User:True Pagan Warrior/PDT

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

This page in a nutshell:

If someone has nominated your article to be deleted, don't take it personal, assume they did so in Good Faith
Read the policy reasons that are being quoted before arguing your case, then follow proper procedure, or ask for help.
You will be given an opportunity to state your case. You are better off if you do it politely and after reading a couple of basic rules.

Pre Delete Trauma

Pre Delete Trauma is the frustration you feel after you spend 2 hours creating your first article on Wikipedia, and someone has nominated it for Speedy Deletion, AFD (Articles For Deletion), or put a PROD (Preposed Deletion) tag on it, within 3 minutes of your creation. Symptoms include: frustration, feeling attacked, vulnerability and anger. You are sure the other person must be doing it to be mean, or because they are a deletionist, or they just have nothing better to do than pick on you. These feelings are normal. How you deal with this will determine your success in keeping your article from being unnecessarily deleted. This page has wikilinks that you should follow if you are not familiar with the terms, as this will help you understand the process, and possibly help you keep your article on Wikipedia.

General guidelines to dealing with PDT

Be polite. Experienced editors must deal with lots of negativity; don't add to it. A little kindness goes a great distance in getting people to give you the benefit of the doubt. Ask questions; don't make accusations. Never remove deletion tags on pages you created, except as outlined in this essay or in Wikipedia guidelines.
Ask for help. Many times, the same experienced editor that just tagged your article for deletions can be recruited to help you find a few references, giving them a reason to remove the deletion tag. Kindly asking for help can pay off big, and may make you a friend to boot. The editor that tagged your article is only trying to do what is best for the encyclopedia, and who was simply doing what they thought was proper under the policies. Give them the benefit of the doubt and follow the Golden Rule.
Consider that you may be wrong. Sometimes what is important to you, may not be notable according to the Wikipedia guidelines. Don't argue how the policies are wrong or bad (except in the TALK section for that particular policy). Work within the Wikipedia guidelines, and accept that your article idea may not be right for Wikipedia. Remember, it isn't personal: We all must play by the same rules.
Read the policy that was given for deletion. This is the best way to make sure your article will meet policy and will give you the information you need to fix any shortcomings in the article. You can usually find this in the actual nomination or deletion tag itself. You can also politely ask the person you nominated your article for deletion.

Types of Deletion

What your next course of action should be depends on the type of deletion your article is facing, either Speedy Deletion, AFD or PROD. Below are the three basic types of article deletions you will likely face, and you should skip to and read the section that applies to your article.

Speedy Deletion

If your article has been tagged for speedy deletion, the first thing you should do is edit the main body of the page and add {{hangon}} directly under their speedy delete tag. Their tag will look something like {{db-bio}} or {{db-band}} or {{db-corp}} or {{db-music}}, etc. You should never remove their speedy tag as this is against policy. Doing so will make you look bad and not help your case. After adding your hangon tag, you should go to the TALK page for your article and give a short reason why you are contesting it. Reasons could be something like below.

I just created this, I need a couple of hours to get more citations. ~~~~

I am not sure why you are saying the band isn't notable. Can you please link to me the guideline you are using as a basis? ~~~~

I am working on adding content right now. Please give me a couple hours to establish notability. ~~~~

Keep it short, honest, and always sign your name/date with four ~ marks ie: ~~~~ (it's on the key right to the left of the "1" key). This is important and is expected on all talk page edits you do. Right or wrong, you get taken more seriously when you follow these basic rules. Once you have put a {{hangon}} tag in the main body of the article, and a valid and polite reason in the talk section, an admin will almost always give you at least an hour or two to fix the article before deleting. Now read the policy that was given as a reason for deletion and address the concern within the article. If you need help, ask in your first post on the talk page.

AFD (Articles For Deletion nomination)

If your article has been nominated under WP:AFD, then you will usually have a couple of days to fix and address any concerns. Do not instantly go to the AFD page for your article and state your case yet. Never remove any AFD tags on the page, as this is against policy and will hurt your case. If your article is proper for Wikipedia, here are the steps you should take to increase your chances of the AFD ending in a Keep verdict:

First, don't get angry. The editor who has nominated your article did so in good faith. Many articles that are sent to AFD do not get deleted. Sometimes, other editors will help you fix the article and the nomination will be withdrawn. Having your article nominated for deletion is NOT a personal attack on you. How you conduct yourself during the process can affect the outcome, so be polite, do some homework, and be objective.
Read the actual *reason* for the AFD by the nominator. Often they will include links to the policy that they are claiming the article is contrary to. Go objectively read the policy so you can understand the nominator's perspective. Your article may be worthwhile yet still violate a policy. Perhaps it is an article about someone who is notable, but you have failed to state why they are notable in the introduction. This can be fixed. In this case, the nomination is valid, but so is the article. It happens all the time. If you or someone else brings the article to where it abides Wikipedia policy, the article will almost always be kept.
Go fix the problem, if it can be fixed. Many times, the problem is that you didn't start the article with an intro that states why the article is important, and/or you didn't provide enough good citations. The facts must be verifiable and cited with links that meet the reliable sources policy. Read those links if you haven't yet.
Once you have improved the article and feel it qualifies for keeping, then you can go to the AFD page for your article and register a KEEP comment, stating why it should be kept. Here are some examples using wikicode:
1. *'''Keep''' I added citations and now the article is sourced. It needs improving, not deleting ~~~~
  
  *'''Keep''' I fixed the intro and now it clearly states why this person is notable. It still needs work but I feel it meets policy. ~~~~
  
  *'''Keep''' I read the policy stated by the nom, and addressed those concerns in the article. I am confident it now meets the criteria for inclusion. ~~~~
Keep it short, honest, and remember to sign your name and the date with four ~ marks, ie: ~~~~. If you want to address one or two of the other comments, that is fine. Don't try to answer every person who disagrees with you. As a general rule, the more you use an argument, the less effective it becomes. Remember: Wikipedia is not a democracy, and the AFD process is not just a voting process. The purpose of the AFD is to discuss the article, not vote it up or down. It is very possible to have 3 people say KEEP, 8 people say DELETE and the article is kept. It happens.
Be polite: it pays off. Often, an experienced editor will see the AFD and agree with you, and then go fix the article so it meets policy. Encourage others to help you by being someone they want to help. Ask for help on the talk page of the actual article (not on the talk page of the AFD nomination). You may find someone who knows more about the subject matter than you do, and who can help you turn your article into something great.
Be prepared to have your article deleted. It happens. Not every article is appropriate for Wikipedia. If your article is deleted after discussion, it isn't personal, it isn't a comment on you or your worth. Don't get angry or leave comments on people's talk pages or in articles about it. Let it go, read up on the policies a little bit, and move forward. Keep contributing and learning. Everyone who has started several articles has gone to AFD and likely had one article deleted. You are not alone.

PROD (Preposed Deletion) tag

When someone puts a PROD (Preposed Deletion) tag on a page you have created, the article will be automatically deleted in about 5 days if you do nothing. PROD is used as a way to nominate an article for deletion when it is believed there would be no controversy about it (ie: everyone would agree it should be deleted). You can protest the deletion by simply removing the tag. This is one of the few instances when removing the tag without making changes is considered acceptable behavior. Although not required, it is a good idea to use the TALK page for the article and explain why you removed the tag. The guidelines state that if you remove the PROD tag, others should not place it back. They still have the option of going to AFD to request the article be deleted. (see above)

If your article has been tagged with a PROD request and you have removed it, it is likely that you need to do some work to the article. Look at the reason it was PRODed and try to address those shortcomings within the article. You can also initiate a conversation with the person who placed the tag and ask for help. Keep in mind, a prod is not an attack on the article, so always be civil and polite in coversations with the person who tagged your article as they may be a good source of helping you improve, or explaining why the article fails the guidelines. A PROD is arguably the most gentle way to request a deletion and offers the easiest method of reversing the process, by simply removing the tag.

Preventing the deletion process

Often, you can prevent the deletion process if you plan your article out ahead of time. Start by searching Wikipedia to make sure that the subject matter isn't already covered. Often, you will find an article is already started, but the title may be different than you would have chosen. Create a redirect if proper, and then start contributing to that existing article instead.

Next, write the article in a text editor on your computer. Get at least a few citations that meet the policies here before you start. Try using the Sandbox to practice your wikicode and to see how it will look before you actually start the article. Most good articles begin with a few hours on your own computer first, then are transfered to the main space of Wikipedia once you have enough information and citations to avoid raising "red flags".

Good authors borrow, great authors steal. Go look at other articles to learn how they do references, paragraphs, headlines, etc. Just pick a well written article, then go to EDIT the page, and look at the wikicode (don't Save Page). Go read the Manual of Style, which is the official set of guidelines for the format of articles here. Like it or not, an article that is sloppy, poorly formatted and unorganized is more likely to be nominated for deletion because it is harder to find proper information. Give other editors a chance to appreciate your article by having it conform to the standards here.

Conclusion

Articles are deleted every minute. Most of them are deleted for good reasons, some are deleted simply because the author didn't plan them out ahead of time and they are not salvageable as is. A few are deleted, and are later rewritten and successfully added back to the main space. Most editors nominate articles in good faith, and you should always assume they have until you have a good reason to think otherwise. Not everyone is polite, but you should be.

Many experienced editors have had articles deleted and understand. Sometimes, your opinion will be different than everyone else's. This is ok and what makes Wikipedia strong. Keep your head cool, take the time to read more about the policies every week, help edit existing articles and soon you will be the experienced editor who is helping someone else who is new to Wikipedia.

Common policy pages