 | This is anessay onnotability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Public relations slang, like "we offer solutions", is a good indication that an article is promotional and may not be notable. |
Onnew page patrol andarticles for creation, one often comes across pages about companies that provide something calledsolutions. It might be something like: "Acme Corp provides cutting-edgesolutions for optimizing business processes and boosting efficiency."
The Wikipedia article onSolution (chemistry) states, in the first paragraph, that a solution "is a special type ofhomogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is a substancedissolved in another substance, known as asolvent." One may also findsolutions as the goal ofequation solving.
So if one writes an article about a company that provides solutions, the very least the reader expects to know is whatsolvent is used and whatsolute gets dissolved in it; or else what kind of equation solving they offer.
There is of course another definition of "solution" which is commonly found on newly created pages, one that warrants considering the entire articlepromotional and, in the more extreme cases, tagging it forspeedy deletion. This latter definition of "solution" is public relations slang that should be avoided in Wikipedia articles.
A non-notable company that offers "solutions" will not be made notable by replacing the word "solution" with another word, and may remain a strong candidate for deletion unless its notability is clear and is supported by its references. However, even a well-referenced article can be deleted if its content is considered overly promotional— offering "solutions" is a warning word of a promotional tone. Other similar words that warn of promotion are "platform" or "infrastructure" or other trendybuzzwords. Calling something "global" or "worldwide" is also often pure promotion: where else would it be? So just removing these words generally conveys the same information.If you would like to move an article away from being promotional and toward neutrality, the word "solutions" can sometimes be replaced by "services", "products", "systems" or other words that more accurately describe what the company does or provides to customers.
The phrase "software solutions" in Wikipedia articles can often be fixed simply by removing the word "solutions" and leaving the word "software", like this:
Before: "FooBar Inc. providesengineering software solutions and consulting services to candy manufacturers throughout eastern Slovakia."
After: "FooBar Inc. providesengineering software and consulting services to candy manufacturers throughout eastern Slovakia."
Before: "FooSecurity providessecurity solutions to a number of Western countries, including the US and the UK."
After: "FooSecurity providesex-soldiers on contract who provide security services, bodyguarding, military advising and combat support for a number of Western countries, including the US and the UK."
Before: "FooWaste Management provideswaste management solutions across Canada."
After: "FooWaste Management providesgarbage and sewage disposal services across Canada."