 | This page documents an English Wikipediaediting guideline. Editors should generally follow it, thoughexceptions may apply.Substantive edits to this pageshould reflect consensus. |
 | This page in a nutshell: If you want a page to be deleted, don't blank the page; instead,request deletion. |
Page blanking means editing a page and removing its content to leave it completely blank, or without any substantial content.
Under normal circumstances, Wikipedia articles should not be blanked. If you think an article has no useful content, then eitherfix it, or else leave it in its present state andpropose it for deletion. However, it is acceptable to blank an article for libel or privacy reasons as an emergency measure, as described in the policy onbiographies of living persons. It is also sometimes necessary to blank an article which is acopyright violation in its entirety – for instructions, seeCopyright problems.
If the sole author blanks an article, this can be taken as a deletion request. It can also be tagged with{{Db-blanked}}. Newcomers often mistake blanking for deletion. If someone wants their new article deleted, they should simply add{{db-g7}} or{{delete}} to it and an administrator will delete the page.
Page blanking is acceptable in one's ownuserspace. However, some currently active administrative notices may not be blanked (SeeWP:BLANKING). For blanking of inappropriate content inother editors' userspace, see the section onfixing other users' pages in the userpage guideline.
Occasionally, completed deletion discussions (or other discussions) may be blanked for reasons of privacy or courtesy to individuals. For policy on this, see the section oncourtesy blanking in Wikipedia's deletion policy.
If the substantial content of a page has been incorporated into that of another, then the first page can be blanked and replaced with aredirect to the second page. For a description of this process, seeMerging.
Repeated, unnecessary page blanking may get a userblocked indefinitely.
To warn users about inappropriate blanking, use {{subst:uw-blank1}}.