| Revision as of 05:53, 18 November 2006 editDominic (talk | contribs)Administrators29,561 edits clean up← Previous edit | Revision as of 05:59, 18 November 2006 edit undoDominic (talk | contribs)Administrators29,561 edits →Proposed text:: add qualification "Please note that administrators should not delete articles for which references are clearly unneeded"Next edit → | ||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
| ===Proposed text:=== | ===Proposed text:=== | ||
| '''Unreferenced'''. Any article which was created after this criterion was adopted that remains without ''any'' references 14 days after tagging may be speedily deleted. "''References''" here is to be interpreted broadly. If in doubt, don't use speedy deletion. |
'''Unreferenced'''. Any article which was created after this criterion was adopted that remains without ''any'' references 14 days after tagging may be speedily deleted. "''References''" here is to be interpreted broadly. If in doubt, don't use speedy deletion. | ||
| :''Please note that administrators should not delete articles for which references are clearly unneeded (disambiguation pages, certain lists, or any other article judged so by an administrator).'' | |||
| ====Notes:==== | ====Notes:==== | ||
| Line 20: | Line 22: | ||
| *"''14 days after tagging''" is intended to reduce the possibility of biting. Tagging gives editors the warning and time to fix a problem. Allowing deletion any time after 14 days without a source would cause more good faith editors to become upset at the loss of their work without notice. | *"''14 days after tagging''" is intended to reduce the possibility of biting. Tagging gives editors the warning and time to fix a problem. Allowing deletion any time after 14 days without a source would cause more good faith editors to become upset at the loss of their work without notice. | ||
| *"''Without ''any'' references''" means that sourcing is not a question of ''how good'' an article's references are, but whether they exist at all. If the references, further reading and external links sections are blank and sources aren't mentioned in the text, then it would be eligible. If the article is subject to questions concerning eligibility of sources and whether particular statements are covered by the provided sources, that is outside the scope of this policy. The policy simply requires the article to have at least one reference, regardless of quality. | *"''Without ''any'' references''" means that sourcing is not a question of ''how good'' an article's references are, but whether they exist at all. If the references, further reading and external links sections are blank and sources aren't mentioned in the text, then it would be eligible. If the article is subject to questions concerning eligibility of sources and whether particular statements are covered by the provided sources, that is outside the scope of this policy. The policy simply requires the article to have at least one reference, regardless of quality. | ||
| *"''"''References''" here is to be interpreted broadly''" means references may be in-line citations, works in a reference section, external links, or mentions of a source in the text; questions of whether the references are ''adequate'' must be settled by discussion, normally at AfD or PROD. |
*"''"''References''" here is to be interpreted broadly''" means references may be in-line citations, works in a reference section, external links, or mentions of a source in the text; questions of whether the references are ''adequate'' must be settled by discussion, normally at AfD or PROD. | ||
| *"''administrators should not delete articles for which references are clearly unneeded''" means that, as with all criteria for deletion, administrators merely ''may'' delete articles that qualify. They are not required to. There are plausible articles that may exist without references and not violate the spirit of this criterion, and they should not be deleted. | |||
| ==Implementation== | ==Implementation== | ||
Revision as of 05:59, 18 November 2006
Shortcut- ]
 | The following is a proposed Misplaced Pages policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. |
Misplaced Pages will soon have 1.5 million articles. The main problem we face has long since shifted from coverage to reliability, accuracy, and neutrality. One of the most important efforts in this regard is referencing all the articles we already have. Unfortunately, this is an impossible task, because we are inundated every day with more and more unreferenced new articles that will languish in that state, while more are created, faster than we are referencing, or likely possibly can reference, existing articles. The fact is that an unreferenced article is not helpful as we do not have any basis for knowing if it is reliable, accurate, and neutral. Even if the information is those things, since it is unverifiable, we (and our readers) have no more reason for trusting the claim than for trusting any of the other bad unsourced claims out there. Unreferenced articles are inherently bad quality.
Keep in mind that:
- "If an article topic has no reputable, reliable, third-party sources, Misplaced Pages should not have an article on that topic."
- "Facts, viewpoints, theories, and arguments may only be included in articles if they have already been published by reliable sources."
- Jimmy Wales has stated about articles on living persons, which are especially in need of accuracy and sourcing, that "Zero information is preferred to misleading or false information". Please see mailing list posts and which address just this topic. (Read the whole thread.)
This proposed addition to the criteria for speedy deletion, then, is merely an extension of current practice and Misplaced Pages:Verifiability, which states that "Any edit lacking a source may be removed".
Proposed text:
Unreferenced. Any article which was created after this criterion was adopted that remains without any references 14 days after tagging may be speedily deleted. "References" here is to be interpreted broadly. If in doubt, don't use speedy deletion.
- Please note that administrators should not delete articles for which references are clearly unneeded (disambiguation pages, certain lists, or any other article judged so by an administrator).
Notes:
- "may be deleted" It is neither required nor desirable to nominate all articles which qualify under this policy; it is a matter of judgment whether an article is evidently sourceable. (Should we write a tag for the purpose?)
- "14 days" is intended to allow enough time for editors to find a reliable source to satisfy the criterion.
- "created after this criterion was added" is intended to recognize that standards have changed, and to avoid penalizing older articles. Older unsourced artcles should be identified and dealt with as they are currently without this criterion. At any rate, it would be better for this CSD to start out more conservatively until it gains widespread acceptance.
- "14 days after tagging" is intended to reduce the possibility of biting. Tagging gives editors the warning and time to fix a problem. Allowing deletion any time after 14 days without a source would cause more good faith editors to become upset at the loss of their work without notice.
- "Without any references" means that sourcing is not a question of how good an article's references are, but whether they exist at all. If the references, further reading and external links sections are blank and sources aren't mentioned in the text, then it would be eligible. If the article is subject to questions concerning eligibility of sources and whether particular statements are covered by the provided sources, that is outside the scope of this policy. The policy simply requires the article to have at least one reference, regardless of quality.
- ""References" here is to be interpreted broadly" means references may be in-line citations, works in a reference section, external links, or mentions of a source in the text; questions of whether the references are adequate must be settled by discussion, normally at AfD or PROD.
- "administrators should not delete articles for which references are clearly unneeded" means that, as with all criteria for deletion, administrators merely may delete articles that qualify. They are not required to. There are plausible articles that may exist without references and not violate the spirit of this criterion, and they should not be deleted.
Implementation
- Tagged articles shall be listed in a central location as WP:PROD articles are now, to allow other editors to add references. The tag should be removed if and only if a reference is added.
- Any article deleted under this criterion shall be undeleted if a reference is provided; copies of the text should be made available in user-space at request.
- Like other criteria for speedy deletion, this is carefully worded to ensure that "almost all articles that can be deleted using the rule, should be deleted, according to general consensus." Appeals to this rule shall satisfy all the restrictions agreed by consensus.
- There are times when admins should ignore all rules; when doing so, they must ignore this one too.