This page in a nutshell: If a topic has received coverage in reliable primary as well as at least one reliable secondary source independent of the subject, it is presumed to satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article. |
Because Wikipedia’s community of editors and readers is a diverse group with many varied interests, inclusion of articles on Wikipedia is based on objective evidence and appropriate sources, rather than on subjective feelings of importance or usefulness. In order to be included on Wikipedia, the content of our articles must be verifiable through multiple reliable published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. In addition, it must be consistent with the kind of content found in general encyclopedias, specialized encyclopedias, almanacs, or gazetteers, and avoid the kinds of content that Wikipedia is not.
For a subject to be included as an article, it should be covered directly and in detail by at least two reliable sources, including at least one secondary source, that are not just a directory listing. Lists are acceptable when their overall subject is verified through multiple reliable sources that are not just a mere directory listing.
Generally speaking Wikipedia's purpose is to provide humanity with a comprehensive reference guide and catalog of human knowledge. As such, editors are encouraged to focus on article improvement, not deletion, give articles a realistic chance to develop, keep in mind articles' potential and not just how they look now, and not try to delete an article actively being improved; however, sometimes merging, redirecting, and even deletion may be appropriate.
Verifiable content that cannot realistically grow beyond stub class may be merged with the stub redirected to the merge location. Per the GFDL, we cannot merge and delete.
While deletion is considered a last resort, copyright violations, hoaxes, and libel will be removed and/or deleted.
The below list of great- and super-powers have historical ruled other countries as either colonies or dependencies. A number of these countries also have prominence as members of the United Nations security council and as members of the Group of 8 Economic Powers. Thus, their bilateral relations with most countries in the world are preseumed notable.
The table below notes fictional universes for which fictional elements appear in comic books, universe-specific specialized encyclopedias, television shows, toys, novels, replicas, films, and video games. Fictional characters and weapons from these fictional universes are thus likely to be among the most notable of fictional characters and weapons, i.e. they meet a "common sense" standard of notability. As such, due to the fictional elements' appearances in mulitiple and diverse kinds of media, lists of characters, weapons, etc. for these particular franchises provide a navigational function to other articles and a location to which to merge content.
Universe | Comic(s) | Film(s) | Novel(s) | Television show(s) | Toy(s) and replica(s) | Universe-specific print enclcyopedia(s) | Video game(s) | Wiki |
Aladdin (film) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Battlestar Galactica | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [1] | Yes | Yes |
Bionicle | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes [2] | Yes | Yes |
Cinderella | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
C.O.P.S 'N' Crooks | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Dead or Alive (series) | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Dr. Who | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dune universe | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes [3] | Yes | Yes |
Family Guy | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Guitar Hero | No | No | No | Sort of, see " Guitar Queer-O" | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Hey Arnold! | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Home and Away | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Law & Order | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Lost (TV series) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
M*A*S*H | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Medal of Honor (series) | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Mercenaries (series) | Yes (Graphic Novel) | No | Yes (Graphic Novel) | No | There are at least fan made replicas with articles about them online. | No | Yes | Yes |
Mortal Kombat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Ocean's Trilogy | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Percy Jackson & The Olympians | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Resident Evil | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Rugrats | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Silent Hill | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Soul (series) | Yes | Maybe | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
StarCraft (series) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Star Trek | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Star Wars | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [4] [5] | Yes | Yes |
The House of the Dead (series) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
The Nightmare Before Christmas | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
The Simpsons (franchise) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
The X-Files (disambiguation) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [6] | Yes | Yes |
Underworld (film series) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
The following characters appear in top ten style lists and therefore are likely to have the kind of reception coverage that demonstrates the characters are important enough to justify having an article on Wikipedia:
With regards to fictional elements, something that is verifiable and therefore not a hoax, nor libelous, nor a copyright violation almost always can at worst be redirected to the article on the main work of fiction. The idea that anything which millions of people are familiar with (such as playable characters in globally released multi-platform games) being either unimportant or non-notable is not just absurd and illogical, but idiocy. Just because something does not seem subjectively important to a handful of Wikipedians does not negate its relevance to countless others and if we know it is not just made up, but say have insufficient sources to construct development and reception sections, we would still at least redirect for the convenience of our diverse readership. Redlinking is reserved for that which we must protect the public from.