Wikipedia:Directory articles
 | The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. |
A directory article (DART) is a navigational list article about a set of items that relate to an institution or person that does not have a content article. These include institutions with notable alumni, creators with notable works, publishers with notable publications, and so on. The article on the parent institution or person redirects to the directory article; should the parent article be created, the directory article should either be merged to the parent article or converted into a non-navigational stand-alone list.
Directories, set indexes, and disambiguation
[edit]Directory articles, set index articles, and disambiguation pages are not the same thing:
- A disambiguation page (DAB) is a non-article collection of things that share the same or similar names, including things of different types. (Example: Void)
- A set index article (SIA) lists things that share a name and type. It is a type of article, specifically a navigational list. (Example: Year of the Three Kings)
- A directory article (DART) is a type of article that lists things that have a common relationship to a non-notable thing. It is also a navigational list. (Example: Complexly)
Like SIAs, DARTs can contain redlinks to encourage creation of notable entries, as well as references to justify inclusion in the list.
Notability
[edit]Lists are created for two reasons: either to cover a notable topic, or as a navigational aid for finding other notable topics. Both of those, however, are content pages. Like SIAs, DARTs are navigational lists, and are content pages as such (as opposed to disambiguation pages, which are not lists). Unlike SIAs and lists, though, directory articles don't need to cover their scope exhaustively – directory articles are meant to point readers to articles (see WP:CSC). Redirects can also be included if the redirect target has some non-trivial discussion of the redirected topic.
Directory articles are not an exception to existing notability guidelines or a new kind of article; they're a lightweight way to address an existing gap in coverage of notable topics. Articles like List of projects by Complexly are notable as navigational lists already, but creating that article as a "notable list" would be overkill, and might get deleted by a local consensus that incorrectly assumes that lists not marked as SIAs necessarily have to have reliable sourcing to exist. The DART label, like the SIA label, tells editors and readers that the list serves a navigational purpose.