User:Ikip/Del

In a deletion debate, there are several policy, guideline and essays you can use to help save the page you created. In addition, there are common arguments used in deletion debates to delete an article, which we will teach you how to debate.

Remember: Articles for deletion are where other editors decide on whether the page you created should be deleted. Your only purpose in this discussion should be to convince editors that your page should be kept.

Posting your response
Make sure to add:

*Keep

or

*Strong keep

...before you make your comments.

Use acronyms/policy to explain the reason why you want the article kept. You can change and add to your comments as the argument progresses.

You can make comments to/debate other editors arguments by commenting under their comments. Use : before your comments to indent your comments.

Policies Guidelines and essays
Wikipedia editors quote a lot of rules in an Article for deletion discussion, usually using acronyms. (See Guide_to_deletion) Each rule page has a box at the top of the page, either: Template:Policy Template:Guideline or Template:Essay. When an editor quotes a rule, it is important to know what kind of rule this is, especially with essays, which are not binding at all, and carry little authority, a point which you can bring up in a deletion discussion.

There are few actual policies, List of policies. Here are policies which can help an editor in a Article for deletion discussion.

Policies are considered a standard that all editors should follow, but: "guidelines are more advisory in nature. Both need to be approached with common sense: adhere to the spirit rather than the letter of the rules, and be prepared to ignore the rules on the rare occasions when they conflict with the goal of improving the encyclopedia."

Deletion is supposed to be the last step
What editors who create Articles for deletion are supposed to do, and what editors almost always do is different. Deletion of articles in many cases is the last step. Bring this up in the deletion debate. For example:

1. WP:PRESERVE Policy Preserve information. Whatever you do, endeavour to preserve information. Instead of removing, try to:
 * rephrase
 * correct the inaccuracy while keeping the content
 * move text within an article or to another article (existing or new)
 * add more of what you think is important to make an article more balanced
 * request a citation by adding the fact tag

2. Wikipedia:Notability Guideline states: "If an article fails to cite sufficient sources to demonstrate the notability of its subject, look for sources yourself." Most editors who put an article up for deletion fail to do this. This is something you can bring up in the deletion discussion.

3. Deletion Policy Decorum and politeness. Wikipedia urges any contributor to read the Wikipedia:Deletion policy before deleting or nominating an article for deletion. "When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page...If the page can be improved, this should be solved through regular editing, rather than deletion" (Discussing on the talk page before flagging for deletion is rarely done.)

4. Introduction to deletion process WP:INTROTODELETE Essay Remember that deletion is a last resort. Deletion nominations rarely improve articles, and deletion should not be used as a way to improve an article, or a reaction to a bad article. It is appropriate for articles which cannot be improved.

5. Potential, not just current state WP:POTENTIAL Essay In most cases deletion of an article should be a last resort

6. The founder of wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, is an inclusionist. Quotes:
 * School articles "if someone wants to write an article about their high school, we should relax and accommodate them, even if we wish they wouldn't do it. And that's true *even if* we should react differently if someone comes in and starts mass-adding articles on every high school in the world.  Let me make this more concrete.  Let's say I start writing an article about my high school, Randolph School, of Huntsville, Alabama.  I could write a decent 2 page article about it, citing information that can easily be verified by anyone who visits their website.  Then I think people should relax and accommodate me.  It isn't hurting anything.  It'd be a good article, I'm a good contributor, and so cutting me some slack is a very reasonable thing to do."

7. Jimmy Wales: Popular Fiction "All those people who are obsessively writing about Britney Spears or 'The Simpsons' or Pokémon -- it's just not true that we should try to redirect them into writing about obscure concepts in physics...Wiki is not paper, and their time is not owned by us. We can't say, 'Why do we have these employees doing stuff that's so useless?' They're not hurting anything. Let them write it...I'd be happy to have, in theory, a good, neutral biography on every single person on the planet. I mean why not"

Average arguments

 * Wikipedia policy on notability Guideline "Notable" is defined as "worthy of being noted" or "attracting notice"; it is not synonymous with "fame" or "importance", used when the person flagging the deletion claims that an article is "minor" or "isn't needed". (There are no WP criteria for whether an article is "needed".) Notability does not include personal or biased views, such as: "never heard of this," or "page does not meet the Wikipedia notability requirements" without explaining why. WP:N
 * Don't be an ostrich Essay "Just because you don't know the subject of an article doesn't mean it is without merit for inclusion on Wikipedia."
 * Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions Essay
 * Do not call things cruft WP:NOCRUFT Essay
 * Don't cite essays or proposals as if they were policy Essay
 * Essays are not policy Essay
 * Don't overuse shortcuts to policy and guidelines to win your argument Essay
 * Give an article a chance Essay
 * User:GlassCobra/Essays/What Wikipedia is Essay
 * FAILN: "If appropriate sources cannot be found after a good-faith search for them, consider merging the article's content into a broader article providing context."

Weak arguments

 * WP:PAPER Policy Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia; there is no practical limit to the number of topics it can cover, or the total amount of content, other than verifiability and the other points presented on this page.
 * Ignore all rules If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it.
 * Assume good faith. Guideline Wikipedia encourages contributors to "edit in good faith," show civility, seek consensus, and work towards the goal of creating a great encyclopedia.
 * Wikipedia's goal Guideline is stated as follows: "The goal of this project is to ensure that Wikipedia has a corresponding article for every article in every other general purpose encyclopedia available...".
 * Please do not bite the newcomers
 * Gaming the system
 * User:Kendrick7/Evidence of burden, WP:NOONUS Currently only a user page.

Notability, Verifiability, No original research
The most common argument that editors use to delete a page is WP:Notability:
 * "The topic of an article should be notable, or "worthy of notice."

There are many other policies that are offshoots to WP:Notability, which you may also see in the Articles for deletion argument.

To keep the page, you must show that the page up for deletion is notable and verifiable. This involves finding sources:



Which includes Google books, Google News, and the New York times. Finding several sources which mention the subject of the article and listing them on the Articles for Deletion page is the most persuasive way to get other editors to vote to keep the article.

Wikipedia:Content forking
Content forking, guideline:
 * "Since what qualifies as a "POV fork" is itself based on a POV judgement, do not refer to forks as "POV" except in extreme cases of persistent disruptive editing."

Ask the deletion editor to explain when "extreme cases of persistent disruptive editing" occured.

Essay WP:Coatrack
WP:Coatrack is no more than a controversial essay, as the essay template at the top of WP:Coatrack states: "Heed them or not at your own discretion." On the other hand, Content forking, a content guideline, states:
 * "Since what qualifies as a "POV fork" is itself based on a POV judgement, do not refer to forks as "POV" except in extreme cases of persistent disruptive editing."

Content forking essential nulifies WP:Coatrack.

No Original Research
The idea of “No Original Research” was first articulated in September 2003 through a newsgroup post by co-founder Jimmy Wales:


 * "If your viewpoint is held by an extremely small minority, then whether it’s true or not, whether you can prove it or not, it doesn’t belong in Wikipedia, except perhaps in some ancilliary article. Wikipedia is not the place for original research."

Wikipedia:Notability (music) Albums, singles and songs (WP:NALBUMS, WP:NSONGS)
The majority of WP:NALBUMS article for deletion debates involve four or five editors nominating the article for delete, with no editor arguing the article should be kept. But there have been sucessful arguments, click "Show".

Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons (WP:BLP)
"Page deletion should be treated as a last resort, with the page being improved and remedied where possible and disputed areas discussed."

Essays
Note the tag on top of all essays, "Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Heed them or not at your own discretion." this means that essays do not carry as much weight as policies and guidelines.

Although essays don't hold very much weight, they are often quoted in Article for Deletion discussions. You can cut and paste:
 * "Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Heed them or not at your own discretion."

...in a discussion to severely lessen the authority of an editors argument.

But you can also use these essays yourself in discussions. Often using an acronym (shortcut) to the essay page makes the essay sound more authoritative than it really is, these acronyms are found on the essay's page. For example:

One of Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions acronyms is WP:ATA

If used persuasively enough, you can convince other editors that the page should be kept.