https://wiki.tachyony.co.uk/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Wikipedia%3AAmnesia_testWikipedia:Amnesia test - Revision history2026-05-15T04:54:18ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.35.5https://wiki.tachyony.co.uk/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Amnesia_test&diff=5534&oldid=prevTachyony: Imported page2021-12-19T17:50:49Z<p>Imported page</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{essay|WP:AMNESIA|WP:FORGET}}<br />
{{nutshell|If you can't write an article after leaving all your prior knowledge about the subject behind, it '''fails the amnesia test''', and regardless of how many external links you can dig up that relate to the subject, those links don't satisfy [[Wikipedia:Notability|notability guidelines]].}}<br />
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[[File:USAK Library.JPG|right|thumb|200px|The best Wikipedia articles come not from your own mind but from sources you research yourself]]<br />
If you're thinking of starting an article about something, chances are you know a bit about it already. But editors that have been around Wikipedia for a while will know that many articles are [[Wikipedia:Deletion process|deleted]] for failing to satisfy the [[Wikipedia:Notability|notability]] criteria in enough a number of Wikipedians to vindicate such action. So, before creating the article, they may try to make sure that if the article is [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion|nominated for deletion]], they can satisfy Wikipedia's myriad notability guidelines (including [[WP:WEB]], [[WP:BIO]], [[WP:CORP]], [[WP:MUSIC]], [[WP:WINI]], and so on).<br />
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If you do a [[Google]] search for most subjects, you'll usually turn up ''something'' that could, at first glance, appear to help your article meet Wikipedia's criteria for [[Wikipedia:Notability|notability]], specifically "significant press coverage" ([[WP:BIO]]), "multiple non-trivial published works" ([[WP:WEB]], [[WP:CORP]]) and the like, and thus be safe from [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion]]. Nonetheless, before you start creating the article, it's a good idea to take the following steps:<br />
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#'''Forget everything you know about the subject (or act as though you know ''absolutely nothing'' about the subject).'''<br />
#Re-read the 'non-trivial published works' and 'press coverage' you found, and learn everything you can.<br />
#Start writing your article, using only information from the sources that you found. If you find that you have nothing to write, '''don't write anything.'''<br />
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The notability guidelines are there as a ''means'' to ensuring that an article can be [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|verifiable]] (which requires [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources|reliable sources]]) and [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral]] (which requires at least one person independent of the subject who thinks it's worth writing and maintaining an article on them). Meeting them is not a standard for inclusion.<br />
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The Amnesia test is also useful when participating in [[WP:AFD|Articles for deletion]] discussions.<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Wikipedia:Stop writing]]<br />
*[[Wikipedia:Verifiability, not truth]]<br />
*[[User:Uncle G/On notability#Writing about subjects close to you]]<br />
*[[Doublethink]]<br />
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