Help:Delete

Any user can delete content by editing a page and removing information. The content will still be available in the page history. Explain your actions clearly in your edit summary and/or the talk page.

Administrators can delete articles so they are no longer viewable by non-admins. Before you delete anything, please note that it is often a mistake to delete content.



How do I request deletion of a page?
Many wikis use a template system of tagging pages for deletion. On these wikis, you can type onto a page that needs to be deleted, and an admin will check the page. Usually this is reserved for very obvious deletions, such as a page that has never been anything other than vandalism.

For less obvious pages, there may be a page set up for discussions on what pages to delete. This gives the page's previous editors a chance to discuss why it should stay or go.



Can deleted pages be restored?
Yes, an administrator can view a deleted page, determine whether it was wrongly deleted, and undelete some or all revisions of the text. See more below.



How do I know what has been deleted?
You may examine the deletion log at Special:Log/delete. You can reach this page any time by clicking "Special pages" in the toolbar, selecting "Logs", and then choosing "Deletion log" in the dropdown at the top of the page.

You will not be notified if a page you created or are watching is deleted. The page will disappear from your contributions list and watchlist.

When you visit a page which has been deleted:


 * A regular user will see the normal page creation message and edit box, but a box will be added warning you that you are recreated a previously deleted page.
 * An admin will see the same as a regular user, and also a small link at the top which says "view or restore N deleted edits?", where N is the number of revisions the page had before it was deleted. Clicking on this will take to you a page which allows you to view deleted content, and optionally restore certain revisions of the article.



Is there any way to delete information more permanently?
Staff members can use "oversight" (revision hiding) tools to remove certain revisions permanently (for instance, those that contain personal information such as addresses and phone numbers).