Wikipedia:WikiProject Martial arts/Notability

The existence of many martial arts, schools and artists has resulted in many stub articles. The following are guidelines created by WikiProject Martial arts to help assess the notability of articles. Feel free to discuss improvements on the project talk page.

This essay gives some guidance on points to consider when discussing the notability of martial arts related articles, it is a specific supplement to the overall policy of Wikipedia:Notability relating to martial arts organisations, schools and styles and to practitioners and in no way supersedes them.

General points

Reliable sourcing is the most important factor. Assertions of notability must be sourced from somewhere other than the individual or organisation under discussion (see secondary sources); if referencing a tournament title, the organisation which ran the tournament would be the first stop; if the subject of an article is an author, the publisher or ISBN of the subject's work should be given. A single local newspaper article is probably not enough to assert notability, but national mention with some details or multiple local sources that "make a case" for notability. A lack of any sources after looking around is a warning sign that an article may not be notable enough for inclusion.

Google and other search engines are a useful tool for finding sources, and may sometimes be persuasive (very high or very low result counts), but is not proof of whether or not something is notable (see WP:Google test). Using quotes around the search ("example martial art") will look for only exact matches and using -Wikipedia at the end will remove self references.

Make the content of articles appropriate for the breadth of the article. That is, in an article about a national organization the school which is its headquarters or flagship might be appropriate to discuss in some detail, but certainly not every school that belongs to the organization. Articles on broad types of martial arts should usually not focus on a single organisation or school, but attempt to present a universal perspective on the art and include sections on these organisations with links if appropriate. Articles about techniques practised by more than one type of martial art, such as Kick, should follow the same principle, and not unduly focus upon a particular martial art.

When discussing Mixed martial arts organisations fighters and events MMA Project's Notability page may be useful.

Arts and styles

Criteria supporting notability

1. Subject of an independent article/documentary: Sole or majority subject in the media, either a news article or a TV program. Be careful with 'niche' publications; check they are not related to the school teaching it. If it is an internal magazine with an annual issue it probably isn't notable, but a style big enough to produce a widely distributed monthly magazine may well be notable—though sourcing from it should be treated as with all primary sources.
2. A long externally verifiable history (i.e. secondary sources, not the club's website that says it has existed since 10,000 BC...)
3. Multiple notable practitioners (see Martial artists)
4. A large number of students: Try to be objective. Remember that there are over 7 billion people in the world.
5. Competitive successes in large inter-style tournaments: For example UFC 1

Criteria supporting deletion

1. Short history: created in last 5–10 years (less than 2 years and significant counter arguments would be needed but remember notability is not inherited)
2. Single/few schools that teach the art

Neither of these is conclusive but they are a reason to look more closely.

Schools and organisations

Note: unless the art/style is notable, a school or organisation teaching it is unlikely to be. Hence these criteria are similar.

Criteria supporting notability

1. Subject of an independent article/documentary: see above, and consider if it was the style/art and the school/organisation was an example.
2. Long, externally verifiable history
3. Large number of students
4. Regular or large competitive successes in inter-school/ organisation tournaments where the style is notable.
5. Multiple wide spread sites: an organisation 2 or 3 in a 30 mile radius is a lot less likely to be notable than one with 30 schools in different countries. These are the extremes but illustrate the point.

Criteria supporting deletion

1. Short history: be wary of adverts and splinter styles, a sub-section is more appropriates for the latter
2. Small school

Martial artists

See also: Wikipedia:Notability (people) and Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons

In general, even if an artist is notable - if there is only one paragraph or so of material about them, then that should be included in the article about their style or school if that is notable,- redirects are cheap. If they are independently notable and the style is not, then do not create the article on the style but on them.

Criteria supporting notability

1. Subject of an independent article/documentary; - same again...
2. Founder of notable style (see section intro)
3. Olympic participant or world champion of a significant international organization; - more than a few dozen competitors,
4. Repeated medalist (as an adult black belt, i.e. 1st dan equivalent or higher rank) in another significant event; - (e.g. competitors from multiple nations or significant national tournament, not an internal school champion)
5. Author of significant book(s) on their style; - e.g. a book that is recommended study for the art (e.g. by an organisation they do not lead) or by someone who is an artist from a different style and/or school, but beware vanity press.

Criteria supporting deletion

1. Only achievement seems to be that they teach an art (or founded a non-notable art); perhaps also avoid even mentioning them in the article of the art unless they are one of a few high-ranked artists in an art that has thousands of students.