Wikipedia:Notability (people)
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Inclusion guidelines |
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Notability |
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Within Wikipedia, notability is an article inclusion criterion based on encyclopedic suitability. The topic of an article should be notable, or "worthy of notice". This concept is distinct from "fame", "importance", or "popularity".
This biography guideline is not Wikipedia policy; rather, it is advice gathered from consensus via discussions and established practice, which may help inform decisions on whether an article on a person should be written, merged, deleted or further developed. Suggestions are also given for how to proceed in differing circumstances.
For articles on living people, the Wikipedia policy Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons applies, and must be consulted.
While this guideline also pertains to small groups of closely related people such as families, entertainment groups, co-authors, and co-inventors, it does not cover groups of unrelated people which are covered by the Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies) guideline.
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Basic criteria
As a bare minimum, all of the following criteria must be met in order for a person to be deemed notable:
- The text of an article should include enough information to explain why the person is notable. External arguments via a talk page or Afd debate page are not part of the article itself, and promises on those pages to provide information are not as valid as the existence of the information on the article page itself.
- If the subject is living, the Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons policy must be followed.
- The person must have been the subject of publishedsecondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject.
- If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may need to be cited to establish notability.
- Trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may not be sufficient to establish notability.
Once notability is established, primary sources may be used to add content
Specific examples of sources
The person has been the subject of one of the following sources (which must be referenced in the article):
- A credible independent biography.
- Database sources such as Notable Names Database, Internet Movie Database and Internet Adult Film Database are not considered credible since they are, like wikis, mass-edited with little oversight. Additionally, these databases have low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion.
- Widespread coverage over time in the media such as the BBC, The Times or other reliable sources.
- If reliable sources only cover the person in the context of a particular event, then a separate biography may be unwarranted.
- Demonstrable wide name recognition from reliable sources.
- In depth, independent, coverage in multiple publications showing a widely recognized contribution to the enduring historical record in the person's specific field.
Additional criteria
A person is generally notable if they meet any of the following standards. Failure to meet these criteria is not conclusive proof that a subject should not be included; conversely, meeting one or more does not guarantee that a subject should be included.
- The person has been the subject of publishedsecondary sources that are reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject.
- If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may need to be cited to establish notability.
- Trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may not be sufficient to establish notability.
- Once notability is established, primary sources may be used to add content.
- The person has been the subject of a credible independent biography.
- The person has received significant recognized awards or honors.
- The person has demonstrable wide name recognition
- The person has made a widely recognized contribution that is part of the enduring historical record in his or her specific field.
- Commercial endorsements of demonstrably notable products
- Politicians:
- Politicians who have held international, national or statewide/provincewide office, and members and former members of a national, state or provincial legislature.
- Major local political figures who have received significant press coverage.
- Just being an elected local official, or an unelected candidate for political office, does not guarantee notability, although such a person may be notable for other reasons besides their political careers alone.
- Athletes:
- Competitors who have played in a fully professional league, or a competition of equivalent standing in a non-league sport such as swimming or tennis
- Competitors who have played or competed at the highest level in amateur sports (who meet the general criteria of secondary sources published about them).
- Entertainers: actors, comedians, opinion makers, models, and television personalities:
- With significant roles in notable films, television, stage performances, and other productions.
- Has a large fan base or a significant "cult" following.
- Has made unique, prolific or innovative contributions to a field of entertainment.
- See WP:MUSIC for guidelines on musicians, composers, groups, etc.
- Pornographic actor:
- Has won or been a serious nominee for a well-known award, such as those listed in Category:Adult movie awards or Category:Film awards or from a major pornographic magazine, such as Penthouse, Playboy, or Playgirl, as well as their counterparts in other pornography genres.
- Has made unique contributions to a specific pornographic genre, such as beginning a trend in pornography, or starring in an iconic, groundbreaking or blockbuster feature.
- Has been featured multiple times in mainstream media.
- Creative professionals: scientists, academics, economists, professors, authors, editors, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, artists, architects, engineers, and other creative professionals.
- The person is regarded as an important figure or is widely cited by their peers or successors.
- The person is known for originating a significant new concept, theory or technique.
- The person has created, or played a major role in co-creating, a significant or well-known work, or collective body of work, which has been the subject of an independent book or feature-length film, or of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews.
- The person's work either (a) has become a significant monument, (b) has been a substantial part of a significant exhibition, (c) has won significant critical attention, or (d) is represented within the permanent collections of several notable galleries, museums or internationally significant libraries.
- See Wikipedia:Notability (academics) for guidelines on academics
- Non valid general criteria:
- That a person has a relationship with a well-known person is not a reason for a standalone article; see Relationships do not transfer notability. However, the person may be included in the related article. For example Brooklyn Beckham and Jason Allen Alexander
- Avoid criteria based on search engine statistics (e.g., Google hits or Alexa ranking), or measuring the number of photos published online. The adult film industry, for example, uses Googlebombing to influence rankings. See also limitations of Alexa.
Articles not satisfying the criteria
Not explaining notability
If an article does not explain notability, try to improve it by:
- Rewriting it yourself
- Asking the article's editor(s) for advice.
Not sufficient sources
If an article fails to cite sufficient sources:
- Look for sources yourself
- Ask the article's editor(s) for advice on where to look for sources.
- Put the {{notability|biographies}} tag on the article to notify other editors.
- If the article is about a specialized field, use the {{expert-subject}} tag with a specific WikiProject to attract editors knowledgeable about that field, who may have access to reliable sources not available online.
Failing basic criteria but meeting additional criteria
If neither a satisfying explanation nor appropriate sources can be found for a standalone article, but the person meets one or more of the additional criteria:
- Merge the article into a broader article providing context.
- Place a {{Mergeto}} tag on the page, indicating the page where the article may be merged.
- If no article currently exists into which the person can be merged, consider writing the article yourself or request the article be written.
Failing all criteria
If no criteria can be met for either a standalone article or inclusion in a more general article, and improvements have not worked or cannot be reasonably tried, then there are three deletion procedures to be considered:
- If the article does not assert or demonstrate notability, use the {{db-bio}} tag to request speedy deletion.
- Use the {{prod}} tag, for articles which do not meet the criteria for speedy deletion, but are uncontroversial deletion candidates. This allows the article to be deleted after five days if nobody objects. For more information, see Wikipedia:Proposed deletion.
- For cases where you are unsure about deletion or believe others might object, nominate the article for the articles for deletion process, where the merits will be debated and deliberated for 5 days.
Lists of people
Several articles contain or stand alone as lists of people - for instance, usually an article on a college includes or links to a list of notable alumni. Such lists are not intended to contain everyone (e.g. not all people who ever graduated from the school). Instead, inclusion on the list should be determined by the criteria above. Because of this, "notable" is assumed, and that word (or similar, such as "famous," "noted," "prominent," etc.) should not be included in the title of the list article. See list naming conventions.
Editors who would like to add themselves to such lists should instead use categories of editors for this purpose, e.g. Category:Wikipedians by alma mater.
Articles on Wikipedians
Some Wikipedians have articles on them, as seen on Wikipedia:Wikipedians with articles. Their status as Wikipedians in and of itself has neither a positive or negative effect on their notability, regardless of whether they were Wikipedians before or after their articles were created (note: WP:COI still has bearing on their editing their own articles). If a Wikipedian meets other normal standards for inclusion, such as WP:BIO above, WP:ATT, WP:RS, and WP:V, their status as former, current, or future Wikipedians (editors, administrators, etc.) shall have no bearing on the inclusion nor the deletion of the article in and of itself; all articles, even these to avoid internal Wikipedia conflict of interests, will be judged solely by the applicable policies of notability and inclusion. Being a User on any Wikimedia Foundation project gives no special benefit or bearing to the ultimate fate of the article; articles about Users are to be handled the same as articles on non-Users.
Notes
- ^ What constitutes a "published work" is deliberately broad.
- ^ Autobiography and self-promotion are not the routes to having an encyclopaedia article. The barometer of notability is whether people independent of the subject itself have actually considered the subject notable enough that they have written and published non-trivial works that focus upon it.
- ^ Non-triviality is a measure of the depth of content of a published work, and how far removed that content is from a simple directory entry or a mention in passing that does not discuss the subject in detail. A 200-page independent biography of a person that covers that person's life in detail is non-trivial, whereas a birth certificate or a 1-line listing on an election ballot form is not. The existence of a memorial (e.g., a named chair at a university) is not a substitute for depth of content in published work.
- ^ Generally, person who is "part of the enduring historical record" will have been written about, in depth, independently in multiple history books on that field, by historians. A politician who has received "significant press coverage" has been written about, in depth, independently in multiple news feature articles, by journalists. An actor who has been featured in magazines has been written about, in depth, independently in multiple magazine feature articles, by magazine article writers. An actor or TV personality who has "an independent biography" has been written about, in depth, in a book, by an independent biographer.
- ^ This is a secondary criterion. People who satisfy this criterion will almost always satisfy the primary criterion. Biographers and historians will usually have already written about the past and present holders of major political offices. However, this criterion ensures that our coverage of major political offices, incorporating all of the present and past holders of that office, will be complete regardless.
- ^ Sources that are pure derivatives of an original source can be used as references, but do not contribute toward establishing the notability of a subject. "Intellectual independence" requires not only that the content of sources be non-identical, but also that the entirety of content in a published work not be derived from (or based in) another work (partial derivations are acceptable). For example, a speech by a politician about a particular person contributes toward establishing the notability of that person, but multiple reproductions of the transcript of that speech by different news outlets do not. A biography written about a person contributes toward establishing his or her notability, but a summary of that biography lacking an original intellectual contribution does not.
- ^ Wikipedia editors have been known to reject nominations for deletion that have been inadequately researched. Research should include attempts to find sources which might demonstrate notability, and/or information which would demonstrate notability in another manner.