This is only a draft and I realize it has my opinions dripping all over it so don't be shy and discuss here. We are basically trying to answer the question: "What is notable enough to be included on a recent year page and what is not?" Wrad (talk) 20:46, 5 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Could we name Eurovision Song Contest as something that should not be linked, as well. If that was in the guideline, I'd withdraw my opposition to the removal of the Superbowl. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 22:42, 5 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely. Wrad (talk) 22:45, 5 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I also agree that that The Eurovision should not be listed, it is a regular showbiz event.

A lot of events used to be listed, and once we have proper guidelines in place we can go back through the years and remove what should not be included. FFMG (talk) 06:54, 6 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm pretty much in agreement with the guidelines as listed. In general an entry which fits into one of the sub-categories must be pretty exceptional to be included on a year page. Obviously it must also be internationally significant as well. At present there are probably 2 missing sub-categories which should be added: Disasters and Terrorist Attacks. The note under 3-Continent Rule "Events which are not cited will be removed" might need the addition "unless it has it's own wiki article".

The only other quibble I have is with the Deaths criteria. I don't see how this can be applied as successfully to less recent years (I realise we're only talking about current/recent pages here). Also some links will go dead after a while which could become problematic later on for marginal cases. Another difficulty is wether or not a non-english article is merely an auto-translation for a mirror news site rather than an independent report, the latter being a much better indication of notability than the former. Unfortunately I can think of no other all-encompassing criteria that could be used so I guess we're stuck with it.

Another thing which might save a lot of repetition would be a link at the top of the year page to this guideline page; I'm pretty sure we're all tired of having to revert the same good-faith edits over and over again! Cheers, DerbyCountyinNZ (talk) 01:01, 6 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Since wikipedia can't use itself as a source, I don't think "unless it has its own wiki article" is a good idea. If it has its own wiki article, then we can take a source from that article and put it on the event, that's fine. Wrad (talk) 04:04, 6 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In my limited experience on year pages, most people don't even read hidden comments, let alone go and read guidelines.

But it would be nice if we could remove an entry and simply add 'removed per #3.4 of the guildlines', (or something to that effect). FFMG (talk) 06:54, 6 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A new link to these guidelines is now added to the 2009 page. Hopefully more people will read the guidelines after this.

Then a thought, perhaps some of these rules are to apply more strict for events of the past than for upcoming? After all, only few events are noticed in media until they actually occur, even if it is known where and when they will happen. I guess this is already the case, but maybe this can be specified more clearly among the rules. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RBM 72 (talk • contribs) 20:44, 26 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There is mention in the guideline of certain topical year articles like spaceflight. It seems like the country-based alternative should be mentioned as well, with some links, such as to the US and EU articles at least.

Also, the link to the guidelines has been commented out on the 2009 page. Perhaps its addition requires discussion there? — Ken g6 (talk) 05:26, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've redisplayed the link. Even though casual editors may still miss/misunderstand/ignore it, it's more likely to be seen if it's displayed rather than hidden. At the same time I had to remove a whole heap of edits of exactly the sort this article is trying to prevent being added! MOre than one editor is involved so it would help if everyone else could keep an eye on this, it's a real pain having to remove them when it's too late to revert!! DerbyCountyinNZ 00:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I think that there shouldn't be the Three Continent Rule, because it seems unnecessary. Please consider. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AliDincgor (talk • contribs) 03:05, 31 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have a proposal for the deaths section. What if we limit it to a quota of 25 people in the deaths section only? That way, only really and truly notable deaths will be listed and people will have to present a very convincing case. Other deaths can be listed on the deaths page. Wrad (talk) 18:02, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How would we decide the 25? It would cause a huge debate on the talkpages and generally would be a mess IMO. People will feel slighted that the person they wanted in didn't get in, editors will accuse each other of regional biases, etc. Personally, I like the 10 language rule. I think it worked well on the 2008 article. Some months we have 20 deaths and for other months we have closer to 10 deaths. All in all it looks like we have a similar number of deaths and events on the article, so one section isn't disproportionally larger than the other. Then again I am the one who proposed the 10 language criteria in the first place so I may be a bit biased. --Tocino 21:41, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have no idea what sort of criteria could be used to limit it to 25/year. There must be some way of reducing the list to 5-10/month. For eg January 2009 has so far (I have italicised those who I don't believe are sufficiently notable):

• January 1 - Nizar Rayan, Palestinian Hamas military and political leader (b. 1959) -- Frankly not a Head of State or just one of many leaders in a minor conflict.
• January 1 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (b. 1924) -- Although he has won various awards, is he likely to be known outside the serious literary community?
• January 1 - Helen Suzman, South African activist and politician (b. 1917)
• January 3 - Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1924) -- Extensive career but limited major roles
• January 11 - Pio Laghi, Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1922) -- Is he really likely to be known outside the RC hierarchy?
• January 12 - Claude Berri, French film director (b. 1934) -- One BAFTA win but unlikely to be widely known outside the film community
• January 12 - Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher (b. 1912) -- Seems to be an important philosopher, but not sure this makes him truly internationally notable
• January 13 - Patrick McGoohan, Irish-American actor (b. 1928)
• January 14 - Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor (b. 1920)

Can't see there would be much argument about Suzman, McGoohan and Montalban. Basically I think anyone who is included should be expected to be widely (geographically) known outside their particular field. If they are only widely known within their field then they should be included on that sub-category page (eg film, music, television, sports etc) and if they are only famous in their own country then in the "2009 in country" page. Cheers, DerbyCountyinNZ (talk) 03:52, 15 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure this guideline will grow with time, but for the most part we all seem agreed on this. I'm going to move it out of project space. Wrad (talk) 00:10, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]