Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Administrator instructions

Administrator instructions for Redirects for discussion:


 * Policy suggests a week of discussion before closure. However, exceptions may be made for items qualifying for speedy deletion.
 * For instructions on how to relist a discussion, see Template:Rfd relisted.
 * Enter the following text at the top and bottom of the RFD discussion section. Consider applying boldface to the result. (Together, these two templates will create a shaded box around the discussion thread confirming that it has been closed.)
 * After the redirect's section header:
 * At the bottom:
 * At the bottom:


 * Note: Sometimes a redirect has history, and the history is significant - i.e. contains information about the addition of text. (This often happens because someone did a cut-and-paste "move", instead of using the "Move this page" button.) If this is the case, do not simply delete the redirect page, which we need to keep for copyright reasons. There are two ways to deal with such pages.
 * For cut-and-paste moves, the "right" way to handle them is to merge the history into the appropriate page, using the procedure outlined here. This is a procedure fraught with peril, however, and on rare occasions doesn't work correctly. Once done, it cannot be undone without a lot of exceptionally tedious gruntwork. So don't pick this option unless it's definitely the right one for the case at hand.
 * Another option, useful for pages which were merged (for example), is for redirect pages with significant history to be archived into a talk namespace, and a link to them put into an article's talk page.


 * If you delete a redirect, don't forget to delete the accompanying talk page, if applicable. Make sure to add a link to the deletion discussion in your deletion log.
 * When you remove an entry from this page because people decided to keep it, don't forget to remove the tag from the page (alas, this has to be done manually). It's worth periodically checking either Category:Redirects for discussion and Special:Whatlinkshere/Template:Rfd to see if any pages missed this step. Checking either of these regularly has the side-benefit of finding pages where people added the  tag to the page, but didn't realize they needed to edit RfD as well.
 * Add to the redirect's talk page when you close the RfD, unless the outcome was delete.
 * Many of the above steps can be automated using the XFDcloser gadget.

Header and footer text
After closing the discussion, the section will look like this:

RedirectName

 * The following is an archived discussion concerning one or more redirects. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on an appropriate discussion page (such as the redirect's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this section.


 * The result of the discussion was result. [Additional comments.] Example, 29 July 2024 (UTC)


 * RedirectName → TargetArticle

DISCUSSION THREAD
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the discussion. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page.