User:TheFarix/Notability (fiction)

This page gives some rough guidelines intended to be used by Wikipedia editors to decide whether a fictional subject should or should not have an article on Wikipedia. While satisfying these notability guidelines generally indicates a fictional subject warrants an article, failing to satisfy them is not a criterion for speedy deletion.

These guidelines may be considered a specialized version of Wikipedia:Notability, applied to fictional subjects, reflecting the core Wikipedia policies, including the following:

Claims of notability must adhere to Wikipedia's policy on verifiability; it is not enough to simply assert that a fictional subject meets a criterion without substantiating that claim with reliable sources.

Controversial nature of notability relating to fictional subjects

The application of notability to fictional subjects is controversial at best. Some editors believe that fictional subjects should be exempt from notability as they are part of an article series covering the entire work of fiction. Thus the notability of the work of fiction is inherited by all articles within the series. However, other editors believe that each specific part of an article series must demonstrate its notability independent of the work of fiction. They point to the fact that notability is not inherited from one subject to another, a concept one enshrined in Wikipedia:Notability. Because of these opposing points of view, deletion and merging of articles related to fictional subjects are frequently contentious.

However, the purpose of this guideline is to establish a common ground in which all parties can agree that a stand-alone article on a fictional subject may be acceptable.

Coverage

This guideline does not attempt to cover article subjects about works of fiction, such as books, films, television series, and subdivisions of same. The general notability guideline, Notability (books) and Notability (films) cover such topics.

This guideline does cover article subjects relating to elements within a work of fiction, such as, but not limited to, characters, settings, objects, and concepts.

General principles

As with all subjects, a fictional subject should ideally satisfy the general notability guideline. The general guideline for notability shared by most of the subject-specific notability guidelines and Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, is that:

If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article.

In addition to the general notability guideline, an element of fiction may be presumed to satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article if:

The fictional subject has been identified as a cultural icon.
~~The fictional subject is the subject of instruction at multiple grade schools, high schools, universities, or post-graduate programs in any particular country.~~
The work of fiction that the fictional subject is from is so historically significant that all elements of the work may be considered notable. This does not simply mean that the work of fiction is itself notable by Wikipedia's standards, rather that the work of fiction is of exceptional significance and would be a common study subject in literature or film classes.

Because of the controversial nature of notability relating to fictional subjects, failing to meet any of the above criteria does not automatically mean that the fictional subject cannot be included as a stand-alone article. This decision should be left to consensus through the discussion process. However, it is advised that editors avoid creating such articles until the fictional subject can satisfy one or more of the above criteria.

Lists of fictional subjects

Commonly, fictional subjects are organized into lists instead of standalone-articles. When nominated for deletion, these lists, particularity those covering the primary and supporting characters, are frequently kept even if they may not fully comply with the general notability guideline or any of the subject-specific notability guidelines. These lists are generally considered legitimate spin-outs of the parent article on the work of fiction. However, care must be taken to ensure that the list does not violate Wikipedia policies, in particular the policy that Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information.

Previous versions

Wikipedia:Notability (fiction)/Original — the original version of WP:FICT.
User:Deckiller/Notability (fiction) — the first rewrite of WP:FICT.
Wikipedia:Notability (fiction)/Deckiller-Sandifer — a refined version of proposals by User:Deckiller and User:Phil Sandifer.