Wikipedia:Pseudo-deletion by redirection

When an article is converted to a WP:Redirect the action may or may not constitute a pseudo-deletion of the article's topic.

The conversion to a redirect probably amounts to a pseudo-deletion if the following is true:

• Sourced material is lost, and there is no reasonable scope for including the same material at the redirect topic

• The target article is a Wikipedia:List article
• The target article is very weakly connected to the topic

Conversion to a redirect is probably not pseudo-deletion if the following is true:

• The old redirected article and the new target contained overlapping material, known as Wikipedia:Content forking.

Redirects, pseudo-deletion, and deletion processes

WP:AfD generally does not welcome nominations for redirection that are not cases of proposed pseudo-deletion. These cases are typically concerned with editorial decisions on specific questions of how much content should be included. Editors advocating redirection typically favour restraining the content to the more brief version that exists at the target. An applicable policy to this sort of issue is WP:UNDUE. Resolving the issue may involve an extended process of discussion and negotiation, and if so AfD is not a suitable venue.

WP:AfD may welcome discussions where the nominator is effectively proposing a pseudo-deletion. In these cases, if the AfD discussion is disagreed with, it may be reviewed at WP:DRV.

See also

• Wikipedia:Redirect § Redirects that replace previous articles – the official, guideline-level description of this practice
• Wikipedia:Deletion by redirection
• Wikipedia:Non-deleting deletion discussions
• Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Episodes and characters 2/Workshop#Deletion by redirect
• Wikipedia:Merge what?
• Wikipedia:Delete or merge
• Wikipedia:Merge and delete
• Wikipedia:Soft deletion (failed proposal)