More Bad Habits of Wikipedia Gatekeepers

Newly-elected congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was not notable enough for Wikipedia … until she beat the incumbent in the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th congressional district. Now she has her own Wikipedia listing.

How many other accomplished people have likewise been refused? Wikipedia currently shows 867,424 “Living People” (to put this in context there are currently 7.6 billion people in the world (with a median age of about 28)), very few of which would likely be known by most of us (although many of these people are athletes). Clearly there are millions more who are worthy of a Wikipedia listing, though it takes some initiative to prepare suitable material. But it must be that there are substantial barriers to getting that listing approved. Wikipedia itself cautions against preparing an article about oneself.

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