Effort to delete Deletionpedia entry on Wikipedia fails

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:34:43 -0700

A disputed Wikipedia entry for Deletionpedia -- an online archive of deleted Wikipedia entries -- has been saved after a fierce debate on Wikipedia talk pages and Slashdot.

The Wikipedia article was created last week, following the publication of an Industry Standard article on Deletionpedia and a related discussion on Slashdot. It was quickly nominated for deletion, which sparked a debate among Wikipedia editors, as well as a follow-up discussion on Slashdot and more media attention. The media coverage was key in the decision to preserve the entry: Wikipedia editors consider media references "non-trivial" citations. They included the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and The Inquirer.

The controversy has drawn more attention to the belief that Wikipedia editing standards are increasingly insular and rely more on deletion of content than actual editing.

The "meta" nature of the controversy wasn't lost on Slashdot commenters, who included the following parody stub for a new Wikipedia entry just for the Deletionpedia entry issues:

New Wikipedia 'Deletionpedia Deletion Contorversy' deletion controversy erupts as the Wikipedia Deletionpedia Deletion description is nominated for deletion. Delegates describe dangerous double dealings during dastardly deceptive deletions.

Overenthusiastic Slashdot readers attempting to add to the discussion on the Wikipedia talk pages even after a consensus was reached prompted Wikipedia admins to close the deletion debate discussion for further discussion:

"(Changed protection level for 'Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Deletionpedia': up the protection level since even regsitered users seem to want to contribute and haven't got the message that it is closed."

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

News: A Catch 22 for Wikipedia: Should the Deletionpedia entry be deleted?
News: Deletionpedia: Where Wikipedia entries go to die
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