Wikipedia:Article Rescue Squadron

To see the articles listed for rescue click here. To add an article to the list, see the instructions.

Notice: The Article Rescue Squad is always in need of additional help; All are welcome to try their hand at saving articles tagged for rescue!

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Please join us! All too often, an article about a perfectly notable topic lies wounded, badly written, unsourced — but should its life be taken at Articles for Deletion? No! Only articles about non-encyclopedic topics should be deleted, not articles that need improvement. Improvement is the opposite of deletion.

An article should not be deleted just because it's ill-formed. Some writer worked hard on that article. Some reader can use that article. Those writers and readers, if reached out to, can help us preserve this worthwhile content.

Why is it important to read Wikipedia:Articles for Deletion?

Because of entropy it is easier to delete an article than to create one. Every time an article is deleted, the contributions that were made to it are lost. Wikipedia administrators can access the information in deleted articles, but they are not necessarily experts on the article's topic. Once an article is deleted, its content, value and appropriateness can no longer be evaluated by the general public.

In addition, the contributor who writes a poor article on a notable topic is likely to be inexperienced. If their first efforts are deleted, they may be discouraged and refrain from creating further articles, or even editing. Everyone starts somewhere and we should encourage better writing and better articles. Good faith efforts to contribute should be met with encouragement to improve.

This makes Articles for Deletion a very important place, one that deserves everyone's attention.

A common axiom is that "AFD is not cleanup". Consider that Wikipedia is a work in progress and articles should not be deleted as punishment because no one has felt like cleaning them up yet. Remember, Wikipedia has no deadline. If there's good, eventually sourceable, content in the article, it should be developed and improved, not deleted.

The question on whether a poor but improvable article ought to be deleted is a major point of contention, and has given rise to the wiki-philosophies immediatism and eventualism.

What can one person do?

In general, the Rescue Squadron is not about writing on talk pages as much as editing article pages. If everyone who cares about preserving important topics glances at one deletion discussion per day (or even one per week), reads through the imperiled article, and rewrites it if it is deserving, people will start to think about the differences between unencyclopedic writing and unencyclopedic topics -- and maybe they'll start contemplating improvement before they contemplate deletion.

So the ARS are wild-eyed inclusionists?

No. The Article Rescue Squadron (ARS) is not about casting keep votes or making policy simply to ensure that nothing is deleted. The ARS ensure that articles about notable topics do not get deleted when they can be rescued through normal editing which per WP:AFD means that it was not a good candidate for AfD. The {{So fix it}} and {{Solookitup}} templates are sometimes all that's required for a rescue.

Instructions

What the Rescue template is for

Articles on notable subjects going through AfD that:

What the Rescue template is not for

Articles that are not in the AfD process. These may, however, be good candidates for help at the Intensive Care Unit
Articles that, no matter what improvements were made, would be considered inappropriate per WP:What Wikipedia is not. Use common sense and feel free to ask what other editors think on the project talk page.

Flag an article for Rescue

If an article has been tagged for deletion (the Afd tag) and you feel it meets the above guidelines then you can flag an article for Rescue by:

clicking edit and
adding the following line of text at the top of the page as shown in the example below:

If you are the primary editor of an article tagged for deletion (the Afd tag) or are otherwise unsure if an article is a good candidate for the Article Rescue Squadron then please post a message including the article's title on the Article Rescue Squadron talk page.

Example

You can flag an article for Rescue by editing it to add the bolded text under the AfD tag, but within the two sets of  tags, as in the below example using a Robin Sage AfD:

{{Rescue}}

The article will then appear in this category along with all the others flagged for rescue. Adding it within the two sets of  tags will also allow the closing admin to automatically remove the tag when they close the AfD.

Removing a rescue tag

It is unhelpful, and possibly disruptive, to remove the rescue tag before the AfD is completed. The AfD process usually takes less than a week and the tag is in place for less than that. Let the AfD closer remove it when the AfD tag is removed or the article is deleted. In all cases remain civil and assume good faith that other editors are working to improve articles.

Tips to help rescue articles

Browse Wikipedia:Articles for Deletion periodically and consider tagging articles that you feel meet notability guidelines.
Help improve articles flagged for rescue by adding sources and otherwise cleaning them up.
In general, discuss issues concerning an individual article on that article's talk page, not on this project's talk page.
Check Wikipedia:Guide to deletion for tips.

Source searches

Barnstars

There are three snazzy Rescue Barnstars for anyone who has made significant contributions to rescuing articles; it is up to those awarding them to choose which one to use:

Image	What to type	Description
	{{subst:The Rescue Barnstar\|message ~~~~}}	The Rescue Barnstar - to be awarded to people who rescue articles from deletion or assist in identifying and rescuing articles. This can be independent of or in cooperation with the Article Rescue Squadron. Recommended for someone who has been involved in multiple rescues.
	{{subst:The Rescue Barnstar 2\|message ~~~~}}	The Rescue Barnstar 2 - to be awarded to people who rescue articles from deletion or assist in identifying and rescuing articles. This can be independent of or in cooperation with the Article Rescue Squadron. Recommended for someone who has found articles to be saved or otherwise assisted in saving an article from AfD (deletion).
	{{subst:The Rescue Barnstar 3\|message ~~~~}}	The Rescue Barnstar 3 - to be awarded to people who rescue articles from deletion or assist in identifying and rescuing articles. This can be independent of or in cooperation with the Article Rescue Squadron. Recommended for someone who has saved an article from AfD (deletion).

How to become a member of Article Rescue Squadron

To join simply add your name to our membership list; feel free to add your ideas to the project discussion page as well.

Then place this tag {{User Article Rescue Squadron}} on your user page:

This user rescues articles for the Article Rescue Squadron.

Once you've rescued an article or two, show your Rescue Squadron pride with {{User:Jclemens/Rescues|n}} (where n is the number of articles you've helped rescue)

This user has rescued n articles by improving them in the face of pending deletion.

Articles currently tagged for rescue

Selected previous rescues

External links