Wikipedia:Deletion of unreferenced BLPs

Deletion of unreferenced BLPs is a process used for nominating unreferenced biographies of living persons for deletion, and deleting such pages after n days if no reliable sources are added (n a number to be determined). Its purpose is to reduce the number of biographies of living persons which stay unsourced for months and years after being created and being tagged with the problem.

There are three steps:

  1. An article is nominated when the {{dub}} tag is added.
  2. If any person adds one or more relevant reliable sources to the article and then removes the {{dub}} tag, the BLP deletion is aborted and may not be renominated. The article may still be nominated for a regular deletion discussion of course.
  3. The article is first checked and then manually deleted by an administrator n days after nomination. It may be incubated.

Nominating edit

Before nomination:

  1. Consider your reasons for deletion and the alternatives to deletion.
  2. Review the article's history to confirm that it has not been recently vandalized.
  3. Confirm that the article is eligible for BLP deletion by checking that it:
    • is a biography of a living person
    • has no reliable sources.
    • has been tagged as an unsourced BLP for at least p months (p a number to be determined).
    • has not been and is not being discussed at AfD.
  4. Note that only articles may be deleted using the BLP deletion process.

Nomination:

  1. Add the {{subst:dub}} to the top of the main article page to nominate the article.
  2. Provide an edit summary that clearly indicates that the article has been nominated for BLP deletion. Do not mark the edit as minor.
  3. Consider adding the article to your watchlist.
  4. Inform the author and any significant contributors (unless they are currently indef blocked). You can either give them a personalised message, or just post {{subst:DUBWarning|Name of Article‎}} tag to their talk page.

Objecting edit

To object to and therefore permanently prevent a BLP deletion, add one or more relevant reliable sources to the article and then remove the {{dub}} tag from the article. You may also:

  1. Explain why you disagree with the deletion nomination, either in the edit summary or on the talk page.
  2. Consider notifying the editors involved in the DUB by placing a {{Dedub}} tag on their user talk page.
  3. Add or modify an {{Olddubfull}} tag on the article's talk page, to prevent renomination under BLP deletion. It will then be listed at Category:Past BLP deletion candidates for easy tracking.
  4. Consider further improving the article.
  • When tagging a BLP deletion candidate for speedy deletion, the BLP deletion tag should be left in place in case the speedy deletion is rejected. A rejected speedy candidate is still eligible for BLP deletion, but a rejected AfD candidate is not. The {{dub}} tag may be restored if replaced with a speedy deletion tag.
  • Any article deleted via this process and then recreated is subject to speedy deletion under criterion G4.

If the article has already been deleted, please follow the Deletion review process. If undeleted, add the {{Olddub}} tag to the Discussion page.

Deleting edit

Before deletion, administrators should check the article, its history, and deletion log to confirm that:

  1. The {{dub}} tag has been in place continuously for at least n days
  2. No plausible objections have been raised on the talk page.
  3. The article is eligible for BLP deletion.

If you decide to delete the article, provide an informative deletion reason. Once the article is deleted, the reason for the {{dub}} can only be seen by administrators. If you are using an automated script, make sure it leaves an adequate message. To ensure independent judgment, an article should not be deleted by the same person who added the {{dub}} tag.

If you decide not to delete the article, consider editing it to deal with the concerns raised, or nominating the article for deletion on AfD. You should document that it has been contested with an {{Olddubfull}} on the article's Talk page.

Notes edit

See also edit

Relevant policies
Relevant guidelines
Editors under the age of adulthood
Relevant FAQs
Discussion forums
See also Alternative outlets | Undeletion policy | Deletion guidelines for administrators
AfD Precedents | Archived delete discussions | Policy consensus discussions