See HowToDeletePages after picking a page to delete.
Reasons to delete a page
- It's just an editing experiment by a newbie, see HowToUseDeletedButWelcome.
- It's an AbandonedHomePage, but see AreYouThere.
- If someone sets up a corner of WardsWiki for private purposes. See WikiSquatting.
- It's an OrphanPage (easily found with http://c2.com/cgi/orphanWikiPages) and is not likely to become connected. Click on the page title to verify if there are any BackLinks.
- It's virtually an OrphanPage (see DeleteNoContextLinks) but doesn't show up with the above script.
- You're reworking in a way that makes it redundant.
- It's just flamage.
- Deleting it resolves an argument amicably and consensually.
- You wrote it and you think better of having written it. However, if others have contributed to it, think twice.
- It's OffTopic and ...
- You find an acceptable place for it. There are several SisterSites which have been provided for such pages.
- It's basically free of content. It's so easy to create pages, there's no need to create them speculatively.
- Other OffTopic pages that receive general acceptance due to community interest, may be left alone.
Reasons not to delete a page
- You've deleted the page before. (See DeleteOnceRestoreOnce.)
- It's on topic and unique.
- You don't know what it means.
- It's not on a topic that interests you.
- Its content offends you.
- Someone you don't like wrote it.
- It's short.
Alternative to deletion
- Prefer RefactoringWikiPages over simply deleting.
- Move the page to an appropriate SisterSite.
- Consider use of DeleteThisPageSoon?
- Move content by particular authors to their HomePages.
When appropriate, check for other edits by the same person before deleting.
- Do not understand. Please explain.
- For example, such a check may reveal that a new page that seems to be an orphan is actually referenced from another page edited by the same person.
- For this reason one should always wait at least a day, preferably two days, before seconding deletions. That gives time for the backlinks database to update so you can check that the page isn't referenced from anywhere.
Also:
- There were recent disputes about DeleteOnceRestoreOnce. So comments about preconditions for overriding this guideline are useful (e.g., If DeleteInsults is really the better choice, spell out and illustrate it with an example).
See WhenToDeletePagesDiscussion