Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Orion's Arm
OA is mentioned as inspiration for other settings and RPGs, notably Eclipse Phase, published by Catalyst games (no good ref - I suspect it's in the credits - I got this from personal discussion with the designers at GenCon 2009).  Some of the complaints (mostly historic ones on the talk page) about reliable references seem to conflate attempts at substantiating the science behind Orion's Arm with its status as a fictional universe; that is, its scientific and other setting claims do not need substantiation, so much as they need reference to others discussing them. In line with  and , reference to Orion's Arm's text describing its setting is insufficient (as this is primary source material with indeterminate authorship), but links to other bodies discussing its setting are. Examples of this might be the extremely large publicly available archive of listserv traffic (all of which is verifiable by virtue of being ascribed to particular authors). Regardless - what is required from references in this case is verification that Orion's Arm makes these claims, not that these claims are scientifically true, probable, or even sensible (it's a fictional universe, after all). As for notability, Wikipedia:Notability points out that notability need not necessarily imply fame, and goes on to lay out specific criteria. Concern over Orion's Arm notability boils down to a lack of citable references discussing its activities from reliable and independent sources. In particular, its own promotional and self-publicizing activities are not sufficient evidence for its notability, and mention by external sources would be necessary. As an insider, I know there's an interview / article coming up fairly soon in H+ magazine, and I believe there's been previous articles and interviews over the years. Lack of these references brings concern to its notability. However, it's my perception that this is due to a lack of thorough referencing rather than actual lack of notability - the setting is by far the largest fictional construct exploring the modern Transhumanism movement, consists of numerous subgroups, spin-offs, and projects, and is cited by some (again, personal communication only) as a significant source of inspiration in other, better published material in the same area. I strongly support keeping this article, but agree that perhaps there should be more emphasis and exploration of the project's impact on science fiction and transhumanism than on the particular peculiarities of science within the setting
— User:Xorgnz, 21:54, 14 October 2009 (UTC)
Stance: keep
Cited policy: WP:PRIMARY||WP:SECONDARY (Wikipedia:No original research)