English Wikipedia @ Freddythechick:Articles for deletion/John Harris (software developer)

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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 keep. Cirt (talk) 22:17, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

John Harris (software developer)

John Harris (software developer) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log • AfD statistics)
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Non-notable game designer, one interview is from a game selling company's website and the other is from a usergroup enthusiasts site. Not seeing that it meets the standard WP:BIO. MBisanz talk 18:39, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

  • :Delete - non notable biography. Tzu Zha Men (talk) 21:01, 26 January 2010 (UTC) Switch to Weak Keep - I was able to find quiet a few references to him as the developer of Frogger (see http://books.google.com/books?q=frogger+harris&btnG=Search+Books), which is perhaps notable. Tzu Zha Men (talk) 00:43, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Delete Per WP:BIO. Warrah (talk) 01:25, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Note: This debate has been included in the list of Software-related deletion discussions. -- Pcap ping 15:07, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Note: This debate has been included in the list of Game-related deletion discussions. -- Pcap ping 16:11, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Note: This debate has been included in the list of video game related deletion discussions. MrKIA11 (talk) 18:07, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Comment: did you have a look for any potential print sources? Anything before 1998 in this industry tends to be better covered in print sources rather than online ones. Just an observation. -- Sabre (talk) 20:12, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Weak keep. The mention in Levy's book and the interviews nudge it towards notable, but it would definitely be nicer if there was more information and sources. LotLE×talk 20:22, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Question Does anyone here own a copy of Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution? I would like to know what sort of coverage he received from that book before I make a decision. JBsupreme (talk) 20:44, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Keep. To answer JBsupreme’s question, I don’t have the book on hand but read it 25 years ago. The book talks extensively about John Harris, devoting a chapter or two to him. It talks about Mr. Harris’ difficulties of getting a girl to date him because of his social awkwardness, as well as his bout of depression when he lost his first copy of Frogger (he had to rewrite the game). Samboy (talk) 09:07, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Keep Via Amazon I can tell that at the least Chapter 16 of the book covers him in significant depth. Hobit (talk) 11:14, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Comment I'm not going to !vote without looking properly, but I am deeply troubled that Harris appears to dispute the truthfulness of the Hackers interview (specifically the part Samboy mentions above) in the second/online interview. Considering Hackers could well be the most extensive source available, and this is a BLP, there may be a problem here. Someoneanother 12:14, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
    • Two questions. #1 Where did you find he was disputing the truthfulness of the interview? I'm not seeing anything. #2 The book looks very detailed indeed and so other sources can be used. Hobit (talk) 14:12, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
  • In this interview from Halcyon Days (book), the first three Q&As specifically; "and yet there were some things that were disturbing", "There are some mild inaccuracies and exaggerations throughout the rest of the book, but not too many major things that change the basic story", "Levy made it sound like I was a walking hormone" and "Steve Levy knew the truth about all of this, and about how much it bothered me, but for some reason he either didn't believe it, or chose to ignore it, and decided to write his own version which he presumably felt had more journalistic appeal." It doesn't exactly put Levy's book in the best light. Someoneanother 19:39, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Merge with relevant articles such as Frogger and Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Wikipeterproject (talk) 02:17, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Keep and rewrite Covered in pages 313-329 (at least) of 'Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution'. Search inside Amazon's copy. In the preface, John Harris is one of 4 hackers Levy mentions as "the spirit and soul of computing itself". There are several print mentions in 1984-1985 I can find referenced online including an feature article in California, Volume 9. He's also mentioned in an article called "Teens Tackle Programming" in Infoworld April 30, 1984 saying that he "made 200 to 300 grand" (1984 dollars!) from Sierra Online as a young programmer. Given the significant pre-1995 coverage, offline sources are going to be more useful here. Jodi.a.schneider (talk) 19:08, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
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.
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