Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion/Administrator instructions

These are the recommended guidelines for administrators evaluating requests for undeletion. They are not binding, and administrators are, as always, encouraged to use discretion and common sense when fulfilling requests.


 * Administrators should check the deletion reason and previous content before deciding to restore an article.
 * If the deletion reason was WP:PROD or WP:CSD, the article may be automatically restored, providing it meets no other speedy deletion criteria. You may add Old prod, Old prod full, or Oldcsdfull to the article's talk page if you like.
 * If the article was deleted under any of the speedy deletion criteria for articles, or was deleted as the result of an WP:AFD discussion, then the content may be userfied providing it violates none of the general speedy deletion criteria or the speedy deletion criteria for user pages.
 * If the article is not suitable for userfication, the article may be e-mailed to the user at admin discretion. Copyright violations or articles which violate the policy on biographies of living persons should be refused in almost all cases.
 * Many articles deleted on other grounds are undiscovered copyright violations. Administrators are encouraged to perform a quick check before restoring.
 * When undeleting, it is worthwhile sparing a moment to check if there is a deleted talk page, as they may contain relevant discussion or important notices

If you are fulfilling or rejecting a request (as opposed to merely commenting on it, but leaving it open), please use at least done, notdone, or one of the standard template responses below &mdash; by adding either a check mark or an X, you clearly indicate to other patrolling admins that the request has been handled and does not require further attention. If you would like to explicitly indicate that a request needs further attention, you can use Not sure to attract other users.

If you are fulfilling or rejecting a request, please ping the original requestor (if s/he is a registered editor). Many requesting editors are comparatively new, and a ping helps such editors to be aware of the action that has been taken, whatever that may be.

Helper script
A script is available that will help make processing requests on Requests for undeletion easy and help automate the process for you. The script's documentation is located here.