finiki:Deletion policy

This page documents a finiki policy, a widely accepted standard that all editors should normally follow. Changes made to it should reflect consensus.

This page in a nutshell: Administrators have the ability to delete articles and other finiki pages from general view, and to undelete pages that were previously deleted. These powers are exercised in accordance with established policies and guidelines, and community consensus. There are often alternatives to deletion.

The finiki deletion policy describes how pages that do not meet the relevant criteria for content of the knowledge base are identified and removed from finiki.

Deletion of a finiki article removes the current version and all previous versions from public view. Deletion can be performed only by administrators. Administrators can also view deleted pages and reverse ("undelete") any deletion. All such actions are logged. If in doubt as to whether there is consensus to delete a page, administrators will normally not delete it.

Reasons for deletion

TBD - these should be finiki specific. Something along the lines of:

Articles that have been tagged as {{Stubs}}, are devoid of content and have remained in this state for a significant (1 year?) amount of time.
User space articles that the author no longer requires.
User specific "Scratch Pad" article that the author no longer requires or the changes have been merged into another article.

Alternatives to deletion

If the page can be improved, this should be solved through regular editing, rather than deletion.

Processes

Check What links here to determine if there is any impact elsewhere if the page is deleted. Also be aware that there could be external links, such as FWF posts, to the article. Unfortunately there is no means to check this.

How to do this: Edit the page to add the following text to the top: {{subst:Proposed deletion|reason}}, writing your reasoning in the "reason" field.
If you disagree: Any editor who disagrees with a proposed deletion can simply remove the tag. Even after the page is deleted, any editor can have the page restored by any administrator simply by asking. In both cases, the editor is encouraged to fix the perceived problem with the page.
If you agree: Edit the page to add the following text to the top: {{Proposed deletion endorsed}}. The use of a seconding PROD may give some information to anyone who might wish to remove the PROD, including the author. A second clear voice may help an author understand that an article opposed by two editors should perhaps be abandoned to the deletion process.

Periodically one of the administrators will review articles with the {{proposed deletion}} tag and take action. If in doubt as to whether there is consensus to delete a page, administrators will normally not delete it.

External links

Wikipedia:Deletion policy can be useful for further guidance.