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This is a WikiProject, an area for focused collaboration among Wikipedians. New participants are welcome; please feel free to participate!
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Welcome to WikiProject Article Rescue Squadron. This WikiProject works toward improving Wikipedia as a whole by cooperating together to improve deficient articles through editing to provide necessary sources, correcting inappropriate style or tone, cleaning up grammatical and layout problems, etcetera, with the overall goal of improving the encyclopedia. This WikiProject is always in need of additional help, so feel free to join; all are welcome to help improve Wikipedia articles and content!
Sometimes Wikipedia articles about notable topics exist in poor form, badly written, unsourced – but that is not sufficient in itself to remove them from the encyclopedia at Articles for Deletion. If an article is about an encyclopedic topic that has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, the article may, per our Preserve policy, simply need improvement.
A significant aspect of this project's focus is on articles that may be written in poor form, lack references or need improvement, yet are backed by reliable sources and are therefore likely worthy of a Wikipedia stand-alone article per Wikipedia's notability guidelines. Some writer may have worked hard on that article. Some reader can use that article. In reaching out to work with such writers and readers, the project can help to preserve worthwhile content in the encyclopedia.
ARS Code of Conduct
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Wikiproject Article rescue squadron's main focus is on Wikipedia articles that are perceived as actually being notable that are going through Articles for deletion (AfD), which may:
We also help rescue content in Wikipedia's main namespace (refer to Wikipedia: Namespace for more information) and other Daily deletion debates (XfD) processes, such as Miscellany for deletion (MfD) and Templates for discussion (TfD). See Articles & content for an overview.
ARS members may also be interested in rescuing articles listed at Wikipedia: Listing of possible copyright problems. These articles often cover notable topics. Evaluating the extent of such problems can be difficult, but thoroughly rewriting articles with problems identified as foundational has the additional benefit of helping WikiProject Copyright Cleanup.
The Article Rescue Squadron WikiProject is about editing and improving articles. ARS is no different from any of the hundreds of Wikiprojects in that we collaborate to improve Wikipedia. If everyone who cares about preserving important topics and removing unsuitable content reads one deletion discussion per day (or even one per week), the impact will benefit all of our readers. Moreover, reading through an article nominated for deletion and adding sources and rewriting the text to remove or reword unsuitable content can help other editors decide if the article should be kept or deleted.
No. The project is not about making policy to ensure that nothing is deleted or casting keep votes in AfD discussions. The project ensures that articles that can be written to follow Wikipedia policies do not get deleted when they can be rescued through normal editing, which per WP:AFD means that it was not a good candidate for deletion. The ((Sofixit)) and ((Solookitup)) templates are sometimes all that's required for a rescue.
Every time an article is deleted the contributions that were made to it are lost, and then only Wikipedia administrators can access it, but they are not necessarily experts on the article's topic. After deletion, an article's content, value, and appropriateness can no longer be evaluated by the general public. In addition, the contributor who writes a poor article on a notable topic is likely to be inexperienced. If their first efforts are deleted, they may be discouraged and refrain from creating further articles, or even editing. Everyone starts somewhere, and we should encourage better writing and better articles. Good faith efforts to contribute should be met with encouragement to improve.
This makes Articles for Deletion (AfD) a very important place; one that deserves everyone's attention.
A common axiom is that "AFD is not cleanup". Wikipedia is a work in progress, and articles should not be deleted because no one has felt like cleaning them up yet. Remember, Wikipedia has no deadline. If there's good, sourceable content in the article, it should be preserved, developed and improved, not deleted. The Wikipedia policy of trying to correct problems in articles through editing improvements, expansion and adding reliable sources, located at Try to fix problems, is often more appropriate than the entire deletion of articles.
The question on whether a poor but improvable article ought to be deleted is a major point of contention, and has given rise to the wiki-philosophies immediatism and eventualism. The Article Rescue Squadron was highlighted in a July 2007 Wikipedia Signpost, and has grown with many processes to tag, track, and list tagged articles.
Sometimes articles are proposed for deletion (prod, prodded) without being sent to AfD, some of which are notable per Wikipedia's General notability guideline.
Many new articles come to Wikipedia via the Articles for creation (AfC) process. Reviewers assess these contributions and either accept, decline or reject them. Declined drafts on notable subjects may be improved by the authors and resubmitted. In many cases, however, this does not happen and the drafts are essentially abandoned. Abandoned drafts are subject to deletion under WP:G13 after 6 months of inactivity. Since all this occurs in Draft: space and typically involves new editors, these deletions are largely invisible to the editing community.
You can help by reviewing drafts that will soon become eligible for deletion and improving them and submitting them for rereview at AfC.
In addition to below, placing ((Talk header)) at the top of a Talk page now includes the "Find Sources".
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Here's a quick checklist of 10 steps anyone can take for articles that need rescue:
Deletion discussions |
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Articles |
Templates and modules |
Files |
Categories |
Redirects |
Miscellany |
Speedy deletion |
Proposed deletion |
Articles currently tagged for deletion |
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All articles proposed for deletion |
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Articles currently proposed for deletion |
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Many articles have been deleted as Biographies that had been flagged for years as unsourced. The administrators who deleted them have stated that the restoration of these articles is acceptable, provided that any restored articles are then properly sourced and made fully compliant with WP:BLP (Biographies of living persons). For some background information, see here. BLP articles that are properly sourced will simply be restored, along with their talk pages.
To volunteer to reference one or more of the articles that have recently been deleted as unreferenced BLPs, see ARS BLP volunteers.
List of administrators willing to provide copies of deleted articles |
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Articles with topics of unclear notability |
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Categories for discussion |
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Redirects for discussion |
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Miscellany for deletion |
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About deleted articles
There are three processes under which mainspace articles are deleted: 1) speedy deletion; 2) proposed deletion (prod) and 3) Articles for deletion (AfD). For more information, see WP:Why was my page deleted? To find out why the particular article you posted was deleted, go to the deletion log and type into the search field marked "title," the exact name of the article, mindful of the original capitalization, spelling and spacing. The deletion log entry will show when the article was deleted, by which administrator, and typically contain a deletion summary listing the reason for deletion. If you wish to contest this deletion, please contact the administrator first on their talk page and, depending on the circumstances, politely explain why you think the article should be restored, or why a copy should be provided to you so you can address the reason for deletion before reposting the article. If this is not fruitful, you have the option of listing the article at WP:Deletion review, but it will probably only be restored if the deletion was clearly improper. List discussions WP:Articles for deletion WP:Categories for discussion WP:Copyright problems WP:Deletion review WP:Miscellany for deletion WP:Redirects for discussion WP:Stub types for deletion WP:Templates for discussion WP:WikiProject Deletion sorting WT:Articles for deletion WT:Categories for discussion WT:Copyright problems WT:Deletion review WT:Miscellany for deletion WT:Redirects for discussion WT:Stub types for deletion WT:Templates for discussion WT:WikiProject Deletion sorting |
Article alerts for ARS |
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Miscellany for deletion
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To join, simply add your name to our membership list; feel free to add your ideas to the project discussion page as well.
ARS user page boxes:
This user rescues articles for the Article Rescue Squadron. |
– There's an automatically-generated list of members using this banner here.
This user rescues articles for the Article Rescue Squadron. |
– There's an automatically-generated list of members using this banner here.
Once you've rescued an article or two, show your Rescue Squadron pride with
((User:Jclemens/Rescues|n))
(where n is the number of articles you've helped rescue)
This user has rescued n articles by improving them in the face of pending deletion. |
– There's an automatically-generated list of members using this banner here.
((WikiProject Article Rescue Squadron/Userbox|n))
This user has helped to rescue n articles by improving them in the face of pending deletion. |
There's an automatically-generated list of members using this banner here.
Have you helped take an article from Articles for deletion to Featured Article or Good Article quality ?
show your Rescue Squadron pride with
((User AFD to FA|n))
(where n is the number of articles you've helped rescue and take to Featured Article quality)
This user has successfully taken n articles from deletion discussion at Articles for Deletion — to Featured Article quality. |
– There's an automatically-generated list of members using this banner here.
((User AFD to GA|n))
(where n is the number of articles you've helped rescue and take to Good Article quality)
This user has successfully taken n articles from deletion discussion at Articles for Deletion — to Good Article quality. |
– There's an automatically-generated list of members using this banner here.
To invite someone to join the Article Rescue Squadron, you can use our handy invite by pasting ((subst:Article Rescue Squadron invite)) to their userpage.
There are five specific Rescue Barnstars for anyone who has made significant contributions to rescuing articles; it is up to those awarding them to choose which one to use:
Barnstars | ||||||||||||||||||
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See Wikipedia: Article Rescue Squadron – Templates for ARS templates.
Frequently asked questions Article help Q: Can the Article rescue squadron (ARS) save my article from deletion?
A: Not exactly. First off, Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia and articles can be changed by anyone and no individual exclusively controls any specific article. Secondly, if an article meets Wikipedia's policies on notability and reliable sourcing it likely will not be deleted. There are also alternatives to deletion which may be appropriate. The project members will do what they can as time allows. We suggest that you reference Tips to help rescue articles and the Article Rescue Squadron Guide to saving articles Q: Will ARS help fix the rest of article problems after the deletion discussion?
A: In theory, No. Often, however, individual members will assist after the discussion has closed. You may want to contact a related WikiProject to see if someone there can assist. Sometimes project members completely overhaul an article but in practice most changes are incremental, and you should take initiative to add sourcing and improve the article yourself. Many times other editors will post sources to the deletion discussion; if they meet our sourcing standards then feel free to apply them to the article. Scope Q: Does ARS work to rescue other content on Wikipedia (other than articles)?
A: While articles remain our main focus, poorly-formed encyclopedia content can be found in other namespaces. If content up for deletion, such as a template or image, is poorly-formed and you feel it can be fixed, go ahead and add it to the Rescue list, to request the ARS' consideration. Please be aware that unlike articles, templates and categories often change and are renamed to serve our readers. Q: Does ARS contribute to guideline and policy discussions?
A: Similar to articles, policies and content are not exclusively controlled by any individual(s). If you think ARS should know about a policy discussion you can post a neutral notification, such as, "There is a discussion about topic at _____." on the ARS Talk page. Avoid even the appearance of telling anyone how to think or vote in the discussion— it's very important to keep the message neutral when inviting people to participate. See WP:Canvassing for clarification regarding appropriate discussion notifications. Q: What if I object to what the ARS is doing?
A: ARS is no different from any of the hundreds of Wikiprojects in that we collaborate to improve Wikipedia. We are a maintenance Wikiproject, and as such our scope is not subject-focused (like a WikiProject focused on a specific sport, country or profession), as much as policy-focused to determine if content adheres to Wikipedia's policies on sourcing and notability. We try to determine if an article meets Wikipedia's notability guidleines as well as is it verifiable to reliable sources. We're also apt to suggest merging, listifying, redirecting and deleting as appropriate. Notifying the Article Rescue Squadron is essentially a means to request assistance with an article or content that one feels meets notability guidelines, or should be retained for other reasons. The goal is to improve articles and other content, to benefit our readers. All are welcome to help ARS improve the encyclopedia, just as at any of the other WikiProjects, which encompass a variety of views and interests. No canvassing Q: Does this project canvass editors to keep articles?
A: No. The goal of the Article Rescue Squadron (ARS) is to clean up content that would otherwise be deleted. By necessity, this involves examining the deletion discussion to see what the problems with the article are, and then remedying them. If done correctly, this article cleanup improves the encyclopedia. If an article nominated for deletion is improved and retained on Wikipedia by this process, vis-à-vis addressing a nominator's concerns, the nominator hasn't "lost". Rather, the encyclopedia has won. Using this talk page Q:What about identifying and pointing out specific users who are nominating a lot of articles for deletion without apparent due cause?
This talk page is for co-ordinating matters related to this project's purpose, which is rescuing content on notable topics from deletion. This is not a forum for dispute resolution. If there are issues with an individual user, talk to them personally or make a report or request at an appropriate noticeboard. |
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