Black Falcon (talk | contribs) →{{anchor|HOWTO}} How to use CfD: consolidate "you've done all you need to do" language into the 'Closing' section and reduce instructions: no need to provide admin instructions covered at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Administrator instructions |
Black Falcon (talk | contribs) →Redirecting categories: more accurate and concise |
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{{redirect|WP:CAT-R|the guideline on categorizing redirects|Wikipedia:Categorizing redirects}} |
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In general, an unpopulated category should be deleted (see [[WP:CSD#C1|speedy deletion criterion C1]]) because it is not useful for navigation and sorting. However, some categories frequently attract articles or are regularly recreated. In limited circumstances, and because categories cannot be redirected using "hard" redirects (i.e. <code><nowiki>#REDIRECT[[''target'']]</nowiki></code>), we use a form of "'''[[Wikipedia:Soft redirect|soft redirect]]'''" to solve the issue. You can "create" a [[Wikipedia:Category redirects|category redirect]] by adding {{tlx|Category redirect|target}} to the category page. [[Wikipedia:Bots|Bots]] patrol these categories and move articles into the "redirect" targets. |
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It is our general policy to ''delete categories that do not have articles in them''. (Rationale: Unlike articles, categories are mostly for internal use only. If they don't have any articles, they shouldn't have any links from any articles or any other categories, because they are not useful for navigation and sorting.) |
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⚫ | In particular, category redirects are used at the former category name when we convert hyphens into [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#En dashes|en dashes]] or [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Hyphens|vice versa]] (e.g. ''Category:Canada-Russia relations'' → ''Category:Canada–Russia relations''). It is also helpful to set up category redirects from titles with plain letters (i.e. characters on a standard keyboard) where the category names include [[diacritic]]s. |
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However, some categories frequently have articles assigned to them accidentally, or are otherwise re-created over and over. But categories cannot be redirected using "hard" redirects: #REDIRECT[[<nowiki />''target'']]. (See [[Wikipedia:Redirect#category]] for the technical details.) |
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Instead, we use a form of "'''[[Wikipedia:Soft redirect|soft redirects]]'''" to solve the issue. You can "create" a category redirect by adding {{tlx|Category redirect|target}} to the category page. Bots patrol these categories and move articles into the "redirect" targets. Notice that it's not a redirect at all as a wiki page; it's bots that virtually make them redirects. |
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⚫ | In particular, |
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Revision as of 18:47, 2 August 2018
How to use CfD
Nomination procedure
Twinkle
You may use Twinkle to facilitate CfD nominations. To install Twinkle, go to Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets and check "Twinkle" in the "Browsing" section. Use the now-installed "XfD" (Nominate for deletion) tab while viewing the page you want to nominate.
Twinkle only allows you to nominate a single category. For bundled nominations including multiple categories, or if you prefer not to use Twinkle, follow the manual steps below.
Manual nominations
I | Preliminary steps.
Before nominating a category:
In the following special cases:
For further information, see Wikipedia:Categorization and Wikipedia:Manual of Style. |
II | Edit the category.
Add one of the following templates at the beginning of the category page (not the talk page) of every category to be discussed. For nominations involving large numbers of categories, help adding these templates can be requested here.
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III | Create the CFD section.
Follow the instructions (visible in edit mode) to copy and paste one of the templates below. When inserting category names into these template's parameters, except the
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Stub types
I | Preliminary steps.
In general, a stub type consists of a stub template and a dedicated stub category. Before nominating a stub type for deletion, merging or renaming:
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II | Edit the template.
Add one of the following tags at the beginning of the template to be discussed.
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III | Create the CFD section.
Follow the instructions in the comments (visible during edit), and paste the following text (remember to update TemplateName, ProposedName and Reason): For ==== Template:TemplateName ==== :* '''Propose deleting''' {{lt|TemplateName}} :'''Nominator's rationale:''' Reason. ~~~~ For ==== Template:TemplateName ==== :* '''Propose renaming''' [[Template:TemplateName]] to [[Template:ProposedName]] :'''Nominator's rationale:''' Reason. ~~~~
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Notifying interested projects and editors
In addition to the steps listed above, you may choose to invite participation by editors who are likely to be informed about a nominated category. All such efforts must comply with Wikipedia's guideline against biased canvassing. In addition, to help make your messages about the CfD discussion clear, avoid Wikipedia-specific abbreviations, link to relevant policies or guidelines, and link to the discussion itself.
- Notifying related WikiProjects
WikiProjects consist of groups of editors who are interested in a particular subject. If a nominated category is within the scope of one or more WikiProjects, consider adding a brief, neutral note on their talk page(s) about the nomination. You may use {{subst:cfd-notify|Category name|2024 May 26|CfD section name}} ~~~~
or write a personalized message.
Tagging the nominated category's talk page with a relevant WikiProject's banner will include the category in that WikiProject's Article Alerts if they subscribe to the system. For instance, tagging a nominated category with {{WikiProject Physics}} will add the discussion to Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics/Article alerts.
- Notifying substantial contributors to the category
While not required, it is generally considered courteous to notify the good-faith creator and main contributors of the category that you are nominating for discussion. To find the creator and main contributors, check the category's page history or talk page. You may use {{Cfd-notify}}
to inform the category's creator and {{Cfdnotice2}}
for all other editors.
- Notifying other interested editors
It may be helpful to invite other subject-matter experts by posting a message on the talk page of the most closely related article, such as Protein family for Category:Protein families. You may use {{Cfdnotice}}
for this.
Closing procedure
After seven days, someone will close the discussion according to the consensus that formed or, if needed, relist it to allow more discussion. Editors closing discussions must follow the administrator instructions and, except in the case of a "keep" or "no consensus" outcome, implement the result or log it at the Working page to ensure it is implemented.
Redirecting categories
In general, an unpopulated category should be deleted (see speedy deletion criterion C1) because it is not useful for navigation and sorting. However, some categories frequently attract articles or are regularly recreated. In limited circumstances, and because categories cannot be redirected using "hard" redirects (i.e. #REDIRECT[[''target'']]
), we use a form of "soft redirect" to solve the issue. You can "create" a category redirect by adding {{Category redirect|target}}
to the category page. Bots patrol these categories and move articles into the "redirect" targets.
In particular, category redirects are used at the former category name when we convert hyphens into en dashes or vice versa (e.g. Category:Canada-Russia relations → Category:Canada–Russia relations). It is also helpful to set up category redirects from titles with plain letters (i.e. characters on a standard keyboard) where the category names include diacritics.
A list of redirected categories is available at Category:Wikipedia soft redirected categories.