Wikipedia talk:Notability (people)

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Non-trivial mentions

Non-triviality is a measure of the depth of content of a published work, and how far removed that content is from a simple directory entry or a mention in passing ("John Smith at Big Company said..." or "Mary Jones was hired by My University") that does not discuss the subject in detail.

Does quantity ever equal quality? I've wondered this a lot. While "John Smith at Big Company said..." obviously isn't enough, does it make a difference is a publication turns to "John Smith CEO of Big Company" for their expertise on a range of topics related to the subsector in which Big Company operates? Does the fact that a range of reliable sources turn to John Smith as an authority about a topic count, if they never actually write about John Smith (except in the by-line when once again, an op-ed by John Smith gets published)?

In this case, John Smith feels notable, but doesn't appear to meet the criteria. (Assume there's adequate biographical information about them in non-independent reliable sources.) Is there any way to square this circle? Guettarda (talk) 19:19, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Tightening WP:NCREATIVE#3

Inspired by Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Eashvar_Karthic: a director (producer... writer...) of any film (book... newspaper column...) that meets the requirements for an article (ref WP:NFILM) — no matter how marginal the sourcing justifying its notability — automatically passes NCREATIVE because the SNG header states the absolute "is notable" rather than "is presumed notable", and NCREATIVE#3 states "The person has created or played a major role in co-creating a significant or well-known work or collective body of work. In addition, such work must have been the primary subject of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews, or of an independent and notable work (for example, a book, film, or television series, but usually not a single episode of a television series)".

Absolute notability for NCREATIVE #1, #2 and #4 is clear. Where there is significant independent and reliable coverage of creator(s) as individuals or as a creative unit then they meet WP:NBASIC regardless of whether they meet anything else in this SNG. Where there are multiple works that would meet the notability bar, then even if there isn't sufficient coverage of the individual there's a clear benefit to having an article for interlinking purposes (eg: authors without independent biographical sources available but with multiple bluelinked works or a weight of reviews in aggregate that can be included in a single article).

Where there isn't such coverage, however, and there's a single work then I don't believe that the bar for notability of the individual has necessarily been reached (yes, WP:NOPAGE can be invoked to redirect, analogous to BLP1E/BIO1E, but redirection in the absence of independent biographical sources is clearer without the individual being pre-judged as notable). I thus propose that "work or collective" is deleted from "significant or well-known body of work" making it "significant or well-known body of work" (that it's collective is implicit). ^~Hydronium^~Hydroxide^~(Talk)~ 07:24, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

"significant or well-known body of work" - Here, AFAIK, well-known body of work commonly refers to the many works of an artist rather than one or more work. I believe it will once again be misinterpreted by editors, who may say an artist is not notable for producing only one significant work, i.e. the AfD you have linked.

Similar to what you have discussed in the first paragraph, does it not make Chidananda S Naik notable for creating Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know...? Though the film doesn't have its own article, it shouldn't matter because the filmmaker passes WP:NCREATIVE#4C and #3. The film won the first prize at Cinéfondation at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where Cinéfondation falls under the "The Official Selection" and the award is listed in the "Official awards" section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival (I noticed it's listed under official just now and will be commenting the same on its AfD). My question here is, if a film is awarded the best film award in its category at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, is it not attributed to the director of the film? If yes, does it not make the director inherently notable for directing a film that has won a significant award? Jeraxmoira🐉 (talk) 10:50, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

If someone covered by the SNG, filmmaker or otherwise, passes any of the NCREATIVE#4 criteria then that is sufficient - #4c is at a clearly higher standard than #3, even when the creator has only produced one notable work (NOPAGE might still come into play, but on the other hand you have the pre-2015 Harper Lee).

In the case of Naik, with that AFD underway it is highly debatable whether the win for his short student film in the student film category -- albeit at Cannes -- is sufficient to pass NCREATIVE#4c ("The object of La Cinef, an Official Selection of the Festival de Cannes, is to present and highlight films from film schools, whether fiction or animation, that reveal talent and deserve encouragement"[1]) or NCREATIVE#3 (there's not otherwise sufficient significant independent qualitative coverage that I can see - including the links you have provided). At the moment, I'd say that the award is at least noteworthy and, as Mushy Yank did, would land on redirection to the year's awards. Obviously if there's further qualitative coverage or perhaps further festival awards or he releases films with significant qualitative coverage then the film(s) and/or Naik should get an article, but that's if. Thought experiment: What if there happened to be no further independent coverage of Sunflowers or Naik, and he never releases anything else? ^~Hydronium^~Hydroxide^~(Talk)~ 12:44, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

We have many permanent stubs that only pass SNGs, so I don't think WP:NOPAGE applies here. We are not redirecting articles about old Indian MLAs or judges who are presumed notable to other broader topics, articles or constituencies. An example could be the controversial K. Annamalai where there seems to be no coverage from independent sources. The same applies to old Olympic athletes and other similar sports athletes.

WP:NCREATIVE#4C - The film was selected out of 18 student films, chosen out of 2263 entries coming from 555 film schools around the globe. If this is not significant critical attention, then I am not sure what is. A work makes the artist notable, but redirecting the artist's article to their work is just absurd and makes NCREATIVE#4C look like a joke. The award is listed in the official section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival article, which I believe provides significant critical attention and It has also been covered in all major media outlets including Variety (magazine). Jeraxmoira🐉 (talk) 13:27, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

This proposal to "tighten" NCREATIVE seems to be misconceived, because the BLP that forms the pretext for this discussion seems notable anyway under WP:NBASIC. When we have sufficient sourcing for an article, the question 'is this person really important enough to merit our attention" isn't really one we should be asking - but that's what this discussion seems to be about. Newimpartial (talk) 15:08, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Proposal: expand the "Politicians and judges" header to "Politicians, judges, and government officials"

I propose to expand the header on this page for "Politicians and judges" to encompass "government officials" who hold an appointed statewide office equivalent to one that would qualify for deeming an elected official notable. It seems fairly straightforward to me that if one state has an elected cabinet official with broad authority over a significant aspect of people's lives, like a secretary of agriculture, a secretary of education, or a chairman of a statewide power commission, and their neighboring state has the same officials being appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature rather than being appointed, then there should be no difference in treatment for purposes of encyclopedic notability. While I expect that some editors will just assume that appointed officials in government count just as much as "politicians" as elected officials, others would not, and I think we should make their inclusion clear.

I would likewise be inclined to amend the second line under that section to cover "Major local political figures and government officials who have received significant press coverage", again to make clear that appointed officeholders who some might not consider "politicians" are not thereby excluded from coverage. BD2412 T 02:10, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

• Support both changes. They are both consistent with the rationale behind NPOL, which per the footnote is ensuring the complete documentation of statewide government officials. Appointed vs. elected is an arbitrary distinction regarding that purpose. voorts (talk/contributions) 02:14, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
• Support: This never made sense to me. The difference between appointed government officials and elected government officials is not relevant in our context. The guideline should not arbitrarily exclude one or the other. C F A 💬 02:19, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

Oppose Elected officials at the statewide or provincial level get far more scrutiny and far more attention from reliable sources than appointed officials do. And in the end, what really counts is whether the official has received the amount of significant coverage in reliable, independent sources that is required to write a policy compliant article. As an example, consider two most populous US states, California and Texas. The elected agriculture commissioner of Texas gets far more attention than the appointed secretary of agriculture in California. I have lived in California for 52 years and could not name a single one of the California officials. But I can easily remember the name of a Texas agricultural commissioner who served over 30 years ago. Cullen328 (talk) 02:30, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

• Does "gets far more attention" equate to "is more important for encyclopedic purposes"? I would hope that it would not be. I would note by comparison that we include all federal judges, even though none of them are elected. BD2412 T 03:05, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

• Oppose As redundant. The government officials who fall under WP:NPOL as cabinet ministers are political officers, even when those positions are filled by civil servants (e.g. even though Dick Schoof is a civil servant, he fills the political office of prime minister). Non-cabinet positions (which are almost exclusively filled by civil servants) do not fall under NPOL. Curbon7 (talk) 02:43, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Confusion arises from the fact that many people would consider "political officers" and "politicians" as two different things, the politician being the person kissing babies and gladhanding for votes. BD2412 T 03:03, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
• Support - Agree with Voorts and CFA. I do not see the relevance of being appointed or elected when it is a high position in the government. --CNMall41 (talk) 04:39, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
• Oppose I do agree that there can be some confusion in the difference between an elected and appointed official, especially across governmental entities, but the general assumption is that elected officials will receive significant coverage in reliable sources. There is not the same expectation for civil appointees, and this would become especially true for acting or temporary appointees to these positions. Bottom line, I do not think the presumption of notability exists for civil servants, but nothing stops a stand-alone article of any individual if significant, independent, reliable sources exist. (And this proposal also would raise a question of which government officials would be major). --Enos733 (talk) 04:49, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
• Oppose as worded; "government officials" is too broad and covers many people who would absolutely fall under WP:LOWPROFILE, and for whom a brief but broad burst of coverage related to one event would not be sufficient to establish notability per WP:BLP1E. Someone working for the post office or a tax collector for the IRS, for instance, should not have a lower bar for notability than any random citizen. You say "statewide office" but the actual proposal you're making for the text would apply to the local dogcatcher; if you mean for this to be limited to high-level statewide government officials like the secretary of education then it would have to say so explicitly. (And I don't think just "statewide" is enough; the secretary of education is a statewide official, sure, but so is everyone working directly under them. Their assistants and interns shouldn't fall under this category, surely.) --Aquillion (talk) 05:14, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
• Oppose: not convinced it'd be beneficial to make what's already an exceptionally broad SNG even broader. The presumption that political figures will meet the GNG gets weaker and weaker the further we get from the "elected politician" heartland of NPOL, and affording notability to large groups of people who don't meet the GNG almost always runs into the problems discussed at WP:WHYN, which applies to "all articles, not solely articles justified under the general notability criteria". Extraordinary Writ (talk) 06:16, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
  • @Enos733, Aquillion, and Extraordinary Writ: I am sympathetic to the concern that this opens the door to the local dogcatcher having an article, which is not my intent. I am not trying to broaden the the SNG so much as to make it clear that actual statewide agency/commission heads should be deemed equally notable based on their significant positions of actual power over substantial areas irrespective of whether they are elected or appointed to that position. I would have no problem with language excluding "acting" or "temporary" appointees, and/or limiting this to statewide offices, and exclusively to the individuals in the topmost position in their agencies. My concern is most directly that "Politicians" brings to mind people who campaign for elected office, and not necessarily political appointees who do not campaign. BD2412 T 03:56, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

    Beyond the sourcing concerns, I fear this is a US-centric approach that has limited applicability across US states and nation-states. The response here is to limit to "topmost position in their agencies," but there are many more agencies than we know about (Indiana has 11 state agencies that start with the letter "A"). If we limit it to cabinet-level positions, we still would run into the problem that is purported to be the issue - that editors are confused about which agencies are covered by NPOL across jurisdictions.

    Fundamentally, I do not think editors get confused. I have seen very few discussions at AfD that indicate a flood of marginally-notable agency directors. Nearly all stand-alone articles are evaluated through the context of WP:GNG, including civil servants. While this proposal is described as not intending to broaden the definition of who is notable, I believe it broadens the SNG quite a bit. - Enos733 (talk) 05:57, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

• Support. Seems obvious to me. There's nothing sacred about being elected. It doesn't make one more notable. In addition, the current wording favours the United States, where far more officials are elected than they are elsewhere. It is true that in general we have considered appointed officials in equivalent positions to be notable, but it needs to be more explicit as they still get nominated for deletion and some editors at AfD do state that WP:POLITICIAN doesn't cover them simply because they aren't elected. -- Necrothesp (talk) 08:35, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

  • Agree and Support; Comment (without weighing in on the sanctity of election itself): if this modification is accepted, then the second sentence of the first bullet point should also read This also applies to people who have been elected or appointed to such offices, etc. -- Cl3phact0 (talk) 09:06, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

• Support, as whether or not an official's position requires campaigning shouldn't be the determinative factor here, although I do think there may be more to be worked out on wording, as BD2412 alluded to. Star Garnet (talk) 23:06, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

  The question is not about campaigning per se, but the amount of reliable, independent sourcing that elected officials (and candidates) receive. In the course of becoming a candidate (in a system with candidate-centric elections), there is a certain level of coverage in local press in the context of the election. And service in a legislature, or in an executive office, entails frequent stories about actions the individual takes (sponsoring of legislation, votes, speeches) that are covered in reliable sources. The same cannot always be said about an appointed official (even to a cabinet-level agency).

  Sticking with my earlier example of Indiana, a member of the cabinet is the appointed Indiana State Examiner. The position does not currently have a stand-alone page. The incumbent of that position is Paul Joyce. I can only find one newspaper article that quotes the incumbent and no articles that would actually cover the subject in-depth.

  Looking at comparable positions, (elected v appointed), compare the coverage of the auditor of Oregon, Kip Memmott, versus the auditor of Washington, Pat McCarthy. Both auditors took office in 2017, but the coverage is quite different. - Enos733 (talk) 06:22, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

  @Enos733: Perhaps some language reflecting the relative notability of the office would help, if taken with an appropriate grain of salt. I was inspired to come here by recent experience working on an article for a specific state commission that is ridiculously powerful, with the chair of that commission clearly being more notable in terms of influence over people's lives than a typical elected member of the legislature of the state. BD2412 T 16:03, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

  I generally believe that our community's system of notability is quite fuzzy and the more we try to precisely define what subjects are notable, the less likely we are to have a simple, clear statement that is easy for editors to understand. Our system works, as the intro to GNG says, determining notability does not necessarily depend on things such as fame, importance, or popularity. The basis for a stand alone article is coverage, and SNGs help editors understand when "sourcing likely exists". Nothing in NPOL or GNG now prevents stand alone articles from being created (either about the individual, or a governmental agency). - Enos733 (talk) 16:27, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

  I am not disagreeing here, but there are undoubtedly some unelected statewide public offices for which reporting about the officeholder is as likely as for the typical state-level legislative officeholder, and some term broader than "politician" is needed to acknowledge that. BD2412 T 04:42, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

• Oppose Not every government official is automatically notable, even with press coverage. For example, the local dog warden. The Banner talk 11:01, 19 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Nobody is saying minor officials like that should be considered to be notable, as is fairly obvious. The proposal is simply to change the wording to reflect that appointed officials are as notable as elected officials in equivalent positions. A dog warden clearly wouldn't be notable even if they were elected. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:38, 19 August 2024 (UTC)
    • The wording makes it possible. WP:GNG is enough, no need to lower the threshold. The Banner talk 16:10, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

  This argument is such a strawman that it borders on nonsense. No one in this discussion thinks the local dog warden should receive presumptive notability (in fact, this is countered in the guideline with Just being an elected local official [...] does not guarantee notability) and this proposed adjustment does not change that. Curbon7 (talk) 05:30, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

• Oppose, no reason to presume that these are notable a priori. Those that really are can have an article, there is nothing here that excludes them if they meet GNG: all this addition can do is include the ones that don't meet the GNG, and I see no reason to do so. Fram (talk) 15:04, 19 August 2024 (UTC)
• Comment: The broader question, in my view, comes back to: what is the purpose of WP:SNGs? Is it to clarify that some subjects should be covered in this encyclopaedia regardless of GNG (i.e., providing alternate pathways to N along the lines of WP:UCS), or is it something else? -- Cl3phact0 (talk) 07:44, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

Oppose From my personal experience, I've observed that many government officials seek to enhance their PR and image by creating a Wikipedia BLP. However, many of them struggle to meet the GNG. I believe that including a clause stating that government officials fall under the NPOL could lead to an influx of BLPs for appointed officials who may not actually be WP:N, opening a new set of challenges. --— Saqib (talk I contribs) 10:53, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

Tatiana Turanskaya

Is the leader of a breakaway region notable? Bearian (talk) 04:15, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

I think that whether they pass WP:NPOL depends on the breakaway region. In the case of Transnistria most people with an interest in international affairs have heard of it, and even if you do not follow Russia in recognizing it as an independent country it qualifies as a state/province. As far as Tatiana Turanskaya is concerned that is probably moot as she seems to pass the WP:GNG, with coverage from the Transnistrian, Moldovan and Russian press. Phil Bridger (talk) 08:34, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

NPOL Q

Do leaders of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta qualify under NPOL (it seems their head of government is the sole entry at List of current heads of state and government missing an article)? What about leaders of disputed countries, such as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic or Transnistria? BeanieFan11 (talk) 01:42, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

I would say yes, since the spirit of NPOL is that we should have an article for the leaders and national level legislators of all nations and national subdivisions. voorts (talk/contributions) 01:55, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

NACTOR, significant roles

I have seen some discussion on this but nothing I can find that is helpful to the question I am about to ask. In recent AfD discussions, I have seen keep votes based on "significant roles." It was also the topic of an ANI discussion which I think could have been avoided if there was clarification. So, are actors considered inherently notable if they have had significant roles in notable films? Or, is that only an indication, and significant coverage must still show notability? The disagreement is coming from the wording "such a person may (my emphasis) be considered notable." CNMall41 (talk) 03:45, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

Noone is "inherently notable" on Wikipedia. All our guidelines, including WP:BASIC and WP:GNG, talk about a "presumption" of notability. This wording has been discussed (and explained) to the death (try searching presumed or presumption in the archives). There is not a perfect formula suitable for each and every case. The key point of NACTOR is that it requires reliable secondary coverage to backup the claim of "significant roles" (which could be some reviews, a profile on New York Times, a monograph and so on). Then, depending on the amount of coverage, its significance, the importance of the films/TV or stage works, the number/significance of the roles, plus other factors, a deletion discussion could result in different outcomes. Cavarrone 08:20, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

@Cavarrone:, "Noone is "inherently notable" on Wikipedia" - BINGO! That is my take as well. The arguments I see are that since an actor has held significant roles, they are notable under NACTOR, but I do not see those votes supporting a statement about the significant coverage. My take is that they still must meet BASIC in where there is significant coverage about the roles, not just mentions or verification that they played the parts. NACTOR guides us with the "significant role" wording to let those know that significant coverage likely exists, but does not guarantee that it does. Is that inline with what you are saying as well?--CNMall41 (talk) 20:02, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

I mean, are there a lot of cases where a person has significant roles in movies but doesn't have anything written about her? Considering that WP:GNG only requires like a couple sentences in a couple places, not a high bar. (Also, "Noone is inherently notable", not sure about that). Herostratus (talk) 04:24, 6 November 2024 (UTC)