Description of prelimary changes to afford a process shift for "Articles for Deletion" to "Articles for Retention" combined with a shift in no-consensus from defacto "keep" to defacto "delete".

en:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion[edit]

The proposal would firstly reqiure a change in Tilte of the page to Wikipedia:Articles for Retention additionally some copy edit would be necessary as described with the lead section below

current version[edit]

Articles for deletion (AfD) is where Wikipedians discuss whether or not an article should be deleted. Articles listed are debated for at least seven days, after which the deletion process proceeds based on Wikipedia community consensus. Then the page may be kept, merged or redirected, transwikied (copied to another Wikimedia project), renamed/moved to another title, userfied to the creator's user page or user subpage, or deleted per the deletion policy.

This article explains what you should consider before nominating, the steps for nominating single or multiple pages, and how to discuss an AfD. It also links to the list of articles currently under consideration, and to two faster alternatives to AfD: the simpler companion processes, Wikipedia:Speedy deletions and Wikipedia:Proposed deletion, exist for the deletion of articles that are generally uncontroversial deletion candidates, such as vandalism and patent nonsense.

If you want to nominate an article, the Wikipedia deletion policy explains the criteria for deletion and may help you understand when an article should be nominated for deletion. The guide to deletion explains the deletion process. If the article in question meets the criteria for deletion and you understand the deletion process, consult the instructions on how to list pages for deletion.

If you aren't sure if a page should be nominated for deletion, or you need more help, try this page's talk page or Wikipedia's help desk.

proposed change[edit]

Articles for Retention (AfR) is where Wikipedians discuss whether or not an article should be retained. Articles listed are debated for at least seven days, after which the retention process proceeds based on Wikipedia community consensus. Then the page may be kept, merged or redirected, transwikied (copied to another Wikimedia project), renamed/moved to another title, userfied to the creator's user page or user subpage, or deleted per the deletion policy.

This article explains what you should consider before nominating, the steps for nominating single or multiple pages, and how to discuss an AfR. It also links to the list of articles currently under consideration, and to two deletion alternatives to AfR: these simpler companion processes, Wikipedia:Speedy deletions and Wikipedia:Proposed deletion, exist for the deletion of articles that are generally uncontroversial deletion candidates, such as vandalism and patent nonsense.

If you want to nominate an article, the Wikipedia deletion policy explains the criteria for deletion and may help you understand when an article should be nominated. The guide to deletion explains the deletion process. If the article in question meets the criteria and you understand the process, consult the instructions on how to nominate pages.

If you aren't sure if a page should be nominated for deletion, or you need more help, try this page's talk page or Wikipedia's help desk.

en:Wikipedia:Deletion policy[edit]

In this policy there are reference to no-consensus defaulting to keep; as part of the proposal, no-consensus will result in defaulting to delete. Also the policy refers to deletion by consensus, where as the proposal is retention by consensus. Again some minor rewording as per the examples below are necessary.

Lead[edit]

current version[edit]

....pages and reverse ("undelete") any deletion. All such actions are logged. If in doubt as to whether there is consensus to delete a page, administrators will normally not delete it.

proposed change[edit]

...pages and reverse ("undelete") any deletion. All such actions are logged. If in doubt as to whether there is consensus to retain a page, administrators will normally delete it.

section: Deletion Discussion[edit]

This section would need to be renamed to Retention Discussion

current version[edit]

note this is direct copy of text from the en:Wikipedia pageversion link as such wikilinks have not been delinked and may link to unassociated meta pages....

Pages that do not fall in the above three categories may be deleted after community discussion at one of the deletion discussions, the results of which may be reviewed after the fact at deletion review (see below). This includes contested speedy or proposed deletions. Here, editors who wish to participate can give their opinion on what should be done with the page.

These processes are not decided through a head count, so participants are encouraged to explain their opinion and refer to policy. The discussion lasts at least seven days; afterwards, pages are deleted by an administrator if there is consensus to do so. If there is no rough consensus and the page is not a BLP describing a relatively unknown person, the page is kept and is again subject to normal editing, merging or redirecting as appropriate. Discussions on relatively unknown, non-public figures, where the subject has requested deletion and there is no rough consensus may be closed as delete.

A nomination that gets little response after the discussion period has ended can be relisted if the closing editor believes that more time would be likely to generate a clearer consensus.

It is considered inappropriate to ask people outside of Wikipedia to come to the discussion to sway its outcome. Such comments may be ignored. They are not removed, but may be tagged with {{spa}}, noting that a user "has made few or no other edits". In extreme cases, a deletion debate can be semi-protected.

It is also inappropriate to request deletion because of an editorial dispute. Such disputes are not resolved by deleting the whole page; instead, use dispute resolution.

Where to find them: There are separate processes for articles, categories (except stub categories), files, redirects, templates (except stub templates and userboxes), stub templates and categories, user categories, and everything else.
How to do this: Follow the instructions at the top of the relevant process page.
If you disagree: Go to the relevant process page and explain why you disagree. Do not remove the tag from the page. For more information on this process, read the Wikipedia:Guide to deletion.
Renominations: After a deletion debate concludes and the page is kept, users should allow a reasonable amount of time to pass before nominating the same page for deletion again, to give editors the time to improve the page. Renominations shortly after the earlier debate are generally closed quickly. It can be disruptive to repeatedly nominate a page in the hopes of getting a different outcome.

proposed change[edit]

Pages that do not fall in the above three categories may be deleted after community discussion at one of the discussion pagess, the results of which may be reviewed after the fact at deletion review (see below). This includes contested speedy or proposed deletions. Here, editors who wish to participate can give their opinion on what should be done with the page.

These processes are not decided through a head count, so participants are encouraged to explain their opinion and refer to policy. The discussion lasts at least seven days; afterwards, pages are retained by an administrator if there is consensus to do so. If there is no rough consensus the page is delete.

A nomination that gets little response after the discussion period has ended can be relisted if the closing editor believes that more time would be likely to generate a clearer consensus.

It is considered inappropriate to ask people outside of Wikipedia to come to the discussion to sway its outcome. Such comments may be ignored. They are not removed, but may be tagged with {{spa}}, noting that a user "has made few or no other edits". In extreme cases, a deletion debate can be semi-protected.

It is also inappropriate to request deletion because of an editorial dispute. Such disputes are not resolved by deleting the whole page; instead, use dispute resolution.

Where to find them: There are separate processes for articles, categories (except stub categories), files, redirects, templates (except stub templates and userboxes), stub templates and categories, user categories, and everything else.
How to do this: Follow the instructions at the top of the relevant process page.
If you disagree: Go to the relevant process page and explain why you disagree. Do not remove the tag from the page. For more information on this process, read the Wikipedia:Guide to deletion.
Renominations: After a deletion debate concludes and the page is kept, users should allow a reasonable amount of time to pass before nominating the same page for deletion again, to give editors the time to improve the page. Renominations shortly after the earlier debate are generally closed quickly. It can be disruptive to repeatedly nominate a page in the hopes of getting a different outcome.

en:Wikipedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators[edit]

Only the section labelled Deciding_whether_to_delete would need any adjustment that being to point#4;

When in doubt, don't delete

As no-consensus in the proposal is delete this point would need to removed as it would be contradictory to the proposals premise.