This page regards content that is in any deletion discussion (XfD), to offer suggestions on finding the best solution that serves both our readers and complies with Wikipedia's policies. As the name implies, the Article Rescue Squadron primarily deals with rescuing articles in Wikipedia's article namespace but the same principles apply to all content. If it meets Wikipedia's policies and is useful to our readers it is more likely to be saved in some form; if not, it is more likely to be removed.
Experienced Wikipedians are familiar with the various discussions for deletion processes whereby content— articles, templates, images, audio, and video files, categories, redirects, and other items— is examined and re-examined to see if it merits inclusion on Wikipedia. The Wikipedia policy alternatives to deletion includes many policy-based options to deletion.
Editors, particularly new editors, often ask the Article Rescue Squadron for help saving an article. This guide is in part intended to instruct editors how to save articles and other content on their own. Since editors who ask for help may know more about the content up for deletion than others, and may be more interested in the subject, it makes sense to inform people how to rescue. These same skills of assessment, sourcing and integration can be applied to almost any area of Wikipedia.
| Resources for maintenance and collaboration |
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| Cleanup |
| Categories |
| Create an article |
| Referencing |
| Stubs |
| Deletion |
| Polishing |
| Translation into English |
| Images |
| Controversy |
| To-do lists |
| Disambiguation |
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For a listing of ongoing discussions, see the dashboard. |
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The provision of reliable-source references is the best way to save an article. Finding quality sources and adding them to articles takes time but with practice will likely come easier. For formatting references once you find them, see Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners.
Several useful tools have been created to make finding references easier. These resources may be used on article talk pages and user pages. They're not intended to be used directly on article pages themselves.
Wikiprojects sometimes have their own custom Google search, to sort through every website they have agreed is a reliable source. This often shows ample results that a Google news archive search does not. For example, Google Custom Search – Reliable Sources for Video Games is used for the video game Wikiproject. There is also a general purpose search engine, Reliable Sources Search Engine.
When faced with a large number of links to sort through from any search, here's some ways to narrow it down to find what you want.
The lead paragraph is the first paragraph in an article, and it is often the only paragraph a user will actually read. (Many users are either simply trying to verify a fact they already know, or understand why a certain place, person or thing is important.) Sadly, many articles are written with the assumption that the reader already knows why the subject of that article is important. This becomes vital for subjects which are not usually part of the general educational curriculum: for example, while it is widely known that Mao Tse Tung was the ruler of China and head of the Chinese Communist Party, far fewer people know Tekle Giyorgis I was emperor of Ethiopia, let alone that he existed or that there were Emperors of Ethiopia.
If an article does not have an informative lead that quickly asserts the notability of the subject it will likely be targeted for deletion. Writing an informative lead will help to avoid this fate, help our readers understand the subject and may even inspire then to read the rest of the article.
Lists are commonly used in Wikipedia to organize information. Redundancy between lists and categories is beneficial because they are synergistic, and is covered in the guideline Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and navigation templates. Like categories, lists can be used for keeping track of changes in the listed pages, using the Related Changes feature. Unlike a category, a list also allows detection of deletion of its entries, and, more generally, a history of its contents is available; lists also permit more than 200 entries to appear on a single page.
Lists have three main purposes: information, navigation and development. List articles sent to deletion generally need to show they can stand alone as a list article, are maintainable and sourceable.
| Deletion discussions |
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| Articles |
| Templates and modules |
| Files |
| Categories |
| Redirects |
| Miscellany |
| Speedy deletion |
| Proposed deletion |
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Categories are used to organize other pages and aid browsing of related articles. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (categories) for the policies guiding many renaming decisions, and Wikipedia:Category deletion policy for the policy governing this. Categories that have been listed for more than seven days are eligible for deletion, renaming or merging when a rough consensus to do so has been reached or no objections to the nomination have been raised. Unless the change is non-controversial (such as vandalism or a duplicate), please do not remove the category from pages before the community has made a decision.
Categories and WP:Lists often overlap see WP:Categories vs Lists for more on some the differences. Both are valued and both can co-exist offering our readers valuable content. For users new to CfD it may be helpful to review past discussions in the CfD archives of why certain cats are kept, moved or deleted. The goal, as always is not to "win" but get the category in line to serve our readers (and editors) best. Categories often move, are re-organized, split, merge and otherwise change over time whereas an article generally just grows.
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About deleted articles
There are three processes under which mainspace articles are deleted: 1) speedy deletion; 2) proposed deletion (prod) and 3) Articles for deletion (AfD). For more information, see WP:Why was my page deleted? To find out why the particular article you posted was deleted, go to the deletion log and type into the search field marked "title," the exact name of the article, mindful of the original capitalization, spelling and spacing. The deletion log entry will show when the article was deleted, by which administrator, and typically contain a deletion summary listing the reason for deletion. If you wish to contest this deletion, please contact the administrator first on their talk page and, depending on the circumstances, politely explain why you think the article should be restored, or why a copy should be provided to you so you can address the reason for deletion before reposting the article. If this is not fruitful, you have the option of listing the article at WP:Deletion review, but it will probably only be restored if the deletion was clearly improper.
List discussions
WP:Articles for deletion
WP:Categories for discussion WP:Copyright problems WP:Deletion review WP:Miscellany for deletion WP:Redirects for discussion WP:Stub types for deletion WP:Templates for discussion WP:WikiProject Deletion sorting WT:Articles for deletion WT:Categories for discussion WT:Copyright problems WT:Deletion review WT:Miscellany for deletion WT:Redirects for discussion WT:Stub types for deletion WT:Templates for discussion WT:WikiProject Deletion sorting | |
