 | This is an essay. 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. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Accusations of navel-gazing in Wikipedia deletion discussions can become a distraction from discussions of the general notability guidelines. |
"Navel-gazing" is a phrase used in a derogatory fashion within internal Wikipedia debates to mean excessive focus on the topic of Wikipedia itself; and self-indulgent introspection about Wikipedia within Wikipedia.
Users may cite navel-gazing to argue for the deletion of an article from Wikipedia because the article's topic deals with the subject of Wikipedia.
When the navel-gazing pejorative is invoked in articles for deletion debates, it may cause a distraction from actual focused discussion of the general notability guideline.
Definition of term in general society
edit
Look up navel-gazing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
"Navel-gazing" is generally a derogatory term referring to excessive focus on oneself, self-indulgent introspection.[1][2][3]
Merriam Webster notes that navel-gazing refers to a form of "useless or excessive self-contemplation".[1] Cambridge Dictionaries defines the term as a "humorous disapproving" noun.[2] Macmillan Dictionary states it is an informal noun usage meaning: "the act of spending a lot of time thinking about your own problems, or one issue, but not doing anything about them".[3]
Articles for deletion usage
edit- Navel-gazing is used on Wikipedia discussion pages in articles for deletion debates to argue for the deletion of an article from Wikipedia because the article's topic deals with the subject of Wikipedia.
- See also arguments to avoid in deletion discussions – specifically, Just does not belong, which advises: "On Wikipedia, inclusion is determined by a series of policies and guidelines set by consensus, not by people saying 'I think this belongs' or 'I do not think this belongs'."[4]
In content discussions
editThe term is sometimes used in discussions on whether media mentions of Wikipedia, connected to an article subject, should be included in the Wikipedia article on that subject (see for example Clarice_Phelps#Wikipedia_article). Relevant policies and guidelines may include WP:NPOV, specifically WP:PROPORTION, WP:NOTNEWS and WP:RS.
Distraction from general notability guideline
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- When used as a tactic in debate, accusations of navel-gazing often tend to distract from the Wikipedia guideline on whether an article is notable – Wikipedia:Notability, and specifically the general notability guideline.
- Once the accusation of navel-gazing has been raised, it becomes difficult to focus debate onto a substantive discussion of the general notability guideline, and the distraction may take hold in the discussion over and above a discussion of notability itself.
- The general notability guideline states: "If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list."[5]
Advice on handling deletion debate when navel-gazing is introduced
editCalling out a topic as navel-gazing should be an argument to avoid in such deletion discussions. Those participating in the discussion should judge the article as if it was an equivalent topic but without any connection to Wikipedia.
At the same time, participants in such discussions should avoid placing importance on a topic merely because it does involve Wikipedia. Topics that deal with Wikipedia should be handled at deletion discussions with the same relevancy and respect as a comparable topic that otherwise does not deal with Wikipedia.
Some topics dealing with Wikipedia may be better suited to be merged or summarized to one of several existing pages that broadly cover Wikipedia, which are listed in Category:Wikipedia. Such articles may include Wikipedia in culture, Academic studies about Wikipedia, Bibliography of Wikipedia, and Criticism of Wikipedia. Consider these potential merge targets instead of nominating a page for deletion.
Amount of usage in Wikipedia debates
editAs of December 2022, the navel-gazing pejorative had been used over 1 200 times in internal Wikipedia discussions,[6] though this includes discussions about the Navel gazing article. The spelling naval-gazing was used less than 200 times.[7]
Case study analysis usage of navel-gazing in past deletion debates
edit- More results at search link for occurence of "navel-gazing"
| Closure date | Link to deletion debate | First reference to "Navel-gazing" in discussion | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 December 2004 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Criticism of Wikipedia/2004-12-03 | "navel-gazing page that's redundant with existing pages." | No consensus |
| 5 December 2005 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipedia biography controversy | "Let's avoid intense self-referential navel gazing, please." | Overwhelming Keep |
| 6 March 2006 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia and public opinion | "IMO, we really should be avoiding such navel gazing." | No consensus |
| 10 June 2006 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikisource logo | "it's mainly navel-gazing" | No consensus |
| 7 October 2006 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikitruth (2nd nomination) | "essentially navel-gazing. Oh look, wikipedia is important enough that there's a website devoted to picayune errors and issues!!! Wikipedia is not, above all, about Wikipedia." | Keep, later Delete |
| 12 February 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gregory Kohs (third nomination) | "preferably in wikispace when all the other navel-gazing wankery is removed there too" | Delete |
| 7 March 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Essjay | "non-notable navel-gazing." | No consensus default to Keep |
| 12 March 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia community | "This is navel gazing cruft." | No consensus |
| 4 April 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/MyWikiBiz (third nomination) | "Quite why ... would be considered notable, is beyond me. Navel gazing, I guess." | Delete; subsequently: moved back into article space after Deletion Review |
| 29 April 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Andrew Schlafly | " More US-centric nonsense that smacks of wiki navel-gazing." | Keep |
| 21 May 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael E. Davis | "this navel-gazing. If any Wiki users want to know who he is, I'm sure he has a user page." | Delete |
| 11 June 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Joshua Gardner (2nd nomination) | "An article on an utterly unnotable news story which was only kept because of the pointless Wikipedia navel gazing that happens on here" | Keep |
| 23 June 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Angela Beesley (6th nomination) | "we still obsess with ridiculous Wikipedia navel gazing" | No consensus |
| 29 July 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Wikipedia Story | "stop this pathetic navel gazing." | Redirect to History of Wikipedia |
| 23 September 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Deletion gestapo | "One thing I have noticed time and time again is that mainspace is not for navel gazing. There is quite a bit navel gazing here." | Delete |
| 9 December 2007 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Angela Beesley (7th nomination) | " Navel gazing and love of the drama aside: change the name, location, company name and try to place such a page on WP. " | No consensus |
| 4 January 2008 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/MeatballWiki (2nd nomination) | "Navel gazing. While many Wikipedians (especially the older ones) have heard of MeatballWiki, it has no notability in the outside world." | Keep |
| 21 August 2008 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/User page | "original research, navel-gazing, etc. " | Delete |
| 22 September 2008 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Cibus Hilleli | "Non-notable Wikipedian navel-gazing cruft." | Delete |
| 22 September 2008 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Deletionpedia | "Navel-gazing, with little in the way of sources to write a proper article." | No consensus |
| 18 December 2008 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/David Gerard | "having this page is simply navel-gazing." | Revert to disambiguation page |
| 12 January 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Simon Pulsifer (4th nomination) | "Navel gazing stuff" | Keep |
| 15 February 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia Art | "I think deletion is in order here, however this might be an interesting concept to explore in project space, that's usually where we do our navel-gazing." | Delete |
| 25 February 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/WikiProject Video games | " I think articles about individual Wikiprojects are too much like navel-gazing." | Delete |
| 27 April 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Notability in Wikipedia | "this article seems to be excessive navel-gazing." | Speedy keep |
| 2 May 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia Art controversy | "This is a prime example of navel gazing self importance." | Procedural close |
| 15 June 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sam Blacketer controversy | "Self-absorbed navel-gazing narcissism." | Delete |
| 17 June 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Northern Sámi Wikipedia | This is an example where Wikipedia's systematic bias and navel gazing make perfect sense." | Redirect to List of Wikipedias |
| 22 June 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Henryk Batuta hoax | "Non-notable navel-gazing." | No consensus |
| 27 June 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Amharic Wikipedia (2nd nomination) | "Using the encyclopedia namespace to host a version of "about us" pages is a clear misuse and navel-gazing of the worst kind." | Redirect to List of Wikipedias |
| 31 July 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Deletionpedia (3rd nomination) | " It's not a very good article, partly because the subject matter attracts partisans and invites navel gazing." | Keep |
| 3 August 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/National Portrait Gallery copyright conflicts | "Navel-gazing at its worst." | No consensus default to Keep |
| 24 August 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of media personalities who have vandalised Wikipedia (2nd nomination) | "navel-gazing" | Redirect to Wikipedia in culture |
| 26 October 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/David Shankbone | "Pure navel gazing" | Delete |
| 27 November 2009 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia Watch (5th nomination) | "As mentioned above, self-references should be avoided unless the topic is unquestionably significant in real life; this website is mere navel-gazing and nothing more." | Delete |
| 27 February 2010 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia Reference Desk | "Non-notable article, and navel-gazing. " | Merge to Wikipedia |
| 10 March 2010 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Andrew Lih (2nd nomination) | "causes hand-wringing and navel gazing when it's about Wikipedia." | Keep |
| 30 June 2010 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Administrator abuse on Wikipedia | " Articles on internal Wikipedia processes are extreme navel gazing, so even if this were somehow a neutral treatment I would oppose it." | Delete |
| 19 August 2010 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Zionist editing on Wikipedia | "this is navel gazing of the worst kind, and really has no place in Wikipedia as an article" | Delete |
| 15 September 2010 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of spoilers | "It's not article material, it's Wikipedia navel gazing though amusing wikipedia navel gazing." | No consensus |
| 9 October 2011 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Nguyễn Xuân Minh (Wikipedian) | "even mentioning such pieces of trivia reeks of project-internal navel gazing." | Delete |
| 14 November 2011 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Barbara Bauer Literary Agency | "it's navel-gazing in-house bunk." | Delete |
| 17 November 2011 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikiracing | "The author here. The topic, while admittedly navel gazing, is also notable." | Keep |
| 30 November 2011 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/BJP youth wing protest against Wikipedia's map of India | "The only point of interest here is that the protest happened at a wikipedia conference and we shouldn't be navel gazing." | Delete |
| 17 January 2012 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/2012 Wikipedia blackout | "navel gazing at its best." | Speedy keep |
| 21 January 2012 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia Review (3rd nomination) | " non-notable navel-gazing cruft" | Keep |
| 16 September 2012 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gibraltarpedia | "This is not just WP navel-gazing" | Snowball Keep |
| 28 January 2013 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sarah Stierch | " I'm fairly allergic to self-promotion and navel-gazing, but we do a disservice to notable Wikipedians if we do not apply the same notability standards as we would in any other case." | Keep, later deleted |
| 3 June 2013 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipediocracy (2nd nomination) | "articles that the general public would perceive as navel-gazing on the main page should be avoided" | Keep |
| 8 July 2013 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kate Garvey (2nd nomination) | "Subject passes WP:GNG/WP:BASIC, not a WP:BLP1E nor WP-navel gazing" | Speedy keep |
| 9 October 2013 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gregory Kohs (4th nomination) | "Having an article on this guy is Wikipedia navel-gazing." | Delete |
| 13 October 2013 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Citation needed | "Articles of this sort generally leave me feeling a bit uneasy as it feels a lot like navel gazing, however a search of Google scholar suggests there are sources out there about the subject." | Redirect to Wikipedia:Citation needed |
| 29 January 2014 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Administrators (Wikipedia) | "Keep on the grounds that it is useful, it answers a question that is not answered elsewhere on line, deletion is just picky navel gazing." | Withdrawn |
| 21 May 2014 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Derek Ramsey (Wikipedian) | " I sometimes see a systematic bias at work against detailed coverage of Wikipedia topics, perhaps derived from a community ethos that discourages "navel-gazing"." | Merge to History of Wikipedia |
| 8 June 2014 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Justin Knapp (2nd nomination) | "the only reason that this is getting more attention than normal around here is because of knee-jerk navel-gazing." | Keep |
| 28 August 2014 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jan-Bart de Vreede | "This is a perfect example of navel gazing on Wikipedia." | Redirect to Wikimedia Foundation |
| 5 October 2015 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Florence Devouard | "Per nom and navel gazing." | Withdrawn |
| 19 February 2016 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Knowledge Engine (Wikimedia Foundation) | "really, this is what we are keeping ? Navel-gaze much we do" | Speedy keep |
| 1 March 2016 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Signpost (Wikipedia) | "simply evaluating the AFD on its own, this is navel gazing with very very weak notability." | Snowball keep |
| 16 March 2016 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Art+Feminism | " I understand that some editors want to minimize the amount of navel-gazing that Wikipedia does, but there are enough sources already listed in this article to easily demonstrate notability." | Keep |
| 19 March 2016 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Katherine Maher | "perfect example of navel gazing in the Wikiverse." | No consensus |
| 24 March 2016 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Emily Temple-Wood | "textbook Wikipedian navel-gazing" | No consensus |
| 30 April 2020 | Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia's response to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic | "And the navel gazing award of the year goes to...Wikipedia!" | Keep |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Navel-gazing". Merriam-Webster. 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
Navel-gazing – the activity of thinking too much or too deeply about yourself, your experiences, your feelings, etc.; useless or excessive self-contemplation
- ^ a b "Navel-gazing". Cambridge English Dictionary. 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
Navel-gazing; humorous noun; the activity of spending too much time considering your own thoughts, feelings, or problems
- ^ a b "Navel-gazing". Macmillan Dictionary. 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
Navel-gazing – the act of spending a lot of time thinking about your own problems, or one issue, but not doing anything about them
- ^ "Just does not belong". Wikipedia Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions. Wikipedia. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
On Wikipedia, inclusion is determined by a series of policies and guidelines set by consensus, not by people saying 'I think this belongs' or 'I do not think this belongs'.
- ^ "General notability guideline". Wikipedia Notability. Wikipedia. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list.
- ^ "Navel-gazing – Results = 1287". Wikpedia search. Wikipedia. 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ ""naval-gazing" - Search results - 182". Wikipedia. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
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