Deletion of articles on Wikipedia

Volunteer editors of Wikipedia delete articles from the online encyclopedia regularly, following processes that have been formulated by the site's community over time. The most common route is the outright deletion of articles that clearly violate the rules of the website (speedy deletion). Other mechanisms include an intermediate collaborative process that bypasses a complete discussion (proposed deletion or PROD), and a whole debate at the dedicated forum called Articles for deletion (AfD). As a technical action, deletion can only be done by a subset of editors assigned particular specialized privileges by the community, called administrators. An omission that has been carried out can be contested by appeal to the deleting administrator or on another discussion board called Deletion review (DRV).

Occasionally, deletion instances attract public attention, causing controversy or criticism of Wikipedia or other entities. Conventions and practices of deletion have caused a long-lasting controversy within the Wikipedia community, with two schools of thought forming, known as deletionism and inclusionism, with one generally favoring deletion as a conventional and relatively routine practice (deletionism) and the other proposing broader retention (inclusionism).

Purpose

By community conventions, deletion is used to ensure that the subject of each Wikipedia article is worthy of comprehensive coverage, i.e., notable.[1] Deletion is also used to remove from the encyclopedia content that violates intellectual property rights, particularly copyright, and content that is purely intended to advertise a product.[1]

Deletionism and inclusionism

Overview of processes

Unless an administrator deletes an article on sight, the deletion process involves the addition of a template to the report by an editor, indicating to readers and other editors which kind of deletion process is sought for that article. Removing a template proposing speedy deletion or proposed deletion often precipitates a formal nomination for deletion through AfD. In contrast, removing an AfD template is not permitted until the discussion has concluded. When an article is deleted, the article's talk page is generally also deleted, as are links that redirect to the deleted article. Deletion discussions are carried out on separate pages dedicated to that purpose and are not deleted. Wikipedia administrators can see content that has been deleted, but other editors and visitors to the site do not. Processes exist for editors to request access to deleted content to use for other purposes.

Speedy deletion

Administrators may delete specific articles on Wikipedia without community input.[4] However, "according to Wikipedia policy, editors should only nominate an article for speedy deletion under limited circumstances, such as pure vandalism, and not mark legitimate pages without good faith discussion".[5]

Deletions attracting public attention

Specific cases of disputes between deletionists and inclusionists have attracted media coverage.

2006–2007

In July 2006, writers for The Inquirer complained about claims by Wikipedia editors that The Inquirer conspired with Everywhere Girl (a stock photo model whose identity was initially unknown and who appeared on advertising material around the world[18][19]) to create her phenomenon. They observed an apparent campaign to remove all references to Everywhere Girl on Wikipedia.[20] Later, they found it contrary to common sense that what became included on Wikipedia was their series of reports on the deletions of the Wikipedia article.[21]

In December 2006, writer and composer Matthew Dallman found that Wikipedia's biography of him was under debate, and became drawn to the vote counts.

External links

Wikipedia's policy pages on deletion

References

Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, Ben Yates. How Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be a Part of It No Starch Press, 2008^
Andrew Granville West, Insup Lee. Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration October 2011^
Dariusz Jemielniak. Common Knowledge?: An Ethnography of Wikipedia Stanford University Press, 2014^

Articles for deletion

Mechanism

For articles that do not meet the criteria for speedy deletion and for which proposed deletion is not attempted or a PROD tag is removed, editors can nominate the article for deletion through community discussion.[11] Discussions typically last seven days, after which a deciding editor determines whether a consensus has been reached.[7] Deletion discussions are carried out on separate pages in Wikipedia's project space dedicated to that purpose, and the discussions themselves are not deleted. Any editor may participate in the discussion, and certain Wikipedia editors are persistent participants in Articles for deletion (AfD) discussions.[1] Discussions can be cut short under the "Snowball Clause",[3] where an overwhelming consensus for a particular outcome quickly develops, and conversely can be extended several times, on rare occasions lasting a month or more. Wikipedia policy encourages editors to use deletion as a "last resort" following attempts to improve an article by conducting additional research.[12] Separate discussion boards exist for the deletion of other kinds of content, including "Redirects for discussion" (RfD), "Categories for discussion" (CfD), "Files for discussion" (FfD), "Templates for discussion" (TfD), and "Miscellany for deletion" (MfD). The last one encompasses proposals to delete project-space pages, portals, and user-space pages.[1]

Discussions are initiated with a proposal to delete, but they may resolve several possible outcomes.[4] Other common possibilities are that the article is kept, whether by consensus to keep, or the absence of agreement for another outcome; that it is merged into another article; or that the title is redirected to another report, the latter of which may or may not entail deletion of the edit history of the deleted page. Wikipedia policy supports finding "alternatives to deletion" (ATD), which may include any alternatives.[13]

Scope

Through the AfD process, almost 500,000 articles have been deleted between 2001 and 2021. In 2021, about 20,000 articles were nominated. About 60% of articles nominated for deletion are deleted, about 25% are kept, and the remainder are merged with another article, redirected to another article, or met with another fate.[14] According to a study of AfD debates (and its arguments commonly called "votes") from 2005 through 2018, 5% of debates were not closed by an administrator and 3% received no votes after nomination. About 64% of debates ended in "Delete" and 24% in "Keep," with the remainder merged into other articles (4%), redirected, or other outcomes.

Veteran editors have disproportionate participation rates in AfD debates, compared to newcomers, and their role has increased over time. Although 161,266 editors contributed to AfD debates, less than one percent (1,218) generated half of all debate votes. Yet the most active participants are not more likely than other Wikipedia editors to prevail in AfD debates.[15]

Although the default result of an AfD would be to retain the article, "the momentum in AfD is toward deletion": According to researchers, "early votes are highly predictive of outcomes". Notably, when the initial vote in an AfD discussion calls for deletion, it proves to be successful in 84.5% of the cases. Another key factor in AfD debates is the citation of relevant Wikipedia policies, with an early citation of specific Notability policies as most capable of shifting the discussion to Keep.[15]

2009

On February 14, 2009, Stern Nathaniel Stern and Scott Kildall created a Wikipedia article called "Wikipedia Art", which sought to "invite performative utterances in order to change" what content was acceptable to include in the article itself. In that was simultaneously a self-referential performance art piece called Wikipedia Art. Although the creators encouraged editors to strictly follow Wikipedia guidelines in editing the page,[31] Wikipedia editors determined its intent was nonetheless in violation of site rules, and it was deleted within 15 hours of its initial posting. The resulting controversy received national coverage, including an article in The Wall Street Journal.[32] The WMF later claimed Stern and Kildall had infringed on the Wikipedia trademark with their own website, wikipediaart.org. The artists publicly released a letter they received in March 2009 from a law firm requesting that they turn over their domain name to Wikipedia.[33] Mike Godwin, then the foundation's legal council, later stated that they would not pursue any further legal action.[34] Mary Louise Schumacher of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel compared the incident to the "outrage inspired by Marcel Duchamp's urinal or Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes."[35] Yale research fellow Claire Gordon called the article an example of the "feedback loop" of "Wikipedia's totalizing claims to knowledge" in a 2011 Huffington Post report.[36]

Comic book and science fiction/fantasy novel writer Peter David became involved in a November 2009 discussion on the deletion of actor Kristian Ayre's Wikipedia biography. David took issue with the quality of the discussion and what he perceived as deletionism on the part of some of the project's editors. He wrote about the experience in his "But I Digress ..." column in Comics Buyer's Guide #1663 (March 2010), remarking that "Wikipedia, which has raised the trivial to the level of the art form, actually has cut-off lines for what's deemed important enough to warrant inclusion". In attacking the practice in general, David focused on the process by which the merits of Ayre's biography were discussed before its deletion and what he described as inaccurate arguments that led to that result. Referring to the processes by which articles were judged suitable for inclusion as "nonsensical, inaccurate, and flawed", David provided information about Ayre with the expressed purpose that it would lead to the article's recreation.[37] The article was recreated on January 20, 2010.[38]

Deletion of articles on Wikipedia

Purpose

Deletionism and inclusionism

Overview of processes

Speedy deletion

Deletions attracting public attention

2006–2007

See also

External links

References

Proposed deletion

Articles for deletion

Mechanism

Scope

Mechanism

Scope

Deletion review and undeletion

Out-of-process deletions

2009

2013

2018

2021

2023

2024