The result of the debate was keep --Ichiro 21:14, 6 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Delete, not notable enough. The cited sources used to back up all claims consist largely out of tiny newspaper snippets that are blown up out of proportion. He was never on TV, he only worked on projects that never aired. The notability of that title "International Magician of the Year" is heavily questioned: The award organisaton seems to not even have a website, and a search for the title leads to only 123 hits ([1]). So when one removes all that promotional hoopla, his notability has to be rated on this bottom line: Aladin performs rarely, is portrayed in 1 book, and works for the City of London. I strongly believe that those elements don't suffice that an individual be included in the wikipedia. Additionaly, the article sounds very much like blunt euphoric advertising, written by the person himself to jumpstart his career and business by taking advantage of the popularity of the wikipedia project. To any admin deciding the vote: I'd like to order a full sockpuppet and meatpuppet check on all people that have voted here, with an article of such a bad quality, all those "keep" votes cannot possible be the thruthful opinion of the well-educated general wikipedia public. Please do a IP-Address-Location&Provider-check, not just a "numbers of good edits" check which could be faked by a determined person. Thank you. Peter S. Several edits between 17:12, 1 January 2006 and 4 January 2006 (UTC)
Mentioned above is the fact that Inside Magic is using The Oxford Student as its source for an article on "a magician I have never heard about". However, it seems that the only source for that article is Aladin himself. On Aladin's web site we have a quote from the article, describing it as a "3-page feature", published on 2004-02-19 by Tamara Cohen. However, going to the archives for that issue of The Oxford Student (Volume 37 issue 6) I find no such article.
True, Aladin was a "subject of a documentary on National Geographic". But that was as a refugee, not as a magician. True, there is a Book of Cool (It's actually a set of DVDs.). But it isn't by Aladin. True, Aladin was a "government adviser". He was the vice-chairman of the Mayor of London's Cultural Strategy Group. And the article in the Times is inaccessible without a subscription fee, but given that it begins "Alaudin Ahmed used to use his sleight of hand to broker million-dollar deals." and is an interview with this person I am highly skeptical of its accuracy.
The key to notability here is being the subject of multiple non-trivial published works from independent sources (e.g. magazine feature articles, books, and so forth). But upon investigation the whole thing turns out to be either built on sand or unverifiable. The Inside Magic article cites as its source an article in The Oxford Student that doesn't exist. I am unable to verify the purported 1999 coverage in The Hindustan Times, because its archive doesn't go back that far. The only person who appears to have even heard of the "Golden Turban Award from the Magic Academy of Bangalore" (or, indeed, the Magic Academy of Bangalore itself) is Aladin himself. The Daily Star archives don't go back to 1999, either.
Strip away everything about this person that isn't verifiable, and one is left with someone who only satisfies the WP:BIO criteria because of the National Geographic documentary. Weak Keep. Uncle G 05:49, 3 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Steven Youell — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.7.141.95 (talk • contribs)