I’d hoped to have several more pages up here today, but I’ve been struggling with a chest cold. Because some folks are watching this space for timely data, I’m going to post a few quick notes here just to communicate some basic information. I’ll come back tomorrow and pretty this up and expand my thinking.
Articles that are not eligible for the speedy deletion process can be deleted through a more time intensive process. This process involves the article being Nominated for Deletion, at which point a section will be created for the article on the page listing articles being considered for deletion (AfD – Articles for Deletion). On the AfD page, editors will debate the relative merits of either keeping the article on wikipedia, or deleting it. When an administrator determines that consensus has been reached, he or she will “close” the AfD page as either “Keep” (to retain the article) or “Delete” (to remove it), ending debate. This administrator will then go on to carry out deletion of the page if necessary.
Google and other search engines clearly play an explicit role in many deletion debates. Of the about 30 articles that were Nominated for Deletion out of my sample from October 1 + 2, 2008, 8 have AfD entries in which one or more editors cite Google or other search engine results as evidence for either retaining or deleting an article. In several cases, editors say they make use of Google Scholar, Google Books, Google News and other specialized search products in an attempt to find sources and either establish or discount notability for the subject of the article in question. In two cases, the shorthand “ghits” for “google hits” is used by editors.
More qualitative write up on what exactly is said and what I think it means as soon as my lungs clear. For now, here are URLs to the relevant AfD entries for those who are curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/A_Loo_with_a_View
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Bionumbers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Brandahn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Cat_Repellers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Jonas_%C3%B6stlund
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/ManhattanGMAT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Tim_Palmer_(NZ)