Wikipedia:Notability (people)

WP:BIO redirects here. Try #See Also for other biographical guidelines.

It has been demonstrated that many Wikipedians find that these criteria are a fair test of whether a person has sufficient external notice to ensure that they can be covered from a neutral point of view based on verifiable information from reliable sources, without straying into original research.

Many Wikipedians are wholly averse to the use of Wikipedia for advertising, and Wikipedia articles are not advertisements is an official policy of long standing. Advertising is either cleaned up to adhere to the neutral point of view or deleted.

Like any encyclopedia, Wikipedia includes biographies of important historical figures and people involved in current events. Even though wiki is not paper, there are some criteria which may be considered for inclusion. Failure to meet these criteria does not mean that a subject must not be included; meeting one or more does not mean that a subject must be included.

Criteria for people

1. The person made a widely recognized contribution that is part of the enduring historical record in their specific field.
2. Political figures holding international, national or statewide/provincewide office or members of a national, state or provincial legislature. (For candidates for office, see the ongoing discussion at Wikipedia:Candidates and elections.)
3. Major local political figures who receive (or received) significant press coverage. Just being an elected local official does not guarantee notability.
4. Widely recognized entertainment personalities and opinion makers (ie - Hollywood Walk of Fame)
5. Sportspeople/athletes/competitors who have played in a fully professional league, or a competition of equivalent standing in a non-league sport such as swimming, or at the highest level in mainly amateur sports or other competitive activites that are themselves considered notable, including college sports in the United States. Articles about first team squad members who have not made a first team appearance may also be appropriate, but only if the individual is at a club of sufficient stature that most members of its squad are worthy of articles. Third party verification from a reliable source outside of publications by sponsors of the sport or activity should be provided to demonstrate that the subject is widely recognized as performing at the highest level.
6. Notable actors and television personalities who have appeared in well-known films or television productions. Notability can be determined by:
   • Multiple features in popular culture publications such as Vogue, GQ, Elle, FHM or national newspapers
   • A large fan base, fan listing or "cult" following
   • An independent biography
   • Name recognition
   • Commercial endorsements
7. Published authors, editors and photographers who received multiple independent reviews of or awards for their work
8. Painters, sculptors, architects, engineers, and other professionals whose work is widely recognized (for better or worse) and who are likely to become a part of the enduring historical record of that field
9. Persons achieving renown or notoriety for their involvement in newsworthy events
10. The person has been the primary subject of multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the person. (Multiple similar stories describing a single day's news event only count as one coverage.)
11. For musicians, see WikiProject Music's Notability and Music Guidelines.

Verifying criteria

If the article doesn't make any claim of notability, you can add the {{nn-warn}} notice to the talk page of the article's creator. This lets the user know that failure to include such a claim may result in speedy deletion. Often, the author is able to add a claim, but didn't know one was required.

If there is a claim, but you feel it doesn't meet the requirements here, you may wish to explain your position to the user, before nominating it for deletion, in case they may be able to improve it (or they may need to add verification for the claim).

Generally, a personal and specific message, about your concerns about the article, on the article's talk page and/or author's talk page, is more helpful than a generic template message.

If the author fails to present any claim, you can add the {{db-bio}} tag. For a claim nobody would consider worthy use {{prod}}. For a claim you feel is insufficient, but others may accept, use {{AFD}}.

See also

• Wikipedia:Importance
• Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons
• Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography
• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)

• For a few specific instances, see Wikipedia:Criteria for inclusion of biographies/cases.