[WikiEN-l] Speedy deletion patrol

[David Boothroyd]

I agree with this. A few days ago I created [[338171]]. Being rather
bored at the time I gave a facetious edit summary which claimed the
article was all about the number 338,171. It was swiftly tagged with
a speedy delete tag, and then deleted (despite me having quickly put
a {{hangon}}).

The article was actually a redirect to T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of
Arabia"). Wanting privacy, in later life Lawrence re-enlisted in the
RAF as an Aircraftsman (equivalent of Private in the Army), and was
given 338171 as his service number. He often signed himself "338171
A/C Shaw", prompting Noel Coward to ask him "May I call you 338?".

It was quite obvious on reading the article that it was actually a
redirect. If the admin had checked the article to which it was
redirected he would have found the reason explained there. So while
it's legitimate to claim to have been misled by the edit summary,
that really doesn't justify mistakenly speedying a perfectly good
redirect. I appreciate that speedy deletion patrollers are often
overworked but overwork is not an excuse for lack of common sense.
-- 
David Boothroyd - http://www.election.demon.co.uk
david at election.demon.co.uk (home)
dboothroyd at westminster.gov.uk (council)