Wikipedia:Processing drafts with duplicate titles
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 | This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms and practices. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting. |
This page consists of suggestions on how to process drafts with duplicate titles. Such drafts are placed in Category:AfC submissions with the same name as existing articles and they can be dealt with using the recommendations on this page.
On October 14, 2018, Articles for creation reviewer Robert McClenon made a suggestion to "edit the draft, and replace it with a redirect to the article." Fellow reviewer Kvng, three days later, stated that "I don't think this is a good thing to do because when the author goes to check the status of their draft upon receiving decline notification on their user talk page, they will be WP:ASTONISHED when they are quietly redirected to the mainspace article. I think leaving the draft in declined state makes it more clear to everyone what has happened."
One is better than the other
Article better than draft
When the draft is the same as the article in mainspace with the same author and the article is of good quality:
| “ | The draft is the same, or almost the same as, the article, and both are by the same editor, and the article deserves to stay in article space. Decline the draft, saying that the article exists. By default, the AFCH tool will inform the author. Edit the draft, and replace it with a redirect to the article. | ” |
Draft better than article
When the draft is of better quality than the article in mainspace:
| “ | If it's a good draft and a lousy article, nominate the article for deletion, or speedy it. Comment on the draft that it is waiting for the AFD on the lousy article. | ” |
Both aren't good
When both the draft and the article in mainspace aren't of good quality:
| “ | This is relatively rare but can happen. If the draft is speedyable (probably G11 or G12), speedy them both. If the article is speedyable (probably A7), speedy it, and decline or reject the draft on notability grounds. If the article needs a deletion discussion, nominate it for AFD, and decline the draft but leave it standing. Deletion of the article will be a side-door draftification. | ” |
Same titles
Different subjects
When the article's title is the same as the draft's but the article is about a different subject:
| “ | This happens frequently with biographies of people who share a name. Disambiguate the draft. If you choose to also accept the draft, determine whether the subject or a new disambiguation page should replace the current article as the primary topic and, if so, propose reorganization. Otherwise add hatnotes or disambiguation page entries. | ” |
Different content with same author
When both the draft and the article in mainspace are different by content but have the same name:
| “ | Disambiguate the draft by moving it to a new title in draft space. Then optionally either accept it (with the new name) or decline it. If accepted, add a hatnote to the original and the new article as appropriate. | ” |
Different content with different authors
When the draft and the article in mainspace are about the same subject but have different content and authors:
| “ | Decline draft with 'exists'. By default, the AFCH tool will inform the author. Consider also informing editors of the article by leaving a note and link to the draft in a new section on the article's talk page. Please consider incorporating any useful material from Draft:Example into this article. The submission is eligible for deletion in 6 months. | ” |
Mainspace title
Disambiguation page
When the article in mainspace is a disambiguation page:
| “ | Disambiguate the draft, unless you believe that the draft is the primary topic for the article title (in that case, move the disambiguation page to Title (disambiguation) and follow the #Redirect section). If the draft is not ready for acceptance, decline it as appropriate. This will take it out of the category of matches. If the draft is ready for acceptance, accept it. Update the disambiguation page to include the new article. | ” |
Redirect
When the article in mainspace is a redirect about the draft's subject:
| “ | If the draft does not merit a stand-alone article, decline it with 'mergeto' and suggest adding any new information to the main article. If the draft now does merit a stand-alone article, request a technical deletion of the redirect by placing {{Db-g6|rationale=Make way to accept Draft:Example}} on the page that's in the way. Once deleted, the draft can be accepted. | ” |