[WikiEN-l] Process wonkery

[Jimmy Wales]

Guettarda wrote:
> Quite frankly I am anything but a deletionist, but I think that a school
> with 75 students and no other claim to notability doesn't deserve a
> Wikipedia article

I think the danger here is that "doesn't deserve" (though I agree) is a 
value judgment about which it is quite hard to get consensus.  I would 
put it this way:

"An article with no independent sources of any kind about a school (or 
anything else) about which there is only a clearly homemade website 
presents insurmountable editorial difficulties for us.  As a general 
rule, there is no good way to be sure that we are not being hoaxed, nor 
that the information on the website is in any way true."

>  There is a long-established tradition of notability for Wikipedia
> articles.  We delete things that are non-notable.  People who say "all
> schools are notable" aren't discussing an issue, they are espousing an
> ideology.  Some people who home-school their children register a school.  By
> that token, anyone home-schooling their children is notable enough for
> inclusion, so the only barrier then is verifiability

So, yeah, while I agree, I still think it is almost always better to 
find some *other* point of argument than "notability" which is the sort 
of value judgment that is pretty hard to get consensus on.

--Jimbo