Wikipedia:Deletion process

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These sections describe the preferred process for the recording of the community's decisions to delete or keep an article.

Contents 1 Note to editors 2 Speedy deletion 3 Deletion debates 4 Special situations 4.1 Relisting debates 4.2 Templates with categories 4.3 Category naming conventions 4.4 Transwiki 4.5 Untranscluded discussions 5 Non-Administrators closing discussions 6 See also

Note to editors

If you are not an Administrator, please read the #Non-Administrators closing discussions section at the bottom of this article before you proceed.

Speedy deletion

1. Delete the page with a good comment in the reason for deletion field. (This will be automatically recorded in the Deletion log.)
   • Citing the specific criteria for speedy deletion in the comment is strongly recommended.
2. If the page was listed on Wikipedia:Speedy deletions, remove the entry from there.

Deletion debates

1. Determine whether there is a rough consensus for a particular result. Decide whether or not any associated talk or subpages should be deleted.
2. Close the debate using the tags appropriate for the type of page being deleted:
   1. To the top of the debate add {{subst:Afd top}}, {{subst:Cfd top}}, {{subst:Tfd top}}, {{subst:Mfd top}} or {{subst:Rfd top}} as appropriate.
   2. Following that tag add your description of the result, and sign using ~~~~.
   3. To the bottom of the debate add {{subst:Afd bottom}}, {{subst:Cfd bottom}}, {{subst:Tfd bottom}}, {{subst:Mfd bottom}}, or {{subst:Rfd bottom}} as appropriate.
3. If the decision is to delete, then delete the page giving a link to the debate in the "reason" field. Check Special:Whatlinkshere and delete any redirects to the article. Examine the subpages and talk page and delete if appropriate.
4. If the decision is not to delete
   1. Add a note to the talk page linking to the debate and giving its result. You can use {{oldafdfull|date= dateOfNomination |result= '''result''' |votepage= articleName}}, {{oldmfd|date= dateOfNomination |result= result |votepage= PageName }}, {{cfdend|date=date of nomination|result=result}} or {{tfdend|date=date of nomination|result=result}} as appropriate.
   2. Remove the tag announcing the debate from the page itself.

Special situations

Some deletion discussions require a few extra steps to close completely.

Relisting debates

Sometimes, an admin decides to relist a debate. When this is done, the debate should be removed from its original place and moved to the place from where the debate will continue. In the case of AfD, this means moving the transcluded debate page from the old day-subpage to the new. For other deletion debates, the text can be cut-and-pasted.

Templates with categories

If a deleted template had a matching category that is not used for other purposes (for example, Template:Tl and Category:Wikipedia cleanup), delete the category as well.

Category naming conventions

If a CfD proposal includes an addition or change to Wikipedia:Naming conventions (categories) which has consensus, make the indicated change to the consensus page.

Transwiki

If the decision is TRANSWIKI but you do not want to complete the transwiki process immediately,

1. add a new entry to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Old/Transwiki.
2. add the appropriate tag to the article
   • Template:Tl
   • Template:Tl
   • Template:Tl
   • Template:Tl
   • Template:Tl
   • Template:Tl

Untranscluded discussions

Sometimes, AFD discussions become excessively long and are temporarily untranscluded from the day's AFD page. This is most often done through the creation of a /temp page for the AFD discussion. If you close one of these very large discussions:

1. Edit the AFD day page to re-transclude the long discussion.
2. Delete the /temp page.

Non-Administrators closing discussions

In general, administrators are responsible for closing discussions about deletions. In practice, the various deletion discussions tend to be badly backlogged. Editors in good-standing who have not yet been made administrators may close deletion discussions under the following conditions:

1. Non-administrators may only close decisions which are unambiguous "keep" decisions. They should be near unanimous before a non-administrator should close the discussion. Close calls and controversial or ambiguous decisions should be left to an administrator.
   • This includes unambiguous "merge and redirect" and the other variations of "keep".
2. Non-administrators may not close "delete" decisions even if they are unanimous. Only administrators have the ability to actually delete the target article. By closing the discussion without deleting the article, you will be effectively hiding it from the administrators who will never realize that the final step of deletion must be carried out.
3. Non-administrators should not close discussions in which they have been involved.
4. Only signed-in editors may close the discussion. This is not an activity which is appropriate for an anonymous IP user to carry out.
5. Closing decisions by non-administrators are subject to review and, if necessary, may be reopened by any administrator. If this happens, take it only as a sign that the decision was not as unambiguous as you thought.

Non-administrators can assist in non-controversial "delete" decisions by using the "what links here" feature and unlinking or redirecting the inbound links of an article that is clearly going to be deleted.

See also

• Template:afd top
• Template:afd bottom
• Deletion policy
• Deletion guidelines for administrators
• Speedy keep