Wikipedia:articles For Deletion Milk Studios

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 Move to the hoax museum. And ick. How did a hoax article survive for 11 years and 8 months? Thanks for the detective work, folks; I shall move the article to Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/Milk Studios for record-keeping and investigative purposes, seeing as we need to avoid this stuff - and duration - in the future. Jo-Jo Eumerus ( talk, contributions) 07:55, 31 August 2016 (UTC) reply

Milk Studios

(Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Non-notable company Orange Mike | Talk 15:42, 23 August 2016 (UTC) reply

Delete finding sources is complicated by the existence of "Spilt Milk Studios," but I cannot find any substantive coverage in this case. Vanamonde ( talk) 17:42, 23 August 2016 (UTC) reply

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sweden-related deletion discussions. Coolabahapple ( talk) 13:53, 24 August 2016 (UTC) reply

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Business-related deletion discussions. Coolabahapple ( talk) 13:53, 24 August 2016 (UTC) reply

Speedy delete as a hoax. Avoiding false positives using searches such as "Milk Studios" "Alex Hammer" and "Milk Studios" Älmhult I am very willing to bet that this is a candidate for Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia. All the very few hits that turn up are either still false positives or various Wikipedia mirrors. The notion that an almost 30-year old company that by 2004 supposedly had "12 locations in Sweden, two in Norway, and three in the United States" has zero sources is not to be believed. And the Swedes would have taken pride in a company that could "make it over there" and would have created sv:Milk Studios, but that article never existed. I did do a search for "Alex Hammer" on svwiki, nada found. FYI: ( Orangemike— Vanamonde93). — Sam Sailor 14:21, 26 August 2016 (UTC) reply
- Sam: noted, thank you. I could believe that this is a hoax, and I see that you have tagged it as such. I don't quite have the knowledge (of the relevant languages, and of this specific field) to regard it as "blatant," myself, but thank you for doing the digging. Regards, Vanamonde ( talk) 16:52, 26 August 2016 (UTC) reply
Delete clearly fails WP:V cannot find a single source do agree it is most likely a hoax. Note this Article was created in 7 December 2004‎ by an IP has been around for decade without being detected. Pharaoh of the Wizards ( talk) 17:09, 26 August 2016 (UTC) reply
Delete. A "speciality products retailer" with 12 locations in Sweden, headquartered in Älmhult? Oh please. There is or was a Milk Studio or Studios in Norrköping (a considerably bigger place than Älmhult), but that's an actual music studio. A search for "Milk Studios" Älmhult finds exclusively our article and mirrors. I do understand the language, though not specifically the speciality products retailing business, but Sam Sailor's point that Swedes would have been proud of it is persuasive. There would certainly have been some newspaper articles for a company from little Älmhult (a tiny place, albeit the cradle of IKEA) that hit the big time. But there's nothing. Delete as hoax. Bishonen | talk 19:24, 26 August 2016 (UTC). reply
Speedy delete as potential hoax. K.e.coffman ( talk) 02:49, 27 August 2016 (UTC) reply
Note to closing admin: If the company continues to fail verification, this may well be the longest-lived hoax article ever found, surviving in main space for more than 11 years and 8 months. Consider moving it to the hoax museum at Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/Milk Studios, cf. the instructions given on WP:HOAXLIST. — Sam Sailor 08:12, 27 August 2016 (UTC) reply
Delete. As suggested above, this looks like a hoax. A few additional notes:
- Dairy Farm, the "large, American specialty retailer" supposedly acquired by Milk Studios in 2004, appears not to exist. No news or financial coverage exists for this transaction, which would certainly follow any acquisition of one international retailer by another. There is a notable retailer with a comparable name, Dairy Farm International Holdings, but that company originated in Hong Kong. An interesting fact: Dairy Farm International Holdings appears to have actually acquired the Hong Kong division of IKEA (which did originate in Älmhult) in 2002, not long before this article's creation. Conceivably, that fact might have inspired this apparent hoax.
- No evidence exists to support the existence of a Milk Studios office location in Tiburon, California, whether now or in 2004.
- In addition, no Google hits exist for "Alex Hammer," the company's supposed founder, in combination with Milk Studios (except for this article and mirrors).
- On top of the other improbabilities in this article, very few businesses have an "exclusive line of cards, paper, calendars, office supplies, books, drafting tools, and clothing," all of them supposedly designed by the company in its own headquarters. That range of products is exceptionally diverse, and would generate a considerable online footprint if it actually existed.
- According to the article, the company began online sales in 1998, but no trace of an e-commerce operation can be found. Likewise, there are no consumer reviews or comments about the retailer.

The search is complicated somewhat by a large number of false positives (most of them refer to an actual prominent photography studio in New York and Los Angeles, but definitely not the subject of this article). Still, the evidence appears overwhelming that this is a long-lived hoax - at more than 11 years, a new (dubious) record. Calamondin12 ( talk) 19:18, 27 August 2016 (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.