Wikipedia:Notability/Historical

This Wikipedia page is currently inactive and is retained as a historical archive. A historical page is either no longer relevant or consensus has become unclear. If you want to revive discussion regarding the subject, you should seek broader input via a forum such as the proposals page of the village pump.

The concept of notability of the subject of an article as a deletion criterion on Wikipedia began (so far as there is a clear record) in early 2004, and has varied widely from proposal to proposal, from highly subjective concepts like "fame" or "importance", through incomprehensible ones like "actionability", to, finally, today's stable and more objective notability criterion – which still has its critics. No issue on Wikipedia has seen more debate, nor perhaps more heated debate, than some variation on notability as a dividing line on whether to allow or delete an article.

Below is a list of most if not all of the Wikipedia-wide guideline/policy proposals, and development-influential essays, relating to notability in some way or another, with their active development lifespan, and notes.

Guideline proposals

• WP:GNG
  ), causing sporadic debate.
• WP:AFD and other XfDs that it should probably be tagged a Guideline
  .
• WP:AFD
  .
• Notability changes needed to policies (October 2005 – January 2006) Disposition: Inactive and largely moot.
• Rejected, per a Request for Arbitration
  .
• WP:N
  ).
• [Page name unknown] (specific dates unknown; ca. early 2006?) – A proposal that defined notability in terms of "actionability" (apparently adapted from
  WP:MFD
  'd, as no trace of it remains. If anyone has further information on this "unusual" proposal, please provide details.
• WP:N
  ).
• Jimbo's position on the issue. The difficulty of coming to consensus on determining what criteria/definition to apply is well-recorded here. Disposition: Inactive
  and moot. Note: Most of the content was moved to its talk page because it turned into a discussion rather than a project/essay; the non-talk page is just a pointer to the talk page.
• Notability arguments (September 2006 – November 2007) – More of a consensus discussion and a catalogue of pro and con arguments.