Wikipedia:Two prongs of merit
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This page in a nutshell: The What Wikipedia is not . In deletion discussions, editors can sometimes talk across each other by talking only about one prong. |
The
A topic is presumed to merit an article if:
- It meets either the general notability guideline (GNG) below, or the criteria outlined in a subject-specific notability guideline (SNG); and
- It is not excluded under the
What Wikipedia is notpolicy.
Therefore, meriting an article has two necessary conditions, or prongs: the general notability prong and the non-exclusion prong. Meeting Wikipedia's notability guidelines is not sufficient for a topic to merit an article: the topic must also not be excluded under the
Relevance for deletion discussions
In deletion discussions, editors often cite only one prong of merit, but rarely both. For example, for topics recently in the news, typical !votes might read:
- Keep. The topic is getting a lot of coverage in worldwide newspapers, clearly meeting WP:GNG. Incredulitiousness (talk), 01:10, 1 January 2010 (UTC)]
- Delete per WP:NOTNEWS. This article is outside the scope of Wikipedia. BetterWithAge (talk), 01:20, 1 January 2010 (UTC)]
It is difficult to read
If you are contributing to a deletion discussion in which editors with opposing !votes cite notability and
Here are more helpful !votes addressing both prongs of merit:
- Keep. The topic is getting a lot of coverage in worldwide newspapers, clearly meeting WP:NOTNEWS. Incredulitiousness (talk), 01:10, 1 January 2010 (UTC)]
- Delete per sustained coverage, which this event is unlikely to have. BetterWithAge (talk), 01:20, 1 January 2010 (UTC)]
So, when participating in relevant deletion discussions, consider addressing both