Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trivia sections

This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcuts MOS:MISC MOS:MISCELLANY MOS:MISCELLANEA MOS:TRIV MOS:TRIVIA

This page in a nutshell: An article should not contain a section with a list of miscellaneous information. It is better to present things in an organized way.

Avoid creating lists of miscellaneous information. It was once common practice on Wikipedia for articles to include lists of isolated information, which were often grouped into their own section. These sections were typically given names such as "Trivia", "Facts", "Miscellanea", "Other information" and "Notes" (not to be confused with "Notes" sections that store reference citation footnotes). For an example of this practice, see the John Lennon trivia section from December 10, 2005. This style guideline deals with the way in which these facts are represented in an article, not with whether the information contained within them is actually trivia, or whether trivia belongs in Wikipedia.

Trivia sections should be avoided. A list of indiscriminate examples often becomes a trivia magnet, which grows increasingly disorganized, unreliable, and difficult to read. If such a list already exists, it should be considered temporary until editors can integrate it into a prose summary of reliable independent sources, organized for relevance, context, and logical flow.