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Every day, dozens, sometimes hundreds, of Wikipedia biographies—of child actors turned LA realtors, retired ambassadors, obscure soccer players—are purged from the world’s free encyclopedia. How do these poor souls take the news?

wired.comThe Tragedy of Having a Wikipedia Page—and Then Losing ItEvery day, Wikipedia biographies of living people are flagged for deletion because the subjects are not “notable” enough. How do these poor souls take the news?

This year, a Wikipedia biography of NASA scientist Martina Dimoska was created—and nominated for deletion soon afterwards. Economist and Wikipedia editor Kiril Simeonovski argued the entry read mostly as self-promotion.

wired.comThe Tragedy of Having a Wikipedia Page—and Then Losing ItEvery day, Wikipedia biographies of living people are flagged for deletion because the subjects are not “notable” enough. How do these poor souls take the news?

26/10/26, 1:17 pm0 reposts6 likes

Dimoska’s biography was eventually retained on the site, after lengthy discussion and examination of her achievements and their notability. It now carries a disclaimer that it contains “promotional content.” www.wired.com/story/the-tr...

Wikipedia editors do not themselves decide that a person is not notable, only that there is a lack of reliable evidence to support the claim. www.wired.com/story/the-tr...

@uncensoredwiki.bsky.social

That distinction gets lost on anyone who wakes up erased — the article didn't say 'not notable,' just 'insufficient sourcing.' We preserve deleted bios at wikibin.org so there's at least a record of what once existed.

When an editor proposes a Wikipedia article for deletion, they append a caveat to the marked page: “If you created this page, please don’t take offense.” This courtesy is not extended to the subject of the article.

wired.comThe Tragedy of Having a Wikipedia Page—and Then Losing ItEvery day, Wikipedia biographies of living people are flagged for deletion because the subjects are not “notable” enough. How do these poor souls take the news?

This Halloween, WIRED is publishing five ghost stories, about disappearances, and spectral existences, and everyone's greatest fear, death. Read the full story: www.wired.com/story/the-tr...

wired.comThe Tragedy of Having a Wikipedia Page—and Then Losing ItEvery day, Wikipedia biographies of living people are flagged for deletion because the subjects are not “notable” enough. How do these poor souls take the news?