Refactor Dont Delete

RefactorDontDelete takes a different position from RefactorOrDelete as this page advocates PageDeletion avoidance.

I would think this approach should be used for pages created by known members of the community, including controversial persons. This will at least give time for enthusiastic people to stash away their wiki pages, or to get a prior version thru GoogleCache, etc.

Some pages are in bad, bad shape. Some of those pages are better off just being deleted. Others are genuinely OnTopic and useful, but coated in layers of cruft. RefactorDontDelete is both an objection to deletion, and a WikiTag to mark pages for would-be refactorers.

This idea deserves more attention in the current reductionist climate. by proxy.ipsb.net

We should delete this page. The author hasn't even bothered to look at the rest of WikiWiki to see the dozen pages already covering this subject. It's redundant, his opinion didn't add anytHing, and that makes this a candidate to go. (HaHaOnlySerious)

To which I would reply, RefactorDontDelete.

Part of the aim of refactoring is deletion, otherwise you're just shuffling a deck. What should it matter whether the superfluous unit discovered in refactoring is a page or a line or a sentence? Carve it out and get rid of it.

True. By 'delete' I meant 'deletion of the whole page', which is permanent and relatively hard to reverse. Deletion of part of a page is standard wiki maintenance.

On the other hand, there are lots of noncontroversial OnTopicButUseless?, or OffTopicAndForgotten? pages to delte. Why risk the waste of emotions on getting yourself and others upset? -- dl

I have a feeling we need to work on developing a set of pages specifically about deletion. There are already a bunch out there, mostly categorized by CategoryWikiMaintenance. I was tempted to create a new CategoryDeletionPatterns?, but thought someone else might suggest a better name to focus the discussion. I was thinking that it should be something someone can come along and read, mostly in order, to learn about the whys and why nots, when and when nots, etc. Surely we have some opinions on it.

They aren't Patterns. Why don't you read WikiWiki a little bit more before trying to define what it should do? As stated above, this page was created in the absence of knowledge about what has been said before. Then refactor them into something coherent.

Not exactly true. In fact not even close. This page was created because there is no other page that says the same thing. It says: "Somebody tried or suggested to delete this page. I can see why because it's full of thread mode. However, the fundamental intent of the page is good and deserves to be refactored. Hence, refactor it, don't delete it." There are many pages about deletion, but they are scattered and bloated. Hence the suggestion to make a community effort to collect them into a more coherent form. It would help guide endeavours like WikiSpringCleaning.

True. Let's collect them as on WikiMission for the on-topic, off-topic stuff, and then we can see what we can do to refactor them together.

Yes, that's another example that seems to be in need of focusing. It seems that MossCollum is already making some headway with DeletionConventions.

CategoryWikiMaintenance CategoryWikiTag