Wikipedia:Listcruft

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This is an essay, a page containing the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints, and they may be heeded or not based upon your judgement and discretion. It should be read in conjunction with the Wikipedia is not a directory policy.

Shortcuts: WP:LC WP:LISTCRUFT

Listcruft refers to indiscriminate or trivial lists. The term derives from the older hacker term cruft, describing obsolete code that accumulates in a program. The term is a neologism largely restricted to Wikipedia and its mirrors; as such, it is inappropriate for use in the text of articles (per Wikipedia:Avoid neologisms and Wikipedia:Avoid self-references), although it is freely (and appropriately) used in certain article tags and on article talk pages.

In general, a "list of X" should only be created if X itself is a legitimate encyclopedic topic that already has its own article. The list should originate as a section within that article, and should not be broken out into a separate article until it becomes so long as to be disproportionate to the rest of the article. It is very appropriate for the article on Zoology to include a list of important zoologists within it, and for the article on the fictional series character Rick Brant to include a list of the Rick Brant books. Valid examples of standalone lists would include List of University of Chicago people and List of Oz books. In both cases, the lists correspond closely to encyclopedia articles—University of Chicago and L. Frank Baum, respectively—and in both cases the length and detail of the list justify breaking them out.

On the other hand, topics such as List of small-bust models and performers, List of songs that contain the laughter of children, and List of nasal singers should be considered highly questionable because there are no articles on those topics.

The term is most often used in AFD debates concerning list articles. Its use is controversial. Although not uncommon in debates, some suggest it should never be used. Its users say it is an abbreviation for the arguments below, but others believe the term is dismissive or insulting to those who disagree. It is helpful to explain which meaning is intended.

The template {{listcruft}} should be added to articles with unnecessary lists.

Meaning

If a Wikipedia editor refers to a list as listcruft, it indicates that the editor believes one or more of the following:

The list was created just for the sake of having such a list
The list is of interest to a very limited number of people
The list is a violation of Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information
The content is unverifiable or the underlying concept is non-notable
The list cannot be expanded beyond a handful of terms
The list is unlimited and/or unmaintainable
The list has no content beyond links to other articles, so would be better implemented as a (self-maintaining) category
The list is unencyclopaedic, i.e. it would not be expected to be included in an encyclopaedia.
Determining membership of the list requires adoption of a non-neutral point of view, and reliable sources for avoiding it are not available.
Determining membership of the list involves original research or synthesis of ideas.
The list's membership is volatile and requires a disproportionate amount of effort to keep up to date.

Generally speaking, the perception that an article is listcruft can be a contributing factor to someone voting for deletion, but it may not be the sole factor. In such cases, this perception is generally challenged by those voting for retention.

List of examples

List of songs containing the sound of a woodpecker
List of people who have ears
List of dog names
List of groups of eight people
List of listcrufty lists
List of software projects whose name is a term offensive to many people with disabilities -- yes, this was a real article, and its AfD is here.

Wikipedia:Listcruft

Meaning

List of examples

See also