[WikiEN-l] Speedy deletions

[Mark Gallagher]

G'day SCZenz,

> 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 agree entirely.

> 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.

It's not people mis-tagging articles that bothers me: I can easily 
remove the tags.  What bothers me is when:

a) an admin unthinkingly deletes it, "it's tagged; who am I to
    disagree?".  Sometimes I've seen a salvageable article while going
    through the CSD category and been busy rewriting it when another
    admin thoughtlessly deletes it; that *really* irritates me.

b) I remove the tag, and cop (at best) a polite query or (at worst)
    unfettered abuse as a result.  "It's tagged; who are YOU to remove
    it?"  It seems to be a grave insult to the CVUers and their ilk that
    an admin would dare to disregard their recommendations.  I suspect
    the only way to make them happy would be to either give them delete
    buttons themselves, or write a bot that automatically deletes any
    article that finds its way into the CSD category.

I did newpage patrol (well, I clicked on every orange bar that appeared 
in CDVF and tagged as appropriate) myself before adminship was thrust 
upon me like so much <ran out of steam; feel free to insert your own 
simile/>.  I understand the pressures our patrollers are under.  I don't 
begrudge them an improperly tagged article or two.

But those of us who come along and delete articles after they've been 
tagged need to have our brains engaged before we hit that button.  And 
if, instead of deleting an article, we simply remove the tag, the tagger 
needs to Learn From The Experience instead of proving himself to lack 
the maturity required for possession of such a button.


<snip/>

-- 
Mark Gallagher
"What?  I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!"
- Danger Mouse



-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.392 / Virus Database: 268.6.1/344 - Release Date: 19/05/2006