Wikiversity:Deletion policy

From Wikiversity

This page is a proposed Wikiversity policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. References or links to this page should only describe it as a "proposal".

Shortcut: WV:D

see Working copy for revision in progress.

Occasionally pages may be created that do not benefit Wikiversity's mission. This page documents when to delete pages and when other options might be more appropriate.

[edit] Process

Deletion can both harm and aid Wikiversity:

1. Deletion can harm Wikiversity when participants are lost and works that could have become useful with enough time are removed.
2. Deletion can aid Wikiversity by keeping Wikiversity focused and on-task.

To avoid harm, deletion should always be the last option when all else has failed. Always attempt to find another solution first. When in doubt use the page's discussion page to ask questions and to work things out.

Generally deletions should be a community decision and done only in accordance with this policy. Always use Requests for Deletion to discuss with your fellow participants any problems a work might have if you are unsure or have any doubts, and all other attempts have failed. Use common sense and assume good faith. Sometimes good material is replaced, always check the page's history and if this is the case undo changes instead.

Use {{deletion request}} at the top of pages to give participants an opportunity to share their thoughts. If you are reasonable sure that the community would support deletion you may instead propose that pages be speedy deleted. Use {{delete|<reason>}} at the top of pages to give participants an opportunity to share their thoughts. Speedy deletion usually bypasses the consensus process, so you must always give a good reason for doing so. Anyone may remove a speedy deletion request or change a speedy deletion request into a request for deletion in order to get community consensus.

Custodians should use their best judgment in deciding whether to honor a speedy deletion request or not, and whether to honor the outcome of a request for deletion discussion. Custodians may also delete pages as part of a page move or history merge if the action requiring deletion is uncontroversial.

[edit] Delete or not?

The following is not intended to be an exhaustive list, just recommendations to follow when deciding whether pages should be deleted or not:

• Keep stubs and pages that could become acceptable material if heavily edited. Even stubs or pages that are biased, inaccurate, disorganized, or abandoned can be fixed. You can either fix the problems yourself or identify the problems so someone else can fix it.
• Keep pages that are within the scope of the learning project there in, unless nominated for deletion due to a general consensus decision by the project contributors. In this situation, please note the location of the relevant discussion that occurred regarding the deletion.
• Keep material that can be reused in another learning project or could be used to start a new learning project.
• Keep abandoned learning projects that are within Wikiversity's scope. Participants may adopt it at a later date.
• Keep small and large learning projects. Wikiversity has no size limitations, restrictions or requirements.
• Keep material that was previously proposed for deletion and consensus was to keep or was previously undeleted due to consensus.
• Move material outside of Wikiversity's scope that could be saved by being included on another Wikimedia project where the material is within scope.
• Delete user pages, user talk pages, and any user subpages requested by the user that the pages belong to, unless it could be used to start a useful learning project.
• Delete material that are clearly outside Wikiversity' mission and has no reasonable chance of ever being constructive. This includes pages with only vandalism, spam, personal attacks (e.g. "f**k you"), racism, bigotry, prejudices, praises (e.g. "this guy is great!"), sensitive personal information without the person's consent, and tests (e.g. Can I really create a page here?").
• Delete materials and media that violate any of Wikiversity's official policies or guidelines, unless there is a good reason not to.
• Delete material and media confirmed to be copyright violations, and a reasonable amount of time has passed to seek permission to use the work.
• Delete material outside Wikiversity's scope that has been moved to a more appropriate Wikimedia project or website.
• Delete local media that has been moved to Wikimedia Commons or media that is available from Wikimedia Commons that was duplicated locally.
• Delete redirects not linked to by anything locally that were created within the last week or redirects tagged with {{subst:dated soft redirect|"[[new title]]"}} for at least two months. Redirects to nonexistent pages may be deleted at any time.
• Delete discussion pages for deleted or nonexistent pages.
• Delete contents previously deleted where the content has not significantly changed and has not undergone a consensus discussion to undelete on Wikiversity:Requests for Deletion.

[edit] See also

• MediaWiki:Deletereason-dropdown - this determines the contents of the drop-down box used by sysops when deleting material from Wikiversity. The list of reasons should reflect this policy/guideline.