Wikipedia:Don't cite GNG

This is an essay on notability. 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.

Shortcut WP:NOGNG

Wikipedia's general notability guideline (GNG) is, as its name suggests, a general rule of thumb. This means two people can look at it and come to two radically different conclusions. Yet, GNG often appears in deletion discussions, which sometimes leads to arguments on the definitions of GNG itself, rather than any source analysis being done. Though most discussions still come to a consensus one way or another, asking this question is still helpful:

"What is the best possible article that can be made given the available sources?"

• If the answer is a well-fledged, NPOV-abiding, and verifiable article, then the article should be kept, no matter how mundane it is.

• If the answer is an article filled with Tweets and tabloids, then the article should be deleted.

Likewise, if the vast majority of the content can be merged to other articles, it probably does not need to exist.

What really matters is the content, not three-letter acronyms.