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Postponed deletion is part of the process for Articles for Deletion (AFD). It provides a way for editors to be given more time to try to correct the deficiencies in articles that led to the article being listed for deletion. This is primary for articles where there has been no notification, either through cleanup tags or through talk page discussions, such that the deletion proposal is the first time that the editors of that article have been notified of problems within the article, though other cases may warrant its use. However, if an article has been tagged for cleanup for one or more months and no work has been attempted to improve upon that despite the presence of other edits to the article, it is unlikely that postponing the article for cleanup will result in the expected cleanup.
The reasoning for postponing the deletion is that if an article is only first notified through the AFD process that it fails policy or guidelines, the AFD process only gives the editors five days to correct the issue. Some issues can be resolved in this short time, but others, such as demonstrating the notability of a topic or improving the language of the article, may take more time. Also, as Wikipedia is a volunteer project, a concerned editor may not be able to make the necessary changes within those five days; postponing would give them more time to find to help correct the article. Overall, this process should help to prevent "biting" newer editors to Wikipedia, while still helping to improve the quality of articles.
Nevertheless, a postponed deletion is not an indefinite postponement. Interested editors are expected to make reasonable effort to meet the concerns from the proposed deletion within four weeks from when the deletion was postponed. If such efforts are not made in that time, any editor is free to repropose the article for deletion, and except in outstanding situations, the deletion cannot be postponed again. It is not expected that an article will meet the high standards expected for featured articles, but should show reasonable progress towards addressing the points raised during the previous deletion debate.
Postponed deletion does not apply to articles that egregiously violate policy (such as biographies of living persons), nor applies to articles that meet the criteria for speedy deletion.