Wikipedia:You should not write meaningless lists

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This is a humorous essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors and is made to be humorous. This page is not 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. This essay isn't meant to be taken seriously.

This page in a nutshell:

If your list contains only original research, is not solid, or makes no sense, don't even mention it!
Also, ask yourself whether people will even care about the topic.

Lists, categories, and tables should all make sense. There should be a clear encyclopedic purpose to having a list (including one in the form of a category of articles or a table in an article), and every entry should be verifiable as to its membership in the list. We do not need a list that is meaningless to readers.

First of all

Do not make lists that have too many listees. For example, no making a category of people who have ears. Unless you were to have your ears burned off or cut off somehow, all people have ears! And there is no benefit to it. Same goes with listing all African Americans, females, or White people. Are those lists even necessary? How about making a list of them by profession(Category:African-American musicians, Category:Female computer scientists, etc.)? Why not also throw in a list of every building there is in Pakistan, if you feel up to it?

Second

There should be a solid backing. There is a fixed definition of a living person or a personal computer. However, some classifiers, such as a hero or a rich person, don't have a solid definition. For example, a hero can be a person that fought in a war, or a person that learned the Heimlich maneuver. There is no fixed definition, and many people will battle and disagree over whether or not President JFK was a hero.

The term nerd is a good example. People have argued over its definition, whether or not it was derogatory, and what activities are nerdy or not. Listing all the "nerds" in the media would be a huge chunk of original research, and would spark endless edit wars and debates on the talk page (this story was true, until they deleted the list from the article.)

The way something looks or sounds is highly opinionated, so avoid it.

Do not interpret songs or films. Examples include an article like "Songs about tequila", or "List of films by level of gore".

Third

People need a reason to read the list. A list of songs that have the sound of the laughter of children, the sound of Morse code, or the sound of breaking glass, is entirely unconstructive and pointless – in policy terms, it is indiscriminate trivia. A list of computer programs whose names are offensive to the disabled is up there, too.

Fourth

Do not be irrelevant. A list of pianists who played with one hand would be relevant. A list of pianists that are missing a uvula is not.

Fifth

Do not make lists whose sole purpose is to prove or disprove a point. It is okay to create a category for females in computer science. There are many reasons to have such a list. But, it is not okay to make a list of gay Jewish blacks who made more than a million, or a list of white people who kick butt at hockey.

Sixth

This is an meaningless article!!!

And finally

No original research!

Examples

Okay	Not okay
List of British actors	List of actors who used a British accent (reason 2)
Category:Deaf musicians	Category:Musicians without an appendix (reason 4)
Category:Scientists	Catgory:Geniuses (reason 2)
List of computers	List of pencil sharpeners (reason 3)
Category:Syrian businesspeople	Category:Gay muslim businesspeople (reason 5)
List of lists of lists	List of articles containing vowels (reason 1)

Philosophy	Article content Articles must be written All Five Pillars are equally important Avoid vague introductions Be a reliable source Civil POV pushing Cohesion Competence is required Concede lost arguments Dissent is not disloyalty Don't lie Don't search for objections Editing Wikipedia is like visiting a foreign country Editors will sometimes be wrong Eight simple rules for editing our encyclopedia Explanationism External criticism of Wikipedia Here to build an encyclopedia Leave it to the experienced Levels of competence Levels of consensus Most ideas are bad Need Neutrality of sources Not broken is ugly Not editing because of Wikipedia restriction The one question Oversimplification Paradoxes Paraphrasing POV and OR from editors, sources, and fields Process is important Product, process, policy Purpose Reasonability rule Systemic bias There is no seniority Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia Tendentious editing The role of policies in collaborative anarchy The rules are principles Trifecta We are absolutely here to right great wrongs Wikipedia in brief Wikipedia is an encyclopedia Wikipedia is a community Wikipedia is not RationalWiki
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Removing or deleting content	Adjectives in your recommendations AfD is not a war zone Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions Arguments to avoid in deletion reviews Arguments to avoid in image deletion discussions Arguments to make in deletion discussions Avoid repeated arguments Before commenting in a deletion discussion But there must be sources! Confusing arguments mean nothing Content removal Counting and sorting are not original research Delete or merge Delete the junk Deletion is not cleanup Does deletion help? Don't attack the nominator Don't confuse stub status with non-notability Don't overuse shortcuts to policy and guidelines to win your argument Emptying categories out of process Follow the leader How the presumption of notability works How to save an article proposed for deletion I just don't like it Identifying blatant advertising Identifying test edits Immunity Keep it concise Liar liar pants on fire Nothing Nothing is clear Overzealous deletion Relisting can be abusive Relist bias The Heymann Standard Unopposed AFD discussion Wikipedia is not Whack-A-Mole Why was the page I created deleted? What to do if your article gets tagged for speedy deletion When in doubt, hide it in the woodwork No Encyclopedic Use

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