Wikipedia:Fan Clubs

This page is about Fan clubs of the subjects of drafts or articles. For Fan clubs of contentious editors, see WP:FANCLUB.

Sometimes an otherwise minor performer (maybe an actor or actress, maybe a singer, maybe an otherwise obscure Internet celebrity) may have an enthusiastic fan club. Sometimes the fan club has an objective of getting "their" star performer listed in Wikipedia as being notable. Sometimes the fan club may make multiple efforts to submit drafts to Articles for Creation (AFC) on "their" star. There are other lines of work in which people sometimes have fan clubs, including some sports people and academics.

Occasionally multiple members of a fan club all submit draft BLPs of "their" star. Submissions by fan clubs are sometimes mistaken for sockpuppetry. They can usually be told apart from sock submissions because the different drafts by different fans have different styles and quirks and features. Some reviewers think that fan club submissions are meatpuppetry. The rules against meatpuppetry are sufficiently incomprehensible that a group of real people with real different accounts acting for a single common purpose, to promote a star, may be considered off-wiki coordination. However, fan clubs should not be discouraged. Each of the members of the fan club may also have other interests, and may become a useful editor.

Also, there may be a situation in which a fan club really can be a basis for getting an article on "their" star. A cult following is a notability criterion for actors and actresses. Reviewers should consider that enthusiastic fans are more likely to be a cult following than to be sockpuppets.

When reviewers see multiple drafts on a person, or multiple accounts working on a draft on a person, a good-faith explanation is that the subject may have a fan club.