This is a special type of
WikiGnome, one who goes around cleaning up wiki by deleting test pages, orphan pages, duplicate pages, etc. These good creatures are not malicious and are not
WikiGremlins or
WikiTrolls, and do not get involved with deletion wars and
EditWars. They delete purely to make
WikiWikiWeb a better and generally neater place for all.
Unlike the
WikiGnomes or
WikiFaeries, the
DeleteAngel is less concerned with
refactoring and editing content as such and tends only to be concerned with removing unnecessary or inappropriate pages to improve the overall content of
WikiWikiWeb.
A good
DeleteAngel adheres to the
DeleteOnceRestoreOnce rule and avoids acting like a
DeleteVulture.
Actually it's every
WikiZens raison d'etre to improve the overall content of
WikiWikiWeb; it is called
FixYourWiki, however, the distinction we're making here is the difference in characteristics of those
WikiZens who perform
WikiMaintenance as their main contribution.
An aspiring
DeleteAngel might take a look at
IsThisOffTopicPageOk, then try to remove pages that have no defending arguments and have been listed there for two months or more.
Page deletion has been a touchy subject here on the C2 for over a decade and probby won't become any less volatile any time soon. It is perhaps a bit of a stretch to refer to anyone who deletes Wiki content as an "angel" of any stripe; nonetheless, there persists a real need to delete content that has outlived its usefulness and has no remaining value -- not even historical.
To that end there are a flock of WikiGnomes floating about in cyberland trolling through Wiki's shallow waters and plucking out the dead fish found therein. No Wikizen who deletes content without doing all -- and I mean, all
-- of the work surrounding a proper deletion can be called anything like an "angel." Just the fact that folk delete content without fixing all of the backlinks first is a serious breech of protocol.
Additionally, the very fact of backlinks indicates that some content should stay. Perhaps this old, moldy, worn-out content should be marked as DeletionCandidate for a while before the ambitious WikiGnome attempts to wipe it out. Don't know. Different every case, probby. Your Mileage May Vary. Void Where Prohibited By Law. Seek Professional Help. Do Not Take Internally.
CategoryWikiUser,
CategoryWikiMaintenance