Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Erasmus Augustus Worthington

:{{la|Erasmus Augustus Worthington}} – (View AfDView log{{int:dot-separator}} [http://toolserver.org/~snottywong/cgi-bin/votecounter.cgi?page=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Erasmus_Augustus_Worthington Stats])

:({{Find sources|Erasmus Augustus Worthington}})

This plausible-looking article has been here for six years, but it is a hoax. Thanks and credit to new contributor {{user0|GriffithKendall}} who has provided a detailed demolition on the article talk page, supported by {{user0|Nicknack009}}. To their work, I would add that Worthington's supposed 1875 autobiography "My Life in Art" is not found in either Worldcat or Google Books, but his supposed photograph is found [http://west-penwith.org.uk/jts/index.htm here] and is actually a picture of one John Tregerthen Short. JohnCD (talk) 17:45, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

• Delete: as a hoax. I had read the discussion on the article's talk page and was awaiting its arrival to AfD. הסרפד (call me Hasirpad) 18:10, 27 June 2014 (UTC)
• Comment If [http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/periodicals/punch/crimea/index.html this] is reliable, the individual would seem to have existed, although that is certainly an impressive demolition job, & given the demonstrable bogus nature of the DNB reference & lack of any sources I say Delete, not notable. TheLongTone (talk) 18:24, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

:*I don't know how reliable the Victorian Web is, and there doesn't seem to be any way to look at the history of its articles. I notice that Worthington does not appear in their [http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/art/illustration/index.html list of illustrators]. It seems to me possible that {{user0|Pemberton08}}, the author of this article, managed to insert the words about Worthington. He certainly spammed references industriously within Wikipedia (which I will clean out once this is deleted), and he also did post about "Worthington" outside Wikipedia, e.g. [http://ookaboo.com/o/pictures/topic/12007881/Erasmus_Augustus_Worthington here] where he has added the image. Also, the article has been in WP since 2008, and disinformation flows regrettably fast from WP into the rest of the web. JohnCD (talk) 19:45, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

• Delete per nom; a search of books on Victorian illustrators brings up nothing. An artist with a resume like the one claimed for Worthington would surely be mentioned somewhere. Ewulp (talk) 21:14, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

:Note: This debate has been included in the list of Visual arts-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:11, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

:Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:11, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

:Note: This debate has been included in the list of England-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:12, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

• Delete per WP:V. If we can't verify him, he fails Bearian (talk) 21:11, 30 June 2014 (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.