Wikipedia:On Wikipedia, solutions are mixtures and nothing else
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This essay contains comments and advice of one or more Wikipedia contributors on the topic of notability. Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Consider these views with discretion. Essays are not Wikipedia policies or guidelines. |
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This page in a nutshell: Public relations slang, like "we offer solutions", is a good indication that an article is promotional and likely not notable. |
On new page patrol, one often comes across pages about companies that provide something called solutions.
Now the Wikipedia article on solution states, in the first paragraph, that a solution is "a homogeneous mixture composed of only one phase. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent." One may also find solutions as the goal of equation solving.
So if one writes an article about a company that provides solutions, the very least the reader expects to know is what solvent is used and what solute gets dissolved in it; or else what kind of equation solving they offer. On newly introduced pages, one usually finds that vital information to be lacking, leading new page patrollers to believe that the page's creator had another definition of "solution" in mind, one that warrants considering the entire article promotional and, in the more extreme cases, tagging it for speedy deletion. This latter definition of "solution" is public relations slang that should be avoided in Wikipedia articles.
Fixing "solutions" in articles[edit]
If you would like to move the article away from being promotional and toward neutrality, the word "solutions" can sometimes be replaced by "services", "products" or other words that more accurately describe what the company does or provides to customers.
The phrase "software solutions" in Wikipedia articles can often be fixed simply by removing the word "solutions" and leaving the word "software", like this:
Before: "FooBar Inc. provides engineering software solutions and consulting services to candy manufacturers throughout eastern Slovakia."
After: "FooBar Inc. provides engineering software and consulting services to candy manufacturers throughout eastern Slovakia."
See also[edit]
- {{solution-inline}}, a template for tagging inappropriate use of word "solution", if you are unable or unwilling to fix the article yourself.
