Scratchpad:Requests for page deletions

This page documents an official policy on Scratchpad. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy.

At Scratchpad, it is occasionally necessary to delete pages. However, only Administrators can actually perform a page deletion.

For a list of Scratchpad Administrators, please see Category:Scratchpad Administrators.

To alert the Administrators that you believe a page should be deleted, you need to flag the page for deletion. Those instructions follow below.

Only logged-in users can flag pages for deletion. CLICK HERE TO LOG IN OR CREATE AN ACCOUNT

Speedy deletions

A speedy deletion occurs without discussion and is performed by an Administrator at their very next opportunity. In order to qualify for speedy deletion, the page must meet one of the following criteria:

Criteria for speedy deletion

Criteria for Speedy Deletion

General Patent nonsense Test pages Vandalism pages Hoaxes Re-creation of page deleted via a deletion discussion Technical deletions (e.g., housekeeping) Author requests deletion directly, or blanks the page Pages dependent on a non-existent or deleted page (e.g., orphaned talk pages) Pages that disparage, threaten, intimidate or harass their subject or some other entity, and serve no other purpose (e.g., attack pages) Spam: Unambiguous advertising or promotion Unambiguous copyright infringement No content/no context Files/images: Age-inappropriate material Redundant/duplicate Corrupt or empty image Improper licence Lack of licensing information Orphaned non-free use images Orphaned free use images Missing non-free use rationale Invalid fair-use claim Unambiguous copyright infringement Useless non-media files No evidence of permission Categories: Unpopulated categories Renaming or merging User pages: User request Non-existent user Non-free galleries Inappropriate page, despite being in semi-private userspace Templates: Misrepresentation of policy Duplication and hardcoded instances

Flagging

If the page qualifies for speedy deletion, per one of the above criteria, then place {{speedydelete}} at the top of the page to be deleted.

This will add the page to Category:Candidates for speedy deletion, which is monitored by the Scratchpad Administrators.

Edit summaries

Before pressing Save page, an edit summary that provides the reason for deletion must be provided.

Regular deletions

If a deletion request does not qualify for speedy deletion, then before it can be deleted, other Scratchpad members must be given the opportunity to discuss the deletion. Therefore, you have to nominate the page for deletion.

Flagging

If the page does not qualify for speedy deletion, then place {{delete}} at the top of the page to be deleted.

This will add the page to Category:Candidates for deletion, which is monitored by the Scratchpad Administrators.

Edit summaries

Before pressing Save page, an edit summary that provides the reason for deletion must be provided.

Deletion discussion

After flagging the page to be deleted, and saving it with an edit summary, the person nominating the page for deletion needs to open a discussion at Category talk:Candidates for deletion.

To initiate the deletion discussion, do the following:

• Go to Category talk:Candidates for deletion
• Press the Add topic button
• In the Add the section headline box, input the exact name of the page to be deleted
• In the edit window, provide the reason why the page should be deleted (i.e., why you are nominating the page for deletion)