User:Christopherparham~enwiki/DR

This page contains my "contribution" to the deletion reform bandwagon. It involves two new rules and the elimination of numerous existing rules. The main goals:


 * 1) simplify the current ruleset;
 * 2) ensure that if editors want to discuss whether an article should be deleted, that discussion can happen in a productive environment -- most notably, one in which people can see and modify the article;
 * 3) reduce the load on AFD.

Speedy deletion
One new rule for articles, to replace all the existing rules:


 * 1) Administrator discretion -- Any administrator, believing that an article would be deleted by consensus if sent to Articles for deletion, may speedily delete the article.

Free undeletion
Any user may request undeletion for any page deleted under rule A1, by posting at Deletion review. This undeletion is automatically approved and any administrator may undelete the page and archive the request. The page cannot again be speedy deleted again under rule A1. Any user may request deletion of the page by other usual means, e.g. WP:CP or WP:AFD.


 * How about: Any user may request undeletion for any page deleted under Speedy Deletion. This undeletion is automatically approved, though the page may still be listed at copyright problems or articles for deletion. Kim Bruning 05:02, 30 November 2005 (UTC)
 * That seems pretty much the idea I wanted to get across -- the main point is that there's no "discussion" about whether the article should be undeleted: if anyone wants the article to have a full AFD discussion, that discussion should happen; allowing the airing of different opinions in an environment in which they can reasonably be entertained and considered seems fundamental to our principles of consensus. I wanted to temper that by implying that although an article can be undeleted by any administrator, it doesn't have to be; if an article is so bad that not a single administrator can be found willing to undelete it (i.e., obvious vandalism or attack pages) I think it's probably safe to leave it speedy deleted. Christopher Parham (talk) 05:31, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Ideal technical features
The proposal above requires no software changes, which is one of its virtues. However, one change that could be made to improve the ability of users to monitor deletions is to make deleted edits visible to non-admins for a certain amount of time after deletion (even, say, 1 hour). How difficult this would be to achieve I don't know, but tapping the large pool of non-admins for projects like Speedy deletion patrol would dramatically improve their effectiveness. Christopher Parham (talk) 22:41, 15 December 2005 (UTC)