Template:Wy/syl/Redirect Template:Wy/syl/Redirect Template:Wy/syl/Pp-protected Template:Wy/syl/Pp-move Template:Wy/syl/Policy Template:Wy/syl/Nutshell Template:Wy/syl/Deletion policy list
The criteria for speedy deletion (CSD) specify the only cases in which administrators have broad consensus to bypass deletion discussion, at their discretion, and immediately delete Wikipedia pages or media. Because deletion is reversible only by administrators, other deletions occur only after discussion, unless they are proposed deletions. Speedy deletion is intended to reduce the time spent on deletion discussions for pages or media with no practical chance of surviving discussion.[1] Anyone can request speedy deletion by adding one of the speedy deletion templates, but only administrators may actually delete.
Before nominating a page for speedy deletion, consider whether it could be improved, reduced to a stub, merged or redirected elsewhere, reverted to a better previous revision, or handled in some other way (see Template:Wy/syl/Section link). A page is eligible for speedy deletion only if all of its history is also eligible. Users nominating a page for speedy deletion should specify which criterion/criteria the page meets, and should notify the page creator and any major contributors. If a page needs to be removed from Wikipedia for privacy reasons (e.g. non-public personal information, a child disclosing their age, possible libel), request oversight instead.
For most speedy deletion criteria, Template:Wy/syl/Em; only an editor who is not the creator of a page may do so. A creator who disagrees with the speedy deletion should instead click on the Contest this speedy deletion button that appears inside of the speedy deletion tag. This button links to the discussion page with a pre-formatted area for the creator to explain why the page should not be deleted. If an editor other than the creator removes a speedy deletion tag in good faith, it should be taken as a sign that the deletion is controversial and another deletion process should be used. The creator of a page may remove a speedy deletion tag only if the criterion in question is G6, G7, G8, G13, G14, C1, C4 or U1.[2]
Administrators should take care not to speedily delete pages or media except in the most obvious cases. If a page has survived its most recent deletion discussion, it should not be speedily deleted except for newly discovered copyright violations and pages that meet specific uncontroversial criteria; these criteria are noted below. Contributors sometimes create pages over several edits, so administrators should avoid deleting a page that appears incomplete too soon after its creation.
Besides speedy deletion, there are the following methods of deletion:
- Wikipedia:Deletion discussions (AfD, CfD, FfD, MfD, RfD, TfD), the normal method of carrying out deletion.
- Wikipedia:Proposed deletions, for nominating articles and files for uncontroversial deletion.
- Wikipedia:Proposed deletion of biographies of living people, for articles on living persons without sources.
Nomenclature
editLetter-number abbreviations (G12, A3...) are often used to refer to these criteria, and are given in each section. For example, "CSD G12" refers to criterion 12 under general (copyright infringement) and "CSD U1" refers to criterion 1 under user (user request). Some in-between numbers are skipped, as abbreviations denoting obsolete criteria remain unused. These abbreviations can be confusing to new editors or anyone else unfamiliar with this page; in many situations a plain-English explanation of why a specific page was or should be deleted is preferable.
Requesting speedy deletion
editImmediately following each criterion below is a list of templates used to mark pages or media files for speedy deletion under the criterion being used. In order to alert administrators to the nomination, place the relevant speedy deletion template at the top of the page or media file you are nominating (but see Template:Wy/syl/Sectionlink below). Please be sure to supply an edit summary that mentions that the page is being nominated for speedy deletion. All of the speedy deletion templates are named as Db-X with Db standing for 'delete because'. A list of the Db-X templates can be found at Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion/Deletion templates.
If a page falls under more than one of the criteria, instead of adding multiple tags it is possible to add a single {{Db-multiple}} tag to cover them all. For example, if an article seems both to be blatantly promotional (G11) and also to fail to indicate significance of its subject (A7) then the tag {{Db-multiple|G11|A7}}
can be used to indicate both of these concerns. The article can then be speedily deleted if an administrator assesses it and decides that either or both of the criteria apply.
There is strong consensus that the creators and major contributors of pages and media files should be warned of a speedy deletion nomination (or of the deletion if not informed before). All speedy deletion templates (using criteria other than U1, G5, G6, G7, and G8) thus contain in their body a pre-formatted, suggested warning template to notify the relevant party or parties of the nomination for speedy deletion under the criterion used. You can copy and paste such warnings to the talk pages of the creators and major contributors, choose from others listed at Category:Wy/syl/CSD warning templates, or place the unified warning template, Template:Wy/syl/Tlxs, which allows you to tailor your warning under any particular criterion by replacing Template:Var
with the associated criterion abbreviation (e.g. g4, a7).
Use common sense when applying a speedy deletion request to a page: review the page history to make sure that all earlier revisions of the page meet the speedy deletion criterion, because a single editor can replace an article with material that appears to cause the page to meet one or more of the criteria.
Pages that need to be tagged in a special manner
editSome pages either cannot or should not be tagged for speedy deletion in the normal manner:
- Pages that you cannot edit (e.g., due to protection), or JSON pages: place the template on the corresponding Talk page instead, along with an explanation of which page to delete.
- Template: pages: place the template within a noinclude tag, like this:
<noinclude>{{Db-x}}</noinclude>
- Module: pages (except for /doc pages): place the template with Module wikitext, like this:
require('Module:Module wikitext')._addText('{{Db-x}}')
- CSS (including sanitized CSS) or JavaScript pages: place the template in a comment, like this:
/*
ERROR: This page is using an unprefixed version of template {{Tlf}}
Use {{Wy/syl/Tlf}}
instead and replace all occurences of {{Tlf}}
in Wy/syl/
prefixed pages by that.
{{Db-x}} */
Pages that have survived deletion discussions
editLua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Wy/syl/Hatnote list' not found. As an exception to the norm that a page surviving its most recent deletion discussion means that it should not be speedily deleted, the following criteria apply also to those pages, with or without any specified limitations:
These criteria may only be used in such cases when no controversy exists; in the event of a dispute, start a new deletion discussion. However, newly discovered copyright violations should be tagged for G12 if the violation existed in all previous revisions of the article. G5 may be also used at discretion, subject to meeting the criterion outlined above.
General
editTemplate:Wy/syl/Shortcut These apply to every type of page with exclusions listed for specific criteria, and so apply to articles, drafts, redirects, user pages, talk pages, files, etc. Read the specifics for each criterion to see where and how they apply.
G1. Patent nonsense
editTemplate:Wy/syl/Shortcut Template:Wy/syl/Further This applies to pages consisting entirely of incoherent text or gibberish with no meaningful content or history. It does Template:Wy/syl/Em cover poor writing, partisan screeds, obscene remarks, implausible theories, vandalism, hoaxes, fictional material, coherent non-English material, or poorly translated material. In short, if it is understandable, G1 does not apply. It also does not apply to pages in the user namespace.
G2. Test pages
editTemplate:Wy/syl/Shortcut This applies to pages created to test editing or other Wikipedia functions. It applies to subpages of the Wikipedia Sandbox created as tests, but does not apply to the Sandbox itself, pages in the user namespace, or valid but unused or duplicate templates.
G3. Pure vandalism and blatant hoaxes
editTemplate:Wy/syl/Shortcut Template:Wy/syl/Further This applies to pages that are blatant and obvious misinformation, blatant hoaxes (including files intended to misinform), and redirects created by cleanup from page-move vandalism. [[Wy/syl/Wikipedia:Do not create hoaxes#Hoaxes, versus articles about hoaxes|Articles Template:Wy/syl/Em notable hoaxes]] are acceptable if it is clear that they are describing a hoax.
- {{Db-g3}}, {{Db-vandalism}} – for vandalism
- {{Db-hoax}} – for hoaxes
- Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as vandalism (0), Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as hoaxes (0)
G4. Recreation of a page that was deleted per a deletion discussion
editTemplate:Wy/syl/Shortcut This applies to sufficiently identical copies, having any title, of a page deleted via its most recent deletion discussion.[3] It excludes pages that are Template:Wy/syl/Em substantially identical to the deleted version, and pages to which the reason for the deletion no longer applies.[4] It excludes pages in userspace and draftspace where the content was converted[5] to a draft for explicit improvement (but not simply to circumvent Wikipedia's deletion policy). This criterion also does not cover content undeleted via a deletion review, or that was only deleted via proposed deletion (including deletion discussions closed as "soft delete") or speedy deletion.
- {{Db-g4}}, {{Db-repost}}
- Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as pages previously deleted via deletion discussion (0)
G5. Creations by banned or blocked users, or in violation of general sanctions
editTemplate:Wy/syl/Shortcut Template:Wy/syl/Further This applies to pages created by banned or blocked users in violation of their ban or block, as well as pages created in violation of general sanctions, and that have no substantial edits by others not subject to the ban or sanctions.
- To qualify, the edit or page must have been made while the user was actually banned or blocked. A page created before the ban or block was imposed or after it was lifted will not qualify under this criterion. This excludes pages created in violation of general sanctions.
- For topic-banned editors, the page must be a violation of the user's specific ban, and must not include contributions legitimately about some other topic.
- For general sanctions, the page must have been created in violation of creation restrictions, such as the extended confirmed restriction, and the remedies must specifically permit deletion as an enforcement measure.[6]
- When a blocked or banned person uses an alternate account (sockpuppet) to avoid a restriction, any pages created via the sock account after the earliest block or ban of any of that person's accounts qualify for G5 (if not substantially edited by others); this is the most common case for applying G5.
- G5 should not be applied to transcluded templates or populated categories unless they have been transcluded or populated entirely by the banned or blocked user; these edits need to be reverted before deletion.
- {{Db-g5|name of banned user}}, {{Db-banned|name of banned user}}, {{Db-gs|contentious topic code}}
- Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as having been created by blocked or banned users (0), Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as having been created in violation of general sanctions (0)
G6. Technical deletions
editTemplate:Wy/syl/Shortcut Template:Wy/syl/See also
This is for uncontroversial maintenance, including:
- Deleting redirects or other pages which prevent page moves. Administrators should be aware of the proper procedures where a redirect or page holding up a page move has a non-trivial page history. An administrator who deletes a page that is blocking a move should ensure that the move is completed after deleting it.
- Deleting pages unambiguously created in error or in the incorrect namespace, or redirects created by moving away from a title that was obviously unintended.
- Deleting templates orphaned as the result of a consensus at Wikipedia:Templates for discussion.
- {{Db-g6|rationale=reason}} – If none of the special tags below applies, this tag should be used with a reason specified in the
|rationale=
parameter. - {{Db-copypaste|page to be moved}} – for cut-and-paste page moves that need to be temporarily deleted to make room for a clean page move.
- {{Db-move|page to be moved|reason}} – for pages that are currently holding up a non-controversial or consensual page move.
- {{Db-moved}} – for pages that were holding up a page move, until they were moved out of the way by a page mover.
- {{Db-afc-move|Draft:page to be moved}} – for pages that are currently holding up a non-contro
- ↑ In this context, speedy refers to the simple decision-making process, not the length of time since the article was created.
- ↑ The current wording of this paragraph dates to an April 2020 discussion. G14 was added in October 2020. C1 was added in August 2022. C4 was added in September 2024.
- ↑ The result of the most recent deletion discussion controls. This means that if the most recent discussion was "keep" or a default to keep through no consensus, G4 does not apply. Likewise, an article that was deleted through its most recent discussion, but was kept in earlier discussions, is subject to the criterion and may be deleted (discussion).
- ↑ For the avoidance of doubt, if a page is deleted at AfD and subsequently recreated as a redirect, G4 does not apply, even if that option was discussed and rejected in the AfD (discussion).
- ↑ A conversion to draft is when a page from a different namespace is moved, or its content copied, as a draft.
- ↑ The arbitration committee and the community have included the following when deciding a topic area should be covered by the extended confirmed restriction: "Non-extended-confirmed editors may not create new articles, but administrators may exercise discretion when deciding how to enforce this remedy on article creations. Deletion of new articles created by non-extended-confirmed editors is permitted but not required."