PBC:Criteria for speedy deletion

For requests to hide the contents of edit summaries, see PBC:Revision deletion.

The criteria for speedy deletion (CSD) specify the only cases in which administrators have broad consensus to bypass deletion discussion, at their discretion, and immediately delete PBC pages or media. They cover only the cases specified in the rules here.

Deletion is reversible, but only by administrators, so other deletions occur only after discussion, unless they are proposed deletions. Speedy deletion is intended to reduce the time spent on deletion discussions for pages or media with no practical chance of surviving discussion.

Administrators should take care not to speedy delete pages or media except in the most obvious cases. If a page has survived its most recent deletion discussion, it should not be speedy deleted and pages that meet specific uncontroversial criteria; these criteria are noted below. Contributors sometimes create pages over several edits, so administrators should avoid deleting a page that appears incomplete too soon after its creation.

Anyone can request speedy deletion by adding one of the speedy deletion templates. Before nominating a page for speedy deletion, consider whether it could be improved, reduced to a stub, merged or redirected elsewhere, reverted to a better previous revision, or handled in some other way. A page is eligible for speedy deletion only if all of its revisions are also eligible. Users nominating a page for speedy deletion should specify which criterion/criteria the page meets, and should notify the page creator and any major contributors.

The creator of a page may not remove a speedy deletion tag from it. Only an editor who is not the creator of a page may do so. A creator who disagrees with the speedy deletion should instead click on the Contest this speedy deletion button that appears inside of the speedy deletion tag. This button links to the discussion page with a pre-formatted area for the creator to explain why the page should not be deleted. However, if the sole author blanks a page (other than a userspace page or category page), this can be taken as a deletion request, and the blank page tagged for deletion with {{Delete-blanked}} (see G7).

Introduction to criteria

Abbreviations (G12, A3...) are often used to refer to these criteria, and are given in each section. These abbreviations can be confusing to new editors or anyone else unfamiliar with this page; in many situations a plain-English explanation of why a specific page was deleted is preferable.

Immediately following each criterion below is a list of templates used to mark pages or media files for speedy deletion under the criterion being used. In order to alert administrators to the nomination, place the relevant speedy deletion template at the top of the page or media file you are nominating (within <noinclude>...</noinclude> if nominating a Template: page); if the page is protected, place the template on the corresponding Talk page instead, along with an explanation of which page to delete. Please be sure to supply an edit summary that mentions that the page is being nominated for speedy deletion. All of the speedy deletion templates are named as "Delete-X". A list of the "Delete-X" templates can be found at PBC:Criteria for speedy deletion/Deletion templates.

If a page falls under more than one of the criteria, instead of adding multiple tags it is possible to add a single {{Delete-multiple}} tag to cover them all. For example, if an article seems both to be promotional (G11) and also to fail to indicate significance of its subject (A7) then the tag {{Delete-multiple|G11|A7}} can be used to indicate both of these concerns. Then the article can be speedily deleted if an administrator assesses it and decides that either or both of the criteria apply.

Use common sense when applying a speedy deletion request to a page: review the page history to make sure that all prior revisions of the page meet the speedy deletion criterion, because a single editor can replace an article with material that appears to cause the page to meet one or more of the criteria.

Pages that have survived deletion discussions

When applicable, the following criteria may be used to delete pages that have survived their most recent deletion discussions:

• G6, technical deletions
• G8, pages dependent on nonexistent pages
• G9, office actions
• A2, foreign language articles on other PBC projects
• A5, transwikied pages
• F8, images on PBC Media Repository

These criteria may only be used in such cases when no controversy exists; in the event of a dispute, start a new deletion discussion.

List of criteria

General

These apply to every type of page with exclusions listed for specific criteria, and so apply to articles, redirects, user pages, talk pages, files, etc. Read the specifics for each criterion to see where and how they apply.

G1. Patent nonsense

This applies to pages consisting entirely of incoherent text or gibberish with no meaningful content or history. It does not cover poor writing, partisan screeds, obscene remarks, implausible theories, vandalism or hoaxes, fictional material, coherent non-English material. Nor does it apply to user sandboxes or other pages in the user namespace. In short, if you can understand it, G1 does not apply.

• {{Delete-g1}}, {{Delete-nonsense}}

G2. Test pages

This applies to pages created to test editing or other PBC functions. It applies to subpages of the PBC Sandbox created as tests, but does not apply to the Sandbox itself: it does not apply to pages in the user namespace, nor does it apply to valid but unused or duplicate templates (although criterion T3 may apply).

• {{Delete-g2}}, {{Delete-test}}

G3. Pure vandalism and blatant hoaxes

Further information: PBC:Vandalism and PBC:Do not create hoaxes

This applies to pages that are blatant and obvious misinformation, blatant hoaxes (including images intended to misinform), and redirects created by cleanup from page-move vandalism. Articles about notable hoaxes are acceptable if it is clear that they are describing a hoax.

• {{Delete-g3}}, {{Delete-vandalism}}, {{Delete-hoax}}

G4. Recreation of a page that was deleted per a deletion discussion

This applies to sufficiently identical copies, having any title, of a page deleted via its most recent deletion discussion. It excludes pages that are not substantially identical to the deleted version, pages to which the reason for the deletion no longer applies, and content that has been moved to user space or converted to a draft for explicit improvement (but not simply to circumvent PBC's deletion policy). This criterion also does not cover content undeleted via a deletion review or that was deleted via proposed deletion or speedy deletion (although in that case the previous speedy criterion, or other speedy criteria, may apply).

• {{Delete-g4}}, {{Delete-repost}}

G5. Creations by banned or blocked users

Further information: PBC:Banning policy and PBC:Blocking policy

This applies to pages created by banned or blocked users in violation of their ban or block, and that have no substantial edits by others. G5 should not be applied to transcluded templates or to categories that may be useful or suitable for merging.

• To qualify, the edit or article must have been made while the user was actually banned or blocked. A page created before the ban or block was imposed or after it was lifted will not qualify under this criterion.
• To qualify, the edit must be a violation of the user's specific block or ban. Pages created by a topic-banned user may be deleted if they come under that particular topic, but not if they are legitimately about some other topic.
• {{Delete-g5|name of banned user}}, {{Delete-banned|name of banned user}}

G6. Technical deletions

This is for uncontroversial maintenance, including:

• Deleting empty dated maintenance categories.
• Deleting a disambiguation page that links to only one extant article and whose title includes "(disambiguation)"
• Deleting redirects or other pages blocking page moves. Administrators should be aware of the proper procedures where a redirect/page holding up a page move has a non-trivial page history. An administrator who deletes a page that is blocking a move should ensure that the move is completed after deleting it.
• Deleting pages unambiguously created in error or in the incorrect namespace.
• Deleting templates orphaned as the result of a consensus at PBC:TfD.
• Deleting userspace drafts containing only the default Article Wizard text if the user who created the page has been inactive for at least one year.
• {{Delete-g6|rationale=reason}}, {{Delete-copypaste|page to be moved}}, {{Delete-disambig}}, {{Delete-move|page to be moved|reason}}, {{Delete-xfd|fullvotepage=link to closed deletion discussion}}, {{Delete-error}}, {{Delete-redircom}}, {{Delete-blankdraft}}