WikiFur:Notability, verifiability, and original research

WikiFur users who are accustomed to reading or editing Wikipedia are most likely familiar with three important content policies there: notability, verifiability, and original research. This article addresses those concepts within the specific context of the WikiFur community.

Notability
Notability refers to the importance of a topic -- not its popularity, but its overall relevance. WikiFur extends this concept further, to define notability as meaning a topic which is likely to be of interest to members of the Furry fandom. In particular, the Wikipedia notability standards do not apply here, as they are geared towards a general-purpose encyclopedia and not a specialized resource for furry. It is generally sufficient to ask whether a topic is noteworthy enough that the average fur (or even a small group of furs) would find it interesting. Generally, anything which is connected to, or of interest to members of, the Furry fandom is notable for our purposes.

In particular, consider whether what you are submitting truly needs to "stand alone," or would be more useful as a new section within a larger, related article. For example, it is probably counterproductive to have a dozen sentence-length stubs about multiple characters belonging to the same person (or in the same video game, comic, movie, or book); it would generally be better to create one longer article and include each character in their own section. Not only does this improve the organization of the site, it also helps readers find related material more easily than they would by jumping from article to article.

Verifiability
Verifiability refers to a standard whereby material submitted for publication must be independently verifiable using reliable sources. WikiFur recognizes the specialized and unique nature of our community, and we therefore are considerably more tolerant with regard to verifiability than, for example, the standards at Wikipedia. In general practice, unsourced articles are accepted by the community; it is better to have several thousand articles of varying quality than to have a few dozen articles polished to academic perfection. However, we should remember that our goal is to be the furry encyclopedia; as such, citations should be included whenever possible, to improve the overall quality of WikiFur as a resource. Editors are encouraged to cite sources when submitting new material, and to look up sources to back up existing material, as part of the ever-upward cycle of improvement.

In particular, all quotations, and any material that is challenged, likely to be challenged, or known to be controversial must be substantiated by a reliable external source using an inline citation. Failure to do so may result in the material in dispute being removed from the article.

Original research
Unlike Wikipedia, we do not prohibit original research at WikiFur. We do, however, encourage contributors of original research to properly cite sources. Bear in mind that original research does not just mean "academic research." The term also refers to material—such as facts, allegations, ideas, and stories—not already published by reliable sources. Given the relative lack of coverage of the Furry fandom in the media and academic research, it is to be expected that much of the content on WikiFur will be original research. Again, please try to cite sources when you can; it helps to improve the credibility of the article, and in turn helps make WikiFur a more reliable resource for all.

ru:ВикиФур:Выбор и освещение тем it:WikiFur:Interessi, Verificabilità, Ricerca originale