User:Extreme Unction/redirects

Some questions about deleting a redirect

On November 21, I put the following in Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion:

Dan Green comic → Dan Green (artist) — New article created with a name inconsistent with Wikipedia naming conventions. Moved new article to Dan Green (artist). Only two edits to the page are the initial page creation and my subsequent move of the page. → Ξxtreme Unction {^yakł_blah} 14:27, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

There it has languished lo these past few weeks.

I would like to delete this redirect myself now that I have the ability, but I'm not sure if policy permits me to do so. And, more generally, RFD is one of the places I planned on helping with if I became an admin, so it would be good to know what the procedures are.

1) Is it considered kosher to delete redirects which have names in considerable variance with standard wikipedia naming schemes, assuming they have trivial edit histories?

2) More generally, what is the proper procedure for RFD? I see a lot of backlog on that page, and some seem to draw votes while others do not. Is the standard procedure to simply keep the ones that don't draw any votes? Or is it up to the individual discretion of whichever admin feels like clearing out the backlog?

3) Any special procedures I should be aware of, over and above what is mentioned on the RFD page itself?

Thanks for your time.
→ Ξxtreme Unction {^yakł_blah} 12:48, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

1. There are two circumstances where it's kosher to delete redirects: they qualify for speedy deletion (which this one doesn't), or it's been listed on WP:RFD for seven days with either a consensus or no objection to deletion (which this one has). On the other hand, it's usually a good idea not to delete things you've nominated for deletion unless they're clearcut enough to be speedies; the instructions for WP:AFD and WP:IFD both specifically warn against it.
2. Redirects on WP:RFD (and also images on WP:IFD) are deletable once they've been listed for seven days with either a consensus or no objections for deletion. There's no need for people to vote on everything that's listed.
3. Jnc took care of WP:RFD for so long and so well that no one else is really sure what to do now that he's left. It might be a good idea to look through his contributions to get an idea how to handle things. From what I noticed in passing:
   • A redirect that is deleted should first be orphaned by checking its Whatlinkshere (e.g., if there were any pages or double redirects that linked to Dan Green comic in your example, you'd change those to point at Dan Green (artist)), and any talk page associated directly with the redirect (e.g. Talk:Dan Green comic) should be speedied as a G8;
   • A redirect that's retargeted or otherwise kept should have the comments from WP:RFD pasted into its talk page (like so);
   • Redirects that are listed for deletion solely so that another page can be moved there should not be deleted via WP:RFD, but instead moved to Wikipedia:Requested moves as soon as they're noticed.
   • Redirects that have history that was merged into their target article should never be deleted outright; if the title's objectionable, the history should either be moved over another redirect that doesn't have a history, or be archived in the Talk namespace. Example: Someone makes an article called Dubya is a dolt, detailing some faux pas or other of his; and someone else merges it into George W. Bush, and then a third party lists the redirect for deletion (since it's an abusive title). Since the text was used in the target article, deleting the history would violate the GFDL, so it should be moved to either George Walker Bush (which has no history) or Talk:George W. Bush/merged, and then the new redirect which you created at Dubya is a dolt, which now has no history, should be deleted. Adding a {{merged}} to Talk:George W. Bush might be a good idea as well, especially if you haven't left the history in a redirect in the main namespace. (A subset of these, where the histories don't overlap chronologically - usually as a result of a cut-and-paste move - should instead be solved with a history merge. This is a somewhat scary process, though, and not one that I've done myself.)
   • Redirects that used to contain a nontrivial article that hasn't been merged anywhere should instead be sent to WP:AFD, or have the redirect reverted outright. Occasionally someone will find an article they dislike and redirect it to something only vaguely related because an afd would be "too much trouble" or they think it wouldn't succeed. Later, someone else (or once in a great while, the same person!) will list the redirect at WP:RFD. Backdoor deletions like this aren't ok, and should be dealt with at afd where they'll get more eyes.

Hope this is helpful. —Cryptic (talk) 14:08, 10 December 2005 (UTC)