User:Chrislk02/anarticleaboutaschoolthatcantfindagermanteacherisnotnotable

This is an essay I am working on about clarification of WP:GNG after being involved in several deletion discussions at WP:AFD and WP:DRV

In an WP:AFD for a small school in a foreign country, the creating editor added the following content from a reliable 3rd party source.

""...the school had difficulty finding qualified German teachers, so the possibility that the school would have to cancel its German classes existed.""

This coverage was from a reliable 3rd party source, presumed independent of the organization in question, and seemed to pass the WP:GNG muster. That being said, applying a WP:DUCK test asking "is this notable in an encyclopedic context" should hopefully result in a no.

Hierarchical Notability Guidelines
I think the following layout for determining notability would help provide clarity of what content is encyclopedic, and what content is not, without reducing it to a single 5 lines to judge all articles.


 * WP:GNG is the first test that an article must pass to be deemed notable enough for inclusion in Wikipedia
 * Projects/sub guidelines can/should provide clarification on top of the WP:GNG assuming that it clarifies what is "notable" in the context of the articles domain.

Example
Imagine the following two hypothetical WikiProjects: WPROJ:Dumb Sports and WPROJ:Thumb Twiddling
 * Thumb Twiddling is a type of Dumb Sport

'ThumbTwiddling, a new novelty, has received a decent amount of coverage, with various local thumb twiddlers receiving the brunt of the attention. Not all of these thumb twiddlers are truly "notable", but may pass WP:GNG so,

WPROJ:Thumb Twiddling adds the following hierarchical notability requirements
 * A thumb twiddler is notable if
 * They meet the basic requirements of WP:GNG
 * They have a record in the international database of verified thumb twiddlers, or other thumb twiddler repository
 * They have thumb twiddler ranking of 100 or higher

These requirements are very specific to this dumb sport. and by applying them on top of WP:GNG allows for further refinement of notability expectations based on the specifics of this sport.


 * This can go on in a hierarchical manner, for example, if a imaginary Wikiproject Wikiproject:Thumb Twiddling was a sub project of Wikiproject:Dumb Sports, then the requirements for being a notable thumb twiddler can be further specified on top of the the requirements for notability in sports, on top of WP:GNG

Implications

 * This can only increase the requirements for an article to be deemed notable, not vice versa. All articles still must pass WP:GNG, but all articles that pass WP:GNG on the surface may not be notable enough for inclusion.
 * A project cannot lower/reduce the standards