"Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information" is not an indiscriminate criterion for deletion. Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information is the most widely abused part of the Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not policy. It is often abused as an argument for deletion, by editors who cannot find a real reason for deletion based upon what our policies actually say. The specific numbered list of things that Wikipedia and Wikipedia articles are not, in this section of policy, is not, itself, indiscriminate. This section of WP:NOT is quite specific as to the types of things that are covered, and this section is in no way a catch-all for anything that any editor may personally view as being indiscriminate. It is those specific things listed that policy prohibits, not a blanket of indiscriminate information.1
The root of the problem is the section heading itself, which actually post-dates the policy points themselves. The policy was not originally written with sections, back in 2001 (as can be seen from this version). Those were added on later, with the policy only adopting anything like its current form in January 2005. The policy didn't even contain the word "indiscriminate" until it was added in December 2004. "Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information" was a section heading invented in June 2005 by SimonP to replace the earlier heading that "Wikipedia is not a general knowledgebase", which people found to be confusing, given that encyclopaedias generally are compendia of knowledge, and which led to much talk page discussion. Ironically, the new section title has proven to be just as confusing, simply in a different way, and has led to yet more talk page discussion.2
I dealt with part of the problem back in August 2006. The remainder is still a problem and still requires further attention.
Footnotes
edit- ^1 Indeed, as Wikipedia:Editing policy#Perfection is not required explains, articles can be little more than an indiscriminate collection of facts when they are first started. Indiscriminateness is not only not forbidden by our policies. It is expected as part of the normal article development process.
- ^2 Such as this one from June 2007, for example.