User:Canucklehead/WhyCSD

If you're here, you're probably wondering why I tagged your page for speedy deletion or proposed it for deletion. Here are my most common reasons:
 * 1. You made an article about yourself. You shouldn't do this. Since Wikipedia is supposed to be written neutrally, it's hard to write an article about yourself without putting yourself in a more positive/negative light than where you actually are, intentionally or not. If you're recognized enough, someone else will write the article for you. There are some other reasons that you wouldn't be entitled to an article anyway:
 * Having a YouTube account does not automatically make you notable enough for an article. Unless you or your videos have been covered by a third-party source such as a news outlet, and can prove it, you probably don't qualify for an article. It really doesn't matter how many Minecraft videos you have, or how popular they are; you need something reliable to prove what the article says and that you would be notable enough for an article. The third-party source check is in place to make sure that people aren't just spewing misinformation on articles; without it, your article just looks like self-promotion or advertising, which is also forbidden here.
 * If you make up completely false stories about yourself, it's not going to stay here. The "editable by anyone" motto sometimes misleads people into believing that anything can be posted to Wikipedia and that it's totally unmoderated. Some people monitor the content of new pages to make sure that blatantly false information doesn't slip by. If you actually did become a pilot at 9 and a star of successful films in another country, you need proof to verify it, like a news article. If you don't include any, we just assume that the information is false and throw away the article.


 * 2. You made an article about someone or something that isn't notable enough. You need third-party sources that this person, company, band, object, etc actually exists, and that the claims about them in the article are true. References to news articles or other encyclopedias would work. If it doesn't have any coverage outside of Wikipedia or their own websites/publications, unfortunately it isn't notable enough for a Wikipedia article. If the object, company, startup, etc is something you created, it could be seen either as intentional or unintentional advertising, which isn't allowed here. But if your project actually needs the publicity, there are places outside of Wikipedia you could try to gain attention. Here are a few:
 * Music: SoundCloud, YouTube, /r/music on Reddit
 * Startups or New Inventions: Kickstarter (for fundraising), /r/startups on Reddit
 * Movements: Change.org


 * 3. You made an article about a place, object, or person that you just made up. If the place, object, or person actually exists, please make sure you have a third-party source to verify it, such as a news article. Anything that appears to be just made up out of thin air is considered totally false and removed.


 * 4. You made a joke article. We all enjoy a good laugh, and I'm sure most of us would be making joke pages as well if it were allowed, but Wikipedia articles are meant to be serious. People, probably including you, come here all the time seeking valid, meaningful information. However, making joke pages within your own user pages is perfectly fine. And even some Wikipedia project-related pages (the ones that start with Wikipedia:) are jokes or intended for humour, too.

If your page didn't fit into any of these categories, it probably was tagged for a less common violation that you can find at the Criteria for Speedy Deletion or Reasons for Deletion pages.

Don't give up
If you're brand new to Wikipedia, the speedy deletion warning or even my reasoning on this page may seem intimidating. Don't take it personally, and don't give up on creating articles just because yours happened to go wrong. You can find plenty of tips for writing articles at Your First Article, and use the Article Wizard to create it. But if the types of invalid articles I've explained here have nullified all of your ideas, take a look at Requested Articles. These are articles that people have requested but haven't been created yet; pick a topic of interest to you and see if there's any red links in there that you believe you are qualified to write an article about.

If you have any questions, you can leave me a message here.  Cryptic   Canadian  02:10, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

The idea for this page was sort of ripped off from an admin I encountered once - I forget who it was. If you're reading this, sorry!