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The Sims Wiki is a comprehensive encyclopedia about The Sims series. However, there are some topics which are of questionable relevance or which are not necessarily notable enough to warrant an article on the wiki. The following policy has been adopted in an effort to clearly delineate whether a topic is relevant or not, and to establish practices for determining notoriety.
Definitions of Content
Generally, content falls into three categories: Allowed, Limited or Prohibited. While these categories should be used as a rule-of-thumb, it may be prudent to ignore them on a case-by-case basis. In these situations, a discussion should be held to determine, 1) if the topic of the article is relevant to the wiki, 2) whether the article topic is notable enough to be featured, and 3) whether the topic can or should be merged with another article or into an article about the broader topic. Pages categorized as Prohibited Content should not be created without first discussing the points listed above; Limited and Allowed types of pages may be created without a discussion, but may be discussed by anyone at any time.
Allowed Content
The following pages are almost always allowed, and are in fact necessary to the purpose and mission of the wiki:
- Games, expansions and stuff packs (e.g. The Sims 3, The Sims 3: Pets, The Sims 3: Town Life Stuff)
- Worlds/neighborhoods (e.g. Pleasantview, Riverview, Old Town)
- Canon Sims and families (e.g. Bella Goth, Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, Tara DeBateau, Goth family)
- Objects (e.g. Television, Decorations)
- General Simology (e.g. Life Stages, Traits, basically the whole of the Simology tab on the navigation bar)
- Lots (e.g. 1 Free Street, Cemetery, Rabbit hole)
- Any in-game feature which is notable enough to be described (see below for definition of notability)
- Notable real life figures related to the series (e.g. Will Wright, Electronic Arts, Maxis)
Limited Content
The following pages are allowed to be created on a limited basis. A determination of notability by the community should be made if a user is in doubt as to whether the article itself is relevant or notable.
- Articles about game modifications. These modifications should be notable and relatively major in scope (e.g. AwesomeMod, InSimenator)
- Articles about creators of content and modifications. These persons should generally be known for multiple significant and well-known creations.
- Articles about websites relevant to The Sims series. The website does not need to be exclusively Sims- based, but should feature The Sims as a primary topic (e.g. ModTheSims, BeyondSims). Articles about websites should be written from a neutral point-of-view, and persons from those websites should refrain from editing these articles, except to update already-included information.
Prohibited Content
This wiki is first and foremost about The Sims games themselves. The following types of pages either are not relevant or present other issues which necessitate limiting their creation.
- Pages about well-known YouTube or internet 'celebrities' that play The Sims. There is no reasonable or practical way to determine which celebrities are notable enough to be described, and no way to prevent shameless advertising on the part of the celebrities themselves.
- Pages about player-created custom content (not including game modifications), such as custom neighborhoods, downloadable families, etc. Players may still create pages about these creations in the Fanon namespace, though articles there are generally intended to tell a story and are not meant to advertise downloadable custom creations. Pages on custom content are better suited for The Customized Sims Wiki.
- Pages which are obviously not relevant to The Sims series, such as a page about Minecraft.
Determination of Notability
There is no strict definition of what topics or pieces of information are notable. Notability is largely determined by the community at-large, though it is not necessary to actively determine whether each and every article on the wiki is notable. Rather, the wiki utilizes passive review of articles with questionable notability. This passive review follows the steps below.
1. Any user may question whether an article which has been created is notable enough to remain. If a user believes an article is not notable, they should tag it with the {{Notability}} template and begin discussing notability on the article talk page or in the Community Discussions forum.
2. If a notability discussion occurs, a consensus will be necessary to determine that an article is not notable. An article with questionable notability should not be deleted until it is established that the article is not notable. It is the discretion of the community to decide whether an article is or is not notable, basing this decision on any given guidelines or established precedent on previous issues of notability.
3. If an article is deemed to be notable, the matter of its notability should not be re-discussed unless new reasoning is given for reconsideration. If a discussion for notability fails to reach a consensus due to poor turnout, it can be reconsidered.
Article Relevance
Articles believed to be irrelevant should be tagged with {{Delete}} or {{Speedydelete}}. If a discussion is necessary, it will be held at Category talk:Candidates for deletion. Articles which are definitely irrelevant may also be deleted on-the-spot by an administrator.
Policy adoption and revision history
The Notability Policy was ultimately drafted after a lengthy discussion in this forum thread. The policy was proposed here. A consensus to adopt the policy was reached, and the policy entered into effect on March 24, 2013.
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