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". 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.)

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 (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).
4. Reposted content that was deleted according to Wikipedia deletion policy.
   • This does not apply to content that was undeleted according to undeletion policy.
   • (Proposed) Caution should be used if the only prior deletion was a speedy delete. Re-creation of the article may in some cases be evidence that the topic deserves an opportunity to expand for a short time, and later, the full VfD discussion.
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.

Articles

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

1. Very short articles with 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 in to 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, or interwiki link.
4. Any article which consists only of attempts to correspond with the person or group named by its title.

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 a redirect, check to see if the redirect can be made useful by changing its target. The appropriateness of this criterion in its present form is disputed. See the discussion page.
2. Were created by moving pages into the User: namespace. (Sometimes new Wikipedians accidentally create user pages in the main article space, or create personal Templates. Move them into the user space using the "Move this page" tool to preserve their history, and 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.
5. Are the result of vandalism (e.g. renaming a page to a nonsense title; when the page is moved back to its correct name, a redirect will be left behind).

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.
2. A corrupt or empty image.

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 it.

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).

Proposed other

The following cases are proposals only, and they should not be used as reasons for a speedy deletion. Please see talk for discussion of them.

1. To expand the images category to include an image uploaded to Commons
2. To expand the image category to images copied to Commons from Wikipedia

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