User:Erachima/Inclusion (stand-alone lists)

Within Wikipedia, stand-alone lists are judged for inclusion based on the encyclopedic relevance of their topics and content. This inclusion criterion is a complement of notability, the guideline used for judging the inclusion of normal articles. A stand-alone list is presumed to be suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia if it meets the general standards given below.

General list inclusion guideline

If a stand-alone list is related to a notable topic and contains an objective and reasonable scope of non-trivial entries, it is presumed to be a suitable list for inclusion in Wikipedia.

• "Related to a notable topic" means that the list should be integrally tied to an existing Wikipedia article on a notable subject.
• "Objective scope" means that the list gives specific and unambiguous standards defining what articles or information it is intended to contain. Whether a given entry belongs in the list should be verifiable, rather than dependent on individual judgment calls or original research, and the criteria should not exclude verifiable entries in an arbitrary or biased manner.
• "Reasonable scope" means that the entries grouped by the list are substantially connected to each other, and that the list's criteria are not all-encompassing or overly limited.
• "Non-trivial" means that the entries within the list are significant to the topic of the list. The significance of individual entries to the topic should be attested by reference to reliable sources. Depending on the topic, these sources may be secondary or primary, but see below.
• "Presumed" means that while passing these tests makes it likely that a stand-alone list of that scope is suitable for inclusion, Wikipedia editors may still determine that the information in an individual list would be better presented via other methods, such as an integrated list, prose, or categorization.

A note on fiction

The inclusion of lists related to works of fiction has been a hotly debated topic on Wikipedia for some time. While this guideline does not attempt to address the basic issue of how to cover fictional topics, some specific cases have strong precedent. In particular:

• Lists of characters: Stand-alone lists of fictional characters are generally accepted for serialized works with numerous prominent characters, rejected for single works with few characters, and judged on a case-by-case basis otherwise.
• Lists of serialized media: Stand-alone lists of television episodes, novels, and similar publication divisions are generally accepted for serialized works of fiction, but have been deemed unnecessary for some series which lack a defined plot, such as comedy sketch shows.

Other types of fiction-related list have no specific precedent at this time, and must be decided on an individual basis. General consensus, however, is that list entries which are not on concepts that a layman would need to understand to have a basic knowledge of the attached work fail the test of non-triviality and should not be included. A list of fictional concepts is more likely to be accepted if it is perceived as having the potential to become a featured list, particularly if it contains significant out-of-universe information rather than just plot summaries.