Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Russian joke

This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record.
The result of the debate was KEEP

Russian joke

Wikipedia is not a repository of jokes. RickK 23:55, Mar 5, 2005 (UTC)

Well, I am keeping an eye on this article with the very goal not to allow to turn it into a joke repository. It was separated by me from the Russian humour article. As it is kept now, I don't see how it can be worse than the very Joke article. This is not a repository of jokes created in Russia. It is a normal aricle that discusses types of jokes of Russian peculiarity, each topic being exemplified by 2-3 jokes. In particular it doesn't contain sex, wife/husband and other common topics. Knowing Rick as a reasonable editor, I am a bit surprised by this nomination. Mikkalai 00:26, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)

• Keep. Because I like it. Yes, it's skating on thin ice in many ways. But it's interesting. It's the result of a reasonable amount of work. It's not simply a repository of jokes, it's an attempt to indicate something about Russian culture as illustrated by jokes. It's not material that can easily be found in a better form in some other place; I know lots of places to go for jokes, but I don't know lots of places to go for Russian jokes. It appears to be the work of a reasonable number of collaborators and hopefully they know what they're talking about and are keeping an eye on verifiability, POV. (BTW: without examining the article I would have expected an article on "Russian jokes" to be about "Jokes told by English-speakers about stereotypic Russian immigrants." You know... as in the jokes told about another Slavonic ethnicity). Dpbsmith (talk) 01:32, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • A place where the ice is particularly thin is that it borders on original research. A couple of references to scholar work on Russian humour would be handy. Despite my noticeable presence in the history of the article, my major contribution is trimming it mercilessly, and I have no particular scholar interest in humor. Mikkalai 01:55, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep, it's an article which contains jokes, not just a repository of them. Kappa 01:48, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Delete, concur with Rick. The jokes in the article are not inherently notable or encyclopaedic. Megan1967 02:10, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. It's a reasonable study of the kinds of humour one finds in Russian culture, and devotes adequate effort to explaining their context. A couple of examples of each type, which is mostly what we have, is quite reasonable. Equally it would be encyclopedic to have a "polish joke" article or "irish joke" article, but neither should turn merely into a list of jokes. This does need (and I don't think it has) a link to the "In Soviet Russia" joke meme (even if that's a meme Russians don't use). -- John Fader (talk • contribs) 02:28, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • It does not. It is an american joke. You are free to write Soviet emigree jokes article. Mikkalai 03:27, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. It may be appropriate to rename this article Humor in Russia. If not, it probably needs to be listed on WP:UA, as precedented by No soap radio and Meta-joke. -- Brhaspati (^talk_contribs) 03:41, 2005 Mar 6 (UTC)
  • There is nothing unusual or hilarious in the article to be listed elsewhere other than in category:Jokes. Mikkalai 06:25, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • That was not my intention. The article itself is perfectly fine, but the title may make one believe that this is an instance of a Russian joke. My point about UA was to shield it from such assumptions, not to single it out. But of course, it was only a suggestion. -- Brhaspati (^talk_contribs) 12:48, 2005 Mar 6 (UTC)
• Merge with Russian humour or baring that, Keep. We have an article on You have two cows, so why not this? BTW, that comment box in the upper right of this nomination is hilarious. DaveTheRed 04:17, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • I've already written above, it was actually split off the Russian humor because of article size problems. Mikkalai 07:18, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep — it's an article about jokes, that happens to include examples. ➥the Epopt 05:25, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. I agree with Kappa, John Fader and The Epopt. It's an article about various kinds of jokes in Russia, with examples of them, not just a big repository where people write their favourite Russian jokes. — JIP | Talk 07:39, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. This article presents a whole definite slice of Russian culture. It can't be reduced without losing it's completeness. ellol 11:48, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC) The article seems to me so alive, that it cannot be deleted; only killed. ellol 14:29, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• keep. It is a really good article, and not a repository of jokes. To be that it would have to have tons of examples under every topic... Even though we would come to a conclusion that it DON'T belong on Wikipedia, I think the content still should be saved and moved to wikibooks instead, where the article would be allowed to grow to enormous sizes. Btw... I think the article should be renamed.. Not sure what the new title should be though... --Konstantin 12:28, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• keep but also summarise briefly in Russian humour; Wikipedia is not paper, so we can afford to keep this kind of article, especially if it's well written and interesting. Mozzerati 17:15, 2005 Mar 6 (UTC)
• Keep. Interesting and well-written article. Capitalistroadster 19:18, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. Comprehensive and useful article. Perhaps we can merge it with Russian humour. Binadot 21:08, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep it is no way a repository, I think we need such an article for every nation, any jokes represent some shared meaning between people and very closely relate to culture. BTW I agree that it should be renamed to something else, maybe to set a future standard for unambiguous naming of this class of articles Gnomz007 00:57, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. Not just a list by any means; it's a discussion of common themes in Russian jokes, and of their history, illustrated by examples. - Mustafaa 07:01, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• While I understand the arguments that this is supposed to be an article about a particular class of jokes rather than a listing of them, the current version does not read that way. I believe this would be better in the Jokebooks section of Wikibooks. (The Russian humor article can easily cross-link to it.) Transwiki. Rossami (talk) 01:58, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. The article gives pretty accurate insight on typical anekdot short stories, whose popularity in Russia is on the same scale as comics in the US. The jokes might not be easily understandable due to cultural differences or translation difficulties, and being Russian, I don't think the selection of stories represents the best of the genre, but it's still a remarkable piece of work. A summary could be incorporated into the corresponding section of Russian humour. --DmitryKo 16:24, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. I agree that rather than simply being a repositary of jokes, it is an attempt at showing the Russian sense of humour, largely via their jokes. However, maybe it could be shortened slightly and merged with 'Russian Humour'? - User:Bez

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.