Wikipedia talk:Notability (species)

Prior discussion

Please add links to prior discussions and pages you've notified here. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:56, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

• Notability guideline – original draft [1], advance notice [2]
• WikiProject Tree of Life – advance notice [3]
• WP:SPECIESOUTCOMES – advance notice [4]

FAQ

Isn't this just spelling out what WP:SPECIESOUTCOMES has said for years?

That's the goal.

Does this change the number of notable species, compared to the existing rules?

It's not intended to. It might make it easier for non-specialist editors to recognize which should be presumed notable and which are non-notable, though.

What if there are no sources or only sources I don't think are reliable?

It is literally impossible to have a species accepted by taxonomists unless there are academic publications about the species. In some cases there are additional documentation requirements beyond published reliable sources. Information about the relevant academic sources are included in each entry in all reputable species databases. If you need help finding the academic sources, ask for help at the relevant WikiProject.

How many species qualify under this?

Maybe around two million, half of which are insects. That's the same as the current system. We already have articles on about about one out of six of these species, including most of the accepted vertebrates (i.e., birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals).

Aren't there nonillions of bacteria and viruses in the world?

That's individual organisms. Your body probably has more than 30 trillion microbes, but there are probably less than 1,000 different species in your body. At the moment, there are only about 15,000 recognized viruses and 25,000 recognized prokaryotes.[5][6] Estimates of how many non-recognized species there are in the world vary significantly, but non-recognized species are not presumed notable under either the current or the proposed system.

Could a non-recognized species be notable?

Yes, that happens rarely. For example, the virus that causes COVID-19 was temporarily notable according to the WP:GNG before it was officially recognized by taxonomists.

Does this exempt species from the usual rules about mass creation or change the rules about mass creation?

No.

Won't people just spam in millions of WP:UGLY little articles?

They haven't during the last 20+ years, and this is the same rules that we're using, so it seems unlikely to change anything.

WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:27, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

Should I start voting now?

No, this is not open for a vote yet.

But please do put this page on your watchlist.

WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:29, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

Mass creation

I still think it's important to have "automated or semi-automated" in the mass creation section. Otherwise it doesn't accurately summarise what that policy says. – Joe (talk) 06:07, 11 July 2024 (UTC)