Wikipedia:Up and coming next big thing

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Do you think Kanna is the Next Big Thing in punk rock guitar? Even if you think that she is the most amazing guitarist in the genre, on Wikipedia you have to wait till music critics from major newspapers and magazines have taken significant notice of her before you can create an article about her.

With all due respect to the creators of new articles, it is not a valid argument for retention of an article to claim that: "He's an up-and-coming performer; They're gonna get bigger; They have the raw talent to make it to the top; If you delete her now, you'll have to create a new article when she becomes more famous; It's a rising concept/meme/ideology; They show enormous potential; This could revolutionize the field; She is going to be the Next Big Thing!"

All of these are really just different ways of saying,

Wikipedia is not a crystal ball
.

Sometimes this argument will be made by

an eager fan
.

Don't feel discouraged that Wikipedia does not allow articles to be created on non-notable bands, individuals and concepts. After all, if it turns out that you are right, and the article's subject really is the Next Big Thing, writing the article again when it gets its big break is really no big deal. We'll have more to say about it by then, anyway; and

Wikipedia is not under any kind of deadline
.

Other options

If you really believe that Foo Barkley is the Next Big Thing in heavy metal guitar, but currently she only plays on YouTube videos she posted and distributes her

reliable sources
that are independent from the subject, such as mainstream newspapers and magazines and books from reputable publishing houses).

You can:

  • Create a draft article about her and save it on your own computer's hard drive. Your draft article can stay safely on your hard drive (safe from being deleted by Wikipedia AfD policies) until the moment that the major music critics finally realize what you already know–that Foo Barkley truly is the Next Big Thing. Then, adding these reliable sources to your article draft, you can post your article on the Wikipedia mainspace. Go, Foo, go!!
  • Add the article on Foo Barkley to another website or wiki. Wikipedia is unusual among user-edited websites in that it strives to be an encyclopedia. As such, Wikipedia has a range of policies on what articles can or cannot be created. Another website, such as a fan webpage or a fan wiki may have much more open standards on what material can be posted.
  • Add the Barkley article to a free blog website such as WordPress.

See also