Deletionpedia

Deletionpedia

File:Deletionpedia Logo.svg
URL	http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com/
Commercial?	No
Type of site	archive
Registration	None
Available language(s)	English
Current status	as of 29 2009 (2009 --29): online, last updated: unknown ([1] has "1 December 2012"); last edit: 2009-08-07; last Wikipedia article logged: 中国 屋顶形制 at 2009-11-29, 14:05:43.06

Deletionpedia is a web site containing articles deleted from English Wikipedia. Its articles preserve most Wikipedia article content and its version of each article includes a header with more information about the deletion such as whether a speedy deletion occurred, where the deletion discussion about the article can be found and which editor deleted the article.

Function

The site is based on MediaWiki and updates have been automated. As of February 2009 Deletionpedia has collected 63,424 articles, limited to those deleted from Wikipedia between February and September 2008. The site functions as something of a "wikimorgue," automatically collecting articles deleted from Wikipedia.

In addition to categories preserved from Wikipedia, Deletionpedia adds its own categories to articles, based upon the deletion criteria. It organizes pages by the month in which they were deleted; by the number of editors that had worked on a page and by the length of time the article had existed on Wikipedia - thousands of pages were over 1000 days old before they were deleted.

Deletionpedia states that it avoids hosting deleted pages that are copyright violations, pages with serious libel problems, pages whose full revision history is still available on Wikipedia's sister sites, and pages which set out to offend others.

Articles preserved by Deletionpedia have been deleted from Wikipedia for a variety of reasons, from "being uninteresting," to (allegedly) "manipulation by political and business interests." Since the site is read-only, it seeks no donations, suggesting instead that supporters donate to mySociety or to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Reactions

The Wall Street Journal cited it as a response to the culture clash that exists on Wikipedia between deletionists and inclusionists. The Industry Standard calls it “a fine research project for sociology students to study what groupthink does when applied to a community-built compendium of knowledge.” Shortly thereafter, the Industry Standard again turned its attention to Deletionpedia, reporting that deletion of the article in Wikipedia about Deletionpedia was itself under discussion, suggesting that the article was not being considered for deletion based on “insignificance of the site” but rather “due to perceived criticism of Wikipedia itself.” Deletionpedia also made news at De Telegraaf, the website for the largest daily morning Dutch language newspaper, and the The Inquirer, a British technology tabloid website.

The site has been more fully explored by Ars Technica in an article that not only describes aspects of the website but mentions the controversy over deleting the Wikipedia article on Deletionpedia.

See also

• Criticism of Wikipedia
• Deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia
• Rejecta Mathematica
• MARJORIE-WIKI (equivalent German-language service)

External links

• Official site