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There have been many Wikipedia:Articles for Deletion (AfD) debates over the years. This page summarizes how various types of articles, subjects, and issues have often been dealt with on AfD.

For an archive of this page, see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Precedents/Archive.

Template:FixBunching

Citing this page in AfD

This page summarizes the typical outcomes of past AfD discussions for some commonly nominated subjects.

This page is not a policy or guideline, and previous outcomes do not bind future ones because consensus can change. The community's actual notability guidelines are listed in the template at the right. Notability always requires verifiable evidence, and all articles on all subjects are kept or deleted on the basis of their sources, not their subjective importance or relationship to something else. All articles should be evaluated individually on their merits and their ability to conform to standard content policies such as WP:Verifiability and WP:Neutral point of view.

As guidelines and actual practice change, this page should be updated to reflect current outcomes.

Avoid under-reliance on common outcomes: Although they are not required to follow common outcomes, editors may choose to take common outcomes into account. Precedents are useful guides to the practical implementation and interpretation of Wikipedia's notability guidelines. The fact that it's "only" a common outcome is not sufficient grounds to ignore the accumulated weight of Wikipedia's daily practice.

Avoid over-reliance on common outcomes: Although editors should normally not ignore the outcomes summarized here, they should always be used with caution. There are conflicts between past outcomes and current policies or guidelines. The typical outcome may not apply to an unusual situation or edge case. Avoid using this informational page as the sole argument in an AfD discussion. As this list of outcomes is not binding, the fact that a particular outcome is common should not be interpreted as indisputable evidence that a particular topic is either always entitled to a separate article or never allowed an article.

If you feel that an outcome common to articles like the one you are discussing does not apply, then give a common-sense or guidelines-based reason why it shouldn't apply. Avoid weak or illogical arguments, such as "Notability is only an optional guideline" or "We always keep these articles".

General notability guideline

A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. However, there is still a lot of debate on notability, as for obvious reasons, not every person, business, or street can be considered notable, so on such topics, the line has to be further drawn.

Companies

Blatant advertising pages have been subject to speedy deletion.
Products that have been planned but not created yet, are generally deleted. See WP:CRYSTAL. However, exceptions have included "future-tech" items which already have substantial referencing behind the fundamental concept, such as fusion reactors, and prominent products in development (e.g. the next version of a computer operating system) for which well-sourced product updates are released on a relatively regular basis.
Companies reported as significant subjects of news coverage are usually sufficiently notable.
Local retailers and service merchants (franchises or individually owned) are generally deleted, with exceptions, including first-of-a-kind businesses (e.g. the first motel), those centered around a major historical event, or tourist attractions.

Note: There are some informative concerns expressed at the Discussion Page which may help you in evaluating the notability of companies.

Education

Schools are frequently nominated for deletion. Most elementary and middle schools that don't source a clear claim to notability are now getting merged or redirected in AfD, with high schools being kept except where they fail verifiability. Schools that don't meet the standard typically get merged or redirected to the school district that operates them (North America) or the lowest level locality (elsewhere) rather than being completely removed from the encyclopedia. See WP:ORG.
Classrooms or lessons are usually deleted as not notable.
Clubs are generally deleted as not notable unless they are syndicated or coordinated on a national/international level (e.g. Model UN or Gay Straight Alliance). See WP:ORG.
Most schoolteachers are considered not notable, and thus deleted.
Classes are often deleted as not notable (but they are usually about a notable subject, e.g., psychology).
Professors (in the American sense of the word) tend to be kept and deleted in about equal numbers. Generally, tenured professors at major research institutions and top liberal-arts colleges tend to be kept, while assistant professors without major awards are deleted (see WP:PROF).
Students are generally deleted as not notable (see WP:BIO).
Departments or degree programs within a university, college, or school are generally not considered notable unless they have made significant contributions to their field (e.g., University of Chicago Department of Economics), or produced a number of notable graduates (USC School of Cinematic Arts, Oxford PPE).
The notability of student unions may vary between different countries and different universities. A case-by-case demonstration of notability for each student union should be the prime determining factor. (Refer to WP:UNIGUIDE#Student life for specifics)
WP:REDIRECT is a guideline that allows short articles to be merged into larger, possibly more notable parent articles. This is a viable solution for short articles about elementary schools rather than cluttering up AfD which averages 120-130 new and concurrent debates per day.

Broadcast media

Licensed radio and TV stations are generally kept as notable if they broadcast over the air and originate at least a portion of their programming schedule in their own studios. Lower power radio stations limited to a small neighborhood, such as Part 15 operations in the United States or stations with a VF# callsign in Canada, are not inherently notable, although they may be kept if some real notability can be demonstrated. Stations that only rebroadcast the signal of another station should be redirected to their programming source (e.g. CICO-TV is a redirect to TVOntario.)
Internet radio stations are usually kept as notable if they can demonstrate a clear and verifiable cultural notability or influence. AOL Radio and WOXY, for instance, are clearly notable, but your own personal Peercast stream with three listeners is not.
Satellite radio channels on XM, Sirius or WorldSpace are kept, but if they merely relay an existing conventional broadcast service such as Fox News or Deutsche Welle, then the satellite service should be written about as part the existing service's article rather than as a separate article.
Television series broadcast nationally by a major network or produced by a major studio are usually kept as they are considered notable.

Computing

Communities, message boards and blogs are generally deleted as not notable
Flash animations are generally deleted as not notable, unless they are extremely well-known
Programming languages are usually kept if widely used
Notability of Internet phenomena is widely disputed.
Internet radio stations: see #Media.

Lists

Lists and categories have different uses, and lists nominated for deletion because they have overlapping categories are often kept.
However, this criterion does not mean that it's always necessary or valid to have both a list and a category for any given grouping of topics. Categories which duplicate lists with no obvious purpose for the pairing, or which are attempting to serve a purpose for which a list would be a more appropriate presentation, may sometimes be deleted based on the principles and practices of Wikipedia:Categories for discussion. See Wikipedia:Overcategorization for further information. Lists are sometimes also deleted because they duplicate the functionality of a category and the category serves the purpose better.

Literature

Published authors are kept as notable if they have received multiple independent reviews of or awards for their work, or if their work is likely to be very widely read.
Books are notable (and thus kept) if well-known, and should be listed under the author if not.
Characters and locations from books are often deleted, unless a large amount of information is written on a character. See Wikipedia:Notability (fiction) (proposal).
Fanfic is generally deleted as not notable
Poems and other literary texts themselves are often deleted as they often violate copyright; articles about poems or texts are often kept (if the poems/texts are notable).

Music

Bands and musicians are kept as notable if they have been written about non-trivially by multiple sources.
Albums are often kept as notable in and of themselves, if the artist is notable. Articles that provide the name of the band and more info than a mere tracklist are kept more often than articles that do not. An article on an album whose artist does not have an article is usually considered a candidate for speedy deletion.
Untitled, unreleased albums very rarely pass WP:CRYSTAL, and are often deleted — however, once a title and track listing have been confirmed by the artist or their record label for an upcoming release, an article on the album is not a WP:CRYSTAL violation if the information is properly referenced to reliable sources. See WP:HAMMER.
Articles on band members are often deleted if listed in an article separate from the band, unless the person is deemed notable for his/her independent accomplishments
Lyrics are usually deleted, as they belong in WikiSource, unless they are copyright violations
Articles about songs are generally considered not notable, and deleted. Songs which have been verifiable Top 40 hits do, however, tend to survive AFD, although not without dissent.
Concert tours are only kept as notable if they are well-referenced by third-party reliable sources to show notability in terms of artistic approach, financial success, relationship to audience, or other such terms. Tour articles that only list tour dates and set lists are liable to be deleted, as are articles that are unreferenced or rely only upon fan sites.

People

See also other sections of this page for musicians, etc.

Celebrities: Many celebrities are kept as notable.
- Family members of celebrities are generally merged with the articles about celebrities themselves, unless:
  - The family member meets notability requirements themselves, e.g. Ashlee Simpson and Jessica Simpson; not James Fawcett.
  - If such a subsection in the main article becomes large and unwieldy, then a separate article may become valid.
Competitors:
- Winners of contests, games of skill and other competitions: Generally kept as notable only at the national level, and more likely to be notable the more notable the activity/game in question. For example, winners of well-known national spelling bees (like Scripps or CanSpell) may be kept as notable. The typical winner of a local spelling bee is almost always deleted.
- Athletes and other sportspersons: As with contest winners, generally deleted as not notable at the local or regional level. For instance, wrestlers in small leagues are not inherently notable (and the small leagues themselves may not even be notable as organizations).
- Winners of lotteries and other games of chance are not considered inherently notable, and usually deleted.
Politicians: Political figures at the national level are usually kept as notable, as are usually those at the major sub-national level (US state, Canadian province, Japanese prefecture, etc.)
- Sub-cabinet officials (assistant secretary, commissioner, etc.) are usually considered notable, especially if they have had otherwise notable careers (see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Pete Williams (journalist)).
- Candidates for a national legislature/parliament or other national office are not viewed as having inherent notability. (for example, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Antonia Bance (second nomination)). However, merged lists of candidate biographies are often kept, such as New Democratic Party candidates, 2004 Canadian federal election. Note, however, that some dissent may be expressed if the election campaign in question is currently underway — however, dissent has also been engineered on occasion by the candidate's own campaign office, so monitor this for potential sockpuppetry. The fact that the incumbent has an article has not been, in and of itself, a valid reason to keep articles on electoral opponents who have not already achieved notability: Wikipedia is not a campaign tool.
- Candidates for office below the national level do not have inherent notability simply because they are candidates for office, and are not always kept.
- A leader of a duly-registered political party at the national major sub-national (state, province, prefecture, etc.) level, however, is usually considered notable regardless of that party's degree of electoral success.
- Municipal politicians are not inherently notable just for being in politics, but neither are they inherently non-notable just because they are in local politics. Each case is evaluated on its own individual merits:
  - Mayors of cities of at least regional prominence have usually survived AFD, although the article should say more than just "Jane Doe is the mayor of Cityville". Mayors of smaller towns, however, are generally deemed not notable just for being mayors, although they may be notable for other reasons in addition to their mayoralty. Note that this criterion has not generally been as restrictive as the criterion for city councillors.
  - City councillors and other major municipal officers are not automatically notable, although precedent has tended to favour keeping members of the main citywide government of internationally famous metropolitan areas such as Toronto, Chicago, Tokyo or London. Note, however, that this does not necessarily include borough councillors. Candidates for municipal election are not inherently notable just for their candidacy; these should only have articles if they already meet other criteria for inclusion.
  - Notwithstanding the above two criteria, municipal politicians who (a) represent a historic first, such as the first woman, first person of colour or first LGBT person elected to a municipal government, or (b) have received national or international press coverage, e.g. for acting as a spokesperson on a major political issue or for breaking the law, are also often found to be sufficiently notable. Having been covered only in local media does not necessarily satisfy the "significant press coverage" criterion for notability, however.
Businesspeople: Presidents, Chief Executive Officers, and Chairpersons of the Boards of Directors of companies listed in the Fortune 500 (US) or the FTSE 100 Index (UK) have been found to be sufficiently notable.

Geography and astronomy

Major geographical and geological features featured on maps, such as lakes, rivers, mountains, mountain passes, etc., generally survive AfD
City streets are contested, but minor streets are generally deleted. Most numbered roadways are acceptable, but should only be created if they can be described beyond the route itself. Major, unnumbered streets and roads beyond the level of a side street or neighborhood roadway may be created, but are not guaranteed to survive AfD, as outcomes have varied. An article that explains the social, cultural, historical or political context of a road in depth is more likely to survive AfD than one which merely describes the road's physical characteristics.
Unless a structure is demonstrably historic (like the Eiffel Tower) or otherwise serves an important function to a wide population (such as structures with rotating restaurants, publicly accessible observation decks), stub articles of utilitarian radio and television masts which are only referenced in the FCC database are generally deleted. They have also sometimes been redirected to the relevant tenant radio or TV station, or list of tallest structures in the world.
Asteroids and comets are acceptable e.g. List of asteroids, List of non-periodic comets, and List of periodic comets.

Places

Attractions and landmarks often survive AfD.
Bars, pubs, cafes and hotels may not survive AfD, unless multiple sources have written about them in detail
Cities and villages are generally kept, regardless of size, as long as their existence is verified through a reliable source
Larger neighborhoods are usually kept, but their names must have verifiable widespread usage
Smaller suburbs are generally merged, being listed under the primary city article, except when they consist of legally separate municipalities or communes (e.g., having their own governments)
While the acceptability of large malls is in dispute, strip malls and individual shops are generally deleted. Some articles on large town centers have survived AfD or been merged.

Transportation

Subway and railway lines generally survive AfD, but individual stations are questionable. A dedicated bus rapid transit line, such as Ottawa's Transitway, is also usually kept, but a regular bus line that travels along normal city streets is not usually considered notable, however, some articles about bus lines in major cities have survived AfD — articles that describe the line's history and social impact in depth are more likely to be acceptable.

Bus stops are usually deleted as not notable, with the exception of certain hubs in major cities
In the U.S., state and interstate highways (aka: freeways, turnpikes, expressways and motorways) are usually kept. In Canada, any highway that is part of a province's or territory's official highway system is usually kept.
Highway exits should be listed in an article on a highway, not as a separate article, except for some highly notable ones (e.g. the Springfield Interchange near Washington, D.C.).
County roads are disputed, but are kept if genuine fame or notability is demonstrated. If the notability claim boils down to "it's notable because it exists," however, then redirection to a single merged list of that county's numbered roads is more common.
In the UK, motorway service areas are not considered to be equal to Rest areas in the rest of the world and are generally kept as notable.

@@ Line 107: / Line 107: @@
 ** Winners of lotteries and other games of chance are not considered inherently notable, and usually deleted.
 * Politicians: Political figures at the national level are usually kept as notable, as are usually those at the major sub-national level (US state, Canadian province, Japanese prefecture, etc.)
+** Sub-cabinet officials (assistant secretary, commissioner, etc.) are usually considered notable, especially if they have had otherwise notable careers (see [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Pete Williams (journalist)]]).
 ** Candidates for a national legislature/parliament or other national office are not viewed as having inherent notability.  (for example, [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Antonia Bance (second nomination)]]). However, ''merged'' lists of candidate biographies are often kept, such as [[New Democratic Party candidates, 2004 Canadian federal election]]. Note, however, that some dissent may be expressed if the election campaign in question is currently underway — however, dissent has also been engineered on occasion by the candidate's own campaign office, so monitor this for potential sockpuppetry. The fact that the incumbent has an article has ''not'' been, in and of itself, a valid reason to keep articles on electoral opponents who have not already achieved notability: Wikipedia is not a campaign tool.
 ** Candidates for office below the national level do not have inherent notability simply because they are candidates for office, and are not always kept.