User:Elaragirl/DeleteArticle
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This is a user essay that is a work in progress, and is under current editing.It is designed for new users. It would be considered disruptive to the point of this user's intent for this article to be edited by anyone but the author until it has been completed. If you wish to comment or contribute to this article, please use the talk page. |
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Contents |
[edit] What is deletion?
Deletion refers to the process used on Wikipedia for removing articles, images, miscellaneous pages, user pages, stubs, and categories.
[edit] Why do articles get deleted?
Articles usually get deleted for one of three reasons:
- They cannot be verified. In order to be an article, the article has to have reliable sources and cannot contain original derivative research.
- They have to be notable. While Wikipedia theoretically has infinite space for any topic, we cannot currently prevent vandalism, false information, or copyright infringements on many articles. As a result, Wikipedia has a strict list of things we don't allow. Many articles about lesser known events -- local musicians, websites, companies, small groups, minor business or educational professionals, and the like -- simply aren't noted enough by the public to be worth the opportunity cost of maintaining an article on such. Articles can show notability by having a source that shows external coverage of the topic.
- They have to meet legal requirements. Biographies cannot contain libel, for example. We are limited in what we can use that isn't freely licenced, and we cannot accept any copyrighted material without specific permissions.
[edit] Why do other things get deleted?
Images are usually deleted for problems with copyright. Things such as user pages, categories and the like are internal matters that are deleted either because they are disrupting Wikipedia, or to make way for a more efficient method.
[edit] How do I delete an article?
First of all, you do not delete the article. Do not blank a page to delete an article. Deletion is handled by administrators of the Wikipedia.
Second, deletion has very strict criteria it follows. We do not allow most pages to be deleted unless they violate a policy or fail to meet a measure of notability. In many cases, an article can be improved by adding sourced, rewriting, or other corrective measures rather than deletion.
That being said, there are four kinds of deletion process. A speedy deletion is for things that blatantly fail Wikipedia's notions of what should be included in the encyclopedia. Examples might be pages that attack people, spam, or blatant copyright violations. There is a specific listing of what can and cannot be speedily deleted. Many experienced Wikipedia users call these speedys , CSD, or use one of the codes covered by Speedy Deletion, such as A7. If an article does not fail any of these CSD policies, but does not meet further Wikipedia policies, then continue to proposed deletions.
Proposed Deletions are when an article failing a criteria that does not allow for speedy deletion. A proposed deletion is one that should be uncontroversial, that no one would oppose. Anyone can contest such a deletion, which means someone thinks the article should be kept. In that case, it proceeds to the various processes for Deletion. Experienced Wikipedia users call this prodding an article.
The Process for Deletion is where users examine the article and try to come to an agreement on whether or not it should be deleted. While this agreement consensus is indicated by votes of keep or delete, the administrator who closes this discussion will interpret the votes based on the comment you make with it. Processes for Deletion can delete anything, but you will be discussing it with other people, so be polite. This process is called XfD by experienced Wikipedians.
[edit] A Five Step Process
In order to understand deletion policy, and how to delete articles, you have to read all the pertinent pages. But in applying such policies, it's always best to follow a simple, five step process.
- Step One: Verify if the article in question can be improved without deletion
This simple step is often ignored , especially by Wikipedians scanning over new pages contributed by anonymous authors, but you should always try to do it. Many people create stubs, or very short articles, with the intention of trying to expand them later. Many of these article may, at first glance, fail Wikipedia policy. While there are many viewpoints on how to approach this (should you look at the article as it is now or how it could be, etc) , the simplest approach is to check yourself. See if you can find any sources easily with a 2 minute Google search. See how many Google hits the article has. If you can't easily find any sources and there are very few Google hits relating to the article, go on to step two. If you CAN find sources, though, go ahead and source the article. Find the proper category for it, and the proper stub-type for it, and tag it as in need of expansion. This simple process will ensure that others can expand the article, and that if someone across it looking for information, they will have sources to explore further.
- Step Two: Verify if the article violates any speedy deletion criteria.If it does, speedy it.
Some people would make this the first step, but that would be incorrect, since some articles that are notable might be written in a way that doesn't assert notability, or might include original research you can remove. However, if you've gone through step one and can't find good sources, check the article against the list of speedy deletion criteria. Here's my rule of thumb:
| If an article fails one or two criteria, you can speedy delete it. If it fails more than two, you should understand that whoeever created the article clearly does not understand how Wikipedia works, and may remove your speedy deletion tag. |
A speedy deletion tag is not supposed to be removed, but it happens, and if you aren't watching or do a large number of speedy deletions, you may never notice. While there are people who watch all changes to Wikipedia in real time, they may not catch it either. In any event, if you find an article that fails the criteria, tag it appropiately. If the tag stays, then it will get deleted in short order by an administrator. If it gets removed, you should leave a warning on the talk page of the user who did so asking him for an explaination. If you don't get one, proceed to step three.
What to do if it doesn't fail any speedy criteria but you can't source it? Proceed to step three.
- Step Three: Examine the article for formal deletion criteria
Assuming that the article isn't a speedy candidate or you don't feel like mucking with speedy deletion with a stubborn author who keeps removing the tag or who disagrees it meets a CSD criteria, you can take the article to Articles for Deletion. But prior to doing that, make very sure you can find a reason why the article should be deleted. The reason must be based on policy!
Cruft is not a policy, nor is "I don't like it". Policy is a requirement to put an article up for deletion. If the article is unsourced, but verifiable and doesn't violate any other policies, you cannot delete it. However, if an article contains original research, or cannot be verified, or lacks notability under a guideline, or is a point-of-view article, or any of the other deletion criteria, then you can list it at articles for deletion.
Again, always review what you submit before submitting it. A person who nominates a lot of articles for deletion that don't actually fail policy may be considered disruptive or even a troll. If you can find reasons to delete, proceed to step four.
- Step Four: Submitting to Articles for Deletion
The articles for deletion page has a very clear overview of how to list an article there, and I cover it later anyway.
Once you've listed the article for deletion, other Wikipedians will discuss and present their viewpoint. After several days, an administrator will review the arguments made and determine if the article should be kept or deleted.
It is considered bad form to nominate an article for deletion multiple times within a short span of time. Particularly if there was not a close decision.
If the article is kept, for whatever reason, you should examine the logic and the reasoning given by the closing administrator. 95% of the time, the admin deterimines this correctly, and the article should have kept. However, occasionally, the admins get things wrong, or an admin with an interest in the article closes what should have been a deletion as a keep. IF and ONLY IF you can find SPECIFIC REASONS why you are SURE an admin closed a deletion discussion the wrong way, should you take take it to Deletion Review. Do NOT take things to deletion review just because you don't like the outcome.
- Step Five: Deletion Review
Listing an article at deletion review is the last court of appeals for an article. It is NOT a second vote for deletion, but is only to specifically review the circumstances that led to the closure of an deletion discussion. You should only make arguments towards that end. For example: An admin closes a discussion with 10 delete votes based on policy, and two keep votes with no policy or rational for keep given, as a keep. Obviously the admin's closing was flawed, so you can take it to Deletion Review. However, if the article was kept by every other participant than you, and you feel upset, you cannot take it to Deletion Review.
[edit] Speedy Deletion
As mentioned above, the "Speedy deletion" policy is a way to delete some very limited types of articles or other pages "on sight" without further debate, as in the cases of patent nonsense or pure vandalism. Speedy deletion is usually the first step in the process of deletion analysis.
[edit] What are the Speedy Deletion Guidelines
These are the most common guidelines you will use. See the pages oncriteria for speedy deletion for the full list.
| Code | Description | Explaination |
|---|---|---|
| G1 | Patent Nonsense | Gibberish. Ex: "23983292dkkjkd lollll!!!" |
| G2 | Test Pages | Pages conducted as experiment. Ex: "Can I make a page?" |
| G3 | Pure Vandalism | Pages that are nothing but vandalism. Ex: a copy of penis, with stupid jokes. |
| G4 | Already Deleted Material | The recreation of stuff that was deleted properly. Ex: GNAA |
| G5 | Banned User | Any page created by a banned user should be deleted. |
| G10 | Attack Pages | Page created for no other reason than to attack someone. Ex: "Bob is a cow!" |
| G11 | Blatant Advertising | Spam. Ex: "Buy WhiteRite today, for cleany shiny teeth!" |
| G12 | Copyright Infringement | For clearcut cases of copyright infringment. Ex: exact copy of a copyrighted website, down to spelling errors. |
| A1 | No context | Ridiculously short articles with no context. Ex: "Bob is a famous doctor." |
| A7 | Non-notability | Unremarkable people, companies, groups, etc. Ex: "Weebritz is a web forum with 10 members" |
Ensure you use the right reason. Ensure, doubly so, that your reasoning is both logical and factual. Do not simply throw a tag on an article. Take some time, at least five minutes, to research it properly.
