[Wikipedia-l] deletion policy

[Jimmy Wales]

koyaanisqatsi at nupedia.com wrote:
> I'd like clarification on the deletion policy.  I just deleted a
> number of pages which contained nothing but "describe the new page
> here."  That seemed reasonable to me, but on revisiting
> [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia policy on permanent deletion of pages]] I see it
> says "Do not delete anything that might in the future become an
> encyclopedia topic.  Hence, just because someone has written a
> completely worthless article about John Doe, that doesn't mean we
> should permanently delete the topic, [[John Doe]], from the database."  
> 
> The articles showed absolutely no attempt, even a biased or
> misinformed one, to write an article.  I did keep the one that had a
> talk page.  But perhaps I've acted in haste.
> 
> Does the above include pages which say nothing more than "describe the
> new page here"?  Should we leave those or not?

I think you did the right thing.  I don't see how anyone could object.  It's that
the policy is poorly written on this particular point.

--Jimbo