Shortcut: WP:AFCR

The Articles for creation process allows unregistered users to create new articles. Since unregistered users are not able to create new pages, registered users such as yourself are needed to make this project work. Submissions may be any of the following (although the last three are quite rare):

• articles;
• redirects;
• disambiguation pages;
• templates;
• categories;
• pages in project namespace - for example, to utilise the AfD process, it is necessary to create a page.

This page outlines a series of criteria which can be used as a guideline when reviewing submissions to decide whether they should be accepted or declined.

Wikipedia:Articles for creation contains an abbreviated set of instructions for reviewing submissions. The abbreviated instructions describe the technical process of accepting or declining a submission. These full instructions also describe when a submission should be accepted or declined.

Contents 1 Reviewing articles 1.1 Quick fail criteria 1.2 Suitability 1.3 Notability 1.4 Placing an article on hold 1.5 Accepting an article 1.6 Placing an article "under review" 2 Redirect requests 2.1 Reviewing a redirect request 2.2 Accepting a redirect request 2.3 Declining a redirect request 3 Script 4 Categories 5 Other types of submissions 6 If unsure about a submission 7 See also

[edit] Reviewing articles

Article submissions may be found in Category:Pending AfC submissions. To decline a submission, add a D parameter to the {{AFC submission}} template, so that it looks something like: {{AFC submission|D|reason|ts=20091207014201|u=Example|ns=5}}. Please do not remove or edit the ts, u, or ns parameters; these are needed for organization even after a submission has been declined. Reason should be replaced with one of the shortcuts described below (the resulting text of each shortcut is listed at Template:AFC submission/comments). You may also include a custom reason, using {{AFC submission|D|reason|your reason here|other parameters}}.

[edit] Quick fail criteria

Before reading the submission, check whether it meets any of the criteria below. If so it can be declined immediately.

1. Blank submission: If the entry is blank, you can tell the user to try Requested Articles instead with {{AFC submission|D|blank|other parameters}}.
2. Submission not in English: If an article submitted is not in English, it does not need to be translated; just tag it with {{AFC submission|D|lang|other parameters}}.
3. Copyright violation: Check that the submission has not been copied from another source. One way to do this is by searching for a portion of the text of the article on Google or another search engine. You could also check the sources provided to make sure it has not been copied from there. If the article has been copied, remove any copyrighted text and tag the article with {{AFC submission|D|cv|http://www.website.com|other parameters}}. You may also want to place {{Afc cleared}} at the bottom of the page if enough content has been removed.
4. No reliable sources: In order to be accepted, all articles must include at least one third-party reliable source. If no sources are listed, the only sources listed are unreliable (such as MySpace or YouTube), or the only sources are not published by a third party (such as the subject's website or any Wikimedia site), the article cannot be accepted. Tag the article with {{AFC submission|D|v|other parameters}}.
5. Already exists: In older archives particularly, some articles have already been created by the time they get reviewed. Do a quick search for the title of the suggested article, as well as any alternate names that come to mind. If you find an article on Wikipedia on the same subject, tag the suggested article with {{AFC submission|D|exists}} (or {{AFC submission|D|exists|Article name|other parameters}} if the existing article is titled differently than the submission). Consider making a redirect if the contributed name is useful.

[edit] Suitability

Now you should actually read the submission and decide whether it is suitable for Wikipedia. To be suitable, the article must be about a notable subject and be written in a concise style from a neutral point of view.

The most common reasons that a submission is not suitable are provided below, along with the appropriate templates.

Types of unsuitable articles

Reason for denial	Template to use
A definition only	{{AFC submission|D|dict|other parameters}}
A neologism	{{AFC submission|D|neo|other parameters}}
Appears to be a joke	{{AFC submission|D|joke|other parameters}}
Does not conform to BLP	{{AFC submission|D|blp|other parameters}}
Not written from a neutral point of view	{{AFC submission|D|npov|other parameters}}
Written like an advert	{{AFC submission|D|adv|other parameters}}
Too short / not enough context	{{AFC submission|D|context|other parameters}}
Too short, but could be merged into Article	{{AFC submission|D|mergeto|Article|other parameters}}
Anything else covered in WP:NOT	{{AFC submission|D|not|other parameters}}

If an article is clearly an attack, immediately remove any libelous content and tag the article with {{AFC submission|D|blp|other parameters}}. Consider also warning the user on their talkpage. If the submission was obviously made in bad faith, it may be tagged for speedy deletion.

[edit] Notability

Many submissions do not meet notability guidelines, that is, the article does not show that the subject "has received significant coverage in reliable secondary sources that are independent of the subject." Depending on the subject, the article may be held to a slightly different standard than your average article. The following table shows the available guidelines and templates for various subjects.

Notability guidelines

Subject	Guideline shortcut	Template to use if non-notable
Academics (Professors, scientists, etc.)	WP:PROF	{{AFC submission|D|nn|other parameters}}
Books	WP:BK	{{AFC submission|D|nn|other parameters}}
Fiction, including plot summaries	WP:FICT	{{AFC submission|D|plot|other parameters}}
Films	WP:MOVIE	{{AFC submission|D|film|other parameters}}
Musical performers or works	WP:MUSIC	{{AFC submission|D|band|other parameters}}
Organizations or companies	WP:CORP	{{AFC submission|D|corp|other parameters}}
Pornographic actors	WP:PORNBIO	{{AFC submission|D|nn|other parameters}}
Web content	WP:WEB	{{AFC submission|D|web|other parameters}}
Other people	WP:BIO	{{AFC submission|D|bio|other parameters}}
Any subject not covered above	WP:NOTE	{{AFC submission|D|nn|other parameters}}

[edit] Placing an article on hold

If you think a submission should be declined, but are not sure, or if a submission could reach acceptance standards through some minor changes, you may use {{AFC submission|H|other parameters}} to tag the article with the "on hold" banner. This keeps the submission in Category:Pending AfC submissions, while placing it in the "hold" section.

This banner has two uses:

1. Giving the submitter a chance to address easily fixed issues with an article that would cause it to be declined.
2. Alerting other reviewers to tricky submissions.

It is requested that a submission on hold not be declined until it has been on hold for at least 24 hours unless it is determined to be a copyright violation. This banner should be accompanied by an explanation for the uncertainty at the bottom of the submission. The explanation may instead be placed directly inside the banner, using the same commenting system as the decline banner ({{AFC submission|H|reason|other parameters}}).

Please use the template {{subst:Afc onhold}} to alert the author that their article needs attention. (It also gives them a link to the page so they can find their article again!)

[edit] Accepting an article

If, at this point, you have not found any reason to decline creation of the article, it should be accepted.

To accept an article:

1. Create the article by moving it into mainspace and removing the {{AFC submission}} tag, as well as any AFC related comments or content from earlier, declined submissions.
   • Consider adding the new article to categories, and tagging it with appropriate cleanup templates.
   • If the article is a stub, add the {{stub}} template, or the appropriate category-specific stub template.
   • Add {{WPAFC}} to the talk page of the new article to flag it as part of the AFC WikiProject. (To quickly add {{WPAFC}}, click the Preload talk link on the bottom row of the pending banner before removing it from the submission.) Also add any other Wikiproject banners that would apply to the article.
   • If you feel able, please try to assess the quality class of the article and include this in the template {{WPAFC}}. The criteria can be found at WikiProject Articles for creation/Grading scheme.
2. Add {{subst:Afc talk|Article Name}} to the talk page user who submitted the article, to inform them that their submission was successful
   • If you have given the article a quality rating, you might like to inform the author of the rating to encourage them to improve the article further. Use {{Afc talk|Article name|class=}} to do this.
3. Consider adding a link to the article in the recent contributions list, adding the new article at the top and removing the bottom entry.
4. If the submission is reasonably well-sourced and has a minimum of 1,500 characters of prose, consider nominating the article to appear on the main page as part of Did you know? (see instructions).

Note: If for some reason, it is necessary to copy-paste the submission rather than moving it, credit the IP address or username of the author in the edit summary and redirect the submission to the title of the new page.

[edit] Placing an article "under review"

If you are in the process of accepting or declining a submission, but wish to take time before moving the article or placing a decline banner, you may tag the article with the "reviewing" banner using {{AFC submission|R}}. This banner alerts other reviewers to your intention to close the submission, which reduces the occurance of edit conflicts.

[edit] Redirect requests

[edit] Reviewing a redirect request

Some suggestions at AfC are for new redirects to be created. These are much easier to review, but still require a quick check to make sure they are needed.

• Does the redirect exist? Do a quick search for the title of the suggested redirect and make sure it doesn't bring you to an article. If it does, tag the suggestion with {{subst:afc redirect|exists}} and follow the declining directions below.
• Did the submitter specify a target? If he did not, tag the suggestion with {{subst:afc redirect|notarget}} and follow the declining directions below.
• Is there an obvious reason for the redirect? In most cases, a suggested redirect will be a misspelling or common alternate name of the main article. In some cases, however, the relation is a little more obscure. In this case, the user needs to provide an adequate explanation for the redirect. In the event of a very unclear link, sources may be needed to back up the user's statements. For example, one accepted redirect was from Harry Lauder's Walking Stick to Common Hazel - the user provided a link to a gardening site that used the nickname with the scientific name of Common Hazel. If no reasoning is provided and no sources are given, tag the entry with {{subst:afc redirect|v}} and close it.
• If you feel the redirect should be declined for some other reason: Use {{subst:afc redirect|decline|Describe your reasoning here}}. See Wikipedia:Redirect for more guidelines on when redirects should exist. Follow the declining directions below.

If the suggested redirect passes these tests, then it can be created.

[edit] Accepting a redirect request

• Close the submission:
  1. Add the template {{afc-c|a}} directly under the section header.
  2. Substitute the template {{subst:afc redirect}} at the bottom of the section (see that template's documentation for other response options.) Add your own signature afterward with four tildes (~~~~).
  3. Add the template {{afc-c|b}} at the very bottom of the section, below your reply. Failure to include this template will cause all text on the rest of the page to disappear!
  4. Preview the page, then save your changes if everything is correct.
• Create the redirect:
  1. Add the text: #REDIRECT [[TARGET]] to the desired title of the redirect.
  2. Add any applicable redirect templates
  3. Open the article's (or redirect's) talk page.
     1. Add the WikiProject Articles for Creation project banner by typing {{subst:WPAFC/redirect}} at the top of the page.
     2. Add any other applicable WikiProject banners.

[edit] Declining a redirect request

• Make sure to include your decline reason below the submission.
  1. Add the template {{afc-c|d}} directly under the section header.
  2. Substitute the template {{subst:afc redirect}} at the bottom of the section along with the reason (see that template's documentation for the available options). Add your own signature afterward with four tildes (~~~~).
  3. Add the template {{afc-c|b}} at the very bottom of the section, below your reply. Failure to include this template will cause all text on the rest of the page to disappear!
• Leave an edit summary giving a brief reason why the article was not accepted.
• Preview the page, then save your changes if everything is correct.

[edit] Script

In 2007, Henrik created a JavaScript helper that helped with reviewing submissions, back when the system was different. The Earwig, with the help of MindstormsKid, has modified and fixed it to work with the new system. Currently, it can only be used to accept redirect requests. To install it, please read the documentation at User talk:The Earwig/afc-helper.js; the script itself can be found at User:The Earwig/afc-helper.js.

Yet another AFC Helper Script is a newly minted script by Tim Song that assists in reviewing article submissions. The documentation is at User talk:Tim Song/afchelper2.js; the script itself is at User:Tim Song/afchelper2.js.

[edit] Categories

Categories are submitted to Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Redirects, due to technical issues preventing the moving pages of to categories. The technical process to accept and decline is the same as for redirects. The template {{subst:afc category}} can be used for giving common reasons for accepting or declining. For guidance on when a category should be created, see Wikipedia:Categorization.

[edit] Other types of submissions

Articles for creation can also be used to submit templates, disambiguation pages and articles for deletion discussions. In these cases, there are no notability issues. You just need to decide whether the page is useful and appropriate to Wikipedia. For these submissions, it will be most likely be necessary to include a custom decline reason ({{AFC submission|D|reason|Your reason here}}), if that should be the case. Refer to official guidelines for guidance on when to create such pages (Wikipedia:Disambiguation or Wikipedia:Template namespace). Articles for deletion discussions may be created on behalf of anonymous users, who cannot start them. Aside from general reasons for declining a submission (empty, gibberish, blatant BLP violations, etc.), AFD submissions should generally be accepted. (See Wikipedia:Deletion policy and instructions for opening an AFD for more information).

[edit] If unsure about a submission

If you're not sure whether a particular submission should be created, leave a message for other reviewers by adding the code {{afc comment|Your concerns here}} to the submission. This will let the user who sent in the request know that someone has at least looked at their entry.

The following users are currently active in the WikiProject and have agreed to help out new participants: The Earwig · Graeme Bartlett · GrooveDog · Someguy1221 · Leonard^Bloom

[edit] See also

• User:Henrik/afc-helper, a script that simplifies the AFC process.
• Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Templates for a full list of templates used by AfC. Many of the templates are made obsolete by {{AFC submission}}. They are retained for historical reasons, the text of the decline reasons in the new template having been drawn from the old.
• Wikipedia:Wikiproject Articles for creation