Wikipedia:Notability (memes)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Internet meme (also called an Internet phenomenon) is any kind of media that gains popularity through the Internet. There is currently no consensus on what constitutes a notable internet meme. Because Wikipedia is not a democracy, this proposed policy aims to set out concrete guidelines for dealing with internet memes, so that all internet meme articles are treated equally if/when they are nominated for deletion.

Guidelines for notability[edit]

If the meme in question fulfills any one of these requirements, it can be deemed notable:

  1. The meme has been the subject of multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the meme itself, and which qualifies as a reliable source.

People associated with memes[edit]

  • If a person is only notable for their meme, then any information related to them should be at that meme's page. If that person is notable under WP:BIO, they can also have their own article.

Special considerations[edit]

  • Google doesn't establish notability: A Google test cannot be used to establish that a meme is notable because it is theoretically possible that issues such as Google bombing have inflated the count. However, Google can show non-notability for Internet memes. A very small Google count can show that a meme is non-notable.

See also[edit]

  • WP:V - Don't forget to consider verifiability.
  • WP:WEB
  • WP:MUSIC - If a band's notability relies on their meme, make sure to check out if they're notable under the music notability standards.
  • WP:BIO - This policy applies only to memes. See the guideline on notability for people at this link.

Notes[edit]