Misplaced Pages

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WP:SD redirects here. You may be looking for Misplaced Pages:Stub types for deletion

This page documents an English Misplaced Pages policy.It describes a widely accepted standard that editors should normally follow, though exceptions may apply. Changes made to it should reflect consensus.

Shortcuts WP:CSD WP:SPEEDY WP:SD

The speedy deletion policy specifies the limited cases where administrators may delete Misplaced Pages pages or media without discussion. Non-administrators can request speedy deletion by adding an appropriate template (see below). In this context, "speedy" refers to the simple decision-making process, not the length of time since the article was created.

This page contains the criteria for speedy deletion and a list of templates that can be used to tag a candidate for speedy deletion. These criteria are worded narrowly, so that in most cases reasonable editors will agree what does and does not meet a given criterion. Where reasonable doubt exists, discussion using another method under the deletion policy should occur instead. If a page has survived a prior deletion discussion, it may not be speedily deleted, except in the case of newly discovered copyright infringements.

Before nominating an article for speedy deletion, consider whether it could be improved or reduced to a stub; if so, speedy deletion is probably inappropriate. Contributors sometimes create articles over several edits, so try to avoid deleting a page too soon after its creation if it appears incomplete. Users nominating a page for speedy deletion should specify which criteria the page meets and consider notifying the page's creator.

Any user who is not the creator of a page may remove a speedy tag from it. The creator may not do this; a creator who disagrees with the speedy deletion should instead add {{hangon}} to the page, and explain the rationale on the page's discussion page.

The list of current candidates for speedy deletion is at Category:Candidates for speedy deletion.

Template:CSD CriteriaCriteria

Abbreviations are sometimes used to refer to these criteria. For example, "A7" refers to criterion 7 under articles (notability) and "G12" refers to criterion 12 under general (copyright infringement). These abbreviations can be confusing to new users (who are most likely to have created articles that can be speedily deleted), and should be avoided.

A table listing the template(s) for each of these criteria is provided below.

Template:CSD GeneralGeneral criteria

These criteria apply to all namespaces, and are in addition to namespace-specific criteria in following sections.

1. Patent nonsense and gibberish, an unsalvageably incoherent page with no meaningful content. This does not include: poor writing, partisan screeds, obscene remarks, vandalism, fictional material, material not in English, badly translated material, implausible theories, or hoaxes of any sort; some of these, however, may be deleted as vandalism in blatant cases.
2. Test pages (e.g., "Can I really create a page here?").
3. Pure vandalism.
4. Recreation of deleted material. A copy, by any title, of a page deleted via a deletion discussion, provided the copy is substantially identical to the deleted version and that any changes in the recreated page do not address the reasons for which the material was deleted. This does not apply to content that has been moved to user space, undeleted via deletion review, deleted via proposed deletion, or to speedy deletions (although in that case, the previous speedy criterion, or other speedy criteria, may apply).
5. Banned user. Pages created by banned users while they were banned, with no substantial edits by others.
6. Housekeeping. Non-controversial maintenance, such as temporarily deleting a page to merge page histories, performing uncontroversial page moves, or cleaning up redirects.
7. Author requests deletion, if requested in good faith, and provided the page's only substantial content was added by its author. If the author blanks the page, this can be taken as a deletion request.
8. Talk pages whose corresponding article does not exist, except for deletion discussion that is not logged elsewhere, User Talk pages, talk pages for images on Wikimedia Commons, or talk subpages (such as archives) whose corresponding "top-level" page exists.
9. Office actions. The Wikimedia Foundation office reserves the right to speedily delete a page temporarily in cases of exceptional circumstances. Deletions of this type should not be reversed without permission from the Foundation.
10. Pages that serve no purpose but to disparage their subject or some other entity (e.g., "John Q. Doe is an imbecile"). These are sometimes called "attack pages". This includes a biography of a living person that is entirely negative in tone and unsourced, where there is no neutral version in the history to revert to. Administrators deleting such pages should not quote the content of the page in the deletion summary.
11. Blatant advertising. Pages which exclusively promote some entity and which would need to be fundamentally rewritten to become encyclopedic. Note that simply having a company or product as its subject does not qualify an article for this criterion.
12. Blatant copyright infringement. Text pages that meet all of the following:
    • The material was copied from another website or other source (but consider the possibility that the other copy was obtained from Misplaced Pages—see Misplaced Pages:Mirrors and forks);
    • There is no non-infringing content on either the page itself, or in the history, worth saving;
    • The material was introduced at once by a single person; and
    • There is no credible assertion of public domain, fair use, or a free license.
    Notify the page's creator when tagging a page for deletion under this criterion; the template {{nothanks-sd}} is available for this. After deleting, administrators should recreate the page from earlier noninfringing page content if available. If multiple deletion criteria apply, list them all on the deletion summary. If notified of a plausible error, the deleting administrator should restore the content and, if a confirmation e-mail has not been received, follow the Misplaced Pages:Copyright problems procedure, replacing the article with the {{copyvio}} template. Some suspected copyright infringements are listed at Misplaced Pages:Suspected copyright violations.

Template:CSD ArticlesArticles

1. No context. Very short articles with little or no context for their statements. Example: "He is a funny man with a red car and makes people laugh." Context is different than content, treated in A3, below.
2. Foreign language articles that exist on another Wikimedia project. If the article does not exist on another project, use the template {{notenglish}} instead, and list the page at Misplaced Pages:Pages needing translation into English for review and possible translation.
3. No content. Any article (other than disambiguation pages) consisting only of external links, category tags and "see also" sections, rephrasing of the title, and/or chat-like comments. However, a very short article may be a valid stub if it has context.
4. (Placeholder to preserve numbering; merged with A3.)
5. Transwikied articles. Any article that either consists only of a dictionary definition or that has been discussed at Articles for deletion with an outcome to move it to another wiki, after it has been properly moved and the author information recorded.
6. (Placeholder to preserve numbering; superseded by #G10.)
7. No indication of importance/significance. An article about a real person, group of people, band, club, company, organisation, or web content that does not indicate why its subject is important or significant. This is distinct from questions of notability, verifiability and reliability of sources. If controversial, list the article at Articles for deletion instead.
8. (Placeholder to preserve numbering; superseded by #G12.)

Template:CSD RedirectsRedirects

For any redirects that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Misplaced Pages:Redirects for discussion. In some cases it may be possible to make a useful redirect by changing the target instead of deleting it.

1. Redirects to deleted pages and to nonexistent pages.
2. Redirects to the Talk:, User: or User talk: namespace from the article space (this does not include the Misplaced Pages shortcut pseudo-namespaces). If this was the result of a page move, consider waiting a day or two before deleting the redirect.
3. Recently created redirects from implausible typos or misnomers. However, redirects from common misspellings or misnomers are generally useful, as are redirects in other languages.

Template:CSD Images-mediaImages and media

1. Redundant. Any image or other media file that is a redundant copy, in the same file format and same or lower quality/resolution, of something else on Misplaced Pages. This does not apply to images duplicated on Wikimedia Commons, because of licence issues; these should be tagged with {{subst:ncd|Image:newname.ext}} or {{subst:ncd}} instead.
2. Corrupt or empty image. Before deleting this type of image, verify that the MediaWiki engine cannot read it by previewing a resized thumbnail of it. Even if it renders, if it contains superfluous information that cannot be accounted for as metadata directly relating to the image data, it may be deleted. It is always possible for the uploader to correct the problem by uploading an image that contains only a good image plus acceptable metadata.
3. Improper license. Images licensed as "for non-commercial use only", "non-derivative use" or "used with permission" that were uploaded on or after May 19, 2005, except where they have been shown to comply with the limited standards for the use of non-free content. This includes images licensed under a "Non-commercial Creative Commons License". Such images uploaded before May 19, 2005 may also be speedily deleted if they are not used in any articles.
4. Lack of licensing information. Images in category "Images with unknown source", "Images with unknown copyright status", or "Images with no copyright tag" that have been in the category for more than seven days, and which still lack the necessary information, regardless of when uploaded. Note, users sometimes specify their source in the upload summary, so be sure to check the circumstances of the image.
5. Unused unfree images. Images and other media that are not under a free license or in the public domain, that are not used in any article, and that have been tagged with a template that places them in a dated subcategory of Category:Orphaned fairuse images for more than seven days. Reasonable exceptions may be made for images uploaded for an upcoming article. Use {{subst:orfud}} to tag images for forthcoming deletion.
6. Missing non-free use rationale. Non-free images or media claiming fair use but without a use rationale may be deleted seven days after they are tagged. The boilerplate copyright tags setting out fair use criteria do not constitute a use rationale. Offending images can be tagged with {{subst:nrd}}, and the uploader notified with {{subst:missing rationale|Image:image name}}. Such images can be found in the dated subcategories of Category:Images with no fair use rationale. If a use rationale is provided but disputed, this criterion does not apply.
7. Invalid fair-use claim. Non-free images or media that fail any part of the non-free content criteria and were uploaded after 13 July 2006 may be deleted forty-eight hours after notification of the uploader. For media uploaded before 13 July 2006 or tagged with the {{Replaceable fair use}} template, the uploader will be given seven days to comply with this policy after being notified. Invalid fair-use claims may be tagged with {{subst:dfu}} for review after a seven-day period, and the uploader may be notified with {{subst:no fair|Image:image name}}. Such images can be found in the dated subcategories of Category:All disputed non-free images. Non-free images or media with a clearly invalid fair-use tag (such as a {{logo}} tag on a photograph of a mascot) may be deleted at any time.
8. Images available as bit-for-bit identical copies on the Wikimedia Commons, provided the following conditions are met:
   • The image's license and source status is beyond reasonable doubt, and the license is undoubtedly accepted at Commons.
     • All image revisions that meet the first condition have been transferred to Commons as revisions of the Commons copy and properly marked as such.
   • All information on the image description page is present on the Commons image description page, including the complete upload history with links to the uploader's local user pages.
     • If there is any information not relevant to any other project on the image description page (like {{FeaturedPicture}}), the image description page must be undeleted after the file deletion.
   • The image is not protected, and the image description page does not contain a request not to move it to Commons.
   • The image has been marked with {{NowCommons}} for at least one week. Waiting one week is not necessary if it was the uploader who moved the image and marked it.
   • If the image is available on Commons under a different name than locally, all local references to the image must be updated to point to the title used at Commons.
   • {{c-uploaded}} images may be speedily deleted as soon as they are off the Main Page.

   This also includes empty (i.e., no content) image description pages for Commons images.

9. Blatant copyright infringement. The image was copied from a website or other source that does not have a license compatible with Misplaced Pages, and the uploader does not assert (other than through image tags) that it is public domain, freely licensed, fair use, or used with permission. Sources that do not have a license compatible with Misplaced Pages include stock photo libraries such as Getty Images or Corbis. Blatant infringements should be tagged with the {{Db-imgcopyvio}} template. Non-blatant copyright infringements should be discussed at Misplaced Pages:Images and media for deletion.

Template:CSD CategoriesCategories

Also listed at Misplaced Pages:Categories for deletion policies#Speedy criteria.

For any categories that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Misplaced Pages:Categories for discussion or Misplaced Pages:User categories for discussion. Due to current technical restrictions, renaming or merging a category effectively deletes the original category.

1. Empty categories that have been empty for four days. This does not apply to categories presently on deletion discussions, or to disambiguation categories.
2. Speedy renaming.
   1. Typo fixes (e.g., Brdiges -> Bridges), but not changes between British and American spelling.
   2. Capitalization fixes (e.g., Category:Heads Of State -> Category:Heads of state).
   3. Conversions from singular to plural, or back (e.g., Steamship -> Steamships).
   4. Non-conformance with "x by y", "x of y", or "x in y" categorization conventions specified at Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (categories).
   5. Expanding abbreviated country names (e.g. U.S. -> United States).
3. Template categories. If a category is solely populated from a template (e.g. Category:Misplaced Pages cleanup from {{cleanup}}) and the template is deleted per deletion policy, the category can also be deleted without further discussion.

Template:CSD User pagesUser pages

For any user pages that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Misplaced Pages:Miscellany for deletion.

1. User request. Personal subpages, upon request by their user. In some rare cases there may be administrative need to retain the page. Also, sometimes, main user pages may be deleted as well. See Misplaced Pages:User page for full instructions and guidelines.
2. Nonexistent user. User pages of users that do not exist. (Check Special:Listusers.)
3. Non-free galleries. Galleries in the userspace which consist mostly of "fair use" or non-free images. Misplaced Pages's non-free content policy forbids the use of non-free content in userspace, even content which the user has uploaded themselves. Content in the public domain or under a free license such as the GFDL is acceptable.

Template:CSD TemplatesTemplates

For any templates that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Misplaced Pages:Templates for deletion. When nominating a template for speedy deletion, surround the speedy deletion tag with <noinclude></noinclude>, so that pages that use the nominated template do not themselves get listed as candidates for speedy deletion.

1. Templates that are divisive and inflammatory. This applies only to pages in the Template: namespace, although outside this namespace, other criteria, such as general criterion 10, may still apply; see Misplaced Pages:Userbox migration for further discussion.
2. Templates that are blatant misrepresentations of established policy. This includes "speedy deletion" templates for issues that are not speedy deletion criteria, and disclaimer templates intended to be used in articles.

Template:CSD PortalsPortals

For any portals that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Misplaced Pages:Miscellany for deletion.

1. Any topic that would be subject to speedy deletion as an article.
2. Underpopulated portal. Any portal based on a topic for which there is not a non-stub header article and at least three non-stub articles detailing subject matter that would be appropriate to present under the title of that portal.

Template:CSD Non-criteriaNon-criteria

The following are not sufficient, by themselves, to justify speedy deletion.

• Reasons derived from Misplaced Pages:What Misplaced Pages is not. Misplaced Pages is not: "a dictionary", "an indiscriminate collection of information", "a crystal ball", etc.
• Hoaxes. If even remotely plausible, a suspected hoax article should be subjected to further scrutiny in a wider forum.
• Original research. It is not always easy to tell whether an article consists of material that violates the policy against novel theories or interpretations or is simply uncited.
• Neologisms. If not obviously ridiculous, new specialized terms should have a wider hearing.
• Notability. Articles that seem to have obviously non-notable subjects are not eligible for speedy deletion unless the article does not assert the importance or significance of its subject. If the article gives a claim that might be construed as making the subject notable, it should be taken to a wider forum.
• Failure to assert importance but not an A7 category. There is no consensus to speedily delete articles of types not specifically listed in A7 under that criterion.
• Author deletion requests made in bad faith. Author deletion requests made in bad faith, out of frustration, or in an attempt to revoke their GFDL contributions are not granted. However, anyone may request deletion of pages in their userspace.
• Author deletion requests after others have contributed substantially. If other editors have substantially edited an article (i.e. more than just minor corrections or maintenance tagging), the original author may not request deletion under G7 because the work of others is involved.
• Very short articles. Short articles with sufficient content and context to qualify as stubs may not be speedily deleted under criteria A1 and A3; other criteria may still apply.
• Copies that are not copyright violations. If content appears both here and somewhere else (possibly in modified form), consider the possibility that Misplaced Pages's is the original version and the other site copied from us. Alternately, the same author may have written both versions, or the original may be free content.
• PNGs/GIFs replaced by JPEGs. JPEG encoding discards information that may be important later. Do not delete the original PNG/GIF files.
• Questionable material that is not vandalism. Earnest efforts are never vandalism, so to assume good faith, do not delete as vandalism unless reasonably certain.
• Reasons derived from essays, such as WP:DENY, WP:LC, or the like.

Template:CSD Deletion templatesDeletion templates

In order to alert administrators that a page meets one of the criteria for speedy deletion, place one of the following relevant templates at the top of the page. Please be sure to supply an edit summary that mentions that the article is being nominated for speedy deletion.

• WP:CSDDT

Template:CSD Procedure for administratorsProcedure for administrators

Make sure to specify the deletion reason in the deletion summary. Also, in some cases the article's creator should be notified.

Before deleting a page, check the page history to assess whether it would instead be possible to revert and salvage a previous version. Also:

• The initial edit summary may have information about the source of or reason for the article.
• The talk page may refer to previous deletion discussions, or have ongoing discussion relevant to including the article.
• The page log may have information about previous deletions that could warrant SALTing the article or keeping it on good reason.
• 'What links here' may show that the subject of the article is an oft-referred part of the encyclopedia, or may show other similar pages that warrant deletion. For articles that should not be re-created, incoming links in other articles should be removed.

See also

• Misplaced Pages:Criteria for speedy deletion/Explanations
• Category:CSD warning templates
• Misplaced Pages:Template messages/User talk namespace (Grid of warning messages)
• Misplaced Pages:No blank pages

• Misplaced Pages policies
• Speedy deletion