The problem with this feature was that when the deleted material was libelous, offensive, etc., it would still automatically be copied into the deletion summary, which served to defeat the entire purpose of deleting it.

Newyorkbrad/IBM


On Monday, January 17, 2022, Amir E. Aharoni <amir.aharoni@mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:
Hallo!

There's an old MediaWiki feature: When an administrator deletes a page, a bit of its content is automatically added to an edit summary. This is later viewable in deletion logs.

If you edit in the English, German, or Italian Wikipedia, then you haven't actually seen this feature in years, because administrators in these wikis essentially removed it by locally blanking the system messages that make it work.

In many other wikis, however, this feature is still working.

Is it actually useful? Or should it perhaps be removed?

Here's a Phabricator task about it:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T299351

If you have an opinion, weigh in there or here.

Thanks!

--
Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי
http://aharoni.wordpress.com
‪“We're living in pieces,
I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬