User:Chriscf/The Wiki Factor

Every now and then, something turns up on AfD which instantly spurs its creator to provide the first comment to the discussion, decrying the nominator for their bad faith, rampant deletionism, or their personal vendetta against the subject. In these cases, it is usually the case that said person is associated with the subject at hand. Often the articles are deleted, only to resurface on DRv, proposed by someone associated with the subject. In both cases situations, the main argument put forward is that their {website|club|business|organisation|product} has it. That elusive, fabled quality that sets them apart for inclusion in Wikipedia. Notability. This is not dissimilar to such "reality" "talent" shows on television, such as The X Factor, in which gullible members of the public present themselves before a panel of judges in the belief that they are the proverbial Next Big Thing™, only to be shot down in flames by Simon Cowell (nobody handles the flamethrower quite like he does).

This is compounded when even non-newbie editors creating articles fail to understand the very idea behind notability, which is that someone else besides the editor really can corroborate the article, and the claims within it. Thus they fight tooth and nail with the "unreasonable" demands of notability, when a more fundamental requirement of Wikipedia makes demands which are stronger still.

So in summary, if your comment on AfD or DRv contains the word "we" in reference to the subject, you're probably not likely to be taken seriously. Wikipedia is not The X Factor.