 | 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. |
 | This page in a nutshell: We need a "purpose" policy that can be cited when it's violated because bogus Afds that undermine GNG should not exist. The only question to ask at an AfD is whether the article passes GNG. Such AfDs are at odds with our purpose here, which is to document the sum total of human knowledge. All other problems with the article are covered by WP:PRESERVE. Fixing and improving, not deleting, is our goal here. |
The purpose of Wikipedia is to document the sum total of human knowledge as it's found in reliable sources. Therefore, our primary function is inclusionist by nature. We first seek to build and include, not destroy and delete. Content submitted in good faith should be viewed with an eye toward improvement and inclusion, saving deletion as a last resort.
Wikipedia has a legitimate and necessary deletion policy, but that does not mean that all proposals to delete an article, aka an AfD, are legitimate. Therefore, editors should ignore all problems with the article and ask themselves only one question: "Does this article pass our general notability guideline (GNG)?" If so, !vote Keep, as that is the only relevant question at an AfD. If the article appears to fail GNG, then ask: "Can it be rescued by finding more RS to establish its notability or otherwise satisfy GNG?" If so, then advocate for that before finally !voting Delete.
All other concerns and problems with the article are covered by the editing policy's enjoinment to preserve (by fixing and improving) all the imperfect and incomplete content added in good faith. Honor the efforts of other editors. Wikipedia is inclusionist by nature, so editors' first impulse should be to fix, improve, and include.