View source for Wikipedia:Historical archive/Policy/Notability

{{whai
| description = Collection of early discussions on the concept of notability within Wikipedia and associated proposals, predating the establishment of [[Wikipedia:Notability]] in 2006
| active-period = from November 2003 to November 2007
}}

== Notability history in Wikipedia ==
The concept of '''''notability''' of the subject of an article'' as a deletion criterion on Wikipedia began (so far as there is a clear record) in early 2004, and has varied widely from proposal to proposal, from highly subjective concepts like "fame" or "importance", through incomprehensible ones like "actionability", to, finally, today's stable and more objective [[Wikipedia:Notability]] guideline&nbsp;– which still has its critics.  No issue on Wikipedia has seen more debate, nor perhaps more heated debate, than some variation on notability as a dividing line on whether to allow or delete an article.

Below is a list of most if not all of the Wikipedia-wide guideline/policy proposals, and development-influential essays, relating to notability in some way or another, with their ''active development'' lifespans, and notes.

=== Guideline proposals ===
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* '''[[Wikipedia:Notability]] a.k.a. [[WP:N]]''' (September 2006 &ndash; present) &ndash; Attempts to define "notability" objectively, as having ''multiple, independent reliable sources''.  Disposition: Active and stable [[Template:Guideline|Guideline]] (was [[Template:Disputed|Disputed]] and under heavy revision, while designated a guideline, ca. December 2006 &ndash; February 2007). May conflict with [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy]]'s recognition of several, more subjective subject-specific notability criteria as actionable for article deletion.  These issues have mostly been ironed out as of the late 2010s, though some subject-specific notability guidelines retain language that appears to suggest they supersede WP:N's ''general notability guideline'' ([[WP:GNG]]), causing sporadic debate.
* '''[[Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions]]''' a.k.a. '''[[WP:AADD]]''' (August 2006 &ndash; present) &ndash; Multi-topic essay on just what it says, including various fallacious notability and non-notability arguments (e.g. at its "[[Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions#What about article x?|What about article x?]]" and "[[Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions#It's useful/useless|It's useful/important]]" sections).  Disposition: Active and stable [[Template:Essay|Essay]], so heavily relied upon at [[WP:AFD]] and other XfDs that it should probably be tagged a [[Template:Guideline|Guideline]].
* '''[[/Arguments|Notability arguments for and against deletion of articles]]''' (May 2005 &ndash; September 2006, with some additional minor activity) &ndash; Evolved into a pair of {{lang|la|pro}} and {{lang|la|con}} lists of arguments about the applicability of "notability" to the article deletion process; as such it retains value as a summary of the debate.  Began as an attempt to define "notability" as "known outside of a narrow interest group" and (unsuccessfully) to distinguish "notability" from such ideas as "fame", "importance", or "notoriety".  Disposition: Re-designated an [[Template:Essay|Essay]]; remains semi-active as a catalog of generalized arguments, but not frequently cited at [[WP:AFD]].
* '''[[/Notability changes|Notability changes needed to policies]]''' (October 2005 &ndash; January 2006) <!--&ndash; $NOTES.--> Disposition: [[Template:Historical|Inactive]] and largely moot.
* '''[[/Non-notability|Non-notability]]''' (June 2006 &ndash; October 2006) &ndash; A counter-proposal to [[WP:N]]; was supported by "Non-notability/Essay" (below).  Disposition: [[Template:Rejected|Rejected]], per [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Non-Notability|a Request for Arbitration]].
* '''[[/Significance|Significance]]''' a.k.a. '''Notability/Proposal''' (March 2006 &ndash; May 2006) &mdash; The first known attempt at an objective criterion (as a proposal or essay), which clearly influenced the later "general notability guideline" ([[WP:GNG]]) of [[WP:Notability]] (via the Uncle G essay, below, which called the same concept the "primary notability criterion" or PNC); it was the first to call for ''multiple, independent reliable sources'', though did so in longer wording. Disposition: [[Template:Historical|Inactive]] and moot (supplanted by [[WP:N]]).
*'''[[/Informative|Informative]]''' (November 2003 &ndash; May 2005) &ndash; A proposal that defined notability in terms of "actionability", such that if an article topic could be researched, could be found to have a fan base, could stimulate a lot of talk page discussion, or otherwise something could be ''done'' with regard to it, it was notable (thus even a rock star's guitar that he'd named "Betty" could be "notable" if interviews or a fansite mentioned it, or Wikipedians argued over why it was named that), while otherwise a topic was non-notable (e.g. flavor of particular kinds of garden soil). 
* '''[[/Importance|Importance]]''' (August 2004 &ndash; August 2006) &ndash; Criteria included the ill-defined "important", "famous", and "relevant", and even more questionable ones such as having a longer-than-[[WP:STUB|stub]] article already, or declared to be "important" by multiple editors on the article's talk page (echoes of this idea remain in the [[WP:CSD|Criteria for speedy deletion]], in which articles that simply ''assert'' the notability of their topic, even without sources, cannot be ''speedily'' deleted on grounds of non-notability). This one is principally interesting for [[Wikipedia talk:Historical archive/Policy/Notability/Importance|its talk page]] rather than its sparse and confused content. Disposition: [[Template:Historical|Inactive]] and moot (replaced by more objective criteria on the road to [[WP:N]]).
* '''[[Wikipedia talk:Historical archive/Policy/Notability/Fame and importance|Fame and importance]]''' (January 2004 &ndash; April 2006) &ndash; Began as a poll on whether notability criteria should be applied to Wikipedia.  Poll results: 57&ndash;38, ''no consensus'', with much ado about [[Wikipedia:Argumentum ad Jimbonem|Jimbo]]'s position on the issue. The difficulty of coming to consensus on determining what criteria/definition to apply is well-recorded here. Disposition: [[Template:Historical|Inactive]] and moot.  <small>Note: Most of the content was moved to its talk page because it turned into a discussion rather than a project/essay; the non-talk page is just a pointer to the talk page.</small>
* '''[[/Arguments|Notability arguments]]''' (September 2006 – November 2007) – More of a consensus discussion and a catalogue of {{lang|la|pro}} and {{lang|la|con}} arguments.
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=== Essays ===
{{see also|Category:Wikipedia essays about notability}}
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* '''[[User:Uncle G/On_notability|On Notability]]''' (a.k.a. '''the Uncle G notability essay''' and '''the PNC essay''' (July 2006 &ndash; December 2006, with minor updates) &ndash; the origin of the "general notability criterion" (formerly "primary notability criterion") as currently used in [[WP:N]] and the more objective approach now favored.  Disposition: Active [[Template:User essay|User Essay]]; as such it is not any form of [[WP:POLICY|policy]], but the [[Wikipedia:Notability]] guideline is its direct descendant in many respects. No longer frequently mentioned directly, though it was into the early 2010s.
* '''[[User:SMcCandlish/Notability and Deletion policy|Notability and Deletion policy]]''' (July 2006 &ndash; July 2007, with minor updates) &ndash; Lingering problems surrounding integration of [[WP:N]] into Wikipedia [[WP:DEL|Deletion policy]] and processes, and ideas on what to do about them.  Disposition: A marginally active [[Template:User essay|User Essay]], some of the concerns raised by which remained current into the early 2010s; it is not frequently mentioned, though updated every few years with additional observations.
* '''[[Wikipedia:Inclusion is not an indicator of notability|Inclusion is not an indicator of notability]]''' (June 2006 &ndash; March 2007) &ndash; A short piece that essentially says "just because there are other similar articles in Wikipedia doesn't mean that the article in question is automatically notable". Disposition: [[Template:Historical|Historical]] and moot (largely supplanted by [[Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions]], especially [[WP:WHATABOUTX]] and [[WP:ITSIMPORTANT]]).
* '''[[/List of ways to verify notability of articles|List of ways to verify notability of articles]]''' (July 2005 &ndash; September 2006) &ndash; Rather skeletal list of means for determining if an article topic is notable enough for an article, ranging from [[WP:GOOGLE|the search engine test]] to library research; criticized as encouraging unreliable methods (methods still over-used in [[WP:AFD]] even today).  Disposition: [[Template:Rejected|Rejected]].
*'''[[/Non-notability/Essay|Non-notability/Essay]]''' (July 2005 &ndash; September 2006) &ndash; A perhaps well-''reasoned'' essay in defense of the Non-notability proposal (above) that in the end was not very ''persuasive''.  Disposition: [[Template:Historical|Inactive]], and moot.
* '''[[/Essay|Notability/Essay]]''' (October 2005 &ndash; June 2006) <!-- &ndash; NOTES NEEDED --> Disposition: [[Template:Historical|Inactive]].
* '''[[Meta:Deletionism]]''' and '''[[Meta:Inclusionism]]''' &ndash; the basic, opposed "wikiphilosophies" at play in the notability debate (with '''[[Meta:Mergism]]''' being the compromise position between them).  Disposition: All active and stable.
* [[:Category:Wikipedia essays about notability]] – Index of lots of mostly later notability essays, generally about the concept's application and not relevant to the history of its development. The viewpoints are sometimes consensus-laden, others rather lacking in the quality.
** [[:Category:User essays on notability]] – Ditto, mostly toward the "lacking" side

=== Templates ===
* '''[[/Template:Pnc|/Template:Pnc]]''' ([[Wikipedia talk:Historical archive/Policy/Notability/Template:Pnc|talk]]) was created in April 2007 to hold the essential text of [[Wikipedia:Notability]] and be transcluded onto all the notability subguidelines for consistency, but the effort wasn't accepted and it was quickly deleted.

== See also ==
* [[User:El Sandifer/History of notability]] – a user essay on the origins of notability on Wikipedia
* [[User:Pixelface/Timeline of notability guidelines]] – a user essay on the 2001–2009 development of various ideas into the eventual notability guideline

[[Category:Wikipedia archives|Notability (historical)]]
[[Category:Wikipedia culture|Notability (historical)]]
[[Category:Wikipedia essays about notability| ]]
[[Category:Wikipedia notability|Notability (historical)]]
[[Category:Wikipedia history]]