Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion

Current list: Category:Candidates for speedy deletion

There are a few, limited cases where admins can delete Wikipedia pages "on sight" and without voting consensus at Votes for Deletion. Non-admins can ask for an admin to delete such a page, either by listing it on speedy deletions, or by adding either a {{delete}} or {{deletebecause|Reason}} header. (You can also use the {{del}} and {{db|Reason}} shorthands.) The use of {{db|reason}} is preferred as it makes things easier for the deleting administrator.

If listed on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion, or a related page, such pages may be deleted before the usual "lag time" (see deletion policy).

The cases

Sysops may immediately delete a page, so long as it satisfies one of the following criteria. Always check the page history first to see if any previous version can be restored, such that deletion is not necessary.

Note that some Wikipedians create articles in multiple saves. Try to avoid deleting a page too soon after its initial creation, as the author may be working on it.

Of course, the Sandbox is exempt from these rules and should not be deleted even though it may satisfy some of the criteria. Removing the test content is preferred.

General

These apply to contributions made in any namespace; in most cases other criteria, in an another sub-section within the present section, also apply to the namespace in question.

1. No meaningful content or history, text completely meaningless or unsalvageably incoherent (e.g. random characters). See patent nonsense.
2. Test pages (e.g., "Can I really create a page here?").
3. Pure vandalism (see also dealing with vandalism). This includes redirects created during cleanup of page move vandalism.
4. A substantially identical copy, by any title, of an article that was deleted according to the deletion policy.
   • This does not apply to content in userspace, content that was speedily deleted, or to content undeleted according to undeletion policy.
5. Contributions made by a banned user after they were banned, unless the user has been unbanned. This is slightly controversial!
6. Temporarily deleting a page in order to merge page histories after a cut and paste move.
7. Any page which is requested for deletion by the original author, provided the author reasonably explains that it was created by mistake, and the page was edited only by its author.
8. Talk pages of already deleted pages unless they contain records of the deletion discussion and are linked from Wikipedia:Archived delete debates (this doesn't apply if the deletion discussion is logged elsewhere, like a VfD sub-page or other log).

Articles

For any articles that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Wikipedia:Votes for deletion.

1. Very short articles providing little or no context (e.g., "He is a funny man that has created Factory and the Hacienda. And, by the way, his wife is great.").
   • Turning such pages into relevant redirects may sometimes be appropriate if any potential context can be found.
   • Be aware that some articles are contributed from other Wikipedias, or by non-fluent English speakers, which may lead to misunderstanding of the content.
2. Foreign language articles that already exist on another Wikimedia project, as a result of having been copied and pasted into Wikipedia after their creation elsewhere, or as a result of having been moved via the transwiki system.
3. Any article whose contents consist only of an external link, "See also" section, book reference, category tag, template tag, interwiki link, or rephrasing of the title.
4. Any article which consists only of attempts to correspond with the person or group named by its title.
5. Any article that has been discussed at Votes for Deletion, where the outcome was to transwiki, and where the transwikification has been properly performed and the author information recorded.
6. Short articles that serve no purpose but to disparage their subject.
7. An article about a real person that does not assert that person's importance or significance. If the assertion is disputed or controversial, it should be taken to VFD instead. For details, see Wikipedia:Deletion of vanity articles.

Redirects

For any redirects that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion.

Redirects can be immediately deleted if they have no useful history and:

1. They refer to non-existent pages. (Before deleting such a redirect, it's a good idea to check to see if the redirect can be made useful by changing its target.)
2. Were created by moving pages into the User: namespace. (Sometimes new Wikipedians accidentally create user pages or personal templates in the wrong locations. After using the "Move" function, consider waiting a day or two before deleting the resultant redirect.)
3. Consensus is that it should be removed to make way for a non-controversial page move.
4. Were created very recently as a result of a typo (during a page move or as a proactive measure). This does not include common mis-spellings, as redirects from those are considered useful.

Images/Media

1. An image which is a redundant (all pixels the same or scaled-down) copy of something else on Wikipedia and as long as all inward links have been changed to the image being retained. This does not include visually similar pictures, such as PNG versions of JPEG images. For the time being, this also does not apply to images that exist on the Wikimedia Commons, or have been moved there (see #Proposed other). For images copied to Commons, tag it with {{NowCommons|Image:newname.ext}} instead.
2. A corrupt or empty image.
3. Images licensed as "for non-commercial use only" or "used with permission" which were uploaded on or after May 19, 2005. [1]

Categories

1. Empty categories (no articles or subcategories) whose only content has consisted of links to parent categories.
2. Empty categories (no articles or subcategories), 24 hours after the last page was removed from them.
3. Empty categories (no articles or subcategories) that have qualified for speedy renaming.
   • Typo fixes (e.g. Brdiges -> Bridges).
     • Note that changes between British and American spelling (e.g. Harbours -> Harbors) are not considered typos.
   • Capitalization fixes (e.g. characters In harry Potter -> Characters in Harry Potter)
   • Conversions from singular to plural, or back (e.g. Steamship -> Steamships)

User pages

1. Personal subpages, upon request by their owner.
2. User and talk pages on request of the user, where there is no significant abuse, and no administrative need to retain the page. A redirect (to the user's new name, or to Wikipedia:Missing Wikipedians) should be created to avoid red links and confusion.
3. User talk pages of non-logged in users where the message is no longer relevant (This is to avoid confusing new users who happen to edit with that same IP address).

Notes

Please note that copyright problems are not candidates for speedy deletion unless they meet one of the above criteria.

Ideally, when a sysop deletes a test page or other page with no useful content, it is a good idea to put a note on the author's talk page explaining things, and preserving the deleted content, pointing them to the sandbox in cases of tests. Be friendly! Everyone was new once.

See also

• Wikipedia:Deletion policy
• Wikipedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators