The
"Speedy deletion" policy governs limited cases where
Wikipedia administrators may delete Wikipedia pages or media "on sight" without further debate, as in the cases of
patent nonsense or
pure vandalism. Non-admins can request deletion of such a page, either by listing it on
speedy deletions, or by adding a {{
deletebecause|
Reason}} template. The word "speedy" in this context refers to the rapid decision-making process, not the length of time since the article was created.
Before nominating an article for speedy deletion, please consider whether an article could be improved or reduced to a
stub. Also, please note that some Wikipedians create articles in multiple saves, so try to avoid deleting a page too soon after its
initial creation. Users nominating a page for speedy deletion should specify which criteria the page meets; it would also be considerate to notify the original author — remember,
everyone was new once. Note that global
sandboxes are exempt from deletion.
These criteria are worded narrowly, and generally so phrased that, in most cases, reasonable editors will agree what does or does not fall under a given criterion. When there is reasonable doubt whether a page does, discussion is recommended, using one of the other methods under
deletion policy.
This page contains the criteria for speedy deletion and a list of helpful templates that can be used to tag a candidate for speedy deletion. Articles that do not meet the speedy criteria may be nominated for the alternative deletion processes
Wikipedia
roposed deletion and
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion.
The list of current candidates for speedy deletion is at
Category:Candidates for speedy deletion.
Note that administrators should always verify the legitimacy of a speedy deletion candidate before taking action. It is the administrator's responsibility to make sure that speedy deletion tags are accurate; to do this the administrator must examine the history of every page before deleting it.
