Wikipedia:Deletion requests
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This Wikipedia page is currently inactive and is retained as a historical archive. Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus has become unclear. If you want to revive discussion regarding the subject, you should seek broader input via a forum such as the proposals page of the village pump. |
Note: The following comprehensive guidelines will be moved to a separate page after this one has been in operation for a while. However, as its procedures differ significantly for Wikipedia:Votes for deletion, all users of VfD should read this page carefully.
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[edit] How this page works
This page seeks to resolve the question whether a page should be deleted in consensus. It is not a voting page. Instead it tries to collect arguments for and against deletion. After a period of seven days, an admin looks at a listed page and determines whether consensus has been reached. If so, the page is deleted. The period of seven days starts at the submission of the first root argument; read on for an explanation of this.
If no consensus has been reached, a page can be moved to Wikipedia:Deletion votes, where 80% support is needed for a page to be deleted (further instructions on that page).
[edit] When to list a page
If the page you want to be deleted can possibly be salvaged, if an article about the page title should exist in Wikipedia, please put it on Wikipedia:Cleanup first. If nothing happens to the page after a week or so, you can list it here. Use your own best judgment—is the page likely to be fixed?
If the page is a newbie experiment, or otherwise a candidate for speedy deletion, please see Wikipedia:speedy deletions for how to proceed.
[edit] How to list a page
Please use the following template:
== [[Article title]] == Listed by: ~~~~ === Arguments === Root argument here.
[edit] Discussion guidelines
Discussions here are about arguments, not individuals. It is recommended not to sign arguments. If you choose not to do so, this is an encouragement for others to refine and refactor your argument. If you sign it, the argument is mostly off limits for refactoring until the summarization phase. Please only do that if it is important to you that your words are not modified.
Every discussion begins with one or several "root arguments". Every root argument is a reason why you want a page to be deleted. A simple statement like "Delete" or "Nonsense" is not enough. If the page is indeed nonsense, please elaborate on why that is so. If it is self-explanatory to anyone (including persons not knowledgeable in the field), please see Wikipedia:Speedy deletions for speedy deletion procedures.
Listings which do not include a root argument can be removed without discussion - please inform the user who listed the page why you removed it. If you agree with them, however, please do them a favor and insert an argument instead.
Policy beats arguments. If a page is in clear violation of one of our policies, such as Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, please begin your comment with the text "Policy violation", followed by a link to the policy in question. For example:
Policy violation: [[Wikipedia is not]] a dictionary
After the root argument come the responses. A response should be indented using one or several colons (:) at the beginning of each response paragraph. A response can either be an argument, for example:
: This is not a dictionary entry, it has a comprehensive definition and a picture.
Or an expression of agreement or disagreement, for example:
: Agree: [[User:Willy Wonka|Willy]]
Comments such as "keep" and "delete" should be transformed into "Agree:" or "Disagree:" votes to make counting easier. Arguments need not be signed, agreement and disagreement should be. Several users agreeing with the same argument should be separated by commas.
[edit] 5 day period and extended deliberation
5 days after the first root argument has been submitted, it is not allowed to add new root arguments to any listed page. The reason for this is that the remaining 2 days are not enough time to determine whether such an argument is valid or not.
To resolve: How do weekly visitors get to add root arguments?
If you do feel that your argument is very important, you can create a new subsection "Extended deliberation" for the listed page. Propose a date by which deletion should be determined. Users can then vote on whether there should be extended deliberation or not under these conditions (simple majority). Example:
=== Extended deliberation === Proposed deadline: March 15 Agree: ~~~~ Disagree: We need to talk in more detail about whether such pages should be allowed in Wikipedia.
[edit] Moving long discussions
Discussions with more than three paragraphs of length should be moved to the article's talk page. Alternatively, use a separate deletion subpage, such as [[Talk:<Page name>/Delete]], with a link ''Discussion moved to [[Talk:<Page name>/Delete]]'' under the "Discussion" heading. If you intend to make an edit which pushes the discussion length over the limit, please also move the discussion to the article talk page, or deletion subpage. Subpages should be used if the talk page is already too long, and where it is likely the discussion will be useful to refer to in future for similar discussions.
The reason for this is that as this page gets longer, the likelihood of edit conflicts increases.
Note: This section may no longer be necessary if the MediaWiki mechanism is retained. Using MediaWiki appears to have been successful at virtually eliminating edit conflicts. Rossami
[edit] Determining consensus
7 days after the submission of the first root argument, a sysop decides whether consensus has been reached for a listed page. One's primary way to do so is to see if there are unanswered arguments for deletion. This is an indication that a page should be deleted—no response to an argument indicates consensus. If it appears that a participant has clearly failed to logically respond to an argument, their opinion also has less weight. This is a matter of judgment, and sysops should be very careful here.
To resolve: How do you add arguments for retention which are unrelated to any reason for deletion. "This is a cat" is an argument for deletion, "This cat was microwaved yesterday" is a distinct argument for retention unrelated to the question of whether an article is a cat.
Their secondary way to do so is to count the number of users who agree or disagree with an argument. If many users disagree, and none or very few agree, that may be an indication that an argument can safely be ignored, particularly if the sysop feels that the argument has been made solely for the purpose of trolling.
Finally, sysops are encouraged to particularly value references to policy. If a page is in clear violation of a policy that has consensus support, arguments that this policy is wrong should be taken to the respective policy discussion page instead.
If you feel that a page has been deleted out of process, you can make an undeletion request at Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion.
To resolve: Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion (its predecesssor, at least) is a singularly ineffective process, which often ends up not reversing flawed decisions. Better here to have the decision on the page for 24 hours and discuss further if there is disagreement with it. This would significantly improve the transparency of the process, particularly for non-sysops.
