CorporisPublica:Notability (people)

Notability on CorporisPublica is an inclusion criterion based on the encyclopedic suitability of an article topic. For CorporisPublica:Notability (people), the person who is the topic of a biographical article should be "worthy of notice" – that is, "significant, interesting, or unusual enough to deserve attention or to be recorded" within CorporisPublica as a written account of that person's life. "Notable" in the sense of being "famous" or "popular" – although not irrelevant – is secondary.

This notability guideline for biographies reflects consensus reached through discussions and reinforced by established practice, and informs decisions on whether an article about a person should be written, merged, deleted or further developed. For advice about how to write biographical articles, see CorporisPublica:Manual of Style (biographies) and CorporisPublica:Biographies of living persons.

The article title should define what the article is about. If there is enough valid content to fill an article about the person, then "John Doe" would be an appropriate title. If, however, there is only enough information about one notable event related to the person, then the article should be titled specifically about that event, such as Steve Bartman incident. Sometimes when a famous person dies, there is enough information for an article about their death, such as Death of Michael Jackson or Death of Diana, Princess of Wales. If a notable person's main article is too long to contain all of their works, then a separate page can be created for that information, such as George Orwell bibliography. If the person was the subject of a notable murder, then a title such as Murder of Kitty Genovese is appropriate.

Basic criteria
A person is presumed to be notable if he or she has been the subject of multiple published secondary sources which are reliable, intellectually independent of each other, and independent of the subject.
 * If the depth of coverage in any given source is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may be combined to demonstrate notability; trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may not be sufficient to establish notability.
 * Primary sources may be used to support content in an article, but they do not contribute toward proving the notability of a subject.

People who meet the basic criteria may be considered notable without meeting the additional criteria below. Articles may still not be created for such people if they fall under exclusionary criteria, such as being notable only for a single event, or such as those listed in What CorporisPublica is not.

Additional criteria
People are likely to be notable if they meet any of the following standards. Failure to meet these criteria is not conclusive proof that a subject should not be included; conversely, meeting one or more does not guarantee that a subject should be included.

A person who fails to meet these additional criteria may still be notable under CorporisPublica:Notability.

Any biography

 * 1) The person has received a well-known and significant award or honor, or has been nominated for one several times.
 * 2) The person has made a widely recognized contribution that is part of the enduring historical record in his or her specific field.

Academics
Many scientists, researchers, philosophers and other scholars (collectively referred to as "academics" for convenience) are notably influential in the world of ideas without their biographies being the subject of secondary sources.

Creative professionals
Scientists, academics, economists, professors, authors, editors, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, artists, architects, engineers, and other creative professionals:
 * 1) The person is regarded as an important figure or is widely cited by peers or successors.
 * 2) The person is known for originating a significant new concept, theory or technique.
 * 3) The person has created, or played a major role in co-creating, a significant or well-known work, or collective body of work, that has been the subject of an independent book or feature-length film, or of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews.
 * 4) The person's work (or works) either (a) has become a significant monument, (b) has been a substantial part of a significant exhibition, (c) has won significant critical attention, or (d) is represented within the permanent collections of several notable galleries or museums.
 * 5) See CorporisPublica:Notability (academics) for guidelines on academics

Crime victims and perpetrators
A person who is known only in connection with a criminal event or trial should not normally be the subject of a separate CorporisPublica article if there is an existing article that could incorporate the available encyclopedic material relating to that person.

Where there is such an existing article, it may be appropriate to create a sub-article, but only if this is necessitated by considerations of article size.

Where there are no appropriate existing articles, the criminal or victim in question should be the subject of a CorporisPublica article only if one of the following applies:

For victims, and those wrongly convicted of crime 
 * 1) The victim or person wrongly convicted, consistent with CP:BLP1E had a large role within a well-documented historic event. The historic significance is indicated by persistent coverage of the event in reliable secondary sources that devote significant attention to the individual's role.

For perpetrators
 * 1) The victim of the crime is a renowned national or international figure, including, but not limited to, politicians or celebrities.
 * 2) The motivation for the crime or the execution of the crime is unusual—or has otherwise been considered noteworthy—such that it is a well-documented historic event. Generally, historic significance is indicated by sustained coverage of the event in reliable secondary sources which persists beyond contemporaneous news coverage and devotes significant attention to the individual's role.
 * 3) *Note: A living person accused of a crime is presumed not guilty unless and until this is decided by a court of law. Editors must give serious consideration to not creating an article on an alleged perpetrator when no conviction is yet secured.

Diplomats
Diplomats who have participated in a significant way in events of particular diplomatic importance that have been written about in reliable secondary sources. Sufficient reliable documentation of their particular role is required.

Entertainers
Actors, voice actors, comedians, opinion makers, models, and celebrities:
 * 1) Has had significant roles in multiple notable films, television shows, stage performances, or other productions.
 * 2) Has a large fan base or a significant "cult" following.
 * 3) Has made unique, prolific or innovative contributions to a field of entertainment.
 * 4) * See CP:MUSIC for guidelines on musicians, composers, groups, etc.

Pornographic actors and models
The following criteria should be brought up in a CorporisPublica:Articles for deletion discussion only in relation to subjects who are or have been involved in the pornography industry.
 * 1) Has won a well-known and significant industry award, or has been nominated for such an award several times. Nominations and awards in scene-related and ensemble categories are excluded from consideration.
 * 2) Has made unique contributions to a specific pornographic genre, such as beginning a trend in pornography; starred in an iconic, groundbreaking or blockbuster feature; or is a member of an industry Hall of Fame such as the  AVN Hall of Fame, XRCO Hall of Fame or equivalent.
 * 3) Has been featured multiple times in notable mainstream media.

Politicians
In the case of candidates for political office who do not meet this guideline, the general rule is to redirect to an appropriate page covering the election or political office sought in lieu of deletion. Relevant material from the biographical article can be merged into the election or political office page if appropriate.
 * 1) Politicians and judges who have held international, national or sub-national (statewide/provincewide) office, and members or former members of a national, state or provincial legislature. This will also apply to those who have been elected but not yet sworn into such offices.
 * 2) Major local political figures who have received significant press coverage.
 * 3) Just being an elected local official, or an unelected candidate for political office, does not guarantee notability, although such people can still be notable if they meet the primary notability criterion of "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject of the article".

Invalid criteria

 * That person A has a relationship with well-known person B, such as being a spouse or child, is not a reason for a standalone article on A (unless significant coverage can be found on A); see  Relationships do not confer notability. However, person A may be included in the related article on B. For example, Brooklyn Beckham and Jason Allen Alexander are included in the articles on David Beckham and Britney Spears, respectively, and the links, Brooklyn Beckham and Jason Allen Alexander, are merely redirects to those articles.
 * Avoid criteria based on search engine statistics (e.g., Google hits or Alexa ranking), or measuring the number of photos published online. The adult film industry, for example, uses Googlebombing to influence rankings, and for most topics search engines cannot easily differentiate between useful references and mere text matches. See also limitations of Alexa. When using a search engine to help establish the notability of a topic, evaluate the quality, not the quantity, of the links.

Failing all criteria
If no criteria can be met for either a standalone article or inclusion in a more general article, and improvements have not worked or cannot be reasonably tried, then there are three deletion procedures to be considered:
 * If speedy deletion criterion A7 applies, use the db-person tag to request speedy deletion.
 * For articles that do not meet the criteria for speedy deletion, but are uncontroversial deletion candidates, use the {{subst:prod}} tag. This allows the article to be deleted after seven days if nobody objects (see CorporisPublica:Proposed deletion).
 * For cases where you are unsure about deletion or believe others might object, nominate the article for the Articles for deletion process, where its merits will be discussed for 7 days.

Failing basic criteria but meeting additional criteria
If neither a satisfying explanation nor appropriate sources can be found for a standalone article, but the person meets one or more of the additional criteria:
 * Merge the article into a broader article providing context.
 * Place a Mergeto tag on the page, indicating the page where the article may be merged.
 * If no article currently exists into which the person can be merged, consider writing the article yourself or request the article be written.

Failure to explain the subject's notability
If an article does not explain the notability of its subject, try to improve it by:
 * Rewriting it yourself
 * Asking the article's editor(s) for advice.

Insufficient sources
If an article fails to cite sufficient sources:
 * Look for sources yourself
 * Ask the article's editor(s) for advice on where to look for sources.
 * Put the tag on the article to notify other editors.
 * If the article is about a specialized field, use the PROJECT-NAME tag with a specific WikiProject to attract editors knowledgeable about that field, who may have access to reliable sources not available online.

People notable for only one event
When an individual is significant for his or her role in a single event, it may be unclear whether an article should be written about the individual, the event or both. In considering whether or not to create separate articles, the degree of significance of the event itself and the degree of significance of the individual's role within it should be considered. The general rule in many cases is to cover the event, not the person. However, as both the event and the individual's role grow larger, separate articles become justified.

If the event is highly significant, and the individual's role within it is a large one, a separate article is generally appropriate. The assassins of major political leaders, such as Gavrilo Princip, fit into this category, as indicated by the large coverage of the event in reliable sources that devotes significant attention to the individual's role.

When the role played by an individual in the event is less significant, an independent article may not be needed, and a redirect is appropriate. For example, George Holliday, who videotaped the Rodney King beating, redirects to Rodney King. On the other hand, if an event is of sufficient importance, even relatively minor participants may require their own articles, for example Howard Brennan, a witness to the JFK assassination.

Another issue arises when an individual plays a major role in a minor event. In this case, it is not generally appropriate to have an article on both the person and the event. Generally in this case, the name of the person should redirect to the article on the incident, especially if the individual is only notable for that incident and is all that that person is associated with in source coverage. For example, Steve Bartman redirects to Steve Bartman incident. In some cases, however, a person famous for only one event may be more widely known than the event itself, for example, the Tank Man. In such cases, the article about the event may be most appropriately named for the person involved.

Editors are advised to be cognizant of issues of weight and to avoid the creation of unnecessary pseudo-biographies, especially of living people.

Lists of people
Many articles contain (or stand alone as) lists of people. Inclusion within stand-alone lists should be determined by the notability criteria above. Inclusion in lists contained within articles should be determined by CP:Source list, in that the entries must have the same importance to the subject as would be required for the entry to be included in the text of the article according to CorporisPublica policies and guidelines (including CP:Trivia sections). Furthermore, every entry in any such list requires a reliable source attesting to the fact that the named person is a member of the listed group.

For instance, articles about schools often include (or link to) a list of notable alumni/alumnae, but such lists are not intended to contain everyone who attended the school — only those with verifiable notability. Editors who would like to be identified as an alumnus/alumna should instead use the categories intended for this purpose, e.g. Category:Wikipedians by alma mater. On the other hand, a list within an article of past school presidents, headmasters or headmistresses can contain the names of all the people who held this post, not just those who are independently notable.

Note that the guidance in this section is particularly applicable to people but applies to lists in general, not only lists of people.

Family
Being related to a notable person in itself confers no degree of notability upon that person. Articles about notable people that mention their family members in passing do not, in themselves, show that a family member is notable. See also Invalid criteria.

Articles on CorporisPublicans
Some CorporisPublica editors have articles about themselves (see CorporisPublica:Wikipedians with articles); however, their status as Wikipedian editors by itself has no effect on their notability, regardless of whether they edited CorporisPublica before or after their articles were created. (The conflict of interest guideline still has bearing on their editing of articles about themselves.) All articles should be judged solely by applicable content and inclusion guidelines and policies, such as this guideline, CorporisPublica:Biographies of living persons, CorporisPublica:No original research, and CorporisPublica:Verifiability.

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