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The following is a proposed Misplaced Pages policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption.Shortcut
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This page in a nutshell: Content should be about the subject of the article.
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For guidelines regarding the relevance of articles or subjects as a whole, see Misplaced Pages:Notability. For guidance on the relevance of links to outside websites, see Misplaced Pages:External links. For information on what articles are appropriate (relevant) for Misplaced Pages, see the official policy: "What Misplaced Pages is not".

Relevancy is nothing more than the obvious. To make a claim of relevancy one need only show the material is about the subject of the article.

Guiding principles

Content must be about the subject of the article

Shortcuts

Material is relevant for an article when it is about the subject of the article.

Sometimes an article's content will evolve beyond its original subject. If the new content duplicates other, existing articles, the content should be merged into one of the articles, or broken out into a separate stand-alone article. However, if the article's subject continues to be cohesive (if broader), the article can be renamed (via the move tab) and its lead edited to reflect its new subject. It is usually a good idea to propose such moves on the article's talk page first, however.

Compelling argument can be made for its relevancy

Shortcuts

At its heart, a fact is relevant for an article because one or more editors can persuade other editors of its relevance (if asked to do so). This persuasion is essentially an art.

  • If a compelling argument cannot be made that specific material belongs in an article then other editors are free to remove it as "relevance not established".
  • When removed material is relevant to another article, every attempt should be made, by the editor removing it, to integrate it into that article.

These offer related advice: Misplaced Pages:Use common sense and Misplaced Pages:Etiquette

Reach into minor details must be appropriate (serve the readers)

Shortcuts Further information: Misplaced Pages:Avoid trivia sections
Related essays: Misplaced Pages:"In popular culture" articles and Misplaced Pages:Handling trivia

Misplaced Pages is not a paper encyclopedia, and there is little limit to the amount of information that it can hold. However, information that is true and verifiable does not necessarily meet the threshold for relevance within a given article. The depth of Misplaced Pages's coverage must be balanced against the readability of its articles. When editing an article in Misplaced Pages, it is often tempting to add as much information as possible to improve the quality of content in Misplaced Pages. While this is a laudable goal, adding information that is only tenuously connected to the subject does little to inform the reader about the subject.

Articles on very general subjects should be written in summary style and only consider information relevant if it has a very strong connection to the subject. Articles on more specific subjects have a lower threshold for relevancy and can go into far greater detail. The particular topics and facts within an article are not each required to meet the standard of the notability guidelines. A fact may be relevant but not notable. The circumference of the Moon is not notable but, although a minor detail, it is relevant for the article on the Moon.

What relevancy is not

Main page: Misplaced Pages:What claims of relevancy are false

Making claims of relevancy by using similar concepts like "it is important" does establish relevancy. Claiming an indirect connection is usually not sufficient either for establishing relevance.

See also

Official policy
Guidelines
Essays

Notes

  1. Ultimately, the relevance of material in any given Misplaced Pages article is gauged, not by some policy, but by the editors who contribute to it; through discussion at talk pages and comments in Edit summaries.
  2. The importance of this cannot be underestimated: "a fact is relevant for an article because one or more editors can persuade other editors of its relevance." With "Relevance" there is no external source to clear the cloud and a written policy is too amorphous a thing to do the job — can't address even a small portion of every possible mis-understanding and interpretation of relevancy.
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