Wikipedia talk:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/Upper Peninsula War

This is an archive of the discussion of Upper Peninsula War, a hoax article that was deleted. It has been copied here solely for the purpose of documenting hoaxes on Wikipedia, in order to improve our detection and understanding of them. If you would like to actually make a comment on this page or the discussion you see below, please go to Wikipedia talk:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia.

Deletion log • Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Upper Peninsula War

Re Prod

I understand the concern about this article, but I think we should put some effort into investigating it before it is deleted. This link to the City of Norway, Michgan, calendar (see January 4 entry) includes a reference to an "Upper Peninsula War Memorial Committee", so this may in fact be a legitimate, obscure event in American history. I have checked some of the authors of the referenced material, and they seem to be real people. If this is a hoax, it is one of the most elaborately constructed hoaxes I have seen on Wikipedia. I think there is sufficient grounds to believe that this is actually a properly researched and referenced article about something that is not currently covered on the internet. (Yes, I think that that is possible.) Let's not be hasty in deleting it. Ground Zero | t 21:58, 7 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I also understand the concern, but I think it is a little premature to completely delete this article from wikipedia. The Houghton County Militia also makes reference to the Upper Peninsula War [1] (see entry "The Independent Republic of Michigan" and "164th Anniversary..."). I agree with the above statement that this could simply be an internet blidspot. User:hanger10 User talk:Hanger10 15:55 May 8, 2007

Well, I understand these concerns (and by the way, you are allowed to take the tag off), but there are many discrepancies. First of all Epaphroditus Ransom was NEVER captured and hanged for high treason, and if this was done, it would be on various Internet biographies as well as the Wikipedia article. Secondly, some of the references are "questionable", such as the fact that many of them have "Accessed May 12, 2006" (clearly not, considering the article was created less than a month ago). Naturally, this could just be a mistake in dating for the author, who created it some time before that date and could have forgotten the change in years, but I believe that it is an attempt to make the article seem older than it is. I have invited the single main contributor to talk about this here and notified him that he is free to remove the tag. Hopefully, he/she will add his/her input on the topic and provide valid justification as well as proof that such a war exists (honestly, 0 definitely relevant Google hits could be a problem). --queso man 20:57, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

More input: Epaphroditus Ransom died in Kansas eighteen years after the article says he did. This, too could be a slip on the author's part, or maybe only this last part is a hoax, but both of these is unlikely. I decided that Articles for Deletion is a better way to evaluate the amount of truth this article holds, so I will delete to prod tag. --queso man 21:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also, the Upper Peninsula War Memorial Committee is a committee regarding a war memorial for those from the UP who died in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, etc., etc. It has nothing to do with an Upper Peninsula War. --Charlene 21:24, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]