The result was keep. Stifle ( talk) 11:04, 8 February 2011 (UTC) reply
Title is inherently OR. How common is common? There is no clear criterion for what's a "common misconception" besides "source x says it's common", which is really stretching it. List is inherently WP:SYNTH. See related rationale and discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of common misconceptions (3rd nomination). Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ( Otters want attention) 12:57, 31 January 2011 (UTC) reply
In the phrase common knowledge the word common means "held in common" i.e. essentially universal, so that "it is common knowledge that New York City is in the United States" means that essentially everyone knows it. Whether or not a given piece of information should be treated as common (i.e. universal) knowledge is something editors can usually determine by consensus.
But in the phrase common misconceptions, the word common means frequently found. (In fact, here it really can't mean "almost universal," because certainly there are many people who are not confused about whatever it is.) Thus there's no analogy between common knowledge and common misconception -- we'll need outside sources -- several in substantial agreement -- to tell us which of the many misconceptions are the common ones. And I doubt we'll find that because, Stephen Jay Gould and a few others aside, it's not something to which very much careful attention is given.
The result was keep. Stifle ( talk) 11:04, 8 February 2011 (UTC) reply
Title is inherently OR. How common is common? There is no clear criterion for what's a "common misconception" besides "source x says it's common", which is really stretching it. List is inherently WP:SYNTH. See related rationale and discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of common misconceptions (3rd nomination). Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ( Otters want attention) 12:57, 31 January 2011 (UTC) reply
In the phrase common knowledge the word common means "held in common" i.e. essentially universal, so that "it is common knowledge that New York City is in the United States" means that essentially everyone knows it. Whether or not a given piece of information should be treated as common (i.e. universal) knowledge is something editors can usually determine by consensus.
But in the phrase common misconceptions, the word common means frequently found. (In fact, here it really can't mean "almost universal," because certainly there are many people who are not confused about whatever it is.) Thus there's no analogy between common knowledge and common misconception -- we'll need outside sources -- several in substantial agreement -- to tell us which of the many misconceptions are the common ones. And I doubt we'll find that because, Stephen Jay Gould and a few others aside, it's not something to which very much careful attention is given.