Wikipedia:Where to get feedback on an article you've just created

This help page is a how-to guide.

It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus.

Where to get feedback on a newly created article: if you've just created an article and would like feedback on it, this is the page for you.

First, you should not normally request feedback on an article within the first 24 hours after its creation. Most new articles are routinely vetted by volunteers within 24 hours; they will add suitable cleanup tags if necessary which will give you a good starting point - see below on how to respond to cleanup tags. New articles may also be tagged for some form of deletion ("speedy deletion", "proposed deletion", "deletion discussion") - see below on how to respond to that. (If you find the article already deleted, see Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted?.)

Where to get feedback

If after 24 hours you feel the need for more help in general, or more feedback on the article in particular, you have a few options open to you.

Improve the article yourself - there are lots of Wikipedia resources to teach yourself how to do it, starting with the section below. If the article has cleanup tags on it, start with those.
To ask for general feedback on the article, you can go to Wikipedia:Requests for feedback. However you are more likely to find specialist input on the topic by finding related articles, particularly ones more general than the one you created. For example if the article is on a new car, you could ask for help on the talk page of the car manufacturer's article. If you can find no obviously related article, you can try asking for help at a relevant wikiproject.

Above all, don't rush: Rome wasn't built in a day, and there's no reason any article should be. In many cases other editors will help you out sooner or later; and if you do post a request, do be patient.

The article I created may be deleted!

Speedy deletions

Pages and media that satisfy certain criteria are speedy deletion candidates, which means that they can be deleted immediately and without discussion. The criteria include pages that contain nonsense, copyright violations and articles that do not satisfy notability guidelines. When deleting these, administrators often leave short codes in the deletion summary instead of typing out a full reason, such as "A7" for articles that do not satisfy notability, or "G1" for patent nonsense. These codes are explained at criteria for speedy deletion.

Do not remove speedy deletion notices from pages that you have created yourself. To dispute a proposed speedy deletion, click the button on the speedy deletion template that says "Contest this Speedy Deletion".

Proposed deletions

Articles may be proposed for deletion by any editor. If nobody objects to this within seven days, the article is deleted. If any objections are raised, the article is not deleted, but anyone may still make the matter the subject of an Articles for deletion discussion (see the next section). Proposed deletions will often be labeled as "prod" in the deletion summary.

To contest a proposed deletion, just remove the template, providing an explanation if possible. As a courtesy you might also notify the person who placed the tag; you can use the {{deprod}} template for that if you wish, like this: {{subst:deprod|PAGENAME}} (replacing PAGENAME with the name of your article).

Deletion discussions

Any article may be nominated for consideration in a deletion discussion, so that editors can discuss whether it should be deleted. Articles are discussed at Articles for deletion; other pages elsewhere (see deletion discussion for links). Such discussions normally last seven days, after which time an administrator will delete the page if there is a consensus to do so. Anyone may participate in such a discussion, however they are not "votes". The weight of an argument is more important than the number of people making the argument, so encouraging mass participation in such discussion to avoid the deletion of a particular article will not work.

To contest deletion via a deletion discussion, participate in the discussion, bringing sound arguments to bear and remember that the outcome is decided by discussion, not voting. Please see both Wikipedia:Arguments to make in deletion discussions and Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions. Note that whether an article will or will not be deleted is often dependent on whether the article sufficiently cites to reliable sources that verify its content and show notability. Accordingly, the best way to address many deletion arguments is to simply source the article. In that regard, you are absolutely permitted and encouraged to improve the article while a deletion discussion is ongoing.

What do these cleanup tags mean?

You may see any number of cleanup tags, but a few are very common.

Tag in the wikitext

Text you'll see

What to do

Look for more reliable sources demonstrating notability

Look for more reliable sources backing up claims made in the article; or make it clearer how existing sources back up those claims (see Wikipedia:Footnotes for inline referencing).

This page has not been added to any categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar pages.

Look for Wikipedia:Categories to add to the article. (Try looking for similar articles and see what kind of categories they use.)

Use more wikilinks in the article to link to other relevant articles. Don't overdo it! Use similar articles for guidance on how much and what to link, and see the policy WP:Linking.

Improving the article yourself

If you haven't already done so, you might want to look at Wikipedia:Tutorial or Wikipedia:Cheatsheet for general guidance on how to edit pages, or Wikipedia:Writing better articles for guidance on how to write and structure the article. (You've already read Your First Article, haven't you?) If you need help, you can ask at the new contributors' help page, or Wikipedia Live Chat. Try to find existing articles which are similar to the one you created (e.g. if you're writing a biography of an economist, find another biography of an economist): looking at how these are written and structured, and how the wikitext works, is often very useful.

Above all, don't rush: Rome wasn't built in a day, and there's no reason any article should be. If you don't cover at least the core issues below before putting your first draft "live", you may soon be looking at Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted?. Don't wait to get it perfect, but do get enough content and reliable, quality sources so that others can develop it if you move on.