Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Administrator instructions

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Administrator instructions for Articles for deletion:

AFD instructions
close after	7 days (relist if insufficient discussion)
top tag	{{subst:at}} '''RESULT'''. ~~~~
bottom tag	{{subst:ab}}
retire	remove categorization template.
If deleting
delete page incl. reason	[[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Article]]
If keeping
tag talk page	{{oldafdfull|date= |result= |page= }}
remove afd tag

Every day, the day page (i.e. [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/Year Month Day]]) that is more than seven days old should be moved here. The decision to keep or delete a page is to be implemented only after this move has been performed.

Contents 1 Process 2 Header and footer text after closing 2.1 PageName 3 Practical advice

[edit] Process

To process an AFD debate listed on a day page containing debates old enough to be closed:

1. If it may take significant time to assess the debate and/or perform the closing edits, consider first editing the sub-page and adding {{AfDh}} (or {{Closing}}) to the top and {{AfDb}} to the bottom, to notify others that a close is in progress. This helps to avoid edit conflicts during the close.
2. Determine (using the guidelines) whether the consensus was to keep or delete the article, and if the associated talk or sub-pages should also be deleted.
3. Remove the line saying {{REMOVE THIS TEMPLATE WHEN CLOSING THIS AfD|something}}. This will decategorise the debate from the active-AfD categories.
4. Remove {{Closing}} if you added it earlier.
5. Enter the following text at the top and bottom of the AFD discussion sub-page. (Together, these two edits will create a shaded box around the discussion thread confirming that it has been closed. See the example below.) Note that the header template and closing result go above the top section header, not below it. Additional usage options are also outlined at Template:At.
   • At the top:

     {{subst:at}} '''RESULT'''. ~~~~

   • At the bottom:

     {{subst:ab}}

6. If the decision is DELETE, then delete the article (this will be automatically recorded in the Deletion log). Remember to paste a link to the discussion in the "Reason for deletion" box (i.e. add [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Article]]); a short explanation is also appreciated, if applicable. If appropriate, delete the article's talk page or any associated sub-pages first. Also remember to check "what links here" and either delete any redirects or redirect them elsewhere. If a given title should never have an article, then remove all links to it. However, you should never remove a link to the article from its nomination for deletion.
7. If the decision is KEEP (including any variant such as NO CONSENSUS, REDIRECT, or MERGE), remove the AFD Header from the article (be sure the AFD Category is also removed), and put a link to the discussion sub-page on the article's talk page; the template {{oldafdfull}} is recommended for this, so add
             {{oldafdfull|date= dateOfNomination |result= '''result''' |page= articleName }}

   If this is not the first deletion nomination, use {{oldafdmulti}} instead to consolidate the references to all previous AfD nominations:
             {{oldafdmulti | date = | result = '''result''' | page = articleName | date2 = | result2 = '''result''' | page2 = articleName (2nd nomination) | small = yes | collapse = 1-10 or yes | numbered = yes }}

   • Remember to fix double-redirects if the page becomes a redirect.
   • If the decision is to merge, use {{Afd-mergeto}} and {{Afd-mergefrom}} to mark the AfD'd page and merge target talk page (respectively):

     {{afd-mergeto|destination article|debate name|debate closure date}}
     {{afd-mergefrom|nominated article|debate name|debate closure date}}

   • If the discussion failed to reach consensus, then the article is kept by default unless it regards a living person (see below). The decision should generally include a reference to the lack of consensus, such as No consensus - default to keep, in order to minimize ambiguity and future confusion.

     For BLP deletions, the deletion policy states "Discussions on relatively unknown, non-public figures, where the subject has requested deletion and there is no rough consensus may be closed as delete".

   • The template {{cleanup-afd}} is available for discussions that close as KEEP AND CLEANUP. To use, simply add the template (without subst:) to the kept article. If the AfD discussion is under a different name for some reason, then use {{cleanup-afd|(name of article in the discussion title)}}. For example, if the article is Asdf but the deletion discussion is Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Qwertyuiop, then add {{cleanup-afd|Qwertyuiop}} to Asdf.
8. If not enough discussion took place to determine a consensus or lack thereof, add {{subst:relist}} below the last comment and relist the AFD subpage on the listings for the current date. Do not forget to remove the AFD listing from the log for the original date (if the debate is left on the old log, the "ready for closing" list at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Old is broken). See Wikipedia:Deletion process#Relisting_discussions for a more detailed guide on when to relist or not.
9. If that was the last open entry on that day's page of deletion discussions,
   1. Edit the old day pages list by cutting the link for the day, which will look like [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/Year Month Day]]
   2. Go to the archive of debates and paste the link at the top in the appropriate month.

[edit] Header and footer text after closing

After closing the discussion, the page will look like this:

[edit] Practical advice

There are admin tools available that automate much of this process. There are several and they work differently and may or may not have full functionality depending on your browser.

One commonly used tool is activated via your monobook.js page. For instructions, see User:Mr.Z-man/closeAFD

To find pending AfDs that are awaiting closure, check WP:AFD/OLD.

Other tools may be available. Try contacting admins who frequently close AfDs, and ask them what they use.