Template:Fish market/doc

Usage

{{Fish market}} is a maintenance template used to identify articles that have accumulated excessive catalog-style, inventory-style, or commercially oriented listing content. Such articles may resemble a marketplace, vendor catalogue, product directory, or sales brochure more than an encyclopedic treatment of the subject.

The template does not indicate that the subject itself is commercial. Many inherently commercial subjects are suitable for encyclopedic coverage. Rather, the template is intended for situations where the article's content has become dominated by extensive lists of products, services, editions, models, offerings, stock-keeping information, or similar material whose encyclopedic value is limited.

Usage

Place the template at the top of the article.

{{Fish market}}

When to use

Use this template when one or more of the following conditions exist:

• The article contains extensive product inventories that overwhelm the prose.
• The article functions primarily as a catalogue of offerings rather than an encyclopedic article.
• Large sections consist of lists of products, models, editions, variants, or services with little contextual analysis.
• Commercial listings have grown disproportionately compared to the article's coverage of history, development, impact, reception, or significance.
• Editors have repeatedly added new products or offerings without improving encyclopedic content.
• The article appears to be maintained as a directory of available commercial offerings.

When not to use

Do not use this template merely because:

• The article concerns a company, brand, product line, or commercial enterprise.
• The article contains some product information relevant to the topic.
• The subject naturally requires discussion of its products or services.
• The article contains a reasonable list that is supported by reliable sources and contributes to encyclopedic understanding.
• The article is promotional in tone but not catalogue-like. In such cases, advertising-related maintenance templates may be more appropriate.

Examples

Potential examples include:

• Articles whose largest sections are product inventories.
• Articles containing extensive tables of model numbers or editions with minimal explanatory prose.
• Articles that have evolved into comprehensive catalogues of every commercial offering associated with a subject.
• Articles where routine additions of products substantially outnumber improvements to encyclopedic content.

Relationship to other templates

This template addresses a distinct editorial concern.

Advert

Use when an article reads like an advertisement or promotional material.

Conflict of interest

Use when editing may be influenced by a conflict of interest.

Excessive detail

Use when an article contains unnecessary levels of detail.

Fish market

Use when the structure and emphasis of the article have shifted toward catalogue-like or marketplace-like content.

These concerns may overlap, and multiple templates may sometimes be appropriate.

Rationale

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia rather than a directory, catalogue, price list, marketplace, or vendor database. Articles should summarize notable information about a subject rather than attempt to provide exhaustive inventories of products, services, offerings, or commercial variants.

This template highlights situations where commercial listing content has become sufficiently extensive that it may impede encyclopedic coverage.

See also

• Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not
• Wikipedia:Neutral point of view
• Wikipedia:Manual of Style
• Wikipedia:Article development

TemplateData

Marks articles that contain excessive catalogue-style or marketplace-like content.

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
No parameters specified