 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
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The following are a list of points to bear in mind when reading deletion debates for templates, images, categories, stub types, redirects and especially articles. The reason they need to be kept in mind is because these debates perform a central role on Wikipedia in generating consensus as to what is included. All participants are expected to make robust arguments and to respect other people's opinions in order to build consensus.
This essay is written in part in response to Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions, building from the crucial admonishment within that essay that a reason which arguably could be classified as an "argument to avoid", can still have some valid points in it. Editors, and administrators when closing debates, need to remember that building a consensus does not allow us to disregard opinions or arguments made in good faith and which take into consideration the rebuttal of others, and that per Wikipedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators we have to respect the judgment and feelings of Wikipedia participants.