This page is an official policy on Wowpedia. This policy has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow.
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When a page is obvious spam, is deprecated by a new page and has no need to be redirected, or for some other reason you think it should be removed from the wiki, then you can mark it as a candidate for deletion. Please use discretion when doing this as it is a direct violation of the spirit of a wiki if not the policy of this wiki — it destroys the atmosphere of trust and collaboration. If you still think it is best for the article to be removed, then there are several steps you must take. (See below for some exceptions).
- If a page has had useful content, but it has been moved somewhere else (because of merging, fixing naming, etc) it is normally best to redirect it!
- Outside sources (including search engines) keep old links into Wowpedia — it is in our best interest to keep them working!
Steps to mark a page for deletion[]
If you have decided, for one reason or another, that a page needs to be deleted, there are several steps you should take.
- Place the candidate for deletion template tag at the top of the article using
{{Delete}}
.- This will place a large banner on the page, notifying visitors that it is a candidate for deletion, and that their vote on the talk page would be appreciated.
- This will also place the article in Category:Candidates for deletion.
- Save the article.
- Edit the Discussion page of the article with a new section:
== Oneliner intro text == I would like to delete this page because..... {{subst:Delete/Talk}}
- You may also provide a reason directly:
{{subst:Delete/Talk|<needs to be deleted because ...>}}
- You will automatically be registered as the first vote to delete.
- This will place a large banner on the talk page, explaining to visitors how to vote.
- This will also add the voting booth to the page, where visitors can place their actual votes.
- Finally, this will add the talk page to Category: Votes in progress so that members wishing to participate in the democratic process can find it among the lists of votes in progress.
- You may also provide a reason directly:
- 4. Save the talk page.
- 5. You are done! Tell your friends to go vote their heart on the article, and see below to know when to mark it terminate and / or remove the delete candidate listing!
- 6. It is not good Wikiquette to decrease the quality of, or remove all links pointing to, an article undergoing a deletion vote, and it is especially bad Wikiquette to use that as evidence for deletion.
Now that the page is marked for deletion, you wait for enough members to vote before anything actually happens:
- When either side (for or against deletion) is winning by a three (3) vote margin, the vote is pending closure.
- Once a vote is pending closure, you wait five (5) days from when the last vote was cast (look at the timestamps on the votes). During this time you can change the
{{Delete/Vote}}
tag at the top of talk page to{{Delete/Closing}}
to mark that the vote is in this period.- If the losing side does not get within three (3) votes of the winning side within the five (5) days, then the vote is closed.
- If, however, the losing side gets within three (3) votes, the page leaves the pending closure state until one side is winning by a three (3) vote margin again. If the
{{Delete/Closing}}
tag is on the talk page it should be replaced with the{{Delete/Vote}}
tag again.
Once the vote closes[]
Once a vote is closed, the action for the appropriate side is taken:
- If the Delete votes have it:
- Replace
{{Delete/Closing}}
tag in the talk page with{{Terminate}}
. The voting booth and associated votes are left for the admin to review. - Replace
{{Delete}}
tag in the article page itself with{{Terminate}}
tag to mark the article as one that an admin needs to delete. - Check What links here and remove links to the article being terminated from live articles (do this as soon as possible).
- The article will be removed the next time an administrator comes on and checks Category:Terminated articles for new articles to remove.
- Replace
- If the Keep votes win:
- Remove
{{Delete}}
from the article page itself. - In the talk page, replace
{{Delete/Closing}}
with{{Willkeep}}
. - Leave the vote in for future reference.
- Remove
Speedy deletion[]
If you still feel a page should be deleted quickly, and probably doesn't need a vote, you can use the speedy deletion process. Basically, you only need to tag the page with a {{Speedydelete}}
tag, and an admin will decide if it is safe to delete the page or if it needs a regular deletion vote.
Any user can remove the {{Speedydelete}}
tag and replace it with a standard deletion vote in accordance with this policy if they feel the page should not be deleted without a vote.
- Review the Speedy deletion policy for more information. Misuse could be construed as vandalism.
See also[]
Categories[]
A delete candidate or terminated article is automatically put in one of the below categories by the deletion templates - please do not add a article to one of these categories manually.
- Category:Articles for speedy deletion - Pages tagged {{Speedydelete}}
- Category:Candidates for deletion - Pages tagged for deletion, vote is ongoing.
- Category:Votes for deleting - (On talk pages) Votes are ongoing
- Category:Votes for deleting pending closure - (On talk pages) One side is winning but the vote remains open for a few days more.
- Category:Terminated articles - Has met termination criteria and will be deleted by an admin.
Templates[]
- Template:Delete
- Template:Delete/Talk - Use
{{subst:Delete/Talk}}
instead of simple template pull.- Template:Delete/Vote - Do not use directly. Gets pulled in automatically by {{Delete/Talk}}.
- Template:Delete/Closing
- Template:Terminate
- Template:Willkeep
- Template:Speedydelete