Editing Battlestar Wiki:Think Tank/Deletion discussions

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== Overview ==
When an administrator deletes an article, its content can no longer be examined by non-administrators. Since these users must also have the opportunity to review the deletion process and object if they feel the deletion was unwarranted. For this reason, administrators must preserve the talk page, where the discussion leading up to the page's deletion has taken place. These pages are called 'deletion discussion pages'. This policy formalizes the procedures for preserving and tagging these talk pages, and for objecting against deletions that have already happened.

== Procedures ==
=== Deleting an article ===
==== Obvious cases ====
In obvious cases, an administrator can delete an article without waiting for consensus, and can ignore all procedures set down in this policy. The article's talk page must be deleted as well. The deleter must include an informative summary, rather than ''"content was: blahblahblah (and the only contributor was 'Catrope')"'', or, even worse, ''"Deleting per consensus on talk page."''

A deletion is an ''obvious case'' if the deleted page:
* is in the User: namespace and deleted by its 'owner' (for instance, [[User:Shane/Testing Area]] is 'owned' by Shane);
* is in the User: namespace and deleted on its owner's request;
* has only been edited by its creator and is deleted on the creator's request;
* is a test page;
* is a nonsense page (e.g. vandalism);
* is a broken redirect;
* is a redirect resulting from a page move.

==== Non-obvious cases ====
Non-obvious cases are all cases that are not covered by the definition of "obvious case" above.

Before deleting an article, first ensure the deletion has been [[BW:DEL|discussed and voted upon]]. When deleting, an elaborate deletion summary is not necessary; something like "deleting per talk page" will suffice. After deleting the article itself, '''do not delete the talk page''', but tag it with the [[Template:Deletion discussion|deleted discussion template]], like this: {{tl|deletion discussion}}

When tagging a talk page whose parent article lived outside of the main namespace, please provide the parent's full name as a parameter. For example, when tagging [[Category talk:RDM]], use: {{tlp|deletion discussion|Category:RDM}}

Note that the talk page should '''not''' be locked, as all users must be able to object to the deletion.

=== Temporary undeletion ===
A user who wishes to review a deleted article in order to gain better understanding of its deletion discussion or to make the current discussion easier can request temporary undeletion by recreating the page and tagging it with the {{tl|undelete}} template. The article in question must be [[Special:Undelete|undeleted]] by the administrator in question as soon as possible, tagged with the {{tl|tempundelete}} template, '''locked from editing''', and be kept around for '''seven days'''. If a vote is started before the end of the seven-day period, the article must be kept until the voting is over. After that, one of the following things can happen:
* The user who requests undeletion doesn't pursue the issue, and the article is re-deleted silently.
* A majority of the voters wants the article to be deleted, and the article is re-deleted.
* A majority of the voters wants to keep the article. The article is unlocked and stripped of its {{tl|tempundelete}} tag.
* A user (or users) thinks they can improve (or 'reboot') the article to meet Battlestar Wiki's quality standards. See the [[#Improving a deleted article|section below]] for the exact procedure.

=== Improving a deleted article ===
A user who thinks they can improve (or 'reboot') a deleted article to meet Battlestar Wiki's quality standards can do so by copyediting the articles content to a subpage (usually PAGENAME/Improvement), tagging it with the {{tl|improvedundelete}} template and work on their improvement there. The article itself must not be touched, as it reflects the article's state upon deletion. (Note that these improvements do '''not''' extend the [[#Temporary undeletion|aforementioned]] seven-day period, as the improvement changes can easily be viewed in the page history.) When the improver thinks their improvement is ready for inclusion in the main namespace, they can call a vote. If the majority of the voters accepts the improvement, it will be moved back to its proper location and stripped of its {{tl|improvedundelete}} tag. Otherwise, the subpage will be deleted.

== Relevant templates and categories ==
*[[Template:Deletion discussion]] for tagging a deletion discussion page.
*[[Template:Undelete]] for requesting undeletion
*[[Template:Tempundelete]] for tagging temporarily undeleted pages.
*[[Template:Improvedundelete]] for tagging improvements in progress or under voting.

*[[:Category:Deletion discussions]] contains all deletion discussion pages.
*[[:Category:Requests for undeletion]] contains all pages pending temporary undeletion.
*[[:Category:Temporarily undeleted pages]] contains all pages that have been undeleted temporarily.
*[[:Category:Improvements to temporarily undeleted pages]] contains all improvements that are currently in progress or under voting.

== Live demo ==
For a demonstration of all these procedures, see [[hb:Talk:Starbuck's Raider|the Hangar Bay]].

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