Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Common outcomes

Businesses

• Companies are not kept on a basis of how much revenue or how many employees they have. See WP:BIG.
• Blatant advertising pages have been subject to speedy deletion.
• Products that have been planned, but not created yet, are generally deleted. See WP:CRYSTAL. However, exceptions have included "future-tech" items which already have substantial referencing behind the fundamental concept, such as fusion reactors, and prominent products in development (e.g. the next version of a computer operating system) for which well-sourced product updates are released on a relatively regular basis.
• Companies reported as significant subjects of news coverage are usually sufficiently notable.
• Generally, companies that are included in major stock indices such as S&P 500 Index or FTSE 100 Index will have sufficient in-depth independent coverage for notability.
• Local retailers and service merchants (franchises or individually owned) are generally deleted, with exceptions, including businesses with particular historical significance (e.g. the first motel), those centered around a major historical event, or tourist attractions.
• For businesses in particular fields, see also Broadcast media, Music and Transportation below.

Religious organizations

• Religions, religious denominations and sects are almost always treated as presumptively notable and kept provided there is reliable source evidence of their existence and they represent more than a handful of affiliated congregations or places of worship.
• Articles about middle judicatories (for example, dioceses) of churches in the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran traditions are usually kept, provided they are mentioned in reliable sources and they represent more than a handful of affiliated congregations or places of worship.
• Individual parishes, congregations, temples and other places of worship are not generally kept unless they satisfy specific criteria in one or more of our guidelines pertaining to the establishment of encyclopedic notability. See also WP:NCHURCH.

School districts

• "Populated, legally-recognized places" include school districts, which conveys near-presumptive notability to school districts per Wikipedia:Notability (geographic features).

Schools

• The current notability guidelines for schools and other education institutions are Wikipedia:Notability (WP:N) and Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies) (WP:ORG).

1. Most elementary (primary) and middle schools that don't source a clear claim to notability usually get merged or redirected to the school district authority that operates them (generally the case in North America) or the lowest level locality (elsewhere or where there is no governing body).
2. Most independently accredited degree-awarding institutions have enough coverage to be notable, although that coverage may not be readily available online.
3. Before 2017, secondary schools were assumed notable unless sources could not be found to prove existence, but following a February 2017 RFC, secondary schools are not presumed to be notable simply because they exist, and are still subject both to the standards of notability, as well as those for organizations.

The closure of this February 2017 RFC provided the following RfC nutshell results regarding the above section: Secondary schools are not presumed to be notable simply because they exist. References to demonstrate notability may be offline, and this must be taken into consideration before bringing a page to AfD. Editors should not flood AfD with indiscriminate or excessive nominations. Following the March 2026 RfC, formal merge discussions are now held at AfD rather than the historical Proposed article mergers process (PAM).

People

• Becoming a professor (in the American sense of the word) may or may not confer notability. Becoming a prominent tenured professor often confers notability on this basis alone, while an academic appointment at the assistant professor level generally does not. The notability standard is Wikipedia:Notability (academics) (WP:PROF).
• Becoming a schoolteacher or instructor below the level of professor does not confer any presumptive notability.
• Becoming a student confers no notability. The notability standard for such persons is Wikipedia:Notability (people) (WP:BIO).
• Becoming a school principal or superintendent generally does not confer notability, unless a superintendent of a sizable city/school district.

Parts of schools and school-related organizations

• Classes, classrooms or lessons are almost invariably deleted.
• Faculties, departments or degree programs within a university, college, or school are generally not considered notable unless they have made significant contributions to their field. Separate articles on law schools and medical schools are being kept.
• The notability of student unions may vary between different countries and different universities. A case-by-case demonstration of notability for each student union should be the prime determining factor. See also WP:UNIGUIDE#Student life.
• Clubs are generally deleted as not notable unless they are syndicated or coordinated on a national/international level.

Television programs

• Guidance for all television programs is provided at WP:NTV, though NTV is not a subject-specific notability guideline for television programs.
• Television series, game shows, and talk shows broadcast nationally by a major network or produced by a major studio are usually kept. An exception is if a program was short-lived and/or aired in a market where reliable source coverage is scant.
• Unaired programs and television pilots not picked up to series are usually deleted.
• Individual episodes of television series are typically deleted or redirected to appropriate lists of episodes, if available, unless they are shown to meet notability due to having received significant and in-depth coverage.

Populated places

• Populated place outcomes generally follow WP:GEOLAND, which means that they're usually kept if they either have legal recognition or can be shown to meet GNG through significant coverage.
• Attractions and landmarks often survive AfD.
• Bars, pubs, cafes, restaurants, and hotels tend not to survive AfD unless multiple independent sources have written about them in non-trivial detail.
• Legally recognized cities and villages anywhere in the world are generally kept, regardless of size or length of existence, as long as that existence and legal recognition can be verified through a reliable source. This usually also applies to any other area that has a legally recognized government, such as counties, parishes and municipalities.
• Larger neighborhoods are usually kept if they meet GNG.
• Smaller suburbs are generally merged, being listed under the primary city article, except when they consist of legally separate municipalities or communes (e.g., having their own governments).

Academics

• As a very rough rule of thumb, full professors at research universities are usually notable, assistant professors usually not, and faculty at community colleges usually are not regardless of rank.
• It is hard to predict the common outcomes for non-teaching researchers, faculty in the middle ranks, people at universities focused more on teaching and less on research, and academics in countries that use other academic ranks than in the United States.
• In the humanities or social sciences, an academic who does not meet WP:PROF will sometimes still meet WP:AUTHOR, especially if they also write books for a more general audience.

Businesspeople and executives

• Corporate presidents, chief executive officers and chairpersons of the boards of directors of companies listed in the Fortune 500 (US) or the FTSE 100 Index (UK) are generally kept as notable.
• Biographical material on heads and key figures of smaller companies which are themselves the subject of Wikipedia articles are sometimes merged into those articles and the biographies redirected to the company.

Celebrities

• Family members of celebrities are generally merged with the articles about celebrities themselves, unless the family member meets notability requirements themselves. Ashlee Simpson and Jessica Simpson each have their own article; Sheree Zampino redirects to Will Smith.

Clergy and religious persons

• The bishops of major denominations, including Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican Communion bishops, are typically found to be notable. People listed as bishops in Pentecostal denominations may fail AFDs unless they have significant reliable third-party coverage. Clerics who hold the title bishop but only serve an individual parish or congregation are typically considered the same as local pastors or parish priests.
• The Chief Rabbis of nation states with large Jewish communities are notable by virtue of their status.
• Heads of large Protestant denominations are generally found to be notable by dint of achieving this office, as seen in this deletion debate Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/David W. Graves about a General Superintendent (Church of the Nazarene).

Competitors

• Winners of contests, games of skill, and other competitions are subjects of some disagreement. Such articles are generally kept as notable only at the national level. For example, winners of well-known national spelling bees (like Scripps or CanSpell) may be kept as notable. The typical winner of a local spelling bee is almost always deleted. Other competitors are often redirected to the main article of the contest or show season.
• Winning a lottery or other game of chance, even with a large payoff, does not by itself confer notability; articles on lottery winners as such are often deleted.
• Athletes and other sportspersons are subject to the general notability guideline. Participants in sports at a national level are more likely to have received significant coverage than participants at a local level. Wikipedia:Notability (sports) helps determine whether or not an athlete is likely to meet WP:GNG.
• There is consensus that footballers who play a minimal amount in a fully-professional league but comprehensively fail the general notability guideline are not notable.

Early settlers and colonists

• Early settlers of a place are not presumptively notable or non-notable. Each case must be decided on its own merits. Generally, there has been a longstanding consensus to keep such articles about early colonists, if significant coverage in reliable sources can be demonstrated.

Oldest people

• Articles about people known only for being the oldest person in a country, etc., at any given time are normally redirected or merged to a list of oldest people.

Politicians

Monarchs and nobility

There are no special notability guidelines about monarchs, nobility and their descendants. The guidelines for politicians are applied to those who have exercised political authority. As such, kings and queens regnant, as well as nobles who have ruled a territory or served as head of state are presumed to be notable. The notability of their spouses (kings and queens consort), as well as other nobility (dukes, counts, barons, knights, etc.) is decided on a case-by-case basis based on the general notability guideline, although kings and queens consort are generally found to be notable.

The descendants of monarchs or nobles, especially deposed ones, are not considered notable for this reason alone. The principle that Wikipedia articles are not genealogical entries is often mentioned in this context. But persons who are active in their capacity as a member of a royal house or as a holder of a title of nobility will often receive media coverage for it, which may help establish their notability according to the general notability guideline.

Aviation

• Lists of airline destinations are normally deleted, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Airlines/AfD record.

Buses

• A dedicated bus rapid transit line, such as Ottawa's Transitway, is also usually kept, but a regular bus line that travels along normal city streets is not usually considered notable. However, some articles about bus lines in major cities have survived AfD—articles that describe the line's history and social impact in depth are more likely to be acceptable.
• Articles about individual bus routes are rarely notable; recommendations to merge into a suitable list article are common.
• Bus stops are usually deleted as not notable, with the exception of certain hubs in major cities.

Rail transport

• Train stations are not inherently notable.
• Subway and railway lines often survive AfD.
• Existing heavy rail stations on a main system (i.e. not a heritage railway) are generally kept at AfD.
• Other stations are usually kept or merged and redirected to an article about the line or system they are on.

Roads

• Most numbered roadways are acceptable if they can be described beyond the route itself.
  • In the US, state, U.S., and Interstate highways (aka: freeways, turnpikes, expressways and motorways) are usually kept.
  • In Canada, any highway that is part of a province's or territory's official highway system is usually kept.
  • In the UK, motorways are usually kept. 'A' roads are usually kept if all or part of the road is trunk or primary. 'B' roads are usually deleted or merged (see below).
  • Highway exits should be listed in an article on a highway, not as a separate article, except for some highly notable ones (e.g. the Springfield Interchange near Washington, D.C.).
  • County roads are disputed, but are kept if genuine notability is demonstrated. If the notability claim boils down to "it's notable because it exists," however, then redirection to a single merged list of that county's numbered roads is more common.
• City streets are contested, but minor streets are generally deleted.
• Major, unnumbered streets and roads beyond the level of a side street or neighborhood roadway have varied outcomes. An article that explains and provides valid relevant citations for the social, cultural, historical or political context of a road in depth is more likely to survive AfD than would one that merely describes the road's physical characteristics.

Ships

• Named warships, cruise ships, ocean liners and other large commercial ocean going or deep water vessels are generally treated as presumptively notable. Any named ship which served in the capacity of a navy vessel (i.e., under the direction of a national navy) at any point in history is generally considered notable; personal named pleasure craft generally are not unless they have been the subject of multiple published independent reliable sources of information.