User:Mako/temp

Lists of non-notable things

• One of the guidelines on WP:NOT states that Wikipedia "includes reference tables and tabular information for quick reference."
• Another guideline at WP:LIST states that standalone lists "[consist] of a list of links to articles".

There are many articles, presented as a standalone list where the items being listed are not individually notable, and therefore do not have their own articles. These articles do not comply with WP:LIST. An example of one of these is List of ZIP Codes in Maryland. However, the content of such articles could be described as a reference table, so they would comply with WP:NOT (provided that they comply with the rest of that guideline). These type of lists turn up on afd, usually with "unencyclopedic" as a reason (I know, I've nominated some myself). There's obviously some ambiguity in the guidelines regarding these type of lists.

So these are valid articles, described as a list but not meeting the list guidelines. I propose we change the list guidelines to allow for these, with a new dot point in Wikipedia:List guideline#Types of lists:

• Reference lists are

There are many articles presented as lists where the article does not meet

items being listed are not individually notable, but the list as a whole is (potentially) notable and useful. An example of this is List of ZIP Codes in Maryland. The existing list guidelines infer that standalone lists "[consist] of a list of links to articles". A list where the list's entries do not link to articles does not meet that guideline, so obviously something is wrong, either with the guideline or with the article. WP:NOT states that "Wikipedia also includes reference tables and tabular information for quick reference". An article listing ZIP codes falls into this category.

and therefore it is incorrect to treat these articles as a list.

or name them as such. A more accurate description of such an article might be Table of ZIP codes in Maryland or simply ZIP codes in Maryland.

WP:LIST WP:NOT

Wikipedia:Don't include copies of primary sources "Mere collections of public domain or other source material " "Wikipedia is not a directory of everything that exists or has existed."

do these lists need references?