A reminder to everyone about speedy deletions...
It has come to my attention lately that the speedy deletion criteria are
being applied rather loosely in some cases. Especially unfortunate are
articles that are nominated for being "non-notable"; there is no such speedy
criterion, there is only the criterion that articles about people/groups may
be deleted if they have "no assertion of notability" whatsoever. This is
not just process wonkery--it is fundamendal to WP:CSD that the reason for
deletion be totally uncontroversial, as the process is almost entirely
without review.
I have encountered many speedy-tagged articles that, upon a careful look,
were either good articles or worthy of further consideration (e.g. through
PROD). It is incumbent on administrators who do speedy deletions to take
such careful looks at every article; there are enough of us to take the time
to do it right. It would also be helpful if those tagging pages would take
some care in what they tag, although I do understand that new pages patrol
(for example) is a thankless and rushed job which is very important.
In cases I've seen where I think mistakes were made, I have tried to start
discussions with the individual editors involved. My intention in sending
this email is not to single them out, but just to bring this issue to
everyone's attention. In many cases where an article is clearly unsuitable,
but doesn't clearly fit the speedy criteria, using the WP:PROD process is a
good substitute for speedy deletion, and I urge everyone to use it more
often.
Thanks,
SCZenz