NOTICE:
This is a sandbox page.
It is not approved or active policy. It is a draft, and as such, may be incomplete.
This version of the Deletions Guide is made to provide an exhaustive reference tool for staff with questions, concerns, and comments about the processing of articles which have reached the deletion threshold. The version which is designed for users is location on the wiki itself where this guide used to be kept.
Foreword
In order to maintain our standards of quality, pages not meeting those standards are deleted. These deletions are, in most instances, decided upon by the community through voting and carried out by administrators or members of operational staff who have been given Mod Tools. There are exceptions for submissions that are found to be in violation of site policy. No matter the reason for deletion, deletions are always announced, with reasons clearly given.
Reasons For Deletion
See the mainsite Deletions Guide for a list of reasons why a page may be deleted.
Author Request
Author request is no longer a valid reason for staff to delete a page, following a vote to change that policy.
Other Pertinent Information
Votes From Authors & Deleted Accounts / Adjusted Score Calculation
All votes on a page from deleted accounts are voided; if a page is at -10 with two downvotes from deleted accounts, that page is treated as being at -8, and would not be eligible for deletion. Similarly, if a page were rated -8, with two upvotes from deleted accounts, that page would be eligible for deletion. Similarly, all votes from authors (and translators, rewriters, etc.) are voided. In other words, votes from anyone with an entry in a given page's attribution metadata do not count towards a page's score for purposes of deletion.
A page's adjusted score is its displayed score with votes from authors and deleted accounts voided. See the mainsite Deletions Guide for details.
The deletions process
Witnessing a deletion
All deletions must be witnessed by three staff members. Any member of operational staff or administrator may witness deletions. Members of junior staff may witness deletions with the prior approval of the captain of the MAST Deletions subteam. This allows members of JS to become familiar with the deletions process and makes it easier for deletions to be carried out in a timely manner.
In addition to all JS members of the MAST Deletions subteam, the following members of JS have been approved to witness deletions:
List currently empty.
The first witness to a deletion is responsible for tagging the page and creating the deletion post in the page's discussion. They will remove any existing tags and add the in-deletion tag.
The third witness to a deletion should carry out the deletion if possible; if not, they should replace the in-deletion tag with deletable so that other members of staff will know that no more witnesses are needed. They may omit the third discussion post if they're prepared to carry out the deletion immediately.
Deletions should be witnessed in the discussion section of a page. The post should have a subject of "Staff Post - Deletion" and a body as described below.
Deletions due to score ≤ -10
If a page's adjusted score is -10 or less, it's eligible for deletion due to score. The body text of the first deletion post must contain a timer. Set the timer type to "Deletion" and enter the article's current score. If the article is also eligible for deletion for any other reason, select the applicable reason from the dropdown. Finally, select "build timer and copy to clipboard" and paste the generated code into the comment body.
Subsequent witnesses should reply with the vote number (i.e. "2" or "3" since the timer counts as the first vote) or other text indicating that they're witnessing the deletion. Every witness must examine the score before witnessing.
An article may be deleted based on score when:
- It has been witnessed by three eligible members of staff, AND
- Its timer has expired, OR
- Its score is below -20
Deletions for any other reason
The procedure for deletions due to other reasons is similar to the procedure described above, with two exceptions: Timers aren't needed for non-score deletions except where otherwise stated, and all witnesses must clearly state the reason for deletion. E.g. witnessing for deletion due to generative AI use. or Witnessing for deletion due to a violation of the licensing policy. (Witnesses after the first may be briefer but must still make the reason apparent, e.g. Witnessing, AI.) As above, every witness must verify that the relevant condition still applies.
Implicit witnessing
When a member of the Disciplinary team supports action against a user for posting malicious/trolling content, or a member of the AI Team supports action against a user for posting AI-generated/assisted content, that will also count as witnessing the relevant pages for deletion.
Carrying out the deletion
PM to the author(s)
Deletion due to score
First, install the deletions userscripts. (See SCP Wiki Usertools for information about userscripts.)
Open the article in question with a ?d appended to the URL, like https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-xyzzy?d. This will open new tabs with an automatically generated PM for each author. Send the PMs.
Deletion for any other reason
Send each author a PM explaining why the article is being deleted. The article text should not be included if said text violated site rules. For example, article text would not be included for troll articles, AI-generated articles, or plagiarized articles. It should be included for out-of-range articles, author pages for ineligible users, or unparented fragments.
Deletion thread post
Find the current deletions thread here and post in it. Multiple deleted pages can be combined in one comment; each should have an entry like:
/scp-173
> It is constructed from concrete and rebar with traces of Krylon brand spray paint. SCP-173 is animate and extremely hostile. The object cannot move while within a direct line of sight.
Deleted at -12 with 3 staff witnessing.or
/aipage
Deleted due to generative AI use. Witnessed by Zyn and Kufat.In the case of standard deletions, the post must contain the page slug, an identifying excerpt, and the score at the time of deletion. For other deletions, the reason for deletion should be specified along with the staff members who witnessed the deletion. (If you were one of the three witnesses, you don't need to include your own handle.)
The actual deletion
At the bottom of the page, choose 'delete' and 'delete completely,' and confirm the deletion. This is the last, irreversible step.
Questions
Can staff delete a page without witnesses if it's malicious or contains policy-violating content?
No. However, a member of staff can unilaterally blank such a page, as well as locking it (if the member of staff is an administrator or an operational staff member with mod tools.) The actual deletion will still require two other witnesses.
What should I do if a user who is unable to delete their own page (e.g. banned users, users who have lost access to their Wikidot account) wants to have their work removed?
In that case, the work will remain on the site. However, the user may request removal of their attribution for the work. Please refer the matter to the Anonymous Articles subteam of the Curation team.
When do I need to calculate the adjusted score?
If a page has downvotes from deleted users or if there has been evidence of a downvote brigade, you must use the adjusted score for deletions purposes. Otherwise, you may use the adjusted score.