 | This is anessay on thedeletion policy. 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: This page is a response to theWP:EVERYTHING argument. Wikipedia must have content. |
DuringWP:AFD discussions on topics that editors may view as relatively obscure and not notable, editors supporting deletion of those articles will often quoteWP:EVERYTHING, stating that "Wikipedia is not about everything."
Examples:
It is true that Wikipedia is not about everything, nor can it ever be about everything. To that end, the Wikipedia community has decided not to document every verifiable fact and has established notability guidelines on what should be kept.
On the other hand,Wikipedia is not about "nothing", either. The guidelines established by the community are far broader than those of any paper encyclopedia.
TheWP:EVERYTHING essay noted above states that the purpose of the "everything" argument "is to prevent Wikipedia from becoming unmaintainable." This is a worthwhile goal. However, as more enthusiastic editors come to Wikipedia and as technology advances to ease support and maintenance tasks, this system is increasingly able to handle expansion and Wikipedia guidelines for notability should broaden concomitantly.
Editors who use the "everything" argument are urged to provide more detail of their argument.Why does a certain article not meet notability standards?Why should it be excluded? These kinds of questions lead to more details and can provide a more fruitful discussion.
The "everything" guideline states: "So think carefully and exercise judgment when determining what should be included in an encyclopedia." True—but also think carefully and exercise judgment when determining what should be deleted from an encyclopedia.