Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alfred van Cock

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfred van Cock: Posted by anon. No google hits in various combinations. Any Dutch around? Mikkalai 17:23, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)


  • I'm Dutch. I never heard of him, so I did some searching in Dutch sources. Haven't found anything either Pethan 17:57, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I've noticed that sometimes google doesn't always bring the right answers. For instance, I was trying to do research on the Rätesrepublik, the Communist organization formed at the end of WWI in Germany. I was trying to get details about Hitler's involvement in it, but google's search brought me nothing but dead-ends. I have no information personally about Alfred van Cock, but I disagree with deleting it upon the basis of google. I tend to think people today are relying on google too much for their research, and it can often lead to useless dead-ends and an overall waste of time. That's just me. I'm often a supporter of the good-old fashioned Library, thanks Brendon 18:00, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • No google hits is just a hint. I specifically asked several people from Netherlands personally to verify the info. Were I relied solely on google, I'd kicked the article out reght away.
  • In the case of doubt it is the duty of the article author to provide the proof. Think about it: how I can prove that something does not exist?
  • Your position is understandable, but your case is very different. Yuo were looking for a particular fact; that could be missing from google. But we are talking about a supposedly famous persion.
  • Finally, I suspect, you searched a wrong word. It is Räterepublik, not Rätesrepublik, and (Räterepublik + Hitler) gives quite a few hits (like, 2,500, das ist genug?). Mikkalai 18:21, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Actually, I just spelled it wrong here. Believe me, I'm not an idiot. I know how to use google. I tried searches not just on Räterepublik, but on Hitler and his communist ties. I should make an article on the Räterepublik, :) I found information on it in the library. By the way, 2,400 articles in German don't exactly help me smart guy. I speak English, but I'm sure you German/Dutch losers are too self-centered to understand that Brendon 22:58, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Why not to write Räterepublik indeed? By the way, if you speak English, then you should have sought for (Bavaria + "Soviet republic" + Hitler), still 800. Or may be parlez-vous francais? Mikkalai 08:06, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete. I don't think this is an existing person; I've never heard of him and indeed, Google doesn't give any results either. Not on the original name, nor on other (more Dutch) versions of the lastname. Unless the (anonymous) author can give proof, I would say we delete this one. Guus 18:30, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete: When we have to verify, we might make mistakes. When an author doesn't give us any validation, he or she subjects the article to that peril. I searched for the only work mentioned by name in the article The Mistakes We Repeat, and that hit only a popular culture journal online, and with no reference to "Alfred van Cock." Instead, it seemed to be in the context of homosexual love. So, we can't verify the name, the organization, or the book. Delete. Geogre 18:48, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete. No google-hits, not in a number of databases that might not be indexed by google. Also, the name "van cock" is implausible as a Dutch name. I have looked in the family name database of the Meertens Instituut, which is a complete index of the family names in the 1949 Dutch census: no hits for "van Cock" or "van Kok". Eugene van der Pijll 23:30, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Supposedly famous, but no-one can find anything? Unless a cite is provided, delete. Average Earthman 05:21, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Are we sure it's not some sort of parody on Alfred Hitchcock? I have never heard of him, either. Delete. FoekeNoppert 08:22, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete. Perhaps the name of the page is misspelled, and that is why I find no books by him in any library's catalog? :) I thought of Mad Magazine's Alfred myself. I would guess that this is a prank on the man's name, may he rest in peace. ---Rednblu 16:42, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • So let me get this straight, you're deleting this just becaus the guy has a funny name? Takes a dirty mind. I used to have alot of faith in this encylopedia, but now...-Sam Dukore
    • No, we're deleting it because the guy doesn't exist (as far as we know). :P - Furrykef 15:55, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but in this case, it's darn close. - Furrykef 15:55, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Actually, I think I've heard of this guy, but I'm sure its spelled Alfred van Kak, or Kok. Perhaps changing it to "cock" was a dirty joke, but I say leave the article. It sounds legite anyways, John Miller 1:04, 13 Sep 2004 )UTC)
    • (Note that John Miller is editing from IP address 64.48.72.214, while Alfred van Cock was created by an anonymous user at 64.48.72.61. I don't know if that means anything, though. Perhaps Alfred is only known very locally?) Eugene van der Pijll 16:05, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)
      • Addition: And Brendon is also posting from the same IP range (see the history of this page). Eugene van der Pijll 16:10, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • You do realize that a thousand people a day could be using that IP range if its from a company like AOL. Just a hint, Carl