Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 16:20, 13 May 2006

This page documents an English Misplaced Pages notability criteria. Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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This guideline is not Misplaced Pages policy (and indeed the whole concept of notability is contentious), it is the opinion of many Wikipedians that these criteria are a fair test of whether a person has sufficient external notice to ensure that they can be covered from a neutral point of view based on verifiable information from reliable sources, without straying into original research (all of which are formal policies). Failure to meet these criteria does not mean that a subject must not be included, meeting one or more does not mean that a subject must be included. Many Wikipedians oppose the use of this guideline.

Like any encyclopedia, Misplaced Pages includes biographies of important historical figures and people involved in current events. Even though wiki is not paper, there are some criteria which may be considered for inclusion.

See also Misplaced Pages:Importance, which attempts to be a generic, all inclusive definition of criteria for inclusion.

Important note: Please see criteria for speedy deletion for policy on speedy deletion. The fact that an article doesn't meet guidelines on this page, does not necessarily mean it qualifies for speedy deletion, as a mere claim of notability (even if contested) may avoid deletion under A7.

Deceased people

People who have been deceased for some time pose the simplest question, because history is usually clear about the nature and extent of their importance. With historical perspective, there is less controversy about the facts of their contribution. The basic test in this case is:

• Has the person made a widely recognized contribution that is part of the enduring historical record in the specific field?

People still alive

The following types of people may merit their own Misplaced Pages articles, as there is likely to be a good deal of verifiable information available about them and a good deal of public interest in them. This is not intended to be an exclusionary list. Just because someone doesn't fall into one of these categories doesn't mean an article on the person should automatically be deleted.

• Political figures holding international, national or statewide/provincewide office or members of a national, state or provincial legislature.
• Major local political figures who receive significant press coverage
• Widely recognized entertainment personalities and opinion makers (ie - Hollywood Walk of Fame)
• Sportspeople who have played in a fully professional league, or a competition of equivalent standing in an individual professional sport, or at the highest level in mainly amateur sports, including college sports in the United States. Articles about first team squad members who have not made a first team appearance may also be appropriate, but only if the individual is at a club of sufficient stature that most members of its squad already have articles.
• Notable actors and television personalities who have appeared in well-known films or television productions. Notability can be determined by:
  • Multiple features in popular culture publications such as Vogue, GQ, Elle, FHM or national newspapers
  • A large fan base, fan listing or "cult" following
  • An independent biography
  • Name recognition
  • Commercial endorsements
• Published authors, editors, and photographers who have written books with an audience of 5,000 or more or in periodicals with a circulation of 5,000 or more
• Recording musicians who have sold more than 5,000 albums, CDs, or similar recordings (see WikiProject Music's Notability and Music Guidelines)
• Painters, sculptors, architects, engineers, and other professionals whose work is widely recognized (for better or worse) and likely to become a part of the enduring historical record of that field
• Persons achieving renown or notoriety for their involvement in newsworthy events

Alternative tests

Other tests for inclusion that have been proposed (but haven't necessarily received consensus support) include:

• The professor test -- If the individual is more well known and more published than an average college professor (based on the U.S. practice of calling all full-time academics professors), they can and should be included. (For a discussion, see: Misplaced Pages talk:Notability (academics).)
• Verifiability -- Can all information in the article be independently verified now? (some say) 10 years from now?
• Expandability -- Will the article ever be more than a stub? Could the perfect article be written on this subject?
• 100 year test (future speculation) -- In 100 years time will anyone without a direct connection to the individual find the article useful?
• 100 year test (past speculation) -- If we had comparable verifiable information on a person from 100 years ago, would anyone without a direct connection to the individual find the article useful today?
• Autobiography -- Has this been written by the subject or someone closely involved with the subject?
• Google Test -- Does the subject get lots of distinguishable hits on Google or another well known search mechanism?
• Check your fiction -- Must-read advice for creating biographies of fictional characters.

See also Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Biography, Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (biographies) and the "Misplaced Pages is not a biographical dictionary" section of Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages is not a dictionary.

For a few specific instances, see Misplaced Pages:Criteria for inclusion of biographies/cases.

If the article doesn't pass the test

If the article doesn't make any claim of notability, you can add the {{nn-warn}} notice to the talk page of the article's creator. This lets the user know that failure to include such a claim may result in speedy deletion. Often, the author is able to add a claim, but didn't know one was required.

If there is a claim, but you feel it doesn't meet the requirements here, you may wish to explain your position to the user, before nominating it for deletion, in case they may be able to improve it (or they may need to add verification for the claim).

Generally, a personal and specific message, about your concerns about the article, on the article's talk page and/or author's talk page, is more helpful than a generic template message.

If the author fails to present any claim, you can add the {{db-bio}} tag. For a claim nobody would consider worthy use {{prod}}. For a claim you feel is insufficient, but others may accept, use {{AFD}}.

• Misplaced Pages notability criterias
• Subject-specific notability criteria