A rigid consensus on inclusion criteria for this list has not been reached. It is preferred to propose new items on the talk page first.
Any proposed new entries to the article must at least fulfill the following:
The common misconception's main topic has an article of its own.
The item is reliably sourced, both with respect to the factual contents of the item and the fact that it is a common misconception.
The common misconception is mentioned in its topic article with sources.
The common misconception is current, as opposed to ancient or obsolete.
If you have an item to add that does not fulfill these criteria but you still think should be included, please suggest it on the talk page with your rationale for inclusion.
This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (center, color, defense, realize, traveled) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.
List of common misconceptions is a former featured list candidate. Please view the link under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. Once the objections have been addressed you may resubmit the article for featured list status.
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Latest comment: 6 months ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Given the total, unwieldy unenforceability of criterion 3 (The common misconception is mentioned in its topic article with sources.), is there any appetite for trying some template magic to see what is not mentioned at the topic article? For instance, putting the text and sources of the misconception at the topic article in a template and naming a parameter, then having the same on list of common misconceptions so removals can be highlighted. Without any way to see if text has been removed from a topic article, I don't see how the criterion can be considered meaningful. Rollinginhisgrave (talk|edits) 23:53, 18 January 2026 (UTC)Reply
Do you have examples of entries that fail criterion #3? Normally, when an entry is added the various editors verify that it has met criterion #3. As you say, there's no easy way to verify that the material remains in place at the topic article, but how often does this happen? IOW, is this actually a problem? Mr. Swordfish (talk) 00:40, 19 January 2026 (UTC)Reply
I definitely saw it several times when I was going through the topic articles in late 2024. I don't feel particularly inspired to run through 500 entries again to find more examples, but we can indeed know that this happens, and can be expected to happen more as the list gets larger and articles continue to evolve. Rollinginhisgrave (talk|edits) 00:49, 19 January 2026 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
It is a well documented misconception (reinforced by hit movies) that the asteroid belt is extremely dense and that spacecraft passing through the asteroid belt are in danger of collision with asteroids. This is unfortunately reinforced that any attempt at graphing the positions of asteroids at a reasonable scale produces a swarm of dots on top of each other, because space is big. This misconception is documented and sourced on the topic article as well as in general-audience sources from astronomers, e.g. https://lucy.swri.edu/MainBeltDensity.html - perhaps it should be included in this list. thunkii (talk) 02:21, 10 June 2026 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 5 days ago7 comments2 people in discussion
When we split the article after much discussion, the version of this page that emerged did not have a table of contents. The obvious reason being that it is merely a landing page to send readers to one of the three pages that the article was split into.
The directive to supress the TOC was recently removed without explanation, with the editor saying that there was "nothing to discuss". While I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about the TOC or lack thereof, this sort of call is exactly what the talk page is for.
So, TOC or no TOC? What do the editors think?
My take is that the article is too short to need one, and it just gets in the way of sending the reader to the actual material. Other opinions? Mr. Swordfish (talk) 16:24, 14 July 2026 (UTC)Reply
without explanation, with the editor saying that there was "nothing to discuss".
Well hold on—I've since explained and we've discussed it at your talk page. I initially said there was "nothing to discuss" because you didn't give a reason for your revert; please read WP:REVEXP. But we seem to be on the same page now, so I'm not sure why you're phrasing this like there's animosity between us. You also left out what we discussed, including that the TOC is inline in legacy skins, which puts it "in the way" as you said, while in the 2022 skin it's in the sidebar so that's a non-issue. — W.andrea (talk) 18:01, 14 July 2026 (UTC)edited 18:11; partially retracted 13:49, 15 JulyReply
Look at the timestamps. I started this thread prior to your reply on my talk page and the ensuing discussion. I left out what we discussed for the simple reason that it hadn't happened yet.
Agree that you've explained and we've discussed, but that was after writing the above.
Also agree that we appear to be on the same page now, now that I understand the reason for the edit and how the TOC is rendered in the various skins. Mr. Swordfish (talk) 23:49, 14 July 2026 (UTC)Reply
I've added the template. Looks good so far, although I haven't tested all skins in all browsers. If anyone sees issues, please report. Thanks. Mr. Swordfish (talk) 14:27, 15 July 2026 (UTC)Reply
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