without the qualifier) main title header would direct users to the Bob Harris dab page (or the Robert Harris dab if the Bob Harris dab is subsequently merged into Robert Harris) where anyone who might be searching for the two Bobby Harrises, who exist solely as dab links, can find mentions of them. —Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 18:32, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.