Wikiversity:Deletions

The deletion guideline explains when and why custodians may delete and restore resources or specific revisions of a resource. The deletion log allows anyone to track deletions and restorations at Wikiversity. Deletion removes access while keeping resources and their development histories intact. Access can be restored through undeletion. Deletions and undeletions are discussed at Wikiversity:Requests for Deletion.

Types of deletion

Speedy

Resources may be subject to speedy deletion when a good reason is given by adding {{delete|your good reason}}. You may request community feedback, or object with or without explanation by removing the speedy deletion suggestion from the resource. Resources may not be subject to speedy deletion when a reasonable objection is made or is likely because participants may be able to learn how to implement concrete improvements when taught appropriate practices.

Criteria

A non-exhaustive list of possible reasons custodians may speedy delete resources include:

1. No educational objectives or discussion in history. Welcome users and resources when likely to be expanded shortly.
2. Solicitation for products, services, companies, events, people or other things with no educational merit or which generate direct financial benefit to the contributor.
3. Copyright work which do not satisfy Wikimedia's Terms of Use.
4. Resource moved to another project due to scope, or file uploaded to Wikimedia Commons with history intact and links fixed.
5. Author request by an only contributor or only substantial contributor, or arising from an expressed consensus of contributors.
6. Vandalism and user pages for vandalism-only accounts.
7. Sandbox that tests the wiki software outside user space and Wikiversity:Sandbox.
8. Discussion about deleted resources where context is lost and becoming an independent resource is unlikely.
9. Repost with no concrete improvements to merit keeping.
10. Archaic redirect with no educational histories, no links, and either no appropriate targets or not likely to be searched for.
11. Empty category with no notice suggesting the category may be occasionally empty.
12. Unused file lacking either a license or a source may be deleted one week after uploader is notified.
13. Reasonable maintenance task such as repairing cut-and-paste moves, and moving resources over a redirect.
14. Serious ethical breach, where a resource standing undeleted may cause harm.

Proposed deletion (prod)

Resources may be eligible for proposed deletion when education objectives and learning outcomes are scarce, and objections to deletion are unlikely. You may add {{subst:prod}} to the top of resources to propose deletion. A custodian may examine the resource after 90 days, and either delete the resource or remove the proposal. Anyone may object by removing the proposed deletion template from the resource, with or without an explanation on the resource's discussion page. Anyone still considering that the resource should be deleted may discuss deletion.

How to discuss

You should ask questions and discuss concerns with participants, make an effort to resolve problems yourself, and try alternatives as appropriate before suggesting deletion for resources with substantial development histories and contributions from multiple participants. You may ask for guidance and advice, explain what you have done or will do, and discuss options at Wikiversity:Requests for deletion. Resources are generally kept when a community decision is inconclusive. Add {{rfd}} to the top of resources to draw attention to the discussion. As a courtesy you may also notify any participants directly.

Be concise and specific when suggesting solutions, because the preferred outcome is one participants can learn from to implement concrete improvements. On occasion, deletion might be permissible when productivity from a fresh start is likely and concerns relate to Wikiversity's mission, scope, process, or policy in some way. If you can raise concerns not addressed by a previous discussion, you may begin a new discussion at Requests for Deletion. Reasonable requests for resources to be restored during discussion are honored where possible. Please only participate if you are willing to keep an open mind and make an effort to improve resources.

Alternatives to deletion

Participants can often implement concrete improvements and develop resources further when taught appropriate practices. Possible alternatives to deletion include:

What	Solution
In a foreign language	Translate to English, move to target language Wikiversity, or move to Beta Wikiversity if there is no Wikiversity in that language.
Too big or small	Split big resources into smaller resources or reorganize into subpages. Merge small resources or redirect to a bigger resource.
Outside learning project's scope	Merge with another learning project or use to start a new learning project.
Outside of Wikiversity's scope	Move to another Wikimedia project or website as appropriate. Some resources may be appropriate in userspace, like personal essays.
Broken redirects	Redirect to another appropriate target
Missing or incomplete license information	Assist user in supplying information, supply it if possible

Anyone may boldly implement concrete improvements that reasonably encourages collaborative education, or discuss alternative solutions on a resource's discussion page.

Deletion templates

This section is still subject to approval by the community. Visit Wikiversity talk:Deletions to discuss.

A concerted effort is underway to bring more visitors to Wikiversity by removing resources from mainspace that cannot be directly used by teachers and instructors. Those who wish to volunteer will likely use one of the four following templates:

1. {{delete}} for speedy deletion
2. {{subst:prod}} for a proposed deletion
3. {{dr}} for a deletion request
4. {{subst:Pagemove announcement}} informs the editors that their page or resource is likely to be moved to either draftspace or userspace. Wikiversity is a complex interaction between instructor teaching materials, student efforts, and even research. There is a (growing?) consensus that mainspace focus on teaching resources.

Speedy deletion

• Uses {{delete}} or {{delete|(with optional explanation)}}

Use Speedy deletion for uncontroversial deletions. Placing {{delete|I just said so...PERIOD!}} at the top of a page creates this banner:

The most common use of Speedy deletion is for pages written by a single author who wishes to retract the page or project. Other reasons include copyright violations, pseudoscientific claims, inappropriate language, advertisements, and slander or other efforts to harass living persons.

Anything that potentially causes harm should be immediately deleted, and Speedy deletion is the fastest way to remove a page. But a speedy deletion is also the most time-consuming to revert (if the resource actually gets deleted.) A good rule of thumb is never to speedy delete a resource that might be salvable or has had active edits in the past three years. Also, hesitate before you speedy delete a project a large number of subpages, as reverting such deletions can be extremely time-consuming.

Proposed deletion

• Uses {{subst:prod}}

Proposed deletion (or "prod") is for efforts that may or may not belong in mainspace. It creates a pause, or timeline that allows editors to debate the deletion on the talk page, and also ponder other options such as moving to user or draft space. In theory prod can result in an effort to improve the resource, although such events are extremely rare. Prod also places the discussion of whether to delete on a talk page, and the fewer people tempted to help sort out a "wiki-debate", the better. Prod's greatest disadvantage is it causes projects to remain in mainspace until the question is resolved. A simple remedy for this is to move the project into user or draft space until an outcome has been decided. Custodians can quickly move a resource with up to 100 subpages. To understand how this pause works, suppose that on January 1, 2000 you placed {{subst:prod}} at the top of a page to create this banner:

Link to any subpages this page might have

Note that the deadline for improving the page is exactly 90 days after the template was inserted. This gives editors time to improve the page or defend its virtues.

IMPORTANT: The proper venue for all discussions is the talk page of the article under consideration.

Deletion request

• Uses {{dr}}

Use Deletion request if you enjoy long discussions (or if the topic is complicated in some way.) Begin by placing {{dr}} at the top of the page to create:

Link to any subpages this page might have

Now the fun begins: Click the words share your thoughts in the box will lead to a page called Wikiversity:Requests for Deletion. Follow the instructions for starting a discussion. Explain why you think the page should be deleted. Expect an intense and prolonged defense of the page's value (but hope for silence.) At some point the discussion will be closed, usually with the decision to delete. Sometimes the author(s) will be granted permission to place the article in draft space or on a subpage of their user page.

•   See also WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A DEMOCRACY

Pagemove announcement

• Uses {{subst:Pagemove announcement}}

The advantage of moving material into userspace or draftspace is that we spend less time discussing and more time cleaning up. Wikiversity has a very limited staff of volunteers, and the quicker we make decisions the more we can do. There is a lot of work to do and the work is important: Too many obscure pages in mainspace degrades our relations with Wikipedia and gives Wikiversity a bad impression among teachers. On the other hand, we want students to write on Wikiversity on all sorts of topics. The goal is to separate materials we recommend for teachers from the discovery, research, and introspection done by our students on Wikiversity.

A procedure and guidelines for moving mainspace resources into user and draft space is under construction.

• See also: Category:Pages with deletion announcement and Category:Pages moved from mainspace

My current template {{subst:Pagemove announcement}} appears in all the main authors' talk pages and looks like this:

Removal of a project from mainspace To Somebody's username: The project [[Some page]] has been moved to [[User:Somebody's username/Some page]] A tentative decision has been made to remove this project from mainspace. If this move is not under discussion at Wikiversity:Requests for Deletion, you may make a request regarding this project at Wikiversity:Request custodian action. Yours truly, --Guy vandegrift (discuss • contribs) 06:07, 20 December 2022 (UTC)

See also

• MediaWiki:Deletereason-dropdown - List of common deletion reasons displayed in the deletion interface.
• Category:Candidates for speedy deletion - List of current resources suggested for speedy deletion.
• Category:Proposed deletions - List of current resources proposed for deletion.
• Category:Requests for Deletion - List of resources with active deletion discussions.