I personally fear systemic bias on wikipedia is being squeezed from two directions concurrently at the moment.
The way AFD currently works means that pages which are not on many users watchlists is uniquely vulnerable to AFD-wonks predation. So that means that the bias stemming from our communitys composition not only affects what gets created but also what gets deleted. This two-way squeeze worries me.
Although I commend in general terms the drive to emphasize quality over quantity, to me at least that does not extend so far as to emphasizing removal of content over creation of it. And this is a question that should at least be addressed. I think it would be useful if the board and or Jimbo uttered something on the matter to let us know how they view the question in general on this mailing list.
I do not wish to make this a discussion of specific examples but rather a more general definition of guiding principles. But if necessary for illustrating the reality of the issue, I will find some examples to ground it in reality. I really don't think such is necessary, and would much prefer to discuss the matter under a "veil of ignorance" about which particular areas are most vulnerable, and in the abstract.
So how about it? Even if we accept that quantity is *less* important than the quality, is creation still preferred over removal?