Wikipedia:Articles for deletion

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Articles for deletion (AfD) is where

incubated, renamed/moved to another title, userfied to a user subpage, or deleted per the deletion policy. Disambiguation pages
are also nominated for deletion at AfD.

This page explains what you should consider

speedy deletion has a clearly defined set of criteria such as vandalism and patent nonsense, whereas proposed deletion
is used to suggest deletions that no editor would contest.

If you want to nominate an article, the Wikipedia deletion policy explains the criteria for deletion, and may help you understand when an article should be nominated for deletion. The guide to deletion explains the deletion process. If an article meets the criteria for deletion and you understand the process, consult the instructions below. If you are unsure whether a page should be nominated for deletion, or if you need more help, try this talk page or Wikipedia's help desk.

Current and past articles for deletion (AfD) discussions

Current discussions

Articles being considered for possible deletion are indexed by the day on which they were first listed.

Read how to – Add a new entry

Alternatively, if you believe that deletion of an article would be uncontroversial, you may place the code {{

subst:prod|insert reason for deletion}} on the article instead. See also Wikipedia:Proposed deletion for more information, and Category:Proposed deletions
, for other currently pending nominations for deletion.

Old discussions (open)

Categorized discussions

AfDs sorted by topic & country

Search current and archived AfD discussions by topic


  • To find discussions containing the word navy, enter:   navy
  • To find discussions about articles whose titles contain battleships, enter:  intitle:battleships
  • To find discussions with navy anywhere, but battleships only in the article title, enter:  navy intitle:battleships
  • Or, browse archived discussions grouped chronologically
    here
  • A sortable table of current AfDs can be found here

Contributing to AfD discussions

Wikietiquette

Shortcut
See also: Wikipedia:Guide to deletion § General advice
  • Users participating in AfD discussions are expected to be familiar with the policy of civility and the guidelines Wikietiquette and "do not bite the newbies".
    • This also applies to the other deletion pages.
  • AfDs are public, and are sometimes quoted in the popular press.[1][2] Please keep to public-facing levels of civility, just as you should for any edit you make to Wikipedia.
  • Avoid personal attacks against people who disagree with you; avoid the use of sarcastic language and stay cool.
  • Do not make unsourced negative comments about living people. These may be
    removed by any editor
    .
  • Remember that while AfD may look like a voting process, it does not operate like one. Justification and evidence for a response carries far more weight than the response itself. Thus, you should not attempt to structure the AfD process like a vote:
    • Do not add tally boxes to the deletion page.
    • Do not reorder comments on the deletion page to group them by keep, delete, or other. Such reordering can disrupt the flow of discussion, polarize an issue, and emphasize vote count or word count.
    • Do not message editors about AfD nominations because they support your view on the topic. This can be seen as votestacking. See Wikipedia:Canvassing for guidelines. But if you are proposing deletion of an article, you can send a friendly notice to those who contributed significantly to it and therefore might disagree with you.
  • If a number of similar articles are to be nominated, it is best to make this a group nomination so that they can be considered collectively. This avoids excessive repetition which would otherwise tend to overload involved editors. However, group nominations that are too large or too loosely related may be split up or speedy-closed.
  • While there is no prohibition against moving an article while an AfD or deletion review discussion is in progress, editors considering doing so should realize such a move can confuse the discussion greatly, can preempt a closing decision, can make the discussion difficult to track, and can lead to inconsistencies when using semi-automated closing scripts.

How to contribute

Shortcuts

AfDs are a place for rational discussion of whether an article is able to meet Wikipedia's article guidelines and policies. Reasonable editors will often disagree, but valid arguments will be given more weight than unsupported statements. When an editor offers arguments or evidence that do not explain how the article meets/violates policy, they may only need a reminder to engage in constructive, on-topic discussion. But a pattern of groundless opinion, proof by assertion, and ignoring content guidelines may become disruptive. If a pattern of disruptive behavior persists after efforts are made to correct the situation through dialogue, please consider a dispute resolution process outside the current AfD.

There are a number of practices that most Wikipedians use in AfD discussions:

When participating, please consider the following:

  • The debate is not a vote; please do not make recommendations on the course of action to be taken that are not sustained by arguments.
  • When making your case or responding to others, explain how the article meets/violates policy rather than merely stating that it meets/violates the policy.
  • Use of multiple accounts to reinforce your opinions is absolutely forbidden. Multiple recommendations by users shown to be using "
    blocked indefinitely
    .
  • You can explain your earlier recommendation in response to others but do not repeat a bolded recommendation on a new bulleted line.
  • Nomination already implies that the nominator recommends deletion (unless indicated otherwise), and nominators should refrain from repeating this.
  • Do not make conflicting recommendations; if you change your mind, modify your original recommendation rather than adding a new one. The recommended way of doing this is to use strike-through by enclosing a retracted statement between <del> and </del> after the *, as in "• Delete Keep".
  • Unregistered or new users are welcome to contribute to the discussion, but their recommendations may be discounted if they seem to be made in bad faith (for example, if they misrepresent their reasons). Conversely, the opinions of logged in users whose accounts predate the article's AfD nomination may be given more weight when determining consensus.

There are many good ways to advocate keeping, deleting or even redirecting an article. This includes:

  • Arguments commonly used to recommend deletion are: "unverifiable" (violates both
    WP:NPOV
    ) is often used, but often such articles can be salvaged, so this is not a very strong reason for deletion either.
  • If you wish for an article to be kept, you can directly improve the article to address the reasons for deletion given in the nomination. You can search out
    assume good faith
    on this point), leave a note on the nominator's talk page to draw their attention.
  • merger
    to another article, then recommend "Disambiguation", "Redirect" or "Merge". Do not recommend deletion in such cases.

You do not have to make a recommendation on every nomination; consider not participating if:

  • A nomination involves a topic with which you are unfamiliar.
  • You agree with the consensus that has already been formed.

Please also see Wikipedia:Notability.

Nominating article(s) for deletion

Before nominating: checks and alternatives

Shortcut
"WP:BEFORE" redirects here. For the essay on reading discussions before commenting, see Wikipedia:Read before commenting. For the essay on steps to take before commenting in a deletion discussion, see Wikipedia:Before commenting in a deletion discussion.
Notability
General notability guideline
Subject-specific guidelines
See also

Prior to nominating article(s) for deletion, please be sure to:

  1. Read and understand these policies and guidelines:
    1. The
      various deletion processes
      .
    2. The main four guidelines and policies that inform deletion discussions:
      WP:NOT
      ).
    3. Subject-specific notability guidelines, which can be found at Category:Wikipedia notability guidelines, with further related essays at Category:Wikipedia notability. Common outcomes may be checked to see if other articles on a specific topic tend to be kept or deleted after an AfD discussion.
  2. Carry out these checks:
    1. Confirm that the article does not meet the criteria for
      speedy deletion, proposed deletion or speedy keep
      .
    2. If there are
      reliable sources
      . (See step D.)
    3. Review the article's history to check for potential vandalism or poor editing.
    4. Read the article's
      talk page
      for previous nominations and/or that your objections haven't already been dealt with.
    5. Check to see if enough time has passed since previous nominations before renominating.
    6. Check "What links here" in the article's sidebar, to see how the page is used and referenced within Wikipedia.
    7. Check if there are interlanguage links, also in the sidebar, which may lead to more developed and better-sourced articles. Likewise, search for native-language sources if the subject has a name in a non-Latin alphabet (such as Japanese or Greek), which is often in the lead.
  3. Consider whether the article could be improved rather than deleted:
    1. If the article can be fixed through
      normal editing
      , then it is not a candidate for AfD.
    2. If the article was recently created, please consider allowing the contributors more time to develop the article.
    3. If an article has issues try first raising your concerns on the article's talk page, with the main contributors, or an associated WikiProject, and/or adding
      advert
      }}; this ensures readers are aware of the problem and may act to remedy it.
    4. If the topic is not important enough to merit an article on its own, consider
      merging or redirecting to an existing article. This should be done particularly if the topic name is a likely search term.
      Shortcut
If a redirection is controversial, however, AfD may be an appropriate venue for discussing the change in addition to the article's talk page.
  • Search for additional sources, if the main concern is notability:
    1. The minimum search expected is a normal Google search, a Google Books search, a Google News search, and a Google News archive search; Google Scholar is suggested for academic subjects.
    2. Where possible, also please make use of The Wikipedia Library, which offers free access to various subscription databases of additional resources. Not every resource available in that collection will always be relevant in every situation, so it is not necessary to exhaustively check every database, but there are many resources which may be useful for specialized or older topics that might not Google well.
    3. If you find a lack of sources, you've completed basic due diligence before nominating. However, if a quick search does find sources, this does not always mean an AfD on a sourcing basis is unwarranted. If you spend more time examining the sources and determine that they are insufficient, e.g., because they only contain passing mention of the topic, then an AfD nomination may still be appropriate.
    4. If you find that adequate sources do appear to
      WP:CTT
      .

    • How to nominate a single page for deletion

    Please also take a look at Wikipedia:Deletion process, which includes more information about deletion discussions.
    Shortcut

    This section describes how to list articles and their associated talk pages for deletion. For pages that are not articles, list them at other appropriate

    Wikipedia:Proposed mergers
    for discussion of mergers.

    Only a registered, logged-in user can complete steps II and III. (Autoconfirmed registered users can also use the Twinkle tool to make nominations.) If you are unregistered, you should complete step I, note the justification for deletion on the article's talk page, then post a message at Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion requesting that someone else complete the process.

    You must sign in to nominate pages for deletion. If you do not sign-in, or you edit anonymously, you will get stuck part way through the nomination procedure.

    • To nominate multiple related pages for deletion, follow the
      multi-page deletion nomination procedure
      .
    • To nominate a single page for deletion, you can use
      Twinkle
      , or follow these three steps:
    I – Put the deletion tag on the article.
    II – Create the article's deletion discussion page.

    The resulting AfD box at the top of the article should contain a link to "Preloaded debate" in the AfD page. Click that link to open the article's deletion discussion page for editing. Some text and instructions will appear.

    You can do it manually as well:

    • Click the link saying "deletion discussion page" to open the deletion-debate page.
    • Insert this text:
      {{subst:afd2 | pg=PageName | cat=Category | text=Why the page should be deleted}} ~~~~
      Replace PageName with the name of the page, Category with a letter from the list M, O, B, S, W, G, T, F, and P to categorize the debate, and Why the page should be deleted with the reasons the page should be deleted.
    • If appropriate, inform members of the most relevant
      subst:delsort
      |<topic>|<signature>}} template to the nomination, to insert a note that this has been done.
    • Use an edit summary such as Creating deletion discussion for [[PageName]]. Publish the page.
    III – Notify users who monitor AfD discussions.
    • Open the articles for deletion log page for editing.
    • At the top of the list on the log page (there's a comment indicating the spot), insert:{{subst:afd3 | pg=NominationName}}
      Replace NominationName appropriately (use "PageName", "PageName (2nd nomination)", etc.)
    • Link to the discussion page in your edit summary: Adding [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/NominationName]]. Publish the page.
    • Consider letting the authors know on their talk page by adding: {{subst:Afd notice|Page name}} ~~~~
      If this is not the first nomination, add a second parameter with the NominationName (use "PageName (2nd nomination)" etc.): {{subst:Afd notice|PageName|NominationName}} ~~~~


    WP:CITEBUNDLE
    .

    Sometimes you will find a number of related articles, all of which you feel should be deleted together. To make it easier for those participating in the discussion, it may be helpful to bundle all of them together into a single nomination. However, for group nominations, it is often a good idea to only list one article at AfD and see how it goes, before listing an entire group.

    Examples of articles which may be bundled into a single nomination:

    • A group of articles with identical content but with slightly different titles.
    • A group of
      hoax articles
      by the same editor.
    • A group of
      spam articles
      by the same editor.
    • A series of articles on nearly identical manufactured products.

    An article with a fair or better chance of standing on its own merits should not be bundled—nominate it separately. For the avoidance of doubt, bundling should not be used to form consensus around policy decisions such as "should Wikipedia include this type of article". Bundling AfDs should be used only for clear-cut deletion discussions based on existing policy. If you're unsure, don't bundle it.

    For the sake of clarity, debates should be bundled only at the start or near the start of the debate, ideally before any substantive discussion, but may be acceptable following one or two other editors' comments, particularly (but not only) where those comments are "per nom", by

    single purpose accounts
    , the article creator, or were clearly in bad faith.

    To bundle articles for deletion:

    I.
    II.
    III.
    Nominate the first article.

      Follow steps I to III above.

    IV.
    Nominate the additional articles.

      On each of the remaining articles, at the top insert the following:

    {{
    subst:afd1
    |NominationName}}

    Replace NominationName with the page name of the first page to be deleted, not the current page name. In other words, if Some article was the first article you nominated, replace PageName with Some article (or Some article (nth nomination) if this is not the first nomination of Some article). As before, please include the phrase "AfD: Nominated for deletion; see [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/NominationName]]" in the edit summary (again replacing NominationName with the first page name to be deleted), and do not mark the edit as minor. Publish the page. Repeat for all articles to be bundled.

    (If the article has been nominated before, use {{

    subst:afd1}}, and replace "NominationName" with the name of the page plus a note like "(2nd nomination)" for a second nomination, etc. See Template talk:Afdx
    for details.)

    V.
    Add the additional articles to the nomination.

      Go to the first article's deletion discussion page: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/PageName, and add a note
      under your original nomination listing all related pages, for example: 

    I am also nominating the following related pages because [insert reason here]:
:{{la|related article 1}}
:{{la|related article 2}}

    In the edit summary, note that you are bundling related articles for deletion.

    Creating an AfD

    This template can be used by

    autoconfirmed
    users to nominate an article for deletion:


    If you do it this way, remember to add {{

    subst:AFD|Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/subpage name}} at the top of the article, as well as list the nomination at the top of the current AFD log page
    .

    Alternatively, you can use

    Gadgets" tab, make sure the "Twinkle" checkmark under the "Editing gadgets" section is selected, and click on "Save". For more information, see Wikipedia:Twinkle/doc
    .

    After nominating: Notify interested projects and editors

    While it is sufficient to list an article for discussion at AfD (see above), nominators and others sometimes want to attract more attention from and participation by informed editors. All such efforts must comply with Wikipedia's guideline against biased canvassing.

    To encourage participation by less experienced editors, please avoid Wikipedia-specific abbreviations in the messages you leave about the discussion, link to any relevant policies or guidelines, such as

    Wikipedia is not a directory
    , and please provide a link to the AfD discussion page itself.

    Deletion sorting
    Once listed, deletion discussions can, optionally, also be transcluded into an appropriate deletion sorting list, such as the ones for actors, music, academics, or for specific countries. Since many people watch deletion sorting pages for subject areas that particularly interest them, including your recent AfD listing on one of these pages helps attract people familiar with a particular topic area. Please see the complete list of lists.

    Notifying related WikiProjects
    WikiProjects are groups of editors that are interested in a particular subject or type of editing. If the article is within the scope of one or more WikiProjects, they may welcome a brief, neutral note on their project's talk page(s) about the AfD.
    Tagging the nominated article's talk page with a relevant Wikiproject's banner will result in the article being listed in that project's
    Article Alerts automatically if they subscribe to the system. For instance, tagging an article with {{WikiProject Physics}} will list the discussion in Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics/Article alerts
    .

    Notifying substantial contributors to the article
    While not required, it is generally considered courteous to notify the
    talk page of the article and/or use the Page History tool or Wikipedia Page History Statistics. Use: {{subst:Afd notice
    |article name|AfD discussion title}} ~~~~

    At this point, you've done all you need to do as nominator. Sometime after seven days have passed, someone will either close the discussion or, where needed, "

    relist
    " it for another seven days of discussion. (The "someone" must not be you, the nominator. However, if you want to see how it's done, refer to the next section.)

    Withdrawing a nomination

    See also: § Procedure for non-administrator close (nominator withdrawal)
    Shortcut

    If you change your mind about the nomination, you can withdraw it. This might be because the discussion has produced new information about the topic, or because you realise the nomination was a mistake.

    To withdraw a nomination, add a note saying "Withdrawn by nominator" immediately below your nomination statement at the top of the discussion, give a brief explanation, and sign it.

    If no one has supported deletion of the article you may close the discussion yourself as a WP:Speedy keep, or you may leave it for someone else to close the discussion. Withdrawing a nomination can save other editors' time by cutting short the discussion.

    How an AfD discussion is closed

    Main pages: Wikipedia:Deletion process § Articles for deletion page, and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Administrator instructions
    Shortcuts
    • A deletion discussion should normally be allowed to run for seven full days (168 hours).
    • Consensus is not based on a tally of votes, but on reasonable, logical, policy-based arguments.
    • The AfD nominator can withdraw the nomination and close a discussion as speedy keep reason #1, if all other viewpoints expressed were for Keep and doing so does not short-circuit an ongoing discussion. For how to perform this, see below, subsection Procedure for non-administrator close (nominator withdrawal)
    • An
      WP:AFD/AI
      .
    • An editor in good standing who is not an administrator, and is also uninvolved, may close AfDs in certain circumstances; closures that non-admins may make are detailed at Wikipedia:Deletion process#Non-administrators closing discussions. For how to perform this, see below, subsection Procedure for non-administrator close (other)
    • If consensus seems unclear the outcome can be listed as No consensus (with no effect on the article's status) or the discussion may be
      relisted
      for further discussion.
    • A discussion can be closed sooner than seven days if any of certain special conditions applies.
    • Questions or concerns about a closure should first be asked on the
      talk page of the editor who closed the discussion. If that does not resolve the concerns, the closure can be appealed at Wikipedia:Deletion review
      .

    Procedure for non-administrator close (nominator withdrawal)

    As mentioned above, the AfD nominator can withdraw the nomination and close a discussion as speedy keep reason #1, if all other viewpoints expressed were for Keep and doing so does not short-circuit an ongoing discussion.

    This procedure involves performing edits to three pages, as follows:

    • On the deletion discussion page
      • Remove the {{Closing}} tag from the page, if it was placed beforehand.
      • Insert at the top of the page: {{subst:Afd top|'''speedy keep'''. Nomination withdrawn. {{subst:nac}}}} ~~~~. Put this tag above the article page title. It should be at the very top of the page.
      • Remove the line containing {{REMOVE THIS TEMPLATE WHEN CLOSING THIS AfD}}
      • Insert at the bottom of the page: {{subst:Afd bottom}}
      • Publish the page with an edit summary such as Closing AfD, result was speedy keep (nomination withdrawn).
    • On the article page
      • Find the article page
        • The name of the votepage might not identically match that of the article
        • The prefix "Wikipedia:Articles for deletion" should not be part of the "votepage" name
      • Remove from the top of the page the text beginning <!-- Please do not remove or change this AfD message until the issue is settled --> and ending <!-- End of AfD message, feel free to edit beyond this point -->
      • Publish the page with an edit summary such as AfD closed as speedy keep (nomination withdrawn).
    • Paste the suggested template from the article page on the top of talk page itself. It resembles the following, with PageName and Date prefilled.
      • {{Old AfD multi|page=PageName|date=Date|result='''speedy keep'''}}
      • Publish the page with an edit summary such as AfD closed as speedy keep (nomination withdrawn).

    Procedure for non-administrator close (other)

    As mentioned above, an editor in good standing who is not an administrator, and is also uninvolved, may close AfDs in certain circumstances; closures that non-admins may make are detailed at Wikipedia:Deletion process#Non-administrators closing discussions.

    For a result of "keep", this procedure differs from the Procedure for non-administrator close (nominator withdrawal) above, only in the reasons to be listed in the templates and the comments to be annotated in the edit summaries. Follow those instructions, replacing references to "keep (nomination withdrawn)" with the relevant reason.

    For any other appropriate result, the procedure is basically the same, with the differences listed in WP:Articles for deletion/Administrator instructions#Carrying out the AfD close.

    See also

    Citations

    1. ^ "The battle for Wikipedia's soul", The Economist, March 6, 2008.
    2. ^ Seth Finkelstein,"I'm on Wikipedia, get me out of here", The Guardian, September 28, 2006.
      "At Wikipedia, contentious decisions are made by a process of elaborate discussion culminating in administrative fiat. Deletions go through a comment period. The process is not a vote, but the result forms a recommendation to the administrators."
    3. ^ The tools AfD Statistics and Admin AfD Counter[dead link‍] cannot parse unbolded !votes or closures.
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion&oldid=1261250305"