The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. 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.

The result was redirect to University. MBisanz ^talk 02:15, 14 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The U[edit]

The U (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) (delete) – (View log)

Articles that have been on the wiki for three years rarely come up for deletion and I suppose some will question my sanity for sending this to AfD. But let me make the case. This article has taken on many forms over these three years. For instance it was briefly [1] an essay glorifying the university of Utah. Mostly it's been a disambiguation page plagued by pissing contests edit wars about which universities are worthy of the title "The U" [2][3][4][5] and unverifiable content such as speculation about the history of usage [6][7]. In its current form, it contains dubious info and commentary about flagship universities. I believe that none of these versions serve the encyclopedia. The article has no incoming links and "The U" probably isn't a frequent search term. And if a reader does search for "The U", all he gets is, at best, an everchanging (and most likely misleading) list of universities which may or may not be referred to as "The U" in various part of the Unites States and, at worst, a piece of subjective original research. I cannot see a way to make this page valuable (although I guess it could redirect to University). Pichpich (talk) 02:12, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete. Google doesn't show any significant use of the term "The U" in which it's not immediately followed by "of [A-Z]". Pburka (talk) 02:22, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete this... it's just a phrase people (especially pro atheletes) sometimes use. It's not an actual encyclopedic concept, it belongs on Urban Dictionary. However, there possibly should be a redirect to University of Miami, since I think that's the default meaning... at least when you hear an NFL player explaining where he went to college. --Movingday29 (talk) 02:33, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Per brianG, a redirect to University probably makes more sense. --Movingday29 (talk) 23:38, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete - per above. Hogvillian (talk) 02:42, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete Really just a slang expression. You might as well have articles for "the city", "the mountain", "the ocean", etc. Redddogg (talk) 03:52, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• I think the way to go would be to redirect to University and then if needed, it can be edit protected.  LinguistAtLarge • Msg  04:30, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep. Once again, I'm with Linguist. This is a possible (or even likely) search term so Wikipedia shouldn't be a redlink when there's another option.--S Marshall ^Talk/_Cont 11:53, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

  Like I said, I don't mind keeping that redirect but I'd rather have this decision confirmed by AfD. Without that support, I'm pretty sure that there would be renewed problems. Pichpich (talk) 12:45, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• Redirect to University and probably protect to stop the inevitable edit wars. It's a plausible search term, and would inevitably be recreated anyway. Definitely shouldn't be redirected to a specific university as the term refers to different institutions in different regions (where I'm from "The U" almost always means University of Minnesota, but clearly that wouldn't be the case in, say, Utah). Per the nom, not convinced a disambiguation page is viable here, though I'm willing to change my mind if someone comes up with refs. BryanG (talk) 21:11, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Redirect to university. Redirects are cheap, but protect if needed. Tim Vickers (talk) 21:29, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete. Vague definition that makes over-generalized terms. I would not redirect because not all big universities, not even all flagship universities use this term (for example University Wisconsin-Madison, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of California-Berkeley do not use this term). In addition, "The U" can refer to things having nothing to do with a university: U-shaped rounds, U-shaped objects, any number of radio stations with "U" in their call letters, etc. Connecting "The U" to more than a handful of universities lacks a broad view of the world. --Crunch (talk) 03:22, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete. I would think that students at just about every university refer to their school informally as "The U." This is the sort of article that attracts endless edit wars, arguments, and vandalism, without providing useful information with reliable references. If deleted the article may need to be protected. As for that information on U. of Miami, please note that the article on The U (University of Miami) is completely unreferenced aside from a Youtube video. •••Life of Riley (T–C) 23:22, 11 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

sigh... I hadn't realized that the chest thumping disease had spread. There probably needs to be a separate AfD nomination for that one. Pichpich (talk) 02:06, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• • • Oh please someone nom that. I am the closest thing in this AFD to a defender of "The U" being University of Miami but even I think that article needs to go. --Movingday29 (talk) 23:07, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Redirect to University - Holds no value on its own. No references. What's next, an article on "The Y" with an explanation of people calling it that because of their pride in their local YMCA? --Omarcheeseboro (talk) 00:20, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Actually there an article on The Y. •••Life of Riley (T–C) 02:14, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Lets see, what else:

The A, The B, The C, The D, The E, The F, The G, The H, The I, The J, The K, The L, The M, The N, The O, The P, The Q, The R, The S, The T, The U, The V, The W, The X, The Y, The Z •••Life of Riley (T–C) 02:19, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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.