Wq/syl/Wikiquote:Criteria for speedy deletion

"wq/syl/WQ:SPEEDY" redirects here. For the guideline discussing when to end deletion debates early as "keep", see Wq/syl/Wikiquote:Speedy keep. For the list of current candidates for speedy deletion, see Category:wq/syl/Candidates for speedy deletion. For the speedy renaming of categories, see Wikiquote:Categories for discussion/Speedy. For speedy moves, see Wikiquote:Requested moves/Technical requests.

"WQ:SD" redirects here. For the shortcut directory, see Wikiquote:Shortcut directory. For information on short descriptions, see Wikiquote:Short description.

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 Wikipedia pages or media. Because deletion is reversible only by administrators, 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. Anyone can request speedy deletion by adding one of the speedy deletion templates, but only administrators may actually delete.

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 (see Template:Wq/syl/Section link). A page is eligible for speedy deletion only if all of its history is 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. If a page needs to be removed from Wikipedia for privacy reasons (e.g. non-public personal information, a child disclosing their age, possible libel), request oversight instead.

For most speedy deletion criteria, Template:Wq/syl/Em; 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. If an editor other than the creator removes a speedy deletion tag in good faith, it should be taken as a sign that the deletion is controversial and another deletion process should be used. The creator of a page may remove a speedy deletion tag only if the criterion in question is G6, G7, G8, G13, G14, C1, C4 or U1.

Administrators should take care not to speedily delete pages or media except in the most obvious cases. If a page has survived its most recent deletion discussion, it should not be speedily deleted except for newly discovered copyright violations 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.

Besides speedy deletion, there are the following methods of deletion:

• Wikipedia:Deletion discussions (AfD, CfD, FfD, MfD, RfD, TfD), the normal method of carrying out deletion.
• Wikipedia:Proposed deletions, for nominating articles and files for uncontroversial deletion.
• Wikipedia:Proposed deletion of biographies of living people, for articles on living persons without sources.

Nomenclature

Letter-number abbreviations (G12, A3...) are often used to refer to these criteria, and are given in each section. For example, "CSD G12" refers to criterion 12 under general (copyright infringement) and "CSD U1" refers to criterion 1 under user (user request). Some in-between numbers are skipped, as abbreviations denoting obsolete criteria remain unused. 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 or should be deleted is preferable.

Requesting speedy deletion

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 (but see Template:Wq/syl/Sectionlink below). 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 Db-X with Db standing for 'delete because'. A list of the Db-X templates can be found at Wikipedia: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 {{Db-multiple}} tag to cover them all. For example, if an article seems both to be blatantly promotional (G11) and also to fail to indicate significance of its subject (A7) then the tag {{Db-multiple|G11|A7}} can be used to indicate both of these concerns. The article can then be speedily deleted if an administrator assesses it and decides that either or both of the criteria apply.

There is strong consensus that the creators and major contributors of pages and media files should be warned of a speedy deletion nomination (or of the deletion if not informed before). All speedy deletion templates (using criteria other than U1, G5, G6, G7, and G8) thus contain in their body a pre-formatted, suggested warning template to notify the relevant party or parties of the nomination for speedy deletion under the criterion used. You can copy and paste such warnings to the talk pages of the creators and major contributors, choose from others listed at Category:Wq/syl/CSD warning templates, or place the unified warning template, Template:Wq/syl/Tlxs, which allows you to tailor your warning under any particular criterion by replacing Template:Var with the associated criterion abbreviation (e.g. g4, a7).

Use common sense when applying a speedy deletion request to a page: review the page history to make sure that all earlier 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 need to be tagged in a special manner

Some pages either cannot or should not be tagged for speedy deletion in the normal manner:

• Pages that you cannot edit (e.g., due to protection), or JSON pages: place the template on the corresponding Talk page instead, along with an explanation of which page to delete.
• Template: pages: place the template within a noinclude tag, like this: <noinclude>Template:Wq/syl/Tlf</noinclude>
• Module: pages (except for /doc pages): place the template with Module wikitext, like this: require('Module:Module wikitext')._addText('{{Db-x}}')
• CSS (including sanitized CSS) or JavaScript pages: place the template in a comment, like this: /*

ERROR: This page is using an unprefixed version of template {{Tlf}}

Create {{Wq/syl/Tlf}} instead and replace all occurences of {{Tlf}} in Wq/syl/ prefixed pages by that.

{{Db-x}} */

Pages that have survived deletion discussions

Template:Wq/syl/For As an exception to the norm that a page surviving its most recent deletion discussion means that it should not be speedily deleted, the following criteria apply also to those pages, with or without any specified limitations:

Template:Wq/syl/Unbulleted list

These criteria may only be used in such cases when no controversy exists; in the event of a dispute, start a new deletion discussion. However, newly discovered copyright violations should be tagged for G12 if the violation existed in all previous revisions of the article. G5 may be also used at discretion, subject to meeting the criterion outlined above.

General

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

G1. Patent nonsense

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut Template:Wq/syl/Further This applies to pages consisting entirely of incoherent text or gibberish with no meaningful content or history. It does Template:Wq/syl/Em cover poor writing, partisan screeds, obscene remarks, implausible theories, vandalism, hoaxes, fictional material, coherent non-English material, or poorly translated material. In short, if it is understandable, G1 does not apply. It also does not apply to pages in the user namespace.

• {{Db-g1}}, {{Db-nonsense}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as nonsense pages (0)

G2. Test pages

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut This applies to pages created to test editing or other Wikipedia functions. It applies to subpages of the Wikipedia Sandbox created as tests, but does not apply to the Sandbox itself, pages in the user namespace, or valid but unused or duplicate templates.

• {{Db-g2}}, {{Db-test}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as test pages (0)

G3. Pure vandalism and blatant hoaxes

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut Template:Wq/syl/Further This applies to pages that are blatant and obvious misinformation, blatant hoaxes (including files intended to misinform), and redirects created by cleanup from page-move vandalism. [[Wq/syl/Wikipedia:Do not create hoaxes#Hoaxes, versus articles about hoaxes|Articles Template:Wq/syl/Em notable hoaxes]] are acceptable if it is clear that they are describing a hoax.

• {{Db-g3}}, {{Db-vandalism}} – for vandalism
• {{Db-hoax}} – for hoaxes
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as vandalism (0), Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as hoaxes (0)

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

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut This applies to sufficiently identical copies, having any title, of a page deleted via its most recent deletion discussion. It excludes pages that are Template:Wq/syl/Em substantially identical to the deleted version, and pages to which the reason for the deletion no longer applies. It excludes pages in userspace and draftspace where the content was converted to a draft for explicit improvement (but not simply to circumvent Wikipedia's deletion policy). This criterion also does not cover content undeleted via a deletion review, or that was only deleted via proposed deletion (including deletion discussions closed as "soft delete") or speedy deletion.

• {{Db-g4}}, {{Db-repost}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as pages previously deleted via deletion discussion (0)

G5. Creations by banned or blocked users, or in violation of general sanctions

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut Template:Wq/syl/Further This applies to pages created by banned or blocked users in violation of their ban or block, as well as pages created in violation of general sanctions, and that have no substantial edits by others not subject to the ban or sanctions.

• To qualify, the edit or page 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. This excludes pages created in violation of general sanctions.
• For topic-banned editors, the page must be a violation of the user's specific ban, and must not include contributions legitimately about some other topic.
• For general sanctions, the page must have been created in violation of creation restrictions, such as the extended confirmed restriction, and the remedies must specifically permit deletion as an enforcement measure.
• When a blocked or banned person uses an alternate account (sockpuppet) to avoid a restriction, any pages created via the sock account after the earliest block or ban of any of that person's accounts qualify for G5 (if not substantially edited by others); this is the most common case for applying G5.
• G5 should not be applied to transcluded templates or populated categories unless they have been transcluded or populated entirely by the banned or blocked user; these edits need to be reverted before deletion.
• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp, Template:Wq/syl/Tlp, Template:Wq/syl/Tlp
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as having been created by blocked or banned users (0), Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as having been created in violation of general sanctions (0)

G6. Technical deletions

This is for uncontroversial maintenance, including:

• Deleting redirects or other pages which prevent page moves. Administrators should be aware of the proper procedures where a redirect or 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, or redirects created by moving away from a title that was obviously unintended.
• Deleting templates orphaned as the result of a consensus at Wikipedia:Templates for discussion.

• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp – If none of the special tags below applies, this tag should be used with a reason specified in the Template:Wq/syl/Para parameter.
• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp – for cut-and-paste page moves that need to be temporarily deleted to make room for a clean page move.
• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp – for pages that are currently holding up a non-controversial or consensual page move.
• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp – for pages that were holding up a page move, until they were moved out of the way by a page mover.
• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp <

G7. Author requests deletion

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut If requested in good faith and provided that the only substantial content of the page was added by its author. For redirects created as a result of a page move, the mover must also have been the only substantive contributor to the pages before the move. If the sole author blanks a page other than a userspace page, a category page, or any type of talk page, this can be taken as a deletion request. If an author requests deletion of a page currently undergoing a deletion discussion, the closing admin may interpret that request as agreement with the deletion rationale.

• {{Db-g7}}, {{Db-author}}, {{Db-blanked}}, {{Db-self}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion by user (0) (same category as U1)

G8. Pages dependent on a non-existent or deleted page

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Talk pages with no corresponding subject page
• Subpages with no parent page
• TimedText pages without a corresponding file (or when the file has been moved to Commons)
• Redirects to targets that never existed or were deleted
• Editnotices of non-existent or unsalted deleted pages

This criterion excludes any page that is useful to Wikipedia, and in particular:

• Deletion discussions that are not logged elsewhere
• User talk pages
• Talk page archives (except article talk page archives where the corresponding article and main talk page have been deleted and the page is not otherwise useful to Wikipedia – check for page-moves and merges before using G8 on article-talk-page-archives; the parent article might still exist under a different name)
• Redirects that were broken as a result of a page move or retargeting (these should instead be retargeted to their target's new name), except where R2 speedy deletion would then immediately apply if they were fixed (e.g., redirects to articles that have been draftified)
• Plausible redirects that can be changed to valid targets
• User subpages
• Talk pages for files that exist on Wikimedia Commons
• Pages that should be moved to a different location

Exceptions may be sign-posted with the template {{G8-exempt}}.

• {{Db-g8}} – for cases not covered by any of the special tags below
• {{Db-imagepage}} – for file description pages with no corresponding file
• {{Db-redirnone}} – for pages that redirect to nonexistent/deleted pages, or pages currently flagged for speedy deletion
• {{Db-subpage}} – for subpages of nonexistent/deleted pages, or pages currently flagged for speedy deletion
• {{Db-talk}} – for talk pages of nonexistent/deleted pages, or pages currently flagged for speedy deletion
• {{Db-templatecat}} – for categories populated by a deleted or retargeted template
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as dependent on a non-existent page (0), Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as broken redirects (0)

G9. Office actions

In exceptional circumstances, the Wikimedia Foundation office reserves the right to speedy-delete a page. Deletions of this type must not be reversed without permission from the Foundation.

G10. Pages that disparage, threaten, intimidate, or harass their subject or some other entity, and serve no other purpose

Examples of "attack pages" may include: libel, legal threats, material intended purely to harass or intimidate a person, or biographical material about a living person that is entirely negative in tone and unsourced. These pages should be speedily deleted when there is no neutral version in the page history to revert to. Both the page title and page content may be taken into account in assessing an attack. Articles about living people deleted under this criterion should not be restored or recreated by any editor until the biographical article standards are met. Other pages violating the Biographies of living persons policy might be eligible for deletion under the conditions stipulated at Template:Wq/syl/Sectionlink, although in most cases a deletion discussion should be initiated instead.

Redirects from plausible search terms are not eligible under this criterion. For example, a term used on the target page to refer to its subject is often a plausible redirect – see Wikipedia:RNEUTRAL.

• {{Db-g10}}, {{Db-attack}}, {{Db-attackorg}}, {{Db-personal attack}}
• {{Db-negublp}} – for articles about living persons that are unsourced, entirely negative in tone, and have no neutral version to revert to
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as attack pages (0)

G11. Unambiguous advertising or promotion

This applies to pages that are Template:Wq/syl/Em promotional and would need to be Template:Wq/syl/Em rewritten to serve as encyclopedia articles, rather than advertisements. If a subject is notable and the content could plausibly be replaced with text written from a neutral point of view, this is preferable to deletion. Note: Any article that describes its subject from a neutral point of view does not qualify for this criterion. However, "promotion" does not necessarily mean commercial promotion: anything can be promoted, including a person, a non-commercial organization, a point of view, etc.

• {{Db-g11}}, {{Db-promo}}, {{Db-spam}}
• {{Db-spamuser}} – for userpages used only for publicity and promotion, with a username that promotes or implies affiliation with the entity being promoted
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as spam (0)

G12. Unambiguous copyright infringement

This applies to text pages that contain copyrighted material with no credible assertion of public domain, fair use, or a compatible free license, where there is no non-infringing content on the page worth saving. Only if the history is unsalvageably corrupted should it be deleted in its entirety; earlier versions without infringement should be retained. For equivocal cases that do not meet speedy deletion criteria (such as where there is a dubious assertion of permission, where free-content edits overlie the infringement, or where there is only partial infringement or close paraphrasing), the article or the appropriate section should be blanked with Template:Wq/syl/Tls, and the page should be listed at Wikipedia:Copyright problems. Please consult Wikipedia:Copyright violations for other instructions. Public-domain and other free content, such as a Wikipedia mirror, do not fall under this criterion, nor is mere lack of attribution of such works a reason for speedy deletion. For images and media, see the equivalent criterion in the "Files" section here, which has more specific instructions.

• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp, Template:Wq/syl/Tlp

Note: If other criteria apply in addition to G12, the template {{Db-multiple}} should be used instead, so we do not waste time seeking copyright permission after deleting the page.

• Template:Wq/syl/Tlp
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as copyright violations (0) (same category as F9)

G13. Abandoned drafts and Articles for creation submissions

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut Template:Wq/syl/Further This applies to any pages that have not been edited by a human in six months found in:

1. Draft namespace,
2. Userspace with an {{AFC submission}} template
3. Userspace with no content except the article wizard placeholder text.

Redirects are exempt from G13 deletion. Adding a CSD template to a page does not reset the six-month clock, but removing a CSD template does. Pages deleted under G13 may be restored upon request by following the procedure at Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion/G13.

• {{Db-g13}}, {{Db-afc}}, {{db-blankdraft}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as abandoned drafts or AfC submissions (0)

G14. Unnecessary disambiguation pages

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut This applies to the following disambiguation pages and redirects:

• Disambiguation pages that have titles ending in Template:Wq/syl/Nowrap but disambiguate only one extant Wikipedia page.
• Regardless of title, disambiguation pages that disambiguate zero extant Wikipedia pages.
• A redirect that ends in Template:Wq/syl/Nowrap but does not redirect to a disambiguation page or a page that performs a disambiguation-like function (such as set index articles or lists).

If a disambiguation page links to only one article and does not end in (disambiguation), it should be changed to a redirect, unless it is more appropriate to move the linked page to the title currently used for the disambiguation page.

• {{Db-g14}}, {{Db-disambig}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as unnecessary disambiguation pages (0)

Articles

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut These criteria apply only to pages in the article (main) namespace. They do not apply to redirects. For any articles that are not speedy deletion candidates, use Wikipedia:Articles for deletion or Wikipedia:Proposed deletion.

A1. No context

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut This applies to articles lacking sufficient context to identify the subject of the article. Example: "He is a funny man with a red car. He makes people laugh." It applies only to very short articles. Note that context is different from content, treated in A3. This Template:Wq/syl/Em coherent non-English material, and poorly translated material. If any information in the title or on the page, including links, allows an editor, possibly with the aid of a web search, to find further information on the subject in an attempt to expand or edit it, A1 is not appropriate. Do not tag under this criterion in the first few minutes after a new article is created.

• {{Db-a1}}, {{Db-nocontext}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as lacking context (0)

A2. Foreign-language articles that exist on another Wikimedia project

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut This applies to articles not written in English that have essentially the same content as an article on another Wikimedia project. If the article is not the same as an article on another project, use the template {{Not English}} instead, and list the page at Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English for review and possible translation.

• {{Db-a2}}, {{Db-foreign}}
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as existing on foreign Wikimedia projects (0)

A3. No content

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut This applies to articles consisting only of external links, category tags or "See also" sections, a rephrasing of the title, attempts to correspond with the person or group named by its title, questions that should have been asked at a noticeboard, chat-like comments, template tags, or images. This may also apply to articles consisting entirely of the framework of the Article wizard with no additional content, or no content at all. However, a very short article may be a valid stub if it has context, in which case it is not eligible for deletion under this criterion. Similarly, this criterion does not cover a page having only an infobox, unless its contents also meet another speedy deletion criterion. This criterion Template:Wq/syl/Em poor writing, coherent non-English material, and poorly translated material. Do not tag under this criterion in the first few minutes after a new article is created.

• {{Db-a3}}, {{Db-nocontent}}, {{Db-contact}}
• {{Db-empty}} – context-specific version: calls {{Db-c1}} for categories, and {{Db-a3}} everywhere else.
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as empty articles (0)

A7. No indication of importance (people, animals, organizations, web content, events)

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut Template:Wq/syl/Further This applies to any article about a real person, individual animal, commercial or non-commercial organization, web content, or organized event that does not indicate why its subject is important or significant, with the exception of educational institutions. This is distinct from verifiability and reliability of sources, and is a lower standard than notability. This criterion applies only to articles about the listed subjects; in particular, it does not apply to articles about albums (these may be covered by CSD A9), products, books, films, TV programs, software, or other creative works, nor to entire Template:Wq/syl/Em of animals. The criterion does apply if the claim of significance or importance given is not credible, and any article with a blatantly false claim may be submitted for speedy deletion as a hoax instead. If the claim's credibility is unclear, you can improve the article yourself, propose deletion, or list the article at articles for deletion.

The criterion does not apply to any article that makes any credible claim of significance or importance even if the claim is not supported by a reliable source or does not qualify on Wikipedia's notability guidelines.

• {{Db-a7}}
• {{Db-person}} – for people
• {{Db-band}} – for bands
• {{Db-club}} – for clubs, societies and groups
• {{Db-inc}} – for commercial and non-commercial organizations
• {{Db-web}} – for web content
• {{Db-animal}} – for individual animals
• {{Db-event}} – for events
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as importance or significance not asserted (0) (same as A9)

A9. No indication of importance (musical recordings)

Template:Wq/syl/Shortcut Template:Wq/syl/Further This applies to any article about a musical recording or list of musical recordings where none of the contributing recording artists has an article and that does not indicate why its subject is important or significant (Template:Wq/syl/Em conditions must be met). This is distinct from questions of verifiability and [[Wikipedia:Id