This is an
essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of
Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been
thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
The Pokémon test is an argument that was made at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion, before specific fictional Pokémon species were merged into lists of Pokémon. It asserted that an article on a subject should be kept because it was at least as notable as an average Pokémon.
Until mid-2007, Wikipedia had standalone articles for each of the 493 Pokémon species which then existed. A discussion that year found consensus that not all Pokémon are notable, and most were eventually redirected to list articles such as List of generation I Pokémon. As of February 2024, there were 29 Pokémon (one being a glitch) having individual articles.
The Pokémon test is believed to have stemmed from the attempt to curtail the number of individual Pokémon articles by listing them for deletion citing WP:FICT. However, although consensus formed in the Wikipedia:Poképrosal agreed that WP:FICT did actually apply to Pokémon stubs, the formation of WikiProject Pokémon (under various names), and the pledge that all stubs were to be expanded, saw the issue die down somewhat. More recently, the WikiProject has worked on a merge of Pokémon species articles, rendering the test moot. Since then, the Pokémon test is sometimes cited in the inverse: articles on minor fictional characters are now routinely merged into one article, citing the Pokémon merger and WP:POKEMON as the most prominent and influential precedent.
(Emphasis added.)
A related, and even more outdated, test was the Karen Importance Test (KIT), involving the citing of the specific Pokémon character Karen's article, for the following reasons:
This was no longer a valid argument (if it ever was) by the time the Pokémon Test arose because Karen's article had been merged with other related characters.
There were three main criticisms of the Pokémon test that often arose in response to its use:
This is an
essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of
Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been
thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
The Pokémon test is an argument that was made at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion, before specific fictional Pokémon species were merged into lists of Pokémon. It asserted that an article on a subject should be kept because it was at least as notable as an average Pokémon.
Until mid-2007, Wikipedia had standalone articles for each of the 493 Pokémon species which then existed. A discussion that year found consensus that not all Pokémon are notable, and most were eventually redirected to list articles such as List of generation I Pokémon. As of February 2024, there were 29 Pokémon (one being a glitch) having individual articles.
The Pokémon test is believed to have stemmed from the attempt to curtail the number of individual Pokémon articles by listing them for deletion citing WP:FICT. However, although consensus formed in the Wikipedia:Poképrosal agreed that WP:FICT did actually apply to Pokémon stubs, the formation of WikiProject Pokémon (under various names), and the pledge that all stubs were to be expanded, saw the issue die down somewhat. More recently, the WikiProject has worked on a merge of Pokémon species articles, rendering the test moot. Since then, the Pokémon test is sometimes cited in the inverse: articles on minor fictional characters are now routinely merged into one article, citing the Pokémon merger and WP:POKEMON as the most prominent and influential precedent.
(Emphasis added.)
A related, and even more outdated, test was the Karen Importance Test (KIT), involving the citing of the specific Pokémon character Karen's article, for the following reasons:
This was no longer a valid argument (if it ever was) by the time the Pokémon Test arose because Karen's article had been merged with other related characters.
There were three main criticisms of the Pokémon test that often arose in response to its use: