Wikipedia:WikiProject Beer/Notability Criteria

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This is an essay. It is not a policy or guideline. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page.

There is currently no consensus on what constitutes a notable brewery or beer. This proposed policy aims to set out reasonable guidelines for dealing with breweries and beers, so that all brewery and beer articles are treated equally if/when they are nominated for deletion, and so that trivial articles are not created.

It is also the intent to provide guidelines about the kind of content appropriate to such articles when they are written.

Contents 1 The situation 1.1 Breweries 1.2 Beer 2 Reasons for including all breweries on Wikipedia 3 Reasons for not including all breweries on Wikipedia 4 Current criteria for including a brewery 5 Notability guidelines 6 Proposed criteria for the notability of breweries and beers 7 Notability tests

[edit] The situation

As Wikipedia is expanding editors have found it helpful to group together in WikiProjects with the intention of overseeing the development of articles within a specified subject area. One of the tasks that such projects are increasingly facing is drawing up criteria for the notability of articles within their subject area.

[edit] Breweries

Currently there is no criteria for which breweries are notable. Any brewery can be listed on Wikipedia. Breweries are added in a random and organic manner.

[edit] Beer

Discussions that took place after a merge of Guinness the product into Guinness the brewery [1] established there there was a loose consensus that some beer brands, such as Guinness, should have articles separate from the brand holder or brewery. However, there is currently no agreed or proposed criteria.

[edit] Reasons for including all breweries on Wikipedia

1. Wikipedia is large: There is room enough to handle all the breweries on the planet.
2. Comprehensive: It is good to have all the information in one place.
3. My local brewery: When people are searching for information on a brewery it is likely to be for information on their own local brewery.

[edit] Reasons for not including all breweries on Wikipedia

1. Encouraging and leading by example: If we create serious and brilliant articles then more editors will be encouraged to create more and more such articles. If we create trivial articles about non notable breweries then more and more editors will be encouraged to create more and more trivial articles.
2. Credibility of Wikipedia: Wiki occasionally comes under criticism from academics and the media for the trivial and poor quality of much of the content.
3. Wiki is an encyclopedia: The articles are aimed at helping people understand topics rather than merely listing them. That a brewery article may contain information about the brewery is indisputable. But articles on pubs, shops and people also contain information, and other projects have drawn up quidelines to decide which ones are notable. That an item has individuality is not in dispute - it's the notability that is.

[edit] Current criteria for including a brewery

Notability and inclusion guidelines

Notability guidelines Companies 'Cool' ideas Fiction Internet content Music Numbers People Pornographic actors Other Places of local interest Gender/race/sexuality categories Neologisms Active proposals Academics (talk) Books (talk) Candidates and Elections (talk) Churches etc (talk) Computer and Video Games (talk) Fandom (talk) Organizations (talk) Royalty (talk) Science: 1, 2 (talk) Software (talk) Songs (talk) Schools (talk) Trivia (talk) More... subject-specific See also: Precedents, Notability verification

• That the brewery exists. Example: Brasserie de l'Abbaye du Val-Dieu

Or:

• That the brewery existed at some point. Example: Nicholson's

Under these criteria all breweries that ever existed would be included. There are editors in favour of this all-inclusive approach. However, the majority of editors on Wikipedia favour using some form of notability criteria. See: Wikipedia:Notability.

[edit] Notability guidelines

Editors on Wikipedia are working on creating usable criteria for the notability of articles. Current and proposed notability criteria for a variety of topics can be seen on the infobox to the right.

[edit] Proposed criteria for the notability of breweries and beers

A brewery or beer is notable if it meets any one of the following criteria:

1. Is mentioned in [X number] of published works.
2. Is the main subject of at least one published work.
3. Has a unique or rare feature.
4. Is historically significant (e.g., the first brewery to brew Scotch Ale or American Pale Ale, or the first example of a Milk Stout).
5. The brewery building has some architectural importance.
6. The brewer is notable (such as Bert Grant).
7. One or more of the structures at the brewery is a listed building.

[edit] Notability tests

See also Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Precedents

The most popular test among editors for the notability of a topic is the "Google Test". This test is not seen as reliable by all editors. However, a brewery or beer that returns less than 100 hits may be unlikely to be notable.