This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Xaosflux (talk | contribs) at 18:06, 1 January 2007 (Unprotected Misplaced Pages:Miscellany for deletion/Front matter: not being vandalized anymore). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Miscellany for deletion (MfD) is a place where Wikipedians decide what should be done with problematic pages in the namespaces outside of the main article namespace, that aren't already covered by other specialized deletion discussion areas. Items sent here are usually discussed for five days; then are either deleted by an administrator, using community consensus (determined from the discussion) as a guideline, or kept.

Introduction

The only currently-used namespaces in which articles are eligible for deletion here are Help:, Portal:, MediaWiki:, Misplaced Pages:, User:, and the various Talk: namespaces.

The undeletion of pages deleted after having been discussed here, and debating whether discussions here have been properly closed, is the purview of Misplaced Pages:Deletion review, which operates in accordance with our undeletion policy.

To propose pages for deletion in the User and User talk namespaces, where the user has no recent edits and has made little or no contributions to the encyclopedia, please consider using the proposed deletion process. This lighter-weight process allows pages that are unlikely to be contested to be deleted without requiring discussion and consensus.

Please familiarize yourself with the following policies

• Misplaced Pages:Deletion policy — our deletion policy that describes how we delete things by consensus
• Misplaced Pages:Guide to deletion — whose guidelines on discussion format and shorthands also apply here
• Misplaced Pages:User page — our guidelines on user pages
• Deletion process — how to close debates

Prerequisites

Please bear in mind that:

• Nominating a Misplaced Pages policy or guideline page, or one of the deletion discussion areas (or their sub-pages), for deletion will probably be considered disruptive, and the ensuing discussions closed early. This is not a forum for modifying or revoking policy.
• Nominating a proposed policy or guideline page that is still under discussion for deletion is generally frowned upon. If you oppose a proposal, discuss it on the policy page's discussion page. Consider being bold and improving the proposal. Modify the proposal so that it gains consensus. Also note that even if a policy fails to gain consensus, it is often useful to retain it as a historical record, for the benefit of future editors.
• However, if a proposal is not serious or is disruptive (e.g. "Proposal to reject proposal foo") it can be nominated for deletion.
• User pages about Misplaced Pages-related matters by established users usually do not qualify for deletion.
• Normal editing that doesn't require the use of any administrator tools, such as merging the page into another page or renaming it, can often resolve problems.
• If a page is in the wrong namespace (e.g. an article in Misplaced Pages namespace), simply move it and list the redirect on WP:RFD if needed.

Notes for admins on closing discussions

• The process for the Miscellany for deletion page is similar to that for articles, as outlined at Misplaced Pages:Deletion process, and instead of using {{subst:Afd top}} and {{subst:Afd bottom}}, you use {{subst:Mfd top}} and {{subst:Mfd bottom}}.
• If the decision is KEEP (including any variant such as REDIRECT or MERGE), remove the MFD Header from the page (be sure the MFD Category is also removed), and put a link to the discussion sub-page on the page's talk page. The template {{oldmfd}} is recommended for this, like so:

{{oldmfd|date= dateOfNomination |result= result |page= PageName }}

• After closing the discussions, move it's transclusion from the Active to the Closed section of the page.
• To archive closed discussions remove an entire day's closed discussions from this page, reformat the transclusions to wikilinks (change {{ to *]) and place it in the relevant archive, creating a dated section if necessary.

How to list pages for deletion

Please check the aforementioned list of deletion discussion areas to check that you are in the right area.

To list an article/page for deletion, follow this three-step process: (replace PageName with the name of the page, including its namespace, to be deleted)