I don't think it is helpful to assign gender based
systemic bias every time an edit is questioned on women related topic.
To put it in perspective, this was the article as it existed just before the
{{notability}} tag was applied—three days after it was created, and two days after the
{{unreviewed}} tag was removed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=October_%28novel%29&oldid=61…
There is a summary of the novel, a list of characters, a statement of who the author is
and where she teaches, and two references—one to what seems to be a review in The New
Statesman (OK as far as RS goes), the other to what seems to be a website which may or may
not be considered a reliable source. There’s nothing about the award, which would probably
have kept the {{notability}} tag at bay.
Plenty of people have similar frustration about
notability tags being placed on their newly created articles especially on >niche
topics.
Of course, that happens a lot less when you get to be patrol-exempt.
But even still, on the occasions (and there still are some) when I create an article and
for whatever reason can’t put refs in it right away, I’m looking over my virtual shoulder
until I can (Once I had to wait an hour, and was absolutely paranoid that someone would
tag it or—God forbid—nominate it for speedy deletion in the meantime). Yes, even me.
I don’t how routinely we advise newer editors to do this, but the fact is that when you
create a new article, especially on a niche topic, you shouldn’t go live in mainspace with
it until you’ve got sourced assertion of notability in it, and probably at least a few
other sources as well. That’s what the newpage patrollers are looking for.
Daniel Case
