Misplaced Pages

:Relevance - Misplaced Pages

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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: Stay on topic!

This guideline pertains to the relevance of content within articles. 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 guidance on certain types of content in general, see Misplaced Pages:What Misplaced Pages is not.

Scope

The article title usually defines a scope for the article's content. In other words, facts added to an article should be about the subject of the article.

The lead paragraphs may further specify the subject scope through a concise description. Avoid making an explicit statement of scope, unless it is needed as part of a disambiguation.

Information added to articles on very general subjects should address the entire subject, rather than meandering into related topics for which more specific articles exist (or should exist). Articles on very specific subjects will provide room for far greater detail.

Example

An article entitled Internet should be about the global computer network, not about networking, software, or computers in general.

Keep articles focused

Unlike a paper encyclopedia, Misplaced Pages has unlimited capacity, but the depth of Misplaced Pages's coverage must be balanced against the readability of its articles. An article that is dense with information only tenuously connected to the subject is miserable to read, and does little to inform the reader about the subject.

Summary style

Further information: Misplaced Pages:Summary style and summary style

If coverage of a subtopic grows to the point where it overshadows the main subject (or digresses too far from it), it may be appropriate to spin it off into its own article.

In this situation, the main article provides a concise overview of the subject. Where it touches on related topics or subtopics, details not directly relevant to the overall topic are expanded upon in linked articles.

See also

Categories: