Wikipedia:WikiProject Notability

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WikiProject Notability
Welcome to WikiProject Notability! We are currently working on a significant backlog, and need your help!
 

The Notability Project is a WikiProject based on Category:Articles with topics of unclear notability. The aim is to get more editors involved and to support those currently involved in fixing, merging, or deleting (as a last resort) apparently non-notable articles with the ultimate aim to correctly place all articles based on their verifiable notability. The project also aims to simplify the filtration process and explain it more clearly so as not to confuse newcomers and to encourage participation.

Scopes and goals[edit]

WikiProject Notability aims to sort articles of unclear notability by improving articles that are notable and then removing the notability tag. If the article is non-notable with no significant coverage in reliable sources found after searching and is inappropriate for a merge then deletion is sought by either Speedy deletion, Proposed deletion or Articles for deletion.

Articles assesssed to be Featured articles or Good articles have already been carefully checked for notability, and to a lesser extent so have B class articles. Therefore, articles of unclear notability are mainly in the stub class, start class and to a lesser extent C class categories.

We welcome input from any editors who would like to help out, either on a regular basis, or one or two articles when you have time. The greatest contribution to the project is inviting members, as this helps build support and ensures that there are people to clear the backlog.

How to help[edit]

  1. Find an article to work on. Articles are sorted by date. Many editors choose to work on the oldest articles first, so that articles will not sit around too long in the category. The to-do list at the top of this page should contain the oldest set of articles. Alternatively, you may want to use article categories by date or article listings by WikiProject categories.
User:SD0001/shortdescs-in-category can be used to view short descriptions of pages in the categories – so that you can pick articles you're comfortable with.
  1. Check to see if the article contains a copyright violation. There are a few red flags that indicate text was probably illegally copied into Wikipedia - this actually happens quite frequently. User:Kjkolb/Copyvio has a quick guide and you may also like to use copyscape.com or Earwig's Copyvio Detector for finding copyright violations. Instructions for reporting violations are at Wikipedia:Copyright problems.
  2. Check to see if another article exists on the subject. If so, then you can consider merging that article to the original.
  3. Find sources if none are cited in the article. Make full use of Google Books, Google News, Google Scholar, Google Web, JSTOR, LexisNexis, and any other search tools that you may have access to. Use variations on the article's title and other keywords from the article. The {{find}} template could be useful in this regard.
  4. Sort! You can mainly use common sense, but adhering to the guidelines of WP:BIO, WP:CORP, WP:BAND (from where the most frequent violations come), and other notability criteria.
    1. If the article meets notability requirements, or if the article simply needs expanding, remove the notability or importance tag and replace it with an appropriate tag. If not, the article might need to be deleted. Please use deletion as a last resort.
    2. If the article meets speedy deletion requirements, add the appropriate db tag.
    3. If the article should undeniably be deleted, add {{subst:prod|Your-reason-here}}, replacing "Your-reason-here" with an appropriate reason.
    4. If the article might encounter some controversy when being deleted, add {{subst:afd1}} and then proceed to follow the steps to file an AfD discussion.
    5. Do not remove the notability/importance tags during one of the above deletion procedures.
    6. If an article is kept as the result of an AfD discussion, the {{notability}} tag should be removed. {{importance}} tags indicate that some rewriting of the article is required and should not be removed until that has been done. However, if the result is "no consensus", retain all tags, as the issue is not decided.
  5. Enhance your edit summary As soon as you are done sorting, add to your edit summary:
Sorted as part of the [[WP:WPNN|Notability wikiproject]]!

Special handling[edit]

Some articles with notability questions need special handling, as described below. (These instructions may be updated on short notice.)

  • TV episodes and characters: Due to controversies in 2007 and 2008 about their notability,[1] articles about TV episodes or characters from TV shows should be handled with special care. It may not be possible to sort these articles on the short term. If you find such article on the end of the backlog (say the oldest 2-3 months) and cannot sort it, please add the parameter "cat=TV" to the notability tag. This will move the article off the backlog and to a special category, Television articles with topics of unclear notability, where it can be handled appropriately. Example:
{{notability|episode|date=June 2007|cat=TV}}

Current progress[edit]

Articles with topics of unclear notability
Subtotals
August 20101
September 201048
October 201050
November 201078
December 2010198
January 2011113
February 2011136
March 2011210
April 2011209
May 2011233
June 2011226
July 2011234
August 2011205
September 2011263
October 2011236
November 2011192
December 2011275
January 2012236
February 2012259
March 2012217
April 2012206
May 2012227
June 2012214
July 2012238
August 2012273
September 2012195
October 2012236
November 2012232
December 2012229
January 2013159
February 2013184
March 2013230
April 2013239
May 2013183
June 2013254
July 2013179
August 2013196
September 2013185
October 2013238
November 2013209
December 2013190
January 2014251
February 2014239
March 2014223
April 2014154
May 2014246
June 2014254
July 2014247
August 2014239
September 2014326
October 2014247
November 2014185
December 2014177
January 2015255
February 2015293
March 2015314
April 2015311
May 2015307
June 2015272
July 2015271
August 2015257
September 2015239
October 2015247
November 2015312
December 2015273
January 2016271
February 2016240
March 2016238
April 2016342
May 2016335
June 2016236
July 2016276
August 2016255
September 2016277
October 2016287
November 2016225
December 2016299
January 2017313
February 2017396
March 2017335
April 2017342
May 2017397
June 2017421
July 2017463
August 2017332
September 2017306
October 2017275
November 2017310
December 2017331
January 2018426
February 2018299
March 2018341
April 2018356
May 2018331
June 2018328
July 2018279
August 2018328
September 2018365
October 2018280
November 2018382
December 2018272
January 2019443
February 2019271
March 2019366
April 2019305
May 2019392
June 2019325
July 2019363
August 2019257
September 2019215
October 2019291
November 2019299
December 2019252
January 2020396
February 2020356
March 2020385
April 2020428
May 2020419
June 2020711
July 2020376
August 2020381
September 2020455
October 2020524
November 2020437
December 2020435
January 2021361
February 2021377
March 2021439
April 2021432
May 2021466
June 2021488
July 2021413
August 2021429
September 2021370
October 2021487
November 2021457
December 2021402
January 2022444
February 2022551
March 2022462
April 2022472
May 2022507
June 2022728
July 2022674
August 2022486
September 2022669
October 2022682
November 2022551
December 2022447
January 2023703
February 2023530
March 2023738
April 2023936
May 2023840
June 2023649
July 2023556
August 2023566
September 2023534
October 2023586
November 2023694
December 2023722
January 20241,249
February 20241,032
March 2024818
Undated articles0

Join the project[edit]

Please add your signature to the bottom of the list of project members.

Userbox[edit]

There is a userbox that you can add to your user page once you join:

{{User WikiProject notability}} displays as
NNThis user is part of the notability sorting drive.

Invitation template[edit]

There is a template that you can add to a user's talk page to invite them to join this project:

{{WikiProject Notability Invite}} displays as

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ See the final decisions of the ArbCom case concerning this problem.

See also[edit]