The Notability policy governs whether a topic warrants its own article on the Crash Bandicoot Wiki, based on importance, uniqueness, or independent viability. It is a measure against the site becoming an indiscriminate collection of information, to ensure the site's practical value and encyclopedic merit.
Similarly related is the concept of relevancy, which applies to the content within articles. All information should be conceivably relevant to the average reader; trivial details and other fluff should be trimmed to keep articles focused and coherent. An article struggling to meet relevancy requirements while maintaining length may be symptomatic of a non-notable topic.
The burden of proof (of compliance with this policy) lies within the editor wishing to change an article from its current state (splitting, merging, or deleting). All topics should be considered on a case-by-case basis with respect to existing consensus.
Criteria for inclusion
Notability requirements may be satisfied by a topic meeting one or more of the following criteria:
- The topic is important to the Crash Bandicoot series—that is, it has significant plot or lore relevance, or is an important feature of gameplay.
- The topic is unique or distinct to the Crash Bandicoot series—while, for example, the blob is not important to the series, it is unique to it. And while the rat is not important nor unique to the series, it is a distinct part of it.
- The topic has inherent potential for article growth (regardless of existing length), maintains relevance independent of contingent topics, or is a recurring element in a game or across multiple games.
Splitting and merging
The notability test is often a question of independent notability. If a topic closely related to or dependent upon a broader topic cannot "stand on its own two feet", so to speak, there is no need for it to have its own article.
When a topic is not independently viable, it may be merged into the next-most related article with a broader topic. Often, this means redirecting the article's title into the article with which it is being merged (referred to as the "parent" article). However, some topics are so non-notable that a redirect may not even be necessary.
When merging a non-notable article into a parent article, it is important to avoid:
- Merging two topics that are categorically incongruent (e.g., merging a weapon article into a related character article; instead, the weapon article should be merged into a parent article that is within the same category).
- Article stacking, i.e. simply pasting the non-notable article's contents into the parent article under its own section. Instead, content should be added in harmony with the existing content, and both topics should be covered with due weight throughout the article.
Conversely, some articles may cover multiple topics, but would benefit from having one or more of those topics covered on their own articles. If the topic in question satisfies the above criteria for inclusion, or can "stand on its own two feet", it may be split from its parent topic into a new article. When this occurs, it may be wise to briefly summarize the sub-topic on the original page in its own section, and then use the {{main}} template to direct readers to the dedicated article.