Help:Deleting an article: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:15, 11 December 2007

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Only users with sysop privileges can delete articles.

In most cases, if any of the text is to be preserved, it is best to rename the article rather than to delete it. Delete it only if:

It has existed for only a very short time--maybe a day or two.
It is a misspelling or mislabeling that has already been replaced by another existing article.
It is pure junk. (If you want to experiment, use the sandbox if possible rather than creating and deleting pages.)

To request that an article be deleted:

Go to the article and click What links here in the left navigation bar to see which other articles contain links to this article. Edit those articles to remove the links or point them somewhere more appropriate.
Clear the text from the article.
Insert the delete template at the top of the article.

Sysops:

Review articles in Category:Articles for deletion.
Go to each article and:
1. Review the reason for deletion; if not valid, remove the delete template from the article and state why in the article's talk page; if valid, continue.
2. Make sure that there are no links to this article (as described above).
Delete as appropriate.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{HelpTOC}}
 Only users with [[sysop]] privileges can '''delete articles'''.
-Before requesting a deletion (or deleting) an article, consider whether it has been around long enough that someone out there might have bookmarked the page and will be unhappy to find it gone. In that case, better to leave the page with some appropriate text or turn it into a [[redirect]] to a more useful article.
+'''In most cases, if any of the text is to be preserved, it is best to [[Help:Renaming an article|rename the article]] rather than to delete it.'''  Delete it ''only'' if:
+* It has existed for only a very short time--maybe a day or two.
+* It is a misspelling or mislabeling that has already been replaced by another existing article.
+* It is pure junk. (If you want to experiment, use the [[sandbox]] if possible rather than creating and deleting pages.)
 To request that an article be deleted:
 # Go to the article and click '''What links here''' in the left navigation bar to see which other articles contain links to this article. Edit those articles to remove the links or point them somewhere more appropriate.
 # Clear the text from the article.
-# Use [[:Template:Delete|the delete template]] at the top of the article.
+# Insert the [[:Template:Delete|delete template]] at the top of the article.
 Sysops: