Talk:List of articles every Wikipedia should have

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The list should be more focused (in mathematics)[edit]

Catch-all term like "algebra" is vital for wikipedias as a category, but not as an article. We could compare wikipedias of different languages better by articles of more focused, clearly defined topics. I propose a new list for mathematics:

(General)

  1. Mathematics

(Algebra)

  1. Linear algebra
  2. Complex number
  3. Fermat's Last Theorem
  4. Abel–Ruffini theorem

(Geometry)

  1. Area
  2. Angle
  3. Pythagorean theorem
  4. Coordinate system
  5. Symmetry
  6. Möbius strip
  7. Euler characteristicPolyhedron

(Analysis)

  1. Limit
  2. Infinity
  3. Differential equation
  4. Logarithm
  5. Trigonometric functions
  6. Pi
  7. Taylor series

(Statistics)

  1. Normal distribution
  2. Probability theory

(Logic / others)

  1. Boolean algebra
  2. Mathematical proof
  3. Set theory
  4. Function

The following is the list of changes:

Other candidates of consideration might be:

  1. Negative numbers
  2. Prime numbers
  3. Quadratic equation
  4. Fourier transform
  5. Fundamental theorem of calculus
  6. Second-order logic
  7. Gödel's incompleteness theorems
  8. Markov process
  9. Lambda calculus
  10. Graph theory

--Rollingfrenzy (talk) 09:11, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable in gerenal, but are you sure that highly technical topics like Fermat's Last Theorem and Abel–Ruffini theorem are suitable for a list like this? — Yerpo Eh? 18:50, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
I agree with the overall reorganization, but not most of the topic substitutions. In particular, I think it's worth keeping the major divisions of mathematics, algebra, mathematical analysis, and geometry, as well as the elementary mathematical concepts arithmetic, equation, and number; and somehow I just can't part with trigonometry or statistics, either. (Full disclosure: I have a degree in statistics.) The items in bold are so marked in the List itself, meaning they are considered "top priority" articles, so their removal should not be undertaken lightly. This leaves me two substitutions to make: I could let number theory and numerical analysis go and add normal distribution (central to the study of probability and statistics) and parallel postulate (one of the most important statements in the history of mathematics). - dcljr (talk) 02:37, 1 February 2015 (UTC)
The word arithmetic is too ambiguous and does not have clearly corresponding word in some languages (in Japanese, we usually say "四則演算", literally "the mathematical operations of the four rules", since distinction between calculations, mathematical operations and arithmetics is not clear) while individual operation like addition has. In many languages, the article for "arithmetics" seems to be merely a collection of the description of the four basic arithmetics. Some of the major divisions may be worth keeping, but we should care about how the article should look like and examine whether we really need that content. I also think this list should provide a list of good sample points of wikipedia, rather than the complete coverage of the basic mathematics.
Parallel postulate. Hmm, it sounds worth considering ... (replacing Boolean algebra, maybe) --Rollingfrenzy (talk) 19:13, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
Regarding arithmetic, Wikidata lists 117 Wikipedia languages having corresponding articles, including ja:算術. I can't say whether that's a good Japanese title for this concept or not, but it is one of 2 terms listed in one of my English–Japanese dictionaries under "mathematics". [g] Note that the Wikidata item is about the "elementary branch of mathematics", not just the four operations. If the existing Wikiepdia articles are so limited, they need expanding. As for "complete coverage of the basic mathematics", that is clearly not what this list is aiming for, nor is that even a realistic goal. I see it more as a collection of major topics that can serve to point out (as they are expanded and wikified) what other articles are worth writing. Also, most of them are the kinds of articles that would naturally split off into more specific, related articles as they develop. In other words, they serve as "seeds" that can help a small Wikipedia to grow. When viewed in this light, many of the topics I cite above as things I wouldn't want to lose could serve in this role nicely, whereas more narrowly-tailored articles about specific theorems, say, would not necessarily function the same way. - dcljr (talk) 03:33, 4 February 2015 (UTC)
I think we should take balance of the divisions, the theorems, the (proof) systems, and the object of studies in mathematics. In this point of view, wikipedias should have some articles on some of the most famous theorems, IMHO. (Pythagorean theorem is rather a definition of Euclidean norms in modern mathematics.) I picked up FLT and Abel-Ruffini's because they are famous and easy to understand and describe while difficult to prove. (Maybe one of the two (Abel-Ruffini's?) should be replaced by a famous theorem which is easy to understand and prove, but I just couldn't illustrate a good example.)--Rollingfrenzy (talk) 19:13, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
Doesn't Pythagorean theorem play that role already? - dcljr (talk) 03:38, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

Structure change first[edit]

We can continue to talk about possible topic substitutions, but I don't see any disagreement about the basic idea of restructuring the mathematics portion of the list along the lines outlined above. Might I suggest the following scheme using the current set of topics?

  1. Mathematics
  2. Arithmetic
    1. Logarithm
    2. Number
    3. Number theory
  3. Algebra
    1. Complex number
    2. Equation
    3. Linear algebra
  4. Geometry
    1. Angle
    2. Area
    3. Coordinate system
    4. Pi
    5. Pythagorean theorem
    6. Symmetry
    7. Trigonometry
  5. Mathematical analysis
    1. Differential equation
    2. Numerical analysis
  6. Probability and statistics
    1. Statistics
  7. Logic and foundations
    1. Function (mathematics)
    2. Infinity
    3. Mathematical proof
    4. Set theory

Some of these things are kind of hard to place, so I welcome other suggestions. - dcljr (talk) 03:33, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

  • I agree the structure change--Wolfch (talk) 01:40, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
  • I mostly agree with dcljr in first considering the structure. Concerning the possible changes, I think that the present list is not bad, but if it has to be more "focused" then perhaps I would replace Arithmetic, Number theory and Set theory by Zero, Derivative and Set (mathematics). With these changes, I would rename section 2: Numbers. --Txebixev (talk) 13:03, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
I've gone ahead and made the structure change exactly as I proposed above. Further discussion is, of course, welcome… - dcljr (talk) 03:16, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Anatomy & Medicine[edit]

After discussion elsewhere the following (hopefully) uncontroversial changes were made by myself and Doc James (although on the wrong page).

  • Penicillin -> COPD
  • Antibacterial -> Antibiotic
  • Lungs -> Nerve

I'm creating this section for future discussion, as I find some of the choices within these fields a tad arbitrary, especially when it comes to anatomy. Doc James Would you like to weigh in here?

I'm going to appropriate the above argument from the mathematics section - a catch all article such as Anatomy isn't very useful, and would do well to be replaced by something more important - such as Thyroid. CFCF (talk) 16:36, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

First of all, please list all of the changes you two made, as this is kinda confusing and I'm not even sure if we're still at 1000 entries anymore. It is generally preferable to discuss before changing, but most of the changes I could agree with (and I know Doc James is an expert). Still, at least linking to that "discussion elsewhere" would be helpful... I do have an issue with a few changes, such as:
  • removing en:Cholera which is still one of the most important diseases in the developing world (we strive for balance here)
  • replacing en:Lungs with en:Nerve - I don't see how the latter is so much more important than the former. Perhaps Nerve could replace something else instead?
Also, en:Anatomy should stay in my opinion, as it is not just a catch all term, but one of the oldest scientific disciplines and so important both as a natural science topic and within science history. — Yerpo Eh? 07:29, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
While I will at large agree with Yerpo, and admit that the concessions we made are far from ideal, I will try to justify them. I believe some non-medical topics are overrepresented here, and that medicine/anatomy/biology topics are lacking in this list. I am not currently willing to take that debate, instead to justify the reordering within med/anat/bio topics:
  1. Cholera causes a form of gastroenteritis, so while a very important subject the term also includes similar diseases caused by other pathogens. Often the treatment is similar, and in lieu of having both we should choose gastroenteritis.
  2. Lungs are covered under respiratory system, and in such a limited list it is superfluous to include both. That said I'm willing to replace respiratory system with lungs.
  3. While I agree that anatomy is an important subject (not in the least because I primarily work on anatomy articles), with such a limited number of articles I find including the actual organs far more important.

CFCF (talk) 11:38, 23 May 2015 (UTC)

You're right about the respiratory system, and I think replacing it with lungs would be a good idea. Let's see what others think about these changes before making a final decision. For this purpose, please list all the changes that you made, here or in the Template:Top1000 recent changes. — Yerpo Eh? 05:58, 24 May 2015 (UTC)

for your consideration[edit]

Instead of Influenza, Smallpox, Dentistry, Pneumonia or Alzheimer's disease. --Igel B TyMaHe (talk) 08:42, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

Dubai City/Emirate[edit]

Another one of those silly distinctions that only serve as a field for ping-ponging links in Wikidata (remember Brussels?)... Encyclopedially, the city (d:Q612) and the emirate (d:Q613) are largely coterminous - just look at the articles linked with what is supposed to be the item representing the city d:Q612. Almost all talk primarily about Dubai as a political entity, including en:Dubai. Any ideas how to solve this? — Yerpo Eh? 08:02, 6 June 2015 (UTC)

I would prefer keeping Dubai City (d:Q612) for the following reasons:
  1. In our list, "Dubai" is listed in the "Cities" section.
  2. Dubai City has more interwiki links, which means there are more languages treating Dubai City as vital article than the emirate.
--Romethus (talk) 05:04, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

Please add The Divine Comedy[edit]

I think that the Divine Comedy should be added to this list. It is a masterpiece of the Italian literature and one of the most important works of the world literature. Dante's work also established solid foundations to the theological and scientific thinking of the following centuries. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rapper skull (talk) 17:56, 17. september 2015‎

Which entry do you propose to remove to make room? — Yerpo Eh? 06:44, 18 September 2015 (UTC)
I can't propose to remove anything from the poetry section, since there are only four entries, but maybe we could remove metal and steel from the physics section. — Rapper_skull 13:58, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
I strongly oppose removing such important topics. — Yerpo Eh? 15:02, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Video game and Smartphone[edit]

I think Video game (already discussed here two years ago) and Smartphone should be in the list. I suggest to remove Litre, Physical chemistry, Hard disk drive, Email or Acceleration. Paucabot (talk) 19:31, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

Litre could go, possibly also Physical chemistry, other topics are too core. Although I'm not sure I'd replace them with these two (as per the comment two years ago). — Yerpo Eh? 07:09, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
I agree with Litre and physical chemistry. I also think hard disk is not very core. I would compare hard disk to Chipset, RAM or Motherboard. Maybe replace it by Computer data storage or Integrated circuit? I neither don't see the cority of acceleration, as we do have Force. Taking a look at the article, it seems a very mathematical definition, not a core physical concept as you can see comparing its background with the corresponding to Force.
And yes, video game and smartphone are very recent, but the former is approximately as recent as email, artificial intelligence, hard disk and CPU. I think video game is comparable to cinema (or Film): video game industry is earning more money than film industry and is replacing TV, movies as the main leisure activity in some age segments. As for smarthpone, I think it's a big big revolution and it's the next step in computing (they are much more popular in the third world than normal computers), but I admit this item it's much more recent than video games. We could change it for Cell phone to gain more time length but we also have Telephone, which is maybe too much overlapping. Paucabot (talk) 11:03, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Wikidata Q15645384 and Q12106 (Wheat)[edit]

Please consider change d:Q12106 with d:Q15645384 in this list. Currently, none of the "big" Wikipedias doesn't have this article. (very similar problem with banana, apple etc.)--C3r4 (talk) 14:25, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Support Support There is a user on Wikidata who separated the taxon Triticum d:Q12106 and the cereal d:Q15645384. I think that in this list the cereal would be much more properly than the botanical genus. --Holder (talk) 06:44, 11 February 2016 (UTC)
Support Support Wheat is listed as "Foodstuffs" instead of botanical.--Wolfch (talk) 08:02, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Catholic Church[edit]

I'm new to wikidata and meta, and I need your help with the following issue:

"Catholic Church" is clearly the odd one in "Specific religions", as it refers to a church (an organisation), and not a religion like every other item in that section.

This makes good sense in the context of enwiki, where en:Catholic Church describes both the church and its doctrine, i.e. [Roman] Catholicism. At the same time, en:Catholicism describes one of the en:Four Marks of the Church, which applies to most christian churches, and starts with a caveat: "This sense is to be distinguished from the use of these words to refer to the Roman Catholic Church..."

In other languages -- and particularly in ruwiki, where I'm coming from -- the two meanings of Catholicism are expressed with different terms. Thus, the Russian interwiki of en:Catholicism came to describe the doctrine of the [Roman] Catholic Church; the Russian interwiki of en:Catholic Church -- the church itself and its organisation; and a third article is for the catholicity as one of the en:Four Marks of the Church.

Now, our question is, how can we align that with WP:HAVE? Naturally, we want our main article on [Roman] Catholicism to be on the list; the Russian article on Catholic Church is essentially a subarticle of Catholicism. At the same time, we want to preserve the interwiki between en:Catholic Church and its Russian counterpart, since the subjects (though not the scope) of the two articles are the same.

Looking at wikidata, Catholicism "has parts" Catholic Church and Old Catholic Church, but none of the other catholic churches in the sense of the en:Four Marks of the Church -- in particular, not en:Orthodox Catholic Church. This seems to imply that Q1841 "Catholicism" stands for the second meaning of the term, i.e. the doctrine of the [Roman] Catholic Church, -- and not the one described at en:Catholicism. I don't know if there exists a wikidata entry for the other meaning of catholicity.

So, the source of our confusion is: there are three subjects, loosely mapped to two enwiki articles. One of the three merits an entry on WP:HAVE -- the religious doctrine; but it's not the main subject of its enwiki article. How can all this be handled? --146.200.13.17 23:58, 13 March 2016 (UTC)

Can we add Shenzhen into the list?[edit]

Shenzhen is a city of more than ten million inhabitants in Southern China and among the fastest growing in the world. Wishva de Silva (talk) 15:02, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

What do you propose to remove to make place for a new entry? — Yerpo Eh? 16:06, 7 May 2016 (UTC)
Yes, we can. Not only Shenzen, but also Guangzhou (Canton). They should replace Cape Town and Nairobi which are much smaller. Propositum (talk) 15:25, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
Size is not the same as importance. The lead of the en-wp article gives the impression that Shenzhen does not have a very important history. And by size it is not (yet?) in the absolute top. --LPfi (talk) 11:08, 1 December 2016 (UTC)
So should we add Venice, Agra or Xi'an which used to be very important? Moreover, Guangzhou-Shenzen-Hong Kong is actually the biggest urban area in the world. Propositum (talk) 20:16, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

Philosophers and social scientists: Martin Heidegger[edit]

Hello. I suggest to add Martin Heidegger instead of Noam Chomsky or Simone de Beauvoir. I think the most important and influential philosopher in the continental tradition in the 20th century should be in this list. Please comment. Ratte (talk) 18:28, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

Zhu Xi is the first to be removed. Chomsky and Beauvoir are not less appreciated than Heidegger. Propositum (talk) 18:54, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Artists[edit]

Among early modern architects, Bernini should replace Sinan; as regards 16th-century painters, Caravaggio ought to take over Dürer's slot. The former are more famous, as the Wikimedia Tool Labs prove, and both were more important for the development of art. Propositum (talk) 20:19, 21 August 2016 (UTC)

Popularity is not a relevant measure. We're here to educate, not entertain. Sinan should stay as the sole representative of eastern art in that section - it's a matter of balance. Similarly, Dürer represents a totally different period than Caravaggio and is also important as a humanist and a natural scientist. — Yerpo Eh? 06:40, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
Popularity is the most relevant measure. And nationality is not an argument; we should take into account achievements. By the way, Turkey is more Western that Eastern. Propositum (talk) 17:45, 28 December 2016 (UTC)
Nah, popularity is just the most lazy measure. We can do better than that. By the way, Turkey has been more Western than Eastern only for the past century or so. — Yerpo Eh? 07:32, 30 December 2016 (UTC)
It is not a lazy measure. It is the most unbiased one. NPOV is the core of Wikipedia. Have You any better method? As regerds Turkey, it has been always connected with the West, but this is another story. Propositum (talk) 20:26, 27 January 2017 (UTC)
View count of an English-language website unbiased? You have got to be joking. It's also self-referential apart from other wiki "sins". — Yerpo Eh? 11:39, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

16th century[edit]

It is necessary to put Charles V instead of Palestrina. The former created an empire encompassing Germany, Spain, Italy, the Americas and the Philippines. The latter is much less popular than the other listed composers. Propositum (talk) 18:15, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Alternatively, we can replace Palestrina with Benjamin Franklin, which is one of the crucial figures in the history of America. Only few people listen nowadays to the papal composer. Propositum (talk) 17:49, 28 December 2016 (UTC)
To keep the list balanced, you should either suggest removing someone from the political leader section or adding someone to the composer section. --MarsRover 22:51, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Wagner, Richard[edit]

Why he is more meaningfull than other? I think it will be better to remove bold font writing for Wagner.--SEA99 (talk) 13:08, 7 September 2016 (UTC)

May be highlite Beatles instead?--SEA99 (talk) 16:35, 7 September 2016 (UTC)
This is a good idea, because they have much more articles and views in Wikipedia than him (159/32,568 per day in 2016 compared with 132/8,319). But it is particularly necessary to include Michael Jackson who has better statistics than any other composer or musician in the history (190/54,677). Last but not least, the highlight for Stravinsky is more strange than for Wagner, because the former has only 111/4,005. Propositum (talk) 08:32, 28 January 2017 (UTC)

Roman empire - Ancient Rome[edit]

I suggest that Ancient Rome is made the base article instead of Roman empire. In that way we would include all the history and culture of the Roman civilization, and not just its second half. --Chandra Varena (talk) 08:01, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Not a bad suggestion, but we already have the Byzantine Empire and the earlier part of the Roman civilization might not be as important as the latter. --MarsRover 21:58, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

remove feminism / add rape[edit]

Feminism is a eurocentristic/western topic. It hasn't had much effect on many Asian and African societies. Rape however was always present through human history, worldwide, and was and still is an important issue. It is also an often underestimated genocidal war tactic even though it is rarely spoken about. 185.100.87.228 03:35, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

  • disagree. feminism represents the rise of women as equal to men in society, a huge issue, some would argue the largest social issue facing mankind. that is has roots in the West is not a reason to denigrate it. women's equality is much larger than any eurocentric idea of what women are. rape, while of course deadly serious, is taken more seriously now BECAUSE of feminism. there was a time when rape was in most of its forms not noteworthy.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 09:54, 25 February 2017 (UTC)
    • When was this time that you are speaking of? Rape has always been illegal in most societies, often punishable by death. 134.130.182.31 23:55, 23 July 2017 (UTC)
  • agree with anon on this. Generally the list should lean more toward specific topics. Also to recommend to Yazidi women or Chibok schoolgirls that the world need to read about equal rights seems a bit elitist. We have more basic issues, IMHO. --MarsRover 22:23, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
  • should be done similar to "Slavery"
    right now "Slavery" is included, but "slave-ownership" (or slave-owner) is not D1gggg (talk) 19:29, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

Hormone[edit]

Hormone doesn't belong in organic chemistry as there is no way that an organic chemist could tell whether a substance acts as a hormone or not. It should be moved to biochemistry or perhaps even to biology(physiology). --Episcophagus (talk) 18:51, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

Agree, I suggest you put it under biochemistry. — Yerpo Eh? 20:08, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

art of war[edit]

remove art of war from literature, add divine comedy by dante. art of war doesnt belong here, maybe in philosophy. the literature list is really short, i must say. we should probably also have don quixote in it.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 09:51, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

Not against removing Art of War, but we already have Dante in the list. I don't think we also need his most famous work. Maybe another choice would work. --MarsRover 22:32, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Wikidata:List of 1000 articles every Wikipedia should have[edit]

The lists in the individual Wikipedias are often outdated. Maybe they should be maintained by ListeriaBot. For this, the data must be in Wikidata. Is there a plain list of all WD item ids?

See 282 items at d:Wikidata:List of 1000 articles every Wikipedia should have maintained by ListeriaBot, based on data at the corresponding WD item page d:Q5460604. User:Yerpo, can you provide a list of Q-ids or even better can you somehow add them to d:Q5460604? 85.180.34.213 06:26, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

I can do this, but is it sensible/possible to list a thousand objects under "has part" in Q5460604? Besides, all the objects would then have to be equipped with the inverse property "part of" (P361) and I'm not sure what are the rules for such metadata. — Yerpo Eh? 09:19, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
PS: where exactly did ListeriaBot get the partial list from? Maybe it's better to make a full list in the project space? — Yerpo Eh? 09:20, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
I guess the list was created when Q5460604 had lots of "has part", see history. A discussion about it can be found at d:Wikidata:Project_chat/Archive/2017/01#Q5460604.23P527. I agree it would be useful if Wikidata could hold the information from this list somehow. But I'm not familiar enough with Wikidata to know how it should be done in the best way, if it is "allowed" at all. Boivie (talk) 11:45, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Maybe a new property has-list-item is needed, to avoid revers statements. Could that help? 77.179.239.159 14:24, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

I don't think this will be approved, seeing that the strategy for WD is to facilitate dynamic querying for lists. Perhaps ask around the Community portal how this could be done, but for now it's better to make it outside the mainspace. I put the raw list of items at List of articles every Wikipedia should have/Itemlist. — Yerpo Eh? 06:34, 15 March 2017 (UTC)
Yerpo: There are lists that can be dynamically generated (Wikidata lists), and there are lists that are maintained externally (e.g. Music charts, but also this Meta list). If one wants to describe the external lists, one has to store the information. "dynamic querying for lists" does not work if the information is not stored. Thanks for the raw item list!!! 77.179.181.135 15:32, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Global Perspective: History[edit]

From reading the list, it is clear that the aim is to have a global perspective, which is great and critical for a global project like Wikipedia. With important entries like Ibn Battuta, Zheng He and the Gupta Empire, it is less anglo-centric and less euro-centric than most of these types of lists. Kudos to the creators for achieving that. There are still some critical gaps though, and it will require some additional work to make the list truly global in nature. Under History, I suggest adding the following four topics:

  • Mali Empire, the richest civilization during the 14th century, with extensive trade reaching three continents, and with a highly developed and sophisticated culture. In comparison, Medieval Europe was at the time a stagnant backwater.
  • Maya, one of the great early civilizations in the world, an independent inventor of writing and with sophisticated science and architecture.
  • Inca, the great civilization of South America, with direct or indirect reach over almost a whole continent
  • Sumer, the cradle of western civilization. While Sumer is part of Mesopotamia, which is on the list, it definitely deserves its own entry.

Of course, to add also means to subtract. I propose removing the Hundred Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, The crusades and the Treaty of Versailles. These are all important events in European history, but they are not the most important and defining trends of European history, which are represented by the existing entries of Medieval Europe, The Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and World War 1. For example, the Hundred Years' War was a long lasting local skirmish between the French speaking lords of France and the French speaking lords of England, neither of which were of global importance at the time, and the Thirty Years' War was one of many violent periods in European history.

To double check my own thoughts on this, I consulted Felipe Fernandez-Armestos book Millenium: The history of the last 1000 years, which attempts to take a truly global perspective on world history. The Maya, Inca and Mali Empire all have several pages devoted to them, while the Hundred Years' War is not mentioned at all, the Thirty Years' War is given a couple of paragraphs, and the Treaty of Versailles is briefly mentioned in the chapter on the First World War. The Crusades get almost the same amount of coverage as the Maya and the Inca, but considerable less that the Mali Empire. (Sumer is older than 1000 years so it falls outside the scope of the book).

In summary, in order to make the list more global and less euro-centric, my suggestions are to include:

  • The Mali Empire instead of the Hundred Years' War
  • The Maya instead of the Thirty Years' War
  • The Inca instead of the Treaty of Versailles, and
  • Sumer instead of The Crusades.

Looking forward to hear what others think. Martinogk (talk) 03:13, 26 May 2017 (UTC)

That looks like reasonable and well motivated changes. Boivie (talk) 11:31, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
I'm inclined to agree with these arguments, except perhaps regarding the crusades which impacted the wider region (Europe, Middle East, North Africa) and two civilizations. Maybe we could postpone including either Maya or Inca until a better alternative to replace is found. — Yerpo Eh? 07:47, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
Yes, that sounds like a better approach, to instead remove something from a different category. With only 45 entries, the history section is surprisingly short compared to some of the other sections. To make room for both the Maya Civilization and the Inca, I suggest that we instead remove Esperanto, a constructed European language with 2000 native speakers and a couple of million fluent speakers overall. While Esperanto has some interest as the most successful constructed language, there are hundreds of languages around the world that are more commonly spoken, including Quiché, a modern Maya language with 2.3 million native speakers. Martinogk (talk) 03:03, 31 May 2017 (UTC)
Am I right to understand this comment was the only piece of „discussion“ on deleting Esperanto from the list? Amikeco (talk) 21:07, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
It seems to me that you are right, Amikeco. So the method was, one person, Martinogk, suggested to take out Esperanto, waited 18 days, no one else commented - and then Martinogk deleted Esperanto. I am sorry, this is not what I consider to be appropriate. Esperanto has a very special role in the world. It's not amazing that Esperanto is offered on a lot of language learning sites. A search of "Esperanto" via Google gets at least 100 million results. Just to count the number of speakers is not enough to understand the special role of this language. We should consider e. g. that China publishes daily news in Esperanto, along with only nine other languages. Esperanto has a world wide role and there are not a lot of languages that are learnt in so many countries.
Martinogk argued that e. g. Hundred Years' War is also part of Medieval Europe. OK. But with the deletion of Esperanto the whole subject and the idea of an international language, much quicker to learn than other languages, is omitted. --Lu Wunsch-Rolshoven (talk) 13:20, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
Even if the method was not perfect, I could hardly argue against removing Esperanto. Its role as a universal language has been completely overshadowed by English, so its actual impact is probably on par with the number of speakers. The idea behind it may be noble, but that's not enough in my view. At least presently; I might be persuaded to change my opinion if the autor's wishes come closer to realization in the next few decades, but for now, I support the removal. — Yerpo Eh? 17:31, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
You didn't touch the subject of the uniqueness of Esperanto, Yerpo. The fact that English is the most learned and used foreign language is nothing new in principle in human history - there were international languages like Latin or French before English. The unique thing with Esperanto is that one man put together the basis of Esperanto. Then people learned Esperanto and are still learning Esperanto and an international language community of a new kind was created and is expanding more and more. This community developed its own culture with books and songs etc., being a supranational community. This is something quite different from English. There is no real alternative between English and Esperanto (as many people seem to believe) - Esperanto has a very distinct approach, it's rather a complement. This special aspect of Esperanto was one main reason to include it in this wikipedia list.
The other relevant aspect certainly was the fact that Esperanto can be learned in about a fourth of the time needed for English and similar languages. This also is a unique aspect of the language Esperanto and one more reason why Esperanto should be included again. (And thanks that you agree about the method of deletion.) --Lu Wunsch-Rolshoven (talk) 07:56, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
We should also consider that a lot of linguists and others constantly misinform about Esperanto. That's why a well documented article about Esperanto is necessary in every wikipedia. --Lu Wunsch-Rolshoven (talk) 08:37, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
Uniqueness is certainly a criterion to consider, but is not sufficient for inclusion, in my opinion. Existence of misinformation, on the other hand, is definitely not relevant here - see also WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS. — Yerpo Eh? 18:35, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
Probably we should think twice before deleting a unique subject; this obviously didn't take place. - Existence of misinformation is relevant, because a lot of people have ideas about Esperanto which are obviously false. Just reading the wikipedia article about Esperanto will help them to understand their errors. I do not speak about facts without sources, so RIGHTGREATWRONGS is not relevant here. But I would like to know, if those speaking against Esperanto already read the WP:Esperanto article. Did they? - Up to now there are only two people here who speak for the deletion of the Esperanto article from the list. Not a lot, it seems to me. --Lu Wunsch-Rolshoven (talk) 16:38, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
I fully support Lu Wunsch-Rohlshoven's proposal to undo the deletion of Esperanto from the list. The reason given when deleting it was short-sighted: The number of speakers is not what is relevant, but the attention it gets in scholarly and popular discourse. Esperanto gets much much more attention than languages of comparable size of speakers due to its special role as by far the most successful planned language ever. Marcos (talk) 18:28, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
As there isn't any further comment for quite some time, I hope, it will be ok to revert the change which deleted Esperanto. If someone wants to include Mayan Civilization (this is quite ok for me), he or she should find another topic to delete. Esperanto as a worldwide language should not be deleted, certainly not while speaking of a "Global Perspective"; Esperanto should stay in the list. Yerpo already commented, that the method (of deleting Esperanto) "was not perfect"... --Lu Wunsch-Rolshoven (talk) 06:26, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
Seeing that two people support and two oppose the removal, the final consensus is not clear, so restoring and then debating again would be overly bureaucratic at this point. Can't we just make another, specific discussion and then act according to its outcome? — Yerpo Eh? 17:08, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

@Boivie: hope you don't mind, but I reverted your changes to the list until tomorrow. We agreed a while ago that changes wouldn't be made just before the ranking is updated, to give communities more time to write/expand new articles and prevent them from score decrease. I'll self-revert back when the ranking is updated. — Yerpo Eh? 17:43, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

Religious figures and theologians[edit]

In the religious figures section, 5 out of 10 personalities represent Christianity (7 if you include Abraham and Moses). Buddha is the only personality representing a non-semitic, non-monotheistic religion. I propose to remove Paul the Apostle, Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas in favor of Mahavira, Nagarjuna and Zoroaster.--Edler von Udinium 20:27, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

I don't look at Augustine and Thomas as representing Christianity but Medieval philosophy - I would rather remove Abraham, Moses and Paul. Also Mahavira/Zoroaster would be rather redundant with Jainism/Zoroastrism. --Nk (talk) 19:32, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
I'd keep Abraham and Moses, but I wouldn't object to replacing Paul or Augustine with Nagarjuna. A. Mahoney (talk) 13:10, 12 July 2017 (UTC)

Items should be selected and sorted into several lists regardless of sitelinks[edit]

D1gggg (talk) 19:26, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

Split the list[edit]

I split the list as in it.wiki. I hope this is not a problem. --Geoide (talk) 11:40, 5 November 2017 (UTC)

Suggest adding outer space and removing spaceflight[edit]

outer space is an important topic which is not included here, so I suggest removing spaceflight to free the quota for that. --Jason6698 (talk) 04:35, 19 November 2017 (UTC)

Though they are both vital, as the list can contain just 1,000 articles, and spaceflight means "ballistic flight into or through outer space", a small Wikipedia should have and then maintain outer space first.--RekishiEJ (talk) 06:02, 22 December 2017 (UTC)

As no people oppose this suggestion, if no further comments are raised by the following week, I will make the change by myself.--Jason6698 (talk) 08:33, 28 January 2018 (UTC)

I think outer space is a bit redundant to Universe. Many Wikipedias just describe outer space astronomical objects/structures in the article about the latter (96 vs. 151 interwikis). Spaceflight, on the other hand, is important as a technological topic, which this list lacks. So I'd prefer to keep spaceflight here. — Yerpo Eh? 06:42, 21 February 2018 (UTC)
I agree; "outer space" can also be discussed in an article on the solar system, so I'd keep space flight in the 1000-page list. Both, of course, can be in the 10,000 page list. A. Mahoney (talk) 15:25, 23 February 2018 (UTC)
Agree with Yerpo and A. Mahoney that with the Solar System and the Universe, we do not also need to include Outer Space. Martinogk (talk) 00:29, 15 June 2018 (UTC)

Replace biological classification by taxonomy[edit]

Now that in the English Wikipedia the former was merged into the latter, and the list asks that each Wikipedia should contain every article in the list, the former should be replaced with the latter here since English Wikipedia is the largest one, and a smaller Wikipedia does not have to have the article on biological classification as the English Wikipedia used to, but should have taxonomy instead. The list should contain zoology and genetics as well, since it is absurd that the list contains botany but not these two articles. RNA, Gene and heredity should be included as well. We can add these four articles without exceeding the 1,000 quota by removing five people, for instance, Marilyn Monroe need not to be kept, as the English Wikipedia page on vital articles (Lv3) does not contain her.--RekishiEJ (talk) 18:03, 21 December 2017 (UTC) added and changed a word 18:23, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Week oppose for replacing biological classification, as it has far more languages (107) then taxonomy (54).
In principle, I argee that the quota of biography can be reduced. Howerver, further discussion is needed to find out who should be removed.--Jason6698 (talk) 08:41, 28 January 2018 (UTC)

remove Flamenco[edit]

I don't see why it should be in this list. --Gnom (talk) Let's make Wikipedia green! 13:41, 24 February 2018 (UTC)

What would you propose instead? A. Mahoney (talk) 18:32, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
Well, maybe with "pop music", which surprisingly isn't in the list yet. --Gnom (talk) Let's make Wikipedia green! 21:33, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
@Gnom:,@Amahoney: Agree that Flamenco can be removed. If we want to replace it with another music genre/dance, salsa is much more widely spread across the globe, making the list less euro-centric. Martinogk (talk) 00:20, 15 June 2018 (UTC)

Lemon (and Soybean): Fruit vs Taxon[edit]

Currently Lemon is listed under foodstuffs/fruit as the species/taxon Citrus ×limon (Q500) (instance of: taxon). While I was trying to have this reflected in Wikidata, @Succu: (d:) was disputing my edits [1]. If I understand his very brief remarks correctly, he is convinced that this list should rather reference the fruit lemon (Q1093742) (class: hesperidium and citrus fruit), but seems not to bother to do anything about it, so let me play proxy here for his request: @Succu: asks to replace Lemon(-tree) (Q500) with Lemon(-fruit) (Q1093742). See also [2]

The same issue also applies to Glycine max (Q11006) (listed here as a taxon under foodstuffs/fruit as Soybean), but I couldn't find a separate article or wd-item for its fruit/bean.

Following his request, we would consequently replace the plants with the fruits (lemon for now) and end up with no english (or simple) articles for it. I find this problematic due to the nature of this list, but it is certainly possible. E.g. in german we can live with those holes as we include see-also-notes with them [3]. But whoever wants to track adoption of this list automatically will have to deal with it (already).

Citrus ×limon (Q500) has far more sitelinks than lemon (Q1093742) 138 vs 25.

  • The taxon-item has sitelinks to simple and german talking about fruit and taxon, englisch says it's about the fruit, but actually also is about both.
  • The fruit-item has no sitelinks to english, no german, no chinese...

As a general rule, we could keep Wikidata-Items for taxons on this list as long as there are no separare Wikidata-Items for their fruits. Thus soybean would be replaced as well, once we find the fuit item.

My intend here is to seek clarification and as a German could also live without a sitelink to english, especially as lemon only appears there in the expanded list (level 4, 10.000 articles). --Aeroid (talk) 12:49, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

Add Poverty[edit]

Add Poverty (social issues), remove Auto racing. (Really? Auto racing???) Guido den Broeder (talk) 22:44, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

  • Support Support poverty is a human socioeconomic condition issue since the beginning of the civilizations and a core theme. Auto racing... well... --Zerabat (discusión) 18:48, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Support Support Poverty has been linked with biodiversity and ecosystem issues - biodiversity is also an article that is missing. Shyamal (talk) 04:23, 22 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Yes check.svg Done Guido den Broeder (talk) 22:37, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
Good change. Thank you. Martinogk (talk) 00:23, 15 June 2018 (UTC)
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