Deletion proposal - WikiEN-l

31 Jan 2006


      Hi all,
  Ok, so recently I suggested that there were three categories of
deletion - inappropriate topics (non-notables etc), overly-prominent
articles (fancrufts deserving of merging) and bad contents (copyvios,
libel etc). It now seems to me that the second category should never
end up in AfD at all, as it can be dealt with by any user, simply by
merging the content and redirecting the original page.
Hence, I would like to propose that AfD be split into two quite
separate problems: Topic blocking and content wiping.
Topic blocking would be a request to remove the content for a page (in
the normal Wiki way, so that it still shows in history), and then
protect the page. The goal is to say "The Wiki community has decided
that the Garage Mops are not sufficiently notable to warrant a place
in our encyclopaedia. Please do not create an article about them." An
admin in the future could of course unprotect the page if the band
becomes notable, or the community changes its mind.
Content wiping would be a request to permanently wipe the content of
page. It would be used primarily for copyvios, libel and other
*content* we really just don't want in Wikipedia. The history would be
erased, then the content reduced to a stub (or blank).
Two separate problems, two separate processes, two separate solutions.
Thoughts, anyone?
Steve