Wikipedia:Existence does not prove notability
 | 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. |
"
fairies
do not qualify to have an article simply because people think they exist – but their place in the world's culture makes them notable. If any of those have articles, then there are other reasons why they are notable.
What is notable?
Being notable basically means people might actually care about who you are and what you do, enough to write an article of decent length in an encyclopedia. If you're pretty sure you wouldn't find yourself in the
mirror
our information, chances are you're not going to find yourself on Wikipedia anytime soon.
But my band's ready to hit the big time!
That's great!
anyone can edit Wikipedia, anyone can make a social media page about anything, even something that doesn't exist
. Basically, having a social media page does not prove you are notable, and providing it as a source generally means you are not notable.
So how do I become notable?
As a rule of thumb, in order to be notable, you need to have received coverage in more than one
independent reliable source
, such as two different unsolicited news articles, about something that is going to make you considered noteworthy. For example:
- You're discussed nontrivially in the Local Lowdown and the Tinyville Telegram for winning your middle school's spelling bee. Are you notable? Probably not.
- You're discussed nontrivially in the Washington Times for winning the Maryland Spelling Bee. Are you notable? Maybe.
- You're discussed nontrivially in the National Spelling Bee. Are you notable? Probably.
One really good way to see if you're notable enough for Wikipedia is if someone you don't even know wrote an article about you. Then you know you're known outside of your local community, and better yet, someone else has written the article, so there's no
conflict of interest
.
Exceptions to your being notable include your article violating
WP:NOTNEWS
) .