User:Bibliomaniac15/Speedy deletion

Recently, there have been a lot of nonsense articles created, which are steadily combated by newpage patrollers. I commend their efforts. However, I do think that many patrolling decisions are being made too quickly, and that they are not being as cautious as they could. As a result, many users leave, convinced that Wikipedia is run by elitist bastards. We should not try to seek deletion; rather, we must assume good faith and find any way we can to keep. In the old days, a newpage patroller would try to clean it up and then place a tag for later fix up. Now, we find that many are placed with little thought, almost haphazardly. I'd like to make a checklist for what to look at when newpage patrolling.

Articles

1. Look at the history. Make sure it's not just a case of vandalism, as in South Maury Island environmental issues.
2. If you suspect the deletion might be under a A7, Google it first and check for notability. If it seems that there may be some notability involved, go for PROD or AFD instead, or cleanup, expand, and tag.
3. Is the subject actually apparent in a very short article? If so, you should endeavor to expand a little, cleanup, and tag it with {{cleanup}} rather than go for deletion. I have found articles that were poorly formatted but could be cleaned up easily. An example of this is in Blue-Legged Hermit Crab, which I managed to save from the jaws of speedy deletion.
4. Poor formatting and bad English is not G1. On the other hand, if it is so bad that nothing can be understood, that is a G1.
5. If an article is a copyvio G12, if it is short, just fix it. Only tag when there are multiple paragraphs of copyright violating prose.
6. POV is not a reason for speedy deletion. This is a job for PROD or AFD.
7. If you are not sure about something but it seems alright, take it to a Wikiproject where there are likely to be experts on the subject. For example, Dunford-Pettis property was a pitiful article (tagged A1) that looked like it had something to do with math. Since I'm not a math expert, I went to the WikiProject Math talk page and asked whether it could be fixed. Sure enough, they wikified the article. This is a good example about how something that appears esoteric and deletable is actually something that should be covered.
8. G11 is one of the harder types of speedy deletion to judge. If you can, try to cleanup so that it's less of an advertisement and more of a focus on notability.
9. Foreign language articles should not be immediately tagged with A2. Try to ascertain what language it's in, look for an active user who is fluent in that language, and let them deal with it. If it so happens that it's a notable subject we don't have, it can be translated for our benefit.
10. If the article can not be salvaged, then go ahead and tag.

Redirects

Redirects are becoming a rising issue, I find, as the vandals get smarter. Here are some guidelines for redirect SD.

1. Check the history. Make sure that it is not vandalism. If it was the subject of page-move vandalism, contact the admin noticeboard.
2. If it's a redirect to user or user talk, ask the user in question. Often times, it's a mistake, in which case you can direct them to G7.
3. Is it really a bad typo? If you have any doubts whatsoever that speedy deletion might be questionable, Google first and see if it's viable, if you still have doubts, take to WP:RFD instead.
4. Be lenient. Redirects are cheap.
5. Tag if no conflicting issues occur.

Images/media

Images are a very challenging subject indeed. Image copyright is so full of loopholes that it's hard to determine when or when not to tag for speedy deletion. I cannot promise that my advice is all correct, however, to the best of my experience it is true.

1. Images that have "for non-commercial use only", "non-derivative use" or "used with permission" are to be deleted immediately under I3. This also includes those images tagged with a non-commercial CC license.
2. If you are going to tag I1, redundant images, keep in mind that it is between the same type of file. For example, you cannot tag a jpg redundant to a gif. Tag the image that is unused if you are going to tag an I1.
3. For CSD I4, 5, 6, and 7, use {{nocopyright}}, {{Di-orphaned fair use}}, {{Di-no fair use rationale}}, and {{Di-disputed fair use rationale}} respectively. As a rule, try not to clog up the main category with CSD tags of these images.
4. G12 is not for images. Use I9 instead.
5. Be sure to check whether it is a blatant copyright violation. If unsure, use WP:PUI instead. If you feel you can ask for use of the image on Wikipedia, go ahead and ask.