Criteria for Deletion

## **Article Removal**

While the Worldbuilding Workshop Wiki does harbor numerous articles, some of them may not survive the process of changing lore, standards, or approval by community members. As such, the Worldbuilding Workshop Wiki holds a set of **criteria for deletion**, which should highlight what it takes to make an article applicable for deletion, as well as inform any viewers of what guidelines should be followed in order to keep articles away from removal. This page will also highlight the various **alternatives to deletion**, which will also be explained in every section.

## **Removal Criteria**

Removal criteria applies to every kind of page on the wiki, no matter the type or what content they hold. As a result they also apply to message forums, blog posts, files, redirects, user pages, and more. Administrators should also note that new pages are likely to be working projects, and as a result they should usually be kept alone. Also, article creators **may not** remove deletion notices from their articles. Below is a list of all common criteria which relate to the removal of articles.

### **Average Removal**

In case you are worried, deletion is usually a step-by-step process that is passed through a series of votes on the Worldbuilding Workshop Discord. First, a page is passed through staff in the form of a poll request. Anybody may request for the deletion of a page, either by adding {{Delete}} to an article source code or directly asking moderators/administrators. Administrators may also add any article which they think is fit for removal to the deletion category. If staff has agreed to place this deletion request to a poll, it is then posted to the #polls channel. Deletions are usually done in groups of pages, and are pinged to the @Announcements role (attainable in #roles) beforehand. If the userbase and administrators agree to pass the article for deletion, it and any mentions of it (found on its 'What Links Here' page) are subsequently removed.

#### **Lore Bending / Breaking**

Articles which break current guidelines for the Lore are often considered to be 'Lore Bending / Breaking'. Articles which consistently break lore are eligible for deletion by anyone, and will pass through an extensive polling and review system before it is removed. This kind of removal may be circumvented by the article creator if they expand it and mend the lore of their page to be more inline.

#### **Small with minimal growth**

Articles which are small (under 3000 bytes) and possess minimal growth over a period of 60 days are usually classified as 'small with minimal growth'. Anybody may place these up for deletion and request a poll to staff after this period. This can easily be remedied by expanding the article or asking any community member for help on the page.

#### **Disconnected Articles**

Articles which are not connected to the lore for an extended period of time, usually more than 60 days, is eligible for a community vote for removal. Articles which also have minimal amounts of links are also applicable for this. Removal can be prevented by connecting the article and improving on its outlinks to other articles.

### **Fast Removal**

Sometimes, an article often reaches numerous criteria for deletion, and as a result it may apply for being **speedily deleted** by staff, without the need of a general consensus by the community. This merely requires a quick poll (sometimes even this is not needed) in the circle of staff members, combined with notices of deletion before its removal. Most often, fast removal of pages on the Worldbuilding Workshop Wiki pertain to highly underdeveloped and detached articles, which have been abandoned by editors or were created by editors who left or were banned. These also apply under 'joke articles' and other completely off-topic works. Fast deletions can also be accomplished upon the **author's request** to remove their own content, and only requires the author to request deletion by adding {{Delete}} or asking staff.

#### **Nonsense**

Pages which consist of nothing but apparent gibberish and incoherency are eligible for a fast deletion, and in this case does not need any form of vote by staff. Pages which hold nonsense do not cover poor writing, obscenity, vandalism, or non-English material. "Joke Articles" and completely off-topic content also falls under this, with no polls of any kind to be required.

#### **Vandalism**

Pages which have been vandalized are eligible for a speedy removal of the content, in the form of a revert and blocking of the user who vandalized it. Vandalism includes obscenity, blanking pages, and adding random remarks. Essentially, vandalism contributes to the destruction of the article. Pages which are created solely to include these criteria will also be detected and deleted instantly.

#### **Page Recreation**

Previously removed pages, which were not brought back to the knowledge of any staff member, are eligible for a speedy removal. These pages consist of similar or identical content of the aforementioned page, and does not require any form of poll for removal. Pages which simply utilize the name of or remaster old pages are excluded from this, since various remakes are appreciated and even encouraged.

#### **Creations by banned / blocked users**

Banned or blocked users, which create an alternate account to make pages, will immediately have their pages removed until they are unblocked or their ban is lifted. Pages which were made by banned users with no attempts to create an alt are usually fine if the content of the page does not violate guidelines.

#### **Abandoned Articles**

Articles which have been abandoned, either by a creator who has left or by a concurrent user, are usually characterized by being in a perpetual state of stagnant development for over three months. These can also be corelated to articles with minimal links and development. A vote between staff must be held for the removal of these articles, including a notice to the author. In the case where the author wishes to keep the article, they are required to continue development in the period after 30 days of the notice.

### **Categories**

#### **Unpopulated Categories**

Categories which hold less than ten members and have been untouched for over two weeks are considered to be unpopulated and are eligible with a deletion via a poll by the community and staff. However, there are exceptions to this, such as help categories or 'Articles by author' categories which string together big sections.

#### **Merging / Moving**

In the event in which pages belonging to a certain category is moved or merged, the remaining husk category may be speedily deleted by a member of the staff on a whim.