Xenharmonic Wiki:Notability guidelines
These guidelines define what content is considered appropriate for inclusion in the Xenharmonic Wiki's main space. Unlike Wikipedia, we embrace original research and novel ideas while maintaining standards that ensure all content provides value to the xenharmonic community.
These are guidelines, not strict rules. They should be followed in spirit, not literally. They may be updated based on community feedback.
General principles
- Musical relevance: All content must demonstrate clear musical relevance or potential application.
- Substantial description: Entries must include comprehensible prose that explains the system's musical characteristics, not just technical specifications.
- Conceptual significance: Contributions should represent meaningful conceptual approaches to xenharmonic music, not merely arbitrary numbers.
Notability
A page meets our notability threshold if it satisfies at least one of these criteria:
- Verifiable content: Relevant content that can potentially be verified through citations is automatically notable.
- Documented usage: Content with documented use in musical traditions or by noted composers/theorists.
- Practical application: Systems, scales, etc. that have been implemented in compositions, instruments, or software.
- Theoretical value: Theoretical systems that solve specific problems, or demonstrate a clear theoretical or conceptual benefit.
- Historical relevance: Tuning systems or intervals with documented historical use, even if impractical.
- Community content: Systems or concepts that have gained recognition within the xenharmonic community.
Generally not notable
The following types of content generally fail to meet our notability threshold:
- Arbitrary numbers: Isolated intervals or commas without demonstrated context or purpose.
- High complexity: Temperaments of high complexity or EDOs with extremely high divisions (e.g. 31132edo), unless accompanied by a clear explanation of its utility or theoretical significance. This also includes temperaments and commas in impractical subgroups (e.g. 2.43.83).
- Technical data without context: Interval tables, temperaments, commas, or other technical data without accompanying musical explanation. This is the most serious issue that pages need to avoid.
Non-notable topics with closely related notable articles can often be merged into those pages. We strongly recommend marking articles on non-notable topics with {{novelty}}, {{niche}}, or {{mathematical interest}}, as appropriate.
Improving borderline entries
Entries that don't initially meet notability standards can be improved by:
- Explaining how the concept solves specific problems
- Describing the system's unique harmonic, melodic or timbral characteristics
- Adding comparisons to related approaches and highlighting meaningful differences
- Providing historical, cultural, or theoretical context
- Adding examples or compositional ideas on how to approach the interval or tuning system
Main space vs. user space
The Xenharmonic Wiki maintains two distinct content areas.
Main space pages are pages without any prefix. For example: "Major scale". Main space pages are subject to all notability guidelines in this document. They should represent content broadly accepted by the community.
User space pages are pages titled "User:YourUsername/Topic". For example "User:JohnDoe/Major scale". User pages are not subject to the same notability guidelines as main space, but user space content should still be related to xenharmonic theory or practice. User pages should be coherent and free from spam, vandalism, or completely unrelated material. User pages can "graduate" from user space to main space if they become accepted within the xenharmonic community.
User pages are appropriate for:
- Personal theories and explorations
- Idiosyncratic approaches to xenharmonic music
- Essays and opinion pieces
- Experimental systems still under development
- Content that shows potential but doesn't yet meet main space standards
- Drafts or work-in-progress content
Relocation vs. deletion
Content that shows potential but doesn't meet main space notability may be moved to user space. Content that is incoherent or is completely unrelated to xenharmonic music should be deleted rather than relocated. Entries consisting solely of automatically generated content (e.g. interval tables, infoboxes) without context or explanation can be deleted without relocation.