Wikipedia:No blank pages

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Not to be confused with Wikipedia's Policy on Courtesy Blanking.

This page documents an English Wikipedia content guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should follow, though it should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut: WP:BLANK

Early in Wikipedia's history, it was common to leave articles blank if the title was valid, but the contents were vandalism or nonsense. Eventually it was decided that Wikipedia should not have blank articles. Blank articles appear as blue links and thus make the creation of an actual article less likely. They also mislead readers into thinking an article exists, disappointing them when they find a blank article.

Blank articles also interfere with Wikipedia's utility pages. All blank articles appear on Special:Shortpages and Special:Deadendpages, unnecessarily increasing the length of these lists.

Rather than blanking an article, fix it!, or use the deletion process.

It is okay to blank an article for libel or privacy reasons as an emergency measure.