Academic Kids:Deletion policy
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In the normal operations of Wikipedia, several hundred articles are deleted each day. While it is possible for any user to blank a page, the original content will still be available in the page history for others to view and put back if they wish. When pages are deleted, this removes not only the current version but also all previous versions.
Only administrators have the ability to delete and undelete pages within the system. With our current deletion system administrators necessarily must use their best judgment in making this decision. You can expect administrators to follow the process detailed below to aid them in their judgment.
Deleted pages can be restored, by administrators, if and only if there is support on Wikipedia:Votes for undeletion, or the page was speedily deleted out-of-process. If deletions are made too casually, it is easy to lose track. Hence, the decision to permanently delete an article is not taken lightly, and the deletion process is followed. See Wikipedia:Undeletion policy for the guidance on undeletion.
If an article is repeatedly re-created by unassociated editors after being deleted, this should be seen as evidence for the need for an article. Administrators should always be responsible with the power that they have. If in doubt... don't delete!
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Procedure for deletion
If a page does not fall into one of the categories listed under Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion, then you cannot delete it without it spending five days on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion (or the analogous pages for images and media files, categories, templates, redirects) first.
What to do with a problem page/image/category
Does the page really belong on VfD? Read the following two tables to find out what to do with a problem page.
| Problem with page | Solution | Add this tag |
|---|---|---|
Article written in a foreign language
| List on Wikipedia:Pages needing translation | {{notenglish}} |
A stub (but with potential)
| Expand it! | {{stub}}, or preferably the topic-specific one from Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types |
Such a minor branch of a subject that it doesn't deserve an article
| Merge the useful content into a more comprehensive article and redirect | |
Article duplicates information in some other article
| Merge and redirect. If you can't figure out how to do the merge, list on Wikipedia:Duplicate articles and add the tag: | {{merge|article}}. |
Article needs improvement
| List on Wikipedia:Cleanup | {{cleanup}} |
| Article needs a lot of improvement | List on Wikipedia:Pages needing attention | |
Article is biased or has lots of POV
| List on Wikipedia:Pages needing attention. | {{npov}} or {{POV check}} |
Dispute over article content
| List on Wikipedia:Requests for comments | {{disputed}} |
Two subjects have the same name
| Make a disambiguation page | {{disambig}} |
Can't verify information in article
| Follow the procedure on Wikipedia:Verifiability; if that doesn't work, come back here. If they are truly unverifiable, they may be deleted. | |
| Inappropriate user page | Talk to the user; if that doesn't work, come back here | |
Vandalism or inaccuracy
| Revert it and mention it on Wikipedia:Vandalism in progress | |
| Annoying user | Add user to Wikipedia:Requests for comment. But stay cool. |
| Problem with page | Solution | Add this tag |
|---|---|---|
| List on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion | {{subst:vfd}} |
Article is possible copyright infringement
| List on Wikipedia:Copyright problems | {{copyvio}} or {{copyvio|url=Alleged source of material}} |
| Image is possible copyright infringement | List on Wikipedia:Copyright problems | {{imagevio}} or {{imagevio|url=Alleged source of image}} |
| Image or other media needs deleting (but not because of copyright violation) | List on Wikipedia:Images for deletion | {{ifd}} |
A useless redirect
| Don't worry, redirects are cheap. If you must, list on Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion but only after reading our recommendations on deleting redirects | {{rfd}} |
A category scheme gone awry
| List on Wikipedia:Categories for deletion | {{cfd}} |
| A redundant or misguided series box. | List on Wikipedia:Templates for deletion | {{tfd}} (Put in the box itself) |
Can never be more than a dictionary definition ("dicdef")
| List on Wikipedia:Things to be moved to Wiktionary | {{move to Wiktionary}} |
Article is a source text
| Move text to Wikisource and replace it with a stub and a soft redirect. | |
Article is a candidate for speedy deletion including:
| List on Wikipedia:Speedy deletions. In simple cases, just add the {{deletebecause}} tag and the page will automatically be listed in CAT:CSD. | {{db|reason}} |
See also: Wikipedia:Template messages#Deletion
Each deletion category has a slightly different procedure. See the page for that category for details. Give the reason why you think it should be deleted. It will remain there for a time, giving other users the chance to comment on whether they think deletion is in fact appropriate. After an appropriate lag time, an administrator will delete the page if a rough consensus is reached - see Wikipedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators#Rough_consensus.
For candidates for speedy deletion, Administrators do not have to request deletion - they may delete them on sight, though some choose to use Wikipedia:Speedy deletions in some cases.
"Listed for deletion" notice
When you list a page on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion, it is courteous to let people know it might be deleted. The suggested way is to place {{subst:vfd}} (not {{vfd}}) above the page's content, which expands to:
Hopefully, this notice will prevent readers and new users from becoming confused as to why a page was removed. Please note: copyright problems have a different suggested notice. See also: Wikipedia:Boilerplate_text#Listed_for_deletion
The notice is not needed for pages which a) have no content (such as redirects), and b) also have no significant history. (E.g. a redirect whose entire history is that it used to redirect from "Foo" to "Foobar", and has been changed to redirect to "FooBar", because the target page was moved, does not have any significant history.) A history which shows any content being added or removed that is not a candidate for speedy deletion is significant history.
If an article has been on VfD before but users want to start another iteration of a deletion debate, they should consider using this template, {{subst:VfDx|2nd}}.
Lag times
Once a page is listed for deletion by listing on one of the different pages, the nomination is kept open for a period of time to allow for community comment. The different pages have different "lag times" (the length of time that the page should normally be listed before the article can be deleted). This gives other users the chance to comment on whether they think deletion is in fact appropriate. The lag times are discussed at Wikipedia talk:Votes for deletion/lag time and are currently set at:
- Wikipedia:Copyright problems - about a week (in practice, more like two)
- Wikipedia:Images for deletion - about a week
- Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion - about a week
- Wikipedia:Templates for deletion - seven days
- Wikipedia:Speedy deletions - no lag
- Wikipedia:Votes for deletion - five days
Commenting on a listing for deletion
When someone has listed an article for deletion on one of the lists, anyone else may comment on the request. When expressing an opinion, please include your opinion, your reasoning, and sign with ~~~~ (four consecutive tilde characters). The following are some suggested wordings. There is a list of these and other commonly used shorthands at the Wikipedia:Guide to Votes for deletion.
- delete
- keep
- comment (not a vote)
- other (some other action) such as
- redirect to [[article]]
- merge into [[article]] and redirect
- move to Wiktionary (http://www.wiktionary.org/) / Meta (http://meta.wikipedia.org/) / other GFDL site
Note that merge into [[article]] and delete is only a valid option if the information on authorship of the content is somehow preserved, or for public domain text.
Decision Policy
To request that a page (or image) be permanently deleted, the request made on VfD, and any votes or comments relating to a listed page must be made in good faith. At the end of five days, if a rough consensus (what constitutes a rough consensus is not set in stone, some do consider a 2/3 majority a "rough consensus", while others believe consensus implies a higher ratio) has been reached to delete the page, the page will be removed. Otherwise the page remains. The page will also remain if it has been improved enough since the initial listing that the reason for the listing no longer applies. This requires a reason to be given initially when requesting that a page be deleted.
Please do not remove any votes from any VfD or like discussion. If you suspect a vote of being a sockpuppet or otherwise invalid, mark it as such with a comment, and any pertinent links, and leave it there. The admin who reviews the discussion will investigate and decide whether or not to take that vote into account. By not removing any votes, we ensure that there can be no arguments over who removed what and why.
Wikipedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators expands on this and provides a little rationale.
Template:Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Policy consensus
Unlisting a page from VfD
If another solution has been found for some of these pages than deletion, leave them listed on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion for a short while, so the original poster can see why it wasn't deleted, and what did happen to it. This will prevent reposting of the same item. After the original poster has seen the explanation, or in any case after about a day, the page can be delisted from VfD.
When the Lag Time runs out
At the end of the five days, the VfD discussions may be moved off the main VfD page onto a "holding page" called Votes for deletion/Old where they will stay until an administrator has time to act on the consensus decision. When carrying out those duties, please follow the process at Wikipedia:Deletion process which describes where and how the discussion should be archived. While the page itself may be deleted, the discussion about the deletion should be preserved.
Always give a good edit summary when editing the VfD page, especially when unlisting an article, so that the page history of the VfD page can be used as backup archive for discussions that have not been properly archived.
Help with deletions
The votes for deletion page gets very busy. Please join the Wikipedia:Cleaning department to help in maintaining it on a regular basis!
See also
- /Shortcuts for an easy way to refer to this page in discussions
- Wikipedia:Deletion process
- Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Precedents
- Wikipedia:Blankpages, Wikipedia:Shortpages
- Wikipedia:Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense
- Wikipedia:Things to be moved to Wiktionary
- Wikipedia:Pages needing attention
- Wikipedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators
- Wikipedia:Archived delete debates - please link /deletion pages and talk pages on which debates took place to here.
- Wikipedia:Transwiki log for articles that have been moved to another project
- Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Maintenance - untranscluding or refactoring VfD discussions
- Wikipedia:Neologismms:Wikipedia:Memadam Laman
de:Wikipedia:Löschregeln it:Wikipedia:Regole per la cancellazione ja:Wikipedia:削除の方針 ko:위키백과:문서삭제 지침 zh:Wikipedia:删除守则