Wikipedia:Notability cannot be purchased

This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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This page in a nutshell: In a deletion discussion, a claim of notability requires that sources provided as evidence of notability be independent of their subject, including financial independence.

Wikipedia has a well-established list of criteria for the creation and inclusion of articles. Among these are that the subject of the article must be notable as demonstrated through the presence of multiple, reliable, verifiable, independent, published secondary sources. However, the specifics of those criteria are sometimes vague— what counts as "reliable"? What counts as "verifiable"? This essay addresses in part the question, "What counts as 'independent'?" Briefly, notability is not something which can be purchased through a third party— paid advocacy is not independent, and Wikipedia article space is not for sale.

Obviously, very wealthy people and organizations are likely to be notable. As such, they will certainly warrant their own articles, even if the only notable thing about them is how much money they have. However, not all people or organizations with money are notable— the vast majority, in fact, are not. But the desire to achieve notoriety on Wikipedia may give some individuals the incentive to attempt to produce, if possible, what appears like real-world evidence of notability. Below are some examples.