Wikipedia:Page blanking

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[[Category:Wikipedia wp:blanks|Page blanking]]

Early in Wikipedia's history, it was common to leave pages blank if the title was valid, but the contents were vandalism or nonsense. Eventually it was decided that Wikipedia should not have blank pages. Blank pages appear as blue links and thus make the creation of an actual article less likely. They also mislead readers into thinking an article exists, disappointing them when they find a blank page.

Blank pages also interfere with Wikipedia's utility pages. All blank pages appear on Special:Shortpages and Special:Deadendpages, unnecessarily increasing the length of these lists. Having a page blank rather than deleted also prevents it from appearing on Special:Wantedpages, where an editor might act on it to create a needed article.

Rather than blanking a page, use the speedy deletion process.

See also