Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/How-to

How to use CfD

Nomination procedure

Twinkle

You may use Twinkle to facilitate CfD nominations. To install Twinkle, go to Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets and check "Twinkle" in the "Browsing" section. Use the now-installed "XfD" (Start a deletion discussion) tab while viewing the page you want to nominate.

Twinkle only allows you to nominate a single category or stub template. For bundled nominations including multiple categories, see § MassCFD.

MassCFD

You can use the script User:Qwerfjkl/scripts/massXFD to automatically make mass nominations.

Manual nominations

I	Preliminary steps. Before nominating a category: Read and understand the guidance for category names and overcategorization. For categories containing biographical articles, read the guidance for categorization of people. For categories containing the user pages of Wikipedians, read the guidance for user categories. In the following special cases: If a category is a red link, then it is already deleted (or was never created in the first place) and does not need to be nominated. If a category is unpopulated, use {{db-catempty}} to request it be speedily deleted in 7 days. If a category is populated solely by a template (other than a stub template, see #Stub types below) and you are proposing to delete both the category and template, follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Templates for discussion. For further information, see Wikipedia:Categorization and Wikipedia:Manual of Style.
II	Edit the category. Add one of the following templates at the beginning of the category page (not the talk page) of every category to be discussed. For nominations involving large numbers of categories, help adding these templates can be requested here. Otherwise, if nominating a single category: For deleting, use {{subst:Cfd}} For merging, use {{subst:Cfm|Other category}} For merging to two categories, use {{subst:Cfm-double|Other category 1|Other category 2}} For renaming, use {{subst:Cfr|Proposed name}} For splitting, use {{subst:Cfs|Proposed name 1|Proposed name 2}} For converting the category into a list, use {{subst:Cfl|Proposed name}} For other options (containerization, etc.), use {{subst:Cfd|type=nature of proposed discussion}} (see Template:Cfd/doc#Optional parameter) If nominating a group of related categories, use a bundled nomination: For deleting, use {{subst:Cfd|CfD section name}} For merging, use {{subst:Cfm|Other category|CfD section name}} For merging to two categories, use {{subst:Cfm-double|Other category 1|Other category 2|CfD section name}} For renaming, use {{subst:Cfr|Proposed name|CfD section name}} For splitting, use {{subst:Cfs|Proposed name 1|Proposed name 2|CfD section name}} For converting the category into a list, {{subst:Cfl|Proposed name|CfD section name}} For other options (containerization, etc.), use {{subst:Cfd|type=nature of proposed discussion|CfD section name}} (see Template:Cfd/doc#Optional parameter) Include "CfD", "CfM", "CfR", "CfS" or "CfL" in the edit summary, and do not mark the edit as minor. Preview before saving. To add the template for previous nomination days, use the "full" version of the template by appending "full" to the template name, i.e. {{cfd full}}, {{cfm full}}, {{cfr full}}, {{cfs full}} and {{cfl full}}. Use the |day=, |month= and |year= parameters to make the banner link to the correct CfD page. Consider adding {{subst:cfd notice|Category name|2024 November 28|CfD section name}} ~~~~ to the talk page of the category's creator. For details about these templates, see each template's documentation.
III	Create the CFD section. Click THIS LINK to edit the section of CfD for today's entries. Follow the instructions (visible in edit mode) to copy and paste one of the templates below. When inserting category names into these template's parameters, except the text= parameter, omit the Category: prefix and do not use wikilinks, as the template takes care of this. If nominating a single category: For deleting, use {{subst:Cfd2|Obsolete category|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed deletion. ~~~~}} For merging, use {{subst:Cfm2|Origin category|Destination category|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed merge. ~~~~}} For merging to two categories, use {{subst:Cfm2|Origin category|Destination category 1|target2=Destination category 2|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed merge. ~~~~}} For renaming, use {{subst:Cfr2|Current category|Proposed name|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed rename. ~~~~}} For splitting, use {{subst:Cfs2|Current category|Proposed category 1|Proposed category 2|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed split. ~~~~}} For converting the category into a list, use {{subst:Cfc2|Current category|Proposed article|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed conversion. ~~~~}} For other options (containerization, etc.), use {{subst:Cfd2|Current category|type=other type|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed conversion. ~~~~}} For a bundled nomination, use one of the standard templates to build the "Cfd section name" for the first nominated category. After saving that, the second and subsequent nominations must be inserted manually, as follows: ==== Cfd section name ==== * 1st category * 2nd category [Make clear whether you propose deletion, merging or renaming] * Your reason for nominating the categories, and signature. If a bundled nomination is too long, consider using {{hidden}} to hide some of the nominated categories. In your reason, use links if mentioning articles or categories. To link to a category, use the colon trick by adding a colon (:) to the beginning of the link, e.g. [[:Category:Foo]]. Preview before saving to check that your nomination is formatted correctly, and remember to include your signature at the end of the nomination.

Stub types

I	Preliminary steps. In general, a stub type consists of a stub template and a dedicated stub category. Before nominating a stub type for deletion, merging or renaming: Read and understand guidance for creating stub types and stub type naming conventions. Review the list of existing stub types—be advised, this list may not be comprehensive. If you wish to: Create a new stub type—follow the procedure for proposing new stub types. Delete, merge or rename a stub category only, without deleting or renaming the associated stub template—follow the instructions above this section. Delete or rename a stub template—continue to section II.
II	Edit the template. Add one of the following tags at the beginning of the template to be discussed. For deletion, use {{subst:Sfd-t|Section name}} For renaming, use {{subst:Sfr-t|Proposed name|Section name}} Please include "SFD" or "SFR" in the edit summary, and don't mark the edit as minor. Preview before saving. Consider notifying the template's creator on their talk page. To find the contributor, check the page history of the stub template.
III	Create the CFD section. Click THIS LINK to edit the section of CfD for today's entries. Follow the instructions (visible in edit mode) and paste the following text (remember to update the default parameters): For deletion, use {{subst:sfd-t2|TemplateName|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed deletion. ~~~~}} For renaming, use {{subst:sfr-t2|TemplateOldName|TemplateNewName|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed deletion. ~~~~}} In your rationale, mention how many articles currently use the template to help other editors. When linking to a category in your rationale, always add a colon (:) to the beginning of the link, like [[:Category:Foo]]. This makes a category link that can be seen on the page, and avoids putting this page into the category you are nominating. Preview before saving to check that your nomination is formatted correctly, and remember to include your signature at the end of the nomination.

Notifying interested projects and editors

In addition to the steps listed above, you may choose to invite participation by editors who are likely to be informed about a nominated category. All such efforts must comply with Wikipedia's guideline against biased canvassing. In addition, to help make your messages about the CfD discussion clear, avoid Wikipedia-specific abbreviations, link to relevant policies or guidelines, and link to the discussion itself.

Notifying related WikiProjects

WikiProjects consist of groups of editors who are interested in a particular subject. If a nominated category is within the scope of one or more WikiProjects, consider adding a brief, neutral note on their talk page(s) about the nomination. You may use {{subst:cfd notice|Category name|2024 November 28|CfD section name}} ~~~~ or write a personalized message.

Tagging the nominated category's talk page with a relevant WikiProject's banner will include the category in that WikiProject's Article Alerts if they subscribe to the system. For instance, tagging a nominated category with {{WikiProject Physics}} will add the discussion to Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics/Article alerts.

Notifying substantial contributors to the category

While not required, it is generally considered courteous to notify the good-faith creator and main contributors of the category that you are nominating for discussion. To find the creator and main contributors, check the category's page history or talk page. You may use {{Cfd notice}} to inform the category's creator and all other editors.

Notifying other interested editors

It may be helpful to invite other subject-matter experts by posting a message on the talk page of the most closely related article, such as Protein family for Category:Protein families. You may use {{Cfdnotice}} for this.

Closing procedure

After seven days, someone will close the discussion according to the consensus that formed or, if needed, relist it to allow more discussion. Editors closing discussions must follow the administrator instructions and, except in the case of a "keep" or "no consensus" outcome, implement the result or log it at the Working page to ensure it is implemented.

Redirecting categories

"WP:CAT-R" redirects here. For the guideline on categorizing redirects, see Wikipedia:Categorizing redirects.

For an essay on this topic, see WP:Category redirects that should be kept.

In general, an unpopulated category should be deleted (see speedy deletion criterion C1) because it is not useful for navigation and sorting. In limited circumstances, and because categories cannot be redirected using "hard" redirects (i.e. #REDIRECT[[''target'']]), we use a form of "soft redirect" to solve the issue. You can create a category redirect by adding {{Category redirect|target}} to the category page. Bots patrol these categories and move articles into the "redirect" targets.

In particular, category redirects are used at the former category name when we convert hyphens into en dashes (e.g. Category:Canada-Russia relations → Category:Canada–Russia relations). It is also helpful to set up category redirects from titles with plain letters (i.e. characters on a standard keyboard) where the category names include diacritics.

A list of redirected categories is available at Category:Wikipedia soft redirected categories.