Wikipedia:Importing a database

This is an essay. 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.

Shortcut WP:DBIMPORT

This page in a nutshell: Importing all, or a substantial part of an external database into Wikipedia can be highly disruptive and result in potential legal exposure. Please seek consensus from a relevant project before importing all, or a substantial part of, a database into Wikipedia. Always apply judgement for every article you create, and do not assume that every entry in an external database will automatically qualify for an article on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia content should be sourced to reliable, independent sources, and each article should have some indication that the subject of the article is notable that comes from such sources. Databases can be one example of such a source. It can therefore be tempting to go through the entirety of a database, or a substantial part of it, creating an article corresponding to every single entry in the database. However, this can result in a number of issues:

• Not every entry (or even any entry) in the database may actually be notable. For example, a database of athletes may contain both notable and non-notable athletes. Creating an article for each entry in a database may therefore create a large problem for other editors who will then have to check every single article to see which are and are not notable. The time taken to do this will be at least an order of magnitude more than the time taken to create the original articles, resulting in a net-negative impact on Wikipedia as a project. This is WP:DISRUPTIVE.
• The database may include systematic errors or inaccuracies which are then trandferred into Wikipedia. Even if they do not, the terminology of the external database may not be a like-for-like match for that used on Wikipedia. For example, the GNIS database lists many places as "populated places" that are not, and have not ever, been populated settlements in the sense that we use the term on Wikipedia.
• Certain intellectual property rights can reside in the content, formatting, selection etc. of a database that can be infringed by importing it into Wikipedia. Additionally, some databases require the users of them to agree to certain contractual terms that are breached by essentially making Wikipedia a substitute for that database. This can result in potential liability for Wikipedia or the editor who does the import.
• The articles will essentially be single-source database entries. Wikipedia is not a database.