 | This help page is a how-to guide. It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus. |
 | This page in a nutshell: To request a speedy deletion of a page: if it is not a page you created yourself, put {{delete | [your reason] }} at the top of it; if it is a page you created yourself, add {{db-author}} at the top. |
While anyone can edit articles, to keep things manageable, only administrators can delete them. Note that removing all text from a page does not delete it; it just leaves a blank page, which is discouraged as it is confusing to readers. Removed text is not permanently lost, and can easily be restored from the page history.
This page explains how to ask for an article to be deleted from Wikipedia. For all the gritty details, see the deletion policy.
Bear the following things in mind:
- It is better to improve an article than to delete it for not being good enough.
- An article that looks inappropriate may simply have been tampered with; you can fix this by reverting it to the better, previous version.
- If the article duplicates another, you can redirect it to the other one; there's no need for it to be deleted first.
- It's polite to let the article's author know that you are asking for it to be deleted; you can find them in the page history.
Pages you created yourself
editIf you create a page yourself and then change your mind, just add the text {{db-author}} to the top of it; it will be deleted shortly afterward. If other contributors have edited the page, however, this usually won't be done; use one of the methods explained below.
Non-article pages
editNot all pages in Wikipedia are encyclopedia articles. Redirects and pages that begin with a prefix such as "Wikipedia:" or "User:" are used for organizing the project, so are not considered part of the encyclopedia. Different rules apply to these pages; you can't use the "proposed deletion" option mentioned below, and deletion discussions take place in different places. If you think one of these pages should be deleted, see the full Guide to deletion, which has more detailed instructions on what to do. For your own User: space CSS or JavaScript page, use /* {{db-u1}} */.
Speedy deletion
editIn certain limited circumstances, an article can be deleted on sight with no further discussion. These limits of circumstances are called the criteria for speedy deletion, and pages that meet them are usually removed quickly. If you find one, you can mark it for deletion by adding the text {{delete| reason }} to the top of the page, replacing "reason" with the reason it should be deleted. Most articles do not meet the criteria, however, so check carefully before doing this.
Proposed deletion
editYou can ask for an article to be deleted for any reason you wish. Add a deletion 'tag' to the article by putting the text: {{subst:Proposed deletion|concern=reason for proposed deletion}} at the top, replacing "reason for proposed deletion" with your reason. Anyone can disagree with your request for any reason; all they have to do is remove the tag. If the tag stays there for seven days, an administrator will check the article and delete it if they agree with your reason. If the tag is removed, the article won't be deleted; if at this stage you still think it should go, see the next section.
Deletion discussions
editThe final option is to start a discussion about the state of the article, and get other contributors' opinions on whether it should be removed. In order to do this, you have to be a logged-in user; log in or create an account first if necessary.
- First, add the text {{subst:afd}} to the top of the article, and save the page. This adds a deletion 'tag' to the page.
- On the tag that now appears at the top of the article, find the link labelled "Preloaded debate" and click it.
- Follow the instructions that appear.
Discussions last for seven days, at the end of which an administrator will delete the article if there is general agreement to do so, and remove the deletion tag if not.
