NotabiliasNotabilias
Journal

Notes on notability

Field notes on what earns a place in the encyclopedia, and what does not.

October 1, 2026 · 1 min read

Due weight and the criticism section

Wikipedia's neutral-point-of-view policy measures how much space a fact or a controversy deserves against how much reliable, independent coverage it actually received — not against how flattering or how uncomfortable it is for the subject.

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September 30, 2026 · 1 min read

The sentence no source wrote

Wikipedia's ban on original research has a specific failure mode called WP:SYNTH: combining two accurate, individually sourced statements to imply a third claim that neither source makes. It passes more drafts through review than outright fabrication does, because every sentence in the paragraph checks out on its own.

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September 29, 2026 · 1 min read

Match the title to the coverage

Wikipedia titles an article by the name reliable sources use most often, under a guideline called WP:COMMONNAME. A company's own rebrand announcement carries no weight in that discussion until the trade press and wire services start repeating it, which makes timing, more than argument, the real skill in filing a requested move.

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September 28, 2026 · 1 min read

Blacklisted domains outlive the accounts that caused them

Wikipedia's spam blacklist filters by URL, not by account — a domain flagged for one promotional link becomes unusable on every article, by every editor, including the ones who had nothing to do with the original spam. Getting a single page whitelisted afterward can take longer than the campaign that caused the listing in the first place.

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