User:Redvers/New Users
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Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! I'm Redvers, and I'm here to give you some useful advice.
You've probably come here because you've seen a note that's been left for you on your talk page. This page is here to give you some extra background on why your recent article was deleted.
Generally, articles are speedy deleted for one of two reasons: either your article was about a person, organisation, group, band or subject that isn't notable; or the article read as if it was an attack on the subject.
Contents |
Non-notable articles
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a random collection of indiscriminate information. Therefore subjects for articles need to be notable.
Your article didn't appear to be on a notable subject. That's usually because it was about a school friend, a neighbour or your parents. It's very unlikely (although not impossible) that they are notable.
Alternatively, you may have written about someone who has managed to leave no Google footprint. Before deleting, the subject of your article will most probably have been put into Google (something like "Joe Bloggs" "disc jockey", if you were writing about a DJ called Joe Bloggs). If that produced no hits, or no relevant hits, or hits that were all to one website or group of interlinked websites, then the chances are high that the topic is not notable enough for Wikipedia.
I'm sure you have a good argument as to why the subject of your article doesn't come up on any one of the billions of pages Google crawls. However, you need then to ask yourself the question "where did I get the information about this subject?". If the answer is something along the lines of "I just knew about it" or "everyone knows about it", then I'm afraid it still qualifies to be deleted under our No Original Research policy. You have to be able to cite a source for any article you put into our encyclopedia. If you can't, you can't post it here. Sorry.
What to do now
Research. You need to find a source that proves the notability of your subject. Reputable news sources (the BBC, CNN, something like that) with articles on the subject will do. A book, if you can quote the ISBN number (we can look up the book's subject from that number). You'll need to make it a good source. A posting on a message board doesn't count. An article you yourself wrote in your blog doesn't count.
I'm afraid you can't appeal to our better natures. It's not that we don't have one, it's because our policies have been carefully arrived at by several years of hundreds of people coming to a consensus on them. One editor can't tear up a policy just for you. If nothing else, some other admin will come along and delete the article again for the same reason. For that reason, just recreating the article won't work either. Hundreds of people monitor the "New Pages" log (in real time).
Attack articles
If your article was deleted for being an attack article, you don't really have much of an excuse for posting it. First, it isn't a nice thing to do and you wouldn't like it done to you. Second, what you posted was most likely libel - and it would be you who got into trouble (you can be traced back down your internet connection if someone really wanted to make you sorry!). Third, you can't cite a source for the article and we don't accept original research.
What to do now
Chalk it up to the learning curve of becoming a Wikipedian and get on with something else. Write a nice, fully-sourced article on a notable subject. Contribute to another article. Read the list lower down this page and follow a link or two.
I'm still unhappy about this
Ah, I'm sorry. Well, you can vent your feelings by writing to me on my talk page - but remember that the article was deleted because it is our policy to delete such articles. It's not me or anyone else being a rogue admin. It's not me or anyone else taking a dislike to you, your parrot or your mum. It's just how things are done here. But please do vent on me if you need to (the chances are I won't reply, mind you). You can also vent on me by email (you can find the link for yourself). If you're really annoyed, you can vandalise my user page - that will allow me to block you from editing entirely and then the problem goes away (from my point of view, anyway).
Okay, I'd like some more help and advice
Here are a few good links that are always helpful - even experienced users regularly use them.
The five pillars of Wikipedia
How to edit a page
Help pages
Tutorial
How to write a great article
Manual of Style
Fun stuff...
If you can't find something useful in those links, you can always put type {{helpme}} on your talk page (underneath where the original meesage was left for you) and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions.
Thanks for your time, and happy editing in future! ➨ ❝REDVERS❞
