Talk:Scribblers' Retreat Writers' Conference

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Citations or Footnotes added to show it is a real writers conference that's attended by writers. I think it is or will be non-profit and will note that later if so.

It's notable especially for amateur writers in the South East who want to pursue their passion for writing. Most attendees are from local schools and colleges. See other writer conferences listed in Wiki Bread_Loaf_Writers'_Conference, Squaw_Valley_Writer's_Conference. Some are larger and have been around awhile while others, including SRWC are new and don't yet have so much to write about on their wiki page.

This page is not an advertisement any more than any other page in Wiki that's about festivals, events or 'writers conferences'.

I don't think this is cut and dried. Perhaps the best test for notability of a conference is the notability of its participants. On that score it's still in the game.

Wikipedia:Existence ≠ Notability explains that just being real is not enough to qualify as deserving an article. There are various other guidelines that must be met, mostly found in WP:N. An important guideline there says:

"If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article."

The citations are not "significant" coverage because they're merely a notice of when and where the conference exists. For USA Today to print the date and time of an event is not providing significant coverage of it. Similarly, copy/pasting or quoting material from the director of the event is not Independent of the Subject. The goal for a citation is to provide what OTHER PEOPLE are saying ABOUT the conference. It becomes notable if OTHER notable people or sources TAKE THE TIME TO DISCUSS it. The same problem exists for the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference and the Squaw Valley conference. Their sources aren't significant coverage, either. It's all just marketing and publicizing.

Now, to argue against myself, you could say that even a listing in the "events" section of USA Today confers some notability. For example, I couldn't get my garage sale listed on USA Today, and citing my neighborhood newsletter would not confer notability. Petershank (talk) 20:35, 31 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The writer's conferences ..

are non-profit organizations (most of them) that provide a useful service by offering guidance to students and others. Some are large and others are small. It is a matter of fairness really because a large conference such as South Eastern Writers Conference gets much more press than a small one like SRWC. Wikipedia is a community of writers isn't it? Should Wiki take the position that disadvantaged [they may only have access to a small, "unknown" conference] students writers be excluded from the conversation? That's what happens when only the largest and most well known get a voice over others simply due to their "notability". Wikipedia has a category for writers conferences and all legitimate conferences regardless of their size or coverage should have a place at the table. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nargonne (talk • contribs) 13:03, 18 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]