# Best way to get a Wikipedia Page... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024 "2013-01-04T02:40:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/1 "2013-01-04T02:40:02Z")
For someone with no claim to fame! Inspired partly by those crazy people seeking a Guinness World Record, partly by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=677652)and partly by a Jeopardy contestant who said she had one just because she was a winner. If I were to set my sights on getting a Wiki page about me, what would be the best way to do it? ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/2 "2013-01-04T02:44:13Z")
What do you mean by “best”? Quickest? Surest? Unfortunately, you’re going to have to commit a heinous crime. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/3 "2013-01-04T05:51:03Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > What do you mean by “best”? Quickest? Surest? Unfortunately, you’re going to have to commit a heinous crime. Hmm, good point. I guess I should have specified ‘legal’ way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/4 "2013-01-04T05:55:14Z")
Well, you could always [create your own](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_wizard/Introduction). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/5 "2013-01-04T06:03:19Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > Well, you could always [create your own](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_wizard/Introduction). For some reason, I didn’t think that was allowed. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/6 "2013-01-04T06:47:24Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > For some reason, I didn’t think that was allowed. It’s not. It ruins the integrity of what Wikipedia is supposed to be about. I’m not sure how they can tell when someone is editing their own page, but they have a decent track record of minimising occurrences of it. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/7 "2013-01-04T13:00:47Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > For some reason, I didn’t think that was allowed. As with everything else on Wikipedia, there is [a policy on that](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Autobiography). > [@](#): > > Creating an article about yourself is _strongly_ discouraged. We want biographies here, not autobiographies. It doesn’t actually say it’s completely forbidden, although [another page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest#Writing_about_yourself_and_people_you_know) says > [@](#): > > You should not create or edit articles about yourself, your family or your close friends. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/8 "2013-01-04T13:57:53Z")
Looking at the notability criteria, there would probably be a way to buy yourself into Wikipedia. I stumbled upon an article about a young woman who used to be a substitute goal keeper on a struggling team in the German professional women’s soccer league. She only actually played once for one half in a championship game, however, this was enough to fulfill the formal criteria to be on Wikipedia. You could probably pay a team which is not doing too well financially a certain amount of money and they will put you on the roster for one game. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/9 "2013-01-04T14:52:15Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > As with everything else on Wikipedia, there is [a policy on that](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Autobiography). I went looking for that, got sidetracked (as is par for the course on wikipedia) and found a list of all wiki’s dirty pictures. But as I recall, the wiki founder got in ‘trouble’ for creating or editing his own wiki page. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/10 "2013-01-04T17:03:36Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It’s not. It ruins the integrity of what Wikipedia is supposed to be about. I’m not sure how they can tell when someone is editing their own page, but they have a decent track record of minimising occurrences of it. My understanding is, if user SamDoper is heavily editing the page for Samantha Afcan Doper – particularly if the uer has few or no other edits – it raises a red flag. Aside from that, in principle neutral and well-sourced edits are fine and biased or poorly sourced edits are unwelcome, regardless of who makes them or what page they’re on. No promises that said principle is followed in practice. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/11 "2013-01-04T17:40:41Z")
Once I found a drawing that I liked randomly on the Internet. I googled the artist and of course his wiki page showed up. It was short but went on to extoll his virtues. When I visited his blog he was asking for donations so he could pay his rent. A bit of a disconnect. Donnerwetter, a good suggestion but sadly buying my way in is not an option for me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/12 "2013-01-04T18:08:56Z")
I would imagine that there are quite a number of people with Wikipedia articles who according to the existing criteria don’t qualify by a long stretch. Probably, these somehow fly under the radar and are never spotted by an administrator. ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/13 "2013-01-05T03:10:28Z")
For something to get its own page on Wikipedia, it has to be notable. As close as I can tell, ‘notable’ means ‘someone took time to write about it it at some point’. I created a page for my employer a few years ago, with a Wiki moderator’s approval. I wrote up a draft article that was brief and factual, went to a forum to explain the situation to experienced Wiki-ers with full disclosure that I was a current employee, and presented a couple of articles in major newspapers that quoted our CEO and half a dozen industry magazine reviews of our products to prove notability. It got the official nod from a moderator, and up it went. It’s still there and has had only minor edits from a few other people. So it’s possible to create good wiki articles despite a conflict of interest, but you’ve got to be really respectful of Wikipedia’s goals and create something that is beneficial for them, not just for you. If you want to achieve enough notability to get your own Wikipedia page, it seems to me that the easiest way to do so is to get mentioned in a newspaper a couple of times. Lead some volunteer efforts and invite a newspaper writer along to cover the project. Announce to the world that you’re a psychic and see if you can get the attention of a ‘human interest’ writer. Publish something in a trade magazine. Or just go do something unspeakably awful. That tends to work too. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/14 "2013-01-06T03:43:40Z")
> [@FlyByNight512](#): > > For something to get its own page on Wikipedia, it has to be notable. As close as I can tell, ‘notable’ means ‘someone took time to write about it it at some point’. I fought notability battles before on Wikipedia. The way I describe Wikipedia’s culture to outsiders is “Imagine a bureaucracy…staffed entirely by _volunteer_ _bureaucrats_.” I try to not be a dick. I was working on a page, and one of the parties posted an update. Probably valid information, but it had no references at all. I cut his update and put it on the Talk page, explaining what the issue was, and then started an e-mail conversation with the person who had added it, explaining what we needed and why. > [@](#): > > I created a page for my employer a few years ago, with a Wiki moderator’s approval. I wrote up a draft article that was brief and factual, went to a forum to explain the situation to experienced Wiki-ers with full disclosure that I was a current employee, and presented a couple of articles in major newspapers that quoted our CEO and half a dozen industry magazine reviews of our products to prove notability. It got the official nod from a moderator, and up it went. It’s still there and has had only minor edits from a few other people. So it’s possible to create good wiki articles despite a conflict of interest, but you’ve got to be really respectful of Wikipedia’s goals and create something that is beneficial for them, not just for you. Because Wikipedia is so simple, a Wikipedia article ranks very high in Google’s search results. Every company should have one, but usually some bonehead just cuts and pastes their standard corporate glurge, pissing off editors. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/15 "2013-01-06T04:15:48Z")
How obsessed are you with your own page? I am noted in a Wiki page, but I don’t have a page of my own. I got there by winning a literature contest which has a page. I was added to the list of winners. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/16 "2013-01-06T05:25:55Z")
I have a friend who is a well known stand-up comedian and actor in New Zealand, and he doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. He is prominent enough, with enough credits in various different works, to warrant one, so I have considered making one for him, but I’m not entirely sure if I ought to. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-get-a-wikipedia-page/646024/17 "2013-01-06T22:37:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I have a friend who is a well known stand-up comedian and actor in New Zealand, and he doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. He is prominent enough, with enough credits in various different works, to warrant one, so I have considered making one for him, but I’m not entirely sure if I ought to. Should be easy enough. I would recommend that you get your ducks in a row first. [ul] [li]Have at least five references in the very first version of the article. [/li][li]Establish links to your article from other articles. For instance, link from movies this person was in.[/li][li]Try to make it reasonably complete, including an infobox with birthdate and image.[/li][li]Make sure you don’t cut and paste from any other web page. Re-write any material you use.[/li][/ul] Google Books is an excellent source of references, indexing both books and magazines. Remember that there are people on Wikipedia who seeming live to delete articles, or at least marking them for “Speedy Deletion”.