Just unilaterally deleting a Wiki page seems like vandalism. In order for us to be acting responsibly we must be prepared to make restitution for any actions we may later regret. Therefore: before moving a page beyond the reach of the Wiki community we ought to take proper steps to ensure that it can be restored later either to the community or to interested individuals. Here is one way to do so:

* Create and maintain a Wiki Archives directory on your computer.
* When you want to delete a page (or save it for any other reason), copy the contents of the edit box to a new text file in your Wiki Archives directory.
* Give the file the same name as the Wiki page.
* Replace the contents of the page with the DeletedAndArchived WikiBadge and sign it.
* Maintain a WikiHomePage with your email address on it so that people can ask you for copies of the pages that you have archived.
* Be gracious about filling such requests.

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'''Discussion:'''

''The one-week archive shows '''no''' uses of the this proposed badge. Why keep it? If no one has seen to use this badge what value does it add?''

What value does deleting it add? Why do you care so passionately about destroying the contents of this page? If you don't like it you don't have to read it.

''It's the impact on those reading these pages for the first time, early on in their experience of Wiki, that is the whole motivation for RichardDrake here.''

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These "guidelines" seem to be written under the implicit assumption that deletion is in most cases a BadThing that needs to be constrained. However, I put it to you that Wiki could use quite a lot more deletion. Of course, good refactoring is more than just deleting the crap, but in order to make Wiki the nice refactored thing we all want it to be, there ''will'' have to be quite a lot of deletions. As such, any guidelines that make deletion more difficult are actually harmful to wiki.

Moreover, when a HumbleRefactorer, after having deleted some drivel, gets flamed because he didn't obey the rules outlined on this page (of which he might not even be aware), then he will quickly learn the lesson to ''never'' delete anything again. 

Finally, these rules are probably in violation of the WikiEssence. Suppose that we used the same rules for ''additions'' made on Wiki!
-- StephanHouben

When I wrote this page I did it to encourage people to be more brave about deleting things. I actually regret that now. Deletion is not a matter of someone telling you that they don't want to read what you've written, it's a matter of someone telling you that they don't want '''anyone''' to read it and that, furthermore, they are willing to take steps to prevent it. 

The HumbleRefactorer must cease being humble in order to delete the contents of an ''entire page''. DeleteAndArchive allows at least a little of that humility back.

Actually, ThreadModeHasValue, and that value can't be replaced by simple summaries. Alternatives to deletion include moving material to the bottom of the page, moving it to another page altogether, and contacting orignal authors and collaborating with them through the refactoring. It seems likely to me that any one of these alternatives is better than just hacking out the parts of a page that you don't like -- especially when it's the whole page that you find objectionable. -- PhilGoodwin

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See: WikiBackup, HowToDeletePages, RefactorAndArchive, JunkBox, HistoryPages
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CategoryWikiMaintenance CategoryDelete