Wikipedia:When in doubt, hide it in the woodwork
This is an essay on the deletion policy. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
This page in a nutshell: When an event article of borderline notability that could potentially become notable in the future is nominated for deletion, the best solution is to transfer it out of article space without deleting it so it can potentially be re-added at a later date. |
Many users create articles about current events and other topics that do not quite meet notability requirements in the present, but could potentially become notable in the future. In these cases, the best solution is to move the articles out of article space instead of outright deleting them. The solution avoids the creation of non-notable clutter, but prevents the tediousness of rewriting deleted articles from scratch should the subject become notable.
Why Keep or Delete are flawed
Many articles about notable events are created after an event occurs, but before the event becomes notable. The various notability requirements of Wikipedia state that these articles should be deleted. However, both
However, the previous paragraph should not be used as justification for a keep vote in an
The solution
When dealing with articles of debatable future notability, the best decision is neither keeping nor deleting the article. Rather, it is to move the article out of article space. Normal viewers will be unable to see these articles, but Wikipedians can move the woodworked articles back into article space if they ever become notable. Articles can be woodworked in three ways.
The first is to
The second way is to
{{Promising draft
The third way to hide the article is to redirect it to another page, leaving the content in the page history. Few non-Wikipedians will actually be able to find the article. However, the moment the article subject becomes notable, the redirect can be undone and all of the redirected article will be perfectly preserved. Any user would be able to make the revert, if they find the article in the history. If the article never becomes notable, the redirect can be nominated for deletion or left in place if it is serving as a useful redirect.
Notes
- ^ Warning: Adding this line to a page will nominate it for speedy deletion. Do not add it to any page you do not want to see deleted.