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Shortcut: WP:MASK

These costumes appear really interesting. But beneath are ordinary people.

Masking the lack of notability refers to taking steps to cover up the fact that a subject is really not notable. To do so in itself is not a violation of any policy, and no action will be taken against the creator or other editors themselves (unless a hoax is involved). But if the lack of notability is discovered, and a good cause can be given for its deletion, the article can still be deleted.

Masking is an action that is more likely taken by veteran editors who know the difference between what is notable and what is not, and what other editors may look out for prior to making a deletion proposal. Newbies are not likely to deliberately mask an article, as they are less likely to know about notability; many pages that are deleted shortly after their creation are created by newbies.

[edit] Ways in which lack of notability can be masked

There are various ways in which the lack of notability in an article can be hidden:

[edit] Many references

The use of numerous, often unnecessary references, known as bombardment, can give a good impression and make an article appear notable. In many cases, these could be sources that do not reference the main point of the subject, but rather trivial details that may not even belong. But the number of references does not matter when these sources do not meet the requirements for establishing notability.

[edit] External links

While an article may lack references, there are some pages that have one or more external links that seem to imply notability. These could be links to the subject's own site, MySpace page, blogs, or other unreliable sources. It may be permissible to place these types of links on a page when notability has been established. But these links are not what renders notability from the beginning.

[edit] Wikifying

A well-written page by one with experience in Wiki language and writing articles can give the effect that the subject appears highly notable. The page may have plenty of blue links to other articles, one or more images, an infobox, a navbox, or other templates that make it appear like a good article. The language quality may be really nice. Though these are characteristics of a well-written article, they do not automatically allow for inclusion of a subject.

[edit] Building a biography

A living person's single event notability can be disguised by also including the subject's life history, such as graduating high school valedictorian or being interviewed by a local newspaper. The editor includes these events, usually accompanied with valid sources, attempting to establish a reputation for the person. Merging multiple unrelated non-notable accomplishments takes focus away from the most recent event, the true purpose of creating the coatrack article.

[edit] See also

• Wikipedia:An article about yourself is nothing to be proud of
• Wikipedia:Don't build the Frankenstein
• Wikipedia:Wikipuffery
• Wikipedia:Don't create an article on a news story covered in 109 newspapers