Encyclopedia:Deletion policy
From Hidden Frontier
All content on the Hidden Frontier Encyclopedia is regulated by several policies. Failure to meet any or all criteria set forth by those policies may lead to the deletion of an article or other page. This deletion policy describes proper procedures for this.
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General Guidelines
What does "Deletion" mean?
From time to time, it is necessary to delete pages from the encyclopedia's database. While any user may be able to simply blank a page (i.e. delete all its current content), the original text will still be available in the page history for other users to view - and also to restore if they wish. However, when pages are deleted, all versions, past and present, are removed from the user-accessible part of the Wiki.
Only administrators have the authority to delete and undelete pages on this Wiki. Administrators are trusted to use their best judgment in determining whether a page should be deleted or not. However, administrators must also follow the procedure described below to help make such decisions.
Deleted pages can also be restored by the administrators, if and only if support is expressed to undelete it (a policy regarding undeletion is pending). This is essentially a safeguard against permanently deleting articles.
Content Policies
Policies regarding content are currently pending.
Deletion Procedure
Suggest Deletion
Anyone may submit a page for deletion on any of the pages listed below. When you list a page, include a reason why you think the page should be deleted, and also add an appropriate message template to the page suggested for deletion. The submission will remain on the page for a specific period of time, during which other contributors will have a chance to discuss the deletion suggestion. After an appropriate delay (generally two weeks), the page may be deleted by an administrator if the page content clearly violates existing policies, or a rough consensus for deletion is reached. A policy for defining rough consensus is pending.
- Note: If you're not sure that deletion is the best approach, you can also choose to mark the article as a page needing attention instead.
Discuss Suggested Deletion
Any logged-in archivist may join the discussion of any deletion suggestion. When doing so, please include your opinion complete with your reasoning, and sign with ~~~~ (four consecutive tilde characters).
- Note: A deletion discussion is not a voting procedure with the result being determined by simply counting votes for and against a suggestion. Instead, the final decision to keep or delete a page should always be based on existing corresponding policies or, if such don't exist, on a "consensus". A discussion as described above is a way to allow an administrator to make a correct decision.
Resolve a Suggestion
A deletion suggestion can be resolved by any administrator. Typically, this is done two weeks after a suggestion was first made - however, this "lag time" can be shortened if a page is clearly violating existing policies, if a consensus has already been found, or if a suggested page has been considerably altered, so that deletion according to the initial reasoning is no longer necessary. It can also be extended, if no consensus has been found yet.
- Note: As described in the section above, the administrator deciding on a suggestion should do so based on policies and the discussion consensus. The discussion should not simply be considered a majority vote. Deciding on a suggestion may include ignoring comments without proper reasoning, comments suspected to be from sockpuppets, etc. While it is generally considered a general rule of thumb for Wiki administration to not delete a page s/he suggested, there is no prohibition on this practice at the present time, owing to the current organization of the Wiki's administrative staff.
When resolving a deletion suggestion, the discussion should be archived in the relevant discussion archive (if a page is deleted), or on the page's talk page (if a page is not deleted).
Suggestion Pages and Templates
List of Pages and Templates
A table of suggestion pages is pending. Templates are provided here.
Candidates for Immediate or Speedy Deletion
There are a few, limited, exceptions to the above rules. In the following cases, pages may be deleted immediately:
- Unused redirects.
- No meaningful content or history (eg "sdhgdf"). Policy regarding "patent nonsense" is pending.
- Test pages (e.g. "Can I really create a page here?").
- Pure vandalism. Policy regarding vandalism is pending.
- Very short pages with little or no definition or context.
- Reposted content that was deleted according to this deletion policy. This does not apply to undeleted content that was undeleted according to the undeletion policy (pending).
- Pages created and edited solely by a banned user, after they were banned. Policy regarding bans and blocks is pending.
- New user home pages accidentally created in main article space. However, move content to their user home page first, and consider waiting a day or two before deleting the resulting redirect.
- User talk pages of anonymous (IP) users if the content consists of only any type of welcome message and was edited more than 7 days ago.
- Any material (image, audio file, et al.) that has been uploaded and stored that is not directly related to an article or the project. This includes items used for your personal User: pages.
Administrators may also delete pages for the following technical purposes:
- Deleting a redirect that has no useful history, to make way for a non-controversial page move. Policy regarding page moves is currently pending.
- Temporarily deleting a page in order to merge page histories after a cut and paste move.
- Deleting an image page not adhering to the image naming convention after "copying" the image to another title. Policy regarding image naming is currently pending.
Additional Notes:
- In all of the above cases, administrators may choose to delete the page without it being marked with an AFD template, or after it has only been listed with an AFD for a couple of days. If you see a candidate for speedy deletion, and you are not an administrator, mark it with an AFD template.
- Remember that possible copyright infringements are not candidates for fast deletion (in most circumstances).
- Redirects are immediate deletion candidates only in cases described in the redirect policy. In all other cases, redirects to be deleted should be marked AFD.
- Ideally, when an administrator deletes a test page or other page with no useful content, it is helpful to put a note on the author's talk page explaining things, and preserving the deleted content, pointing them to the sandbox in cases of tests. Please remember to be considerate to new members.
Overview: To Delete or Not To Delete?
If a page does not fall into one of the categories for immediate deletion listed above, then the page cannot be deleted without it first being marked for deletion. However, some pages should not be listed at all, and should just be kept and developed further.
- Don't list stubs for articles that have potential, but list stubs that are nonsensical. Also, redirects or list stubs that likely will never become more than a simple definition. Policy on redirects is pending.
- Don't list articles that just need heavy editing; instead, mark them with a cleanup template. However, consider listing articles that are just patent nonsense.
- Redirect pages should be marked for deletion only if the problems they cause outweigh their advantages.
- List pages that have no potential as encyclopedia articles. This includes non-licensed topics or content, as well as unverifiable material.
- List orphan images where you can't think of an article where they might be useful.
- If a page has some useful content but is too small to even be a stub, try moving that content to a different, larger article and change the page into a redirect.
