Bharatpedia:Deletion process

For the policy, see Bharatpedia:Deletion policy.

Template:Deletion debates The deletion process covers how the community decides to delete or keep articles, media, and other pages.

Normally a deletion discussion is required to form consensus. Admins usually close these, though non-admins may also close in some cases. Editors can propose uncontroversial deletions, and pages meeting strict criteria may be speedily deleted.

Priority override: Office actions and declarations from the Foundation Board or system administrators (copyright, legal, server load) take priority over community consensus.

Quick navigation

Speedy

PROD

Venues

Closing

Outcomes

Early close

Speedy deletion

Pages meeting at least one criterion for speedy deletion (CSD) may be deleted immediately without discussion.

Pre-deletion checklist:

• Verify the page meets at least one CSD criterion
• Check page history — can it be reverted and salvaged?
• Check whether a cut-and-paste move was involved
• Check the edit summary, talk page, page log, and WhatLinksHere

If CSD is not appropriate: remove the tag (auto-removes from Category:Candidates for speedy deletion) and consider notifying the nominator with {{speedy-decline}} or {{uw-csd}}.

Never quote attack content or copyrighted text in the deletion summary.

Proposed deletion

For uncontroversial deletions that don't meet CSD. Place a tag; any editor may remove it to save the page. If the tag stands for 7 days, deletion proceeds.

BLPPROD: Unsourced biographies of living people. Only adding a source can contest this.

Copyright problems

• Unambiguous infringement leads to G12 speedy deletion
• Repeat violators qualify for presumptive deletion after 7 days at Copyright problems
• Files whose copyright expires on a future known date should be listed at Category:Future copyright expiration

Deletion discussion venues (XfD)

Six venues for pages that don't qualify for CSD. Starting a discussion is easiest with Twinkle.

Venue	Scope	Links
AfD	Articles, mainspace pages (no redirects)	Reasons · Start · Close
CfD	Categories, stub templates	Reasons · Start · Close
FfD	Files, images	Reasons · Start · Close
MfD	Draft, Help, Portal, MediaWiki, Bharatpedia, User, Talk, etc.	Reasons · Start · Close
RfD	Redirects (all namespaces)	Reasons · Start · Close
TfD	Template, Module (no stubs/userboxes/redirects)	Reasons · Start · Close
DRV	Appeals of deletion outcomes	Reasons · Start · Close

Group nominations: Make sure every page has an XfD notice tag. If some are missed, tag them and relist the discussion.

Conduct during discussions

Principle	What it means
Assume good faith	Presume others act to improve the project, until strong evidence says otherwise.
Not a battleground	No personal attacks, harassment, incivility, or gaming the system.
No canvassing	Deletion discussions are not a vote. Remind participants politely.
Sock-puppetry	Tag blatant cases; otherwise report and note your concern neutrally.

Closing discussions

Discussions run for 7 days (168 hours). Closing is usually an admin action, but experienced non-admins may close per the rules below.

Determining rough consensus

Consensus is not headcount. Weight of argument and cited policy matter more than number of votes. Bad-faith, sock, and SPA opinions may be discounted.

Non-negotiable: Verifiability, NOR, NPOV, copyright, and BLP cannot be overruled by any discussion.

No consensus

Result keeps the status quo — usually "keep". Note these exceptions:

Venue	No-consensus effect
RfD	May still retarget or disambiguate
FfD	Admin may delete on precautionary principle
DRV	Effect equals endorsement; if appeal was a speedy, restore page

No quorum and soft closure

When no one besides the nominator comments, the closer may:

• Relist the discussion
• Close as no consensus with "no prejudice against speedy renomination" (NPASR)
• Close in favour of the nomination
• Perform a soft closure

Soft closure type	Effect	Reversible?
Soft delete	Article deleted; restorable on request at REFUND	Yes, any reason
Soft merge	Articles merged or added to merge backlog	Yes, by splitting back
Soft BLAR	Blank and redirect to a target	Yes, no objections required

Relisting

Relist if:

• Only a few participants have commented, or
• Arguments lack policy basis, or
• Consensus may be near

Maximum two relists. A third relist requires an explanation. Long-standing tags discourage new editors.

Non-admins closing discussions

Non-admin closers must:

• Use {{nacd}} in the close comment
• Stay within technical ability (no "delete" closes)
• Follow the accountability policy
• Leave close calls and controversial cases to admins

Do not close if: you lack policy experience, you already !voted, or you have a vested interest in the page.

Common outcomes

Outcome	For	Notes
Keep	All	Remove deletion notice; record outcome on talk page
Delete	All	Remove incoming links if page shouldn't be recreated
Delete (subject-requested)	Articles	Check BP:BIODEL and BP:BLPREQUESTDELETE
Move / Rename	All	Change the title
Merge	Articles, categories, templates	!votes must be specific
Redirect	Articles, templates, misc	No unique content, but topic covered elsewhere
Disambiguate	Articles, redirects	Change to disambiguation page
Userfy	Articles, templates, misc	Move to creator's userspace
Incubate / Draftify	Articles	Move to draft for improvement
Delete, allow re-upload with licence	Files	Only for copyright-fixable files
Listify	Categories	Delete category, create list article
Retarget	Redirects	Point to a different page
Refine	Redirects	Point to a specific section

Nomination errors

Error	Fix
No deletion notice on page	Add tag; tag time equals nomination time
Linked from Main Page	Remove tag; use Bharatpedia:Main Page/Errors first
Immediate objection to prior outcome	Redirect to DRV
Wrong venue	Move to correct venue, notify nominator
Page does not exist or already deleted	Close; notify nominator of correct title

Early closure

Reason	When
Speedy keep	Nominator withdraws; vandalism; policy pages; banned nominators
Speedy redirect	Viable search term or subtopic already covered
Speedy delete	Meets CSD (for example G10 attack, G12 copyright)
Snowball	Outcome is near-certain — but not for merely "likely"

}

Snowball caveat: Do not mistake an early pile-on for the final outcome — wait for slower, less-involved editors too.

Search all deletion discussions

Preview this line in any page's wikitext to generate three search links:

{{ #lst: BP: Deletion process | search links }}

discussion deletion copyright

Pages with many revisions

Pages with 5,000+ revisions require the special "bigdelete" right (admins do not have it). Close as "delete" and request a steward to perform it.

See also

• Bharatpedia:Alternative outlets
• Bharatpedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions
• Bharatpedia:Arguments to avoid in image deletion discussions
• Bharatpedia:Deletion and deletionism
• Category:Deletion archival templates
• Bharatpedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators
• Bharatpedia:Deletion policy
• Bharatpedia:Undeletion policy
• Bharatpedia:Articles for deletion/Precedents
• Bharatpedia:List of policies to cite in deletion debates
• Bharatpedia:Mass nomination
• Bharatpedia:Page blanking
• Bharatpedia:Relist bias
• Bharatpedia:Deletion reform