Talk:7700 16th Street NW

Latest comment: 6 years ago by E.M.Gregory in topic Notability

Notability edit

I believe that sourcing now on the page, including sourcing of the history of the house to RS newspaper articles, sourcing of press brief held at the house during the 1977 hostage taking, and sourcing of the mass killing that took place at the house is sufficient to support an article. and that the article is useful since it is connected to two notable political crimes.E.M.Gregory (talk) 00:24, 4 December 2017 (UTC)Reply

The sources are all articles about other subjects that mention the house. Are there any sources about the house? Not its owners, not the neighborhood, not the murders or the hostage-taking, but the building itself? If not, it doesn't satisfy WP:NGEO, no matter how many times you assert that it does. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 00:56, 4 December 2017 (UTC)Reply
  • As WP:GEOFEAT states: "Buildings, including private residences and commercial developments may be notable as a result of their historic, social, economic, or architectural importance, but they require significant coverage by reliable, third-party sources to establish notability." This house is notable for its role in two historic crimes, WP:SIGCOV of that role is available in sources now in the article, and other sources on theses pre-internet crimes in academic journals and INDEPTH revisiting of those crimes by WP:RS media in later years and decades. It is necessary to read more deeply than sources that pop up in a search on the house's street address. you looked deeper, rather than merely googling the house's street address?E.M.Gregory (talk) 01:21, 4 December 2017 (UTC)Reply
  • You seem to have missed the first sentence in that section: "Many artificial geographical features may be mentioned in plenty of reliable sources, but they may not necessarily be notable." What do the sources say about this "notable" building? Let's review the article, which is extremely well-sourced and probably cites every easily accessible article that mentions the building: The house is in Shepherd Park in Washington, D.C., two crimes took place there, it has a plaque with its name, a previous owner owned a steakhouse, a basketball player who lived nearby bought it for the mosque, and it's located in a nice neighborhood that has synagogues, security measures were taken after the first crime, and people with weapons could be seen in the window during the second crime. What does the article or any of its source say about the building? Nothing! — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 01:35, 4 December 2017 (UTC)Reply
  • Clearly, apart from the two notable crimes, a good deal of attention is focused on the house itself, described by one newspaper as "plush" it is, quite objectively, an aspirational house located in Shepherd Park, a neighborhood that has been upscale since the day it was built, with the added interest that it has shifted over the decades from upscale white, lifting covenants that had prevented Jews and blacks from living there led to a mixed Jewish/black population, but it has remained an upscale area. Add to this the fact that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar owned this house - several news stories claim that he lived there after buying it in 1971 - I did not add this because I would prefer more and better sources before adding Jabar's residence to the page. But he certainly owned it, then gave it to this openly anti-Semitic Hanafi sect. Anti-Semitic is relevant because the house is next door to two large synagogues - a strange location for a sect of Jew-haters to chose. And then there is the interest generated by the fact that Jabar's gift of the house produces the unusual situation of multiple families, all members of a small religious sect (Hanafi was a very small sect among U.S. Muslims in that period) living crowded together in a "plush" single family home in an upscale neighborhood. (the journalists covering the story are unlikely to have been able to afford such a house) Small wonder that there is SIGCOV coverage of this house.E.M.Gregory (talk) 16:54, 4 December 2017 (UTC)Reply
  • Removed notability tag after expanding article with material about the house, number of occupants, use as an arsenal, and more. There are now 26 WP:RS and extensive details about 3 owners, including Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and the role of this house in 2 cries that drew worldwide attention both when they happened, and in the years since. Indeed, I suspect that article was started by someone reading the 40th anniversary coverage. Article is far to well sourced for a notability tag to be appropriate.E.M.Gregory (talk) 18:46, 4 December 2017 (UTC)Reply