 | 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: In a deletion discussion, arguments for keeping the article should be based on reliable sources, not opinions. |
On Wikipedia there are set policies and guidelines regardingnotability andverifiability; when an article fails to meet these criteria, it is generally nominated for deletion viaproposed deletion orArticles for Deletion. Normally this results in a clean consensus to delete (assuming of course that the nomination and discussion was valid); however, there are cases when an editor, often someone new to Wikipedia, tries to defend an article because they do not understandwhy the article was nominated for deletion.
For example, assume the articlePopular Awesome X, which covers a video game, is nominated for deletion because it fails to meet notability guidelines.An inexperienced editor who is in some way a fan of the game may see the AfD tag and panic, deciding to rush to the article's aid with something like:
Strong keep this is clearly an important game and its really popular. All my best friends play and love this game.PAXfan01(talk) 96:00 am, Sometime (UTC+i)
However, this argument holds no weight since:
If you are new to Wikipedia, or you are otherwise unfamiliar with itsdeletion policy, and you wish to participate in a deletion discussion, please keep in mind thatnotability is not a matter of opinion. Arguments for keeping the article should be supported by reasonable evidence such asreliable sources, notwhatever you believe. If you cannot find any suitable references after a thorough Google search, then you maytag the article for rescue if you are certain the topic is notable.
If you do find references to support notability of the subject, you are not limited to listing them in your argument; even during the AfD process, you are welcome and encouraged to add your references ascitations in the article itself. This demonstrates your willingness to improve and contribute to Wikipedia, and can further show that the subject is indeed notable and does meet Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. Most importantly, while listing your citations may result in the article being kept, adding them to the article is more effective for your cause as it helps to explain how the topic is notable; in addition, it saves other editors the trouble of having to look for references afterwards, and does more to improve the article than a debate that is eventually forgotten and overlooked.
Above all else, try not to get worked up over a deletion debate; after all,Wikipedia isn't actually that important.
From a more philosophical perspective, notability is also perhaps notentirely objective; necessarily permanent; judged in isolation; nor based on merit; these points are covered in detail at the essayWP:What notability is not. It is also said that notabilityis not a level playing field. From a policy standpoint, notability is alsoneither relevance nor reliability.