Wikipedia:Requested moves/Closing instructions

This is an explanatory essay about Wikipedia:Requested moves. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

Shortcuts WP:RMCI WP:RMCLOSE

This page in a nutshell: Don't close requested moves if you are involved; If you are not an administrator you should be cautious when closing contentious requests; Determine consensus on the request or relist it for further discussion; Investigate the page history of the target page title; if minor, it may be deleted; if major, perform a history merge, history swap, or archive and place a link on the talk page; Close the move request on the talk page using {{subst:RM top}} and {{subst:RM bottom}}. If renamed then clean up after the move

The following are suggestions for closing Wikipedia:Requested moves discussions. These should generally be applied only after the normal seven-day listing period has elapsed. These suggestions are addressed to formal move requests that occur on talk pages, i.e. controversial move requests, but are instructive as to the necessary page history investigation and preservation and cleanup procedures advisable upon any move. Requests listed in the technical requests section can be simply removed after they have been processed. Where technical moves are contested, move the listing to the contested technical requests section.

Failure of an RM closer to follow the spirit and intent of these instructions, especially about properly weighing consensus with applicable policies and guidelines, may result in the initiation of a Move Review.

Closers may find this guide helpful when considering the technical task of closing a discussion.