Are you worthy of a Wikipedia article?

Q: What makes one wiki-worthy?

I mean, I'm for sure not, just wondering.

Rusty Bigfoot said:

Q: What makes one wiki-worthy?

I mean, I'm for sure not, just wondering.

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That's what I want to know. Wikipedia states you have to be a notable public figure. What is notable? If you have an article written about you on there, I'd like to know.

A friend who has written a bunch of books had someone go onto wiki (not her idea) and put her name as an author on the page for her hometown. Wiki took it off, saying she wasn't a notable author. It was a one-line sentence saying something like, "XXX is an author from yyy," not a bunch of hype. So, no idea what it takes.

From Wikipedia:

People who are relatively unknown

Wikipedia contains biographical material on people who, while notable enough for an entry, are not generally well known. In such cases, exercise restraint and include only material relevant to their notability, focusing on high quality secondary sources. Material published by the subject may be used, but with caution; see above. Material that may adversely affect a person's reputation should be treated with special care; in many jurisdictions, repeating a defamatory claim is actionable, and there is additional protection for subjects who are not public figures.

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And this:

Avoid self-published sources

Never use self-published sources-including but not limited to books, zines, websites, blogs, and tweets-as sources of material about a living person, unless written or published by the subject (see below). "Self-published blogs" in this context refers to personal and group blogs. Some news organizations host online columns that they call blogs, and these may be acceptable as sources so long as the writers are professionals and the blog is subject to the newspaper's full editorial control. Posts left by readers are never acceptable as sources.[4] See below for our policy on self-published images.

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Bottom line: it's not easy being Wiki-worthy unless you are a celebrity (good or bad), movie star, bestselling (traditional) author, athlete, famous inventor, head of a major corporation, etc.

The vast majority of indie and self-published authors will not be considered wiki-worthy. The ones who are will be authors who have received significant, non self-published press like Amanda Hocking and John Locke or whom break game-changing ground (be an innovator or early adopter of something that gains popularity and you're guaranteed a page).

Upon closer inspection of John Locke's Wikipedia page you'll see it's marked for deletion because: "This article is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view...(June 2011)"

Todd Russell said:

Upon closer inspection of John Locke's Wikipedia page you'll see it's marked for deletion because: "This article is written like an advertisement.

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Man, the layers of irony are thick on that one.

It's like Mike "The Situation" for Jersey Shore.  I'm almost positive he wrote his own page.  It just sounds too..... flattering.........

When I publish, I think I'll actually know I've "made" it when my book ends up mentioned in a tvtropes.org example rather than Wiki.

I actually wrote a few Wiki articles on some of my favorite indie authors, but they all got deleted. I wouldn't put much stock in Wiki featuring Indie authors unless they have done something really remarkable. Getting on the New York Times bestselling list certainly won't hurt.

I've had one for years. I have no idea who started it. I've dropped in occasionally to post corrections, but I don't maintain it other than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Mariotte

I don't have a page about me, but I appear in an article about something else... does that count? I am the "Katy Amt" mentioned in the History section. Yup, a whole RPG system named after me. *sigh*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtgard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kealan_Patrick_Burke

Not sure what constitutes "wiki-worthy", but it looks like a somewhat arbitrary process.

No Wiki article for me. Guess I'm not one of the cool kids yet.

Vicki

Trust me, the day our coolness is measured by a Wikipedia article will be the day we may as well all walk into the sea and stay there.

I've got one - but as its primarily about my success as a playwright - I don't think it counts.

Since I'm un-published, nope, not yet!

There is one for 'Zelah', the place I'm named after. However, it is wrong because it says the Cornish village is named after a place in Judea when, from some previous research I did in to it, the Cornish place name Zelah evolved separately and has a different meaning to the Judean one.

The Judean one means 'Rib, side or halting'. The Cornish one means 'A dry place' http://www.alanrichards.org/placenames.html

(I suspect that my parents didn't investigate name meanings when they thought that it sounded like a pretty name...)

People should check within their own genres for genre-specific-wikis, as well. Romance Wiki is a pretty good site. I don't have one there yet, but I hope to eventually.