User:Robert McClenon/Acceptance of Biographies

Acceptance of Biographies

This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

The purpose of this essay is to explain the criteria that I am using in accepting and declining biographies at

to the extent of whether the closer was reasonable.

First, special notability guidelines are sufficient. The

is vague, intentionally so, and is meant to be supplemented whenever possible by special notability guidelines. Although most of the special notability guidelines are written so that they are used in connection with general notability, my own opinion is that a special notability guide is sufficient. It isn't necessary that a biography also satisfy general notability separately.

Second, it is easy in the twenty-first century, and was easy in the late twentieth century, to get what could pass as coverage by a reliable source. Therefore the

from the nineteenth of earlier century should be considered significant.