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This page documents an English Wikipedia content guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense and the occasional exception. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
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This page in a nutshell: Don't blank nonsense pages, request speedy deletion |
Early in Wikipedia's history, it was common to leave articles blank if the title was valid, but the contents were vandalism or nonsense. Eventually it was decided that Wikipedia should not have blank articles. Blank articles appear as blue links and thus make the creation of an actual article less likely. They also mislead readers into thinking an article exists, disappointing them when they find a blank article.
Blank articles also interfere with Wikipedia's utility pages. All blank articles appear on Special:Shortpages and Special:Deadendpages, unnecessarily increasing the length of these lists.
Rather than blanking an article, fix it!, or use the deletion process.
It is okay to blank an article for libel or privacy reasons as an emergency measure.
