What You Cannot Delete

Since the deletion of pages has been made possible, there are mixed views as to what belongs and what does not belong on this wiki. Consider the following discussion and the resulting comments for ways to preserve what you see as useful information. This is particularly applicable given recent activities where disagreements led to HolyWars of Delete, Restore, Delete, Restore, etc. There are over 5 dozen pages prescribing what is/was worth keeping and what is/was to be deleted.

To find some of the pages, See: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?search=Delete

Discussion and comments:

Said on TheWikiWay (A collaborative Book which WardCunningham participated in writing) -- it was moved here, since it was more about deletion than about a book:

Why isn't this a wiki, rather than a book? -- a new Wikizen (paraphrased)

You cannot delete a book.

That's verging on the profound.

I prefer getting old books from busy libraries because of the MarginaliaInLibraryBooks?

It points to our error in thinking about data storage. We should never delete anything (other than vandalism). Almost everything will be of some value in the future, and storage space will get cheaper and cheaper.

WikiIsNotUsenet proposed a "never delete" argument (but the discussion went awry). Some have tried VersionControlAppliedToWiki.

Storage is not the issue, combating InfoGlut is. (There are dissertations to write about how long those question marks remain.)

And deletion is the answer to combating InfoGlut? I would think that management and location of information is the answer.

If you find it and you don't want it, don't store it, and don't delete it.
If you find it and do want it, store it where you can find it, thereby preserving your ability to use it in the future.
Deleting it denies usefulness to the latter type of information user, who knows what is wanted and knows how to find it.

I think a case exists for diligence in the removal of out-dated information. If the page has merit but portions of it is outdated (e.g. views on some capabilities or limitations of a technology), then those portions should be updated. Or at least marked as obsolete. Not doing so will diminish credibility of useful information kept in this wiki.

It is worse to have misleading information than no information on a subject matter

SpinIt: It is better to have the ability to provide correct and accurate information than to merely remove misleading information.

EditHint: change this name to 'CannotDelete?' to enable easier usage in common language on several pages to assist WikiIntegration?.

CategoryWikiMaintenance CategoryWikiRefactoring