Wikipedia:Articles for deletion

There is an ongoing debate over the page deletion process and how it could be improved. See Wikipedia:Deletion reform.

[[:|WP:AFD]]

Articles for Deletion (AfD) (formerly Votes for deletion) is where Wikipedians decide whether problematic articles should be deleted or kept. Items sent here usually wait five days or so while debate takes place on whether the article should be deleted or not; then the deletion process can proceed based on Wikipedia community consensus. The page is then:

Kept
Deleted per the deletion policy
Sent to Cleanup or BJAODN
Merged and/or redirected to an existing article
Transwikied (moved to another Wikimedia project, such as Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikiquote, Wiktionary, or another language's Wikipedia)
Renamed/Moved to another title

More information can be found at the Guide to Articles for deletion.

The other deletion discussion areas are:

Wikipedia:Speedy deletions
Wikipedia:Copyright problems for text (in any namespace) that violates our Copyright policy
Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion for articles in namespaces other than the main article namespace
Wikipedia:Templates for deletion for templates
Wikipedia:Categories for deletion for categories
Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion for redirects (in any namespace)
Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion for stub tags and categories (combined)
Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion for images and other uploaded media files

Things to consider

It is important to read and understand the Wikipedia deletion policy, which explains valid grounds for deletion, before adding comments to this page. Click "what links here", in the sidebar of the article page, to see how the page is being used and referenced within Wikipedia.

If a page can serve as a useful redirect or be merged somewhere, do not list it here. Doing so only clutters AfD.

AfD etiquette

Please be familiar with the policies of not biting the newcomers, Wikiquette, no personal attacks, and civility before making a recommendation as to whether the article should be deleted or not, or making a comment.
Sign any recommendation or comment you add, by adding this at the end: ~~~~.
If you are the primary author or otherwise have a vested interest in the article, say so openly, and clearly base your recommendations on the deletion policy.
Your opinion will be given the most weight if you are logged in with an account that already existed when the nomination was made. Unregistered and new users are welcome to contribute to the discussion, but their recommendations may be discounted, especially if they seem to be made in bad faith (for example, if they misrepresent their reasons).
Please make your recommendation only once. If there is evidence that someone is using sock puppets (multiple accounts belonging to the same person) to make multiple recommendations, such additional recommendations will be discounted.
Please familiarize yourself with the frequently cited guidelines WP:BIO, WP:MUSIC, WP:FICT and WP:VAIN.

You don't have to make a recommendation on every nomination; consider not participating if:

a nomination involves a topic with which you are unfamiliar.
consensus you agree with has already been formed.

Also, please see this discussion on the talk page of Wikipedia:Deletion Policy regarding notability.

Week at a glance

You may also wish to see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/Today and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/Yesterday.

Additionally, AllyUnion runs a bot to maintain a half-hourly-updated AFD List (related changes). This list of discussions keeps a list of 7 days of discussions.

Purge server cache for today's AFD page

Current discussions

Articles being considered for possible deletion are indexed by the day on which they were first listed.

Add a new entry

Old discussions

How to list pages for deletion

This section describes how to list articles and their associated talk pages for deletion. For pages that are not articles, list them at other appropriate deletion venues or use copyright violation where applicable. As well, note that deletion may not be needed for problems such as pages written in foreign languages, duplicate pages, and other cases. Use Wikipedia:Proposed mergers for discussion of mergers.

Only a registered, logged-in user can complete steps II and III. (Autoconfirmed registered users can also use the Twinkle tool to make nominations.) If you are unregistered, you should complete step I, note the justification for deletion on the article's talk page, then post a message at Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion requesting that someone else complete the process.

You must sign in to nominate pages for deletion. If you do not sign in, or you edit anonymously, you will get stuck part way through the nomination procedure.

To nominate multiple related pages for deletion, follow the multi-page deletion nomination procedure.
To nominate a single page for deletion, you can use Twinkle, or follow these three steps:

I – Put the deletion tag on the article.

Insert {{subst:afd1}} at the top of the article. Do not mark the edit as minor.
If this article has been nominated before, use {{subst:afdx|2nd}} or {{subst:afdx|3rd}} etc.
Include in the edit summary AfD: Nominated for deletion; see [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/NominationName]]. replacing NominationName with the name of the page being nominated. Publish the page.
The NominationName is normally the article name (PageName), but if it has been nominated before, use "PageName (2nd nomination)" or "PageName (3rd nomination)" etc.)

II – Create the article's deletion discussion page.

The resulting AfD box at the top of the article should contain a link to "Preloaded debate" in the AfD page. Click that link to open the article's deletion discussion page for editing. Some text and instructions will appear.

You can do it manually as well:

Click the link saying "deletion discussion page" to open the deletion-debate page.
Insert this text:
{{subst:afd2 | pg=PageName | cat=Category | text=Why the page should be deleted}} ~~~~
Replace PageName with the name of the page, Category with a letter from the list M, O, B, S, W, G, T, F, and P to categorize the debate, and Why the page should be deleted with the reasons the page should be deleted.
If appropriate, inform members of the most relevant WikiProjects through one or more "deletion sorting lists". Then add a {{subst:delsort|<topic>|<signature>}} template to the nomination, to insert a note that this has been done.
Use an edit summary such as Creating deletion discussion for [[PageName]]. Publish the page.

III – Notify users who monitor AfD discussions.

Open the articles for deletion log page for editing.
At the top of the list on the log page (there's a comment indicating the spot), insert:{{subst:afd3 | pg=NominationName}}
Replace NominationName appropriately (use "PageName", "PageName (2nd nomination)", etc.)
Link to the discussion page in your edit summary: Adding [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/NominationName]]. Publish the page.
Consider letting the authors know on their talk page by adding: {{subst:Afd notice|Page name}} ~~~~
If this is not the first nomination, add a second parameter with the NominationName (use "PageName (2nd nomination)" etc.): {{subst:Afd notice|PageName|NominationName}} ~~~~