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Commons Deletion Bot: Check if deletion request pages has been created before notifying other wikis
Closed, ResolvedPublic3 Estimated Story Points

Description

I just did a spot check of the CommonsNotifier and found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Basketball#A_Commons_file_used_on_this_page_has_been_nominated_for_deletion. That links to a deletion request page which was never created, since the user only added {{delete}}, but never created the DR page.

The bot should perhaps check if the deletion page exists before posting a link to it ("Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page."). If it does not exists, perhaps just write "Participate in the deletion discussion at Wikimedia Commons." or something, since linking to a non-existing page could cause a non-Commons user to believe that they should create that page to start a discussion. Or perhaps not send out a message at all, since a deletion request hasn't actually been made until the DR page has been created.

Sorry if I'm not expressing myself clearly, English is a second language.


Problem:

Sometimes images are mistakenly tagged with deletion notices (or a vandal does it) or it is a case of a very obvious copyright violation or such in which case a discussion is not necessary. In these cases, the nomination page for a file deletion is not created. A nomination page for a file deletion is required for the deletion request to be officially considered.
Example 1, nomination page
Example 2, nomination page

Proposed solution:

Do not send out a message if the nomination page does not exist. Skip it from the queue. The chances that it is a legitimate deletion request is low and the template might be reverted or the image might be removed before the bot gets to post about it.

Event Timeline

@Josve05a That's a good point. Thanks for filing the ticket. A couple of questions for you:

  • How long does it typically take for the DR page to be created after the deletion template has been put on the image?
  • Is it possible that an image gets deleted after getting the deletion notice without the nomination page ever being created? Does it happen for speedy deletions?
  • If a user who is not the deletion-requester creates the DR page, what happens then?

@Josve05a That's a good point. Thanks for filing the ticket. A couple of questions for you:

  • How long does it typically take for the DR page to be created after the deletion template has been put on the image?
  • Is it possible that an image gets deleted after getting the deletion notice without the nomination page ever being created? Does it happen for speedy deletions?
  • If a user who is not the deletion-requester creates the DR page, what happens then?
  • Most deletion request made on Commons (99.99% is my guess) is made with the Ajax gadget/script or with the VFC (mass deletion) script, which automatically creates the deletion request page directly after applying the template to the page (or in the other order) within milliseconds. If the edit was tagged with the tag "Manual deletion request" it means the template {{delete}} was applied manually, and one should expect a deletion page to be created manually within a few minutes (around 5).
  • Umm, that would depend. If the delete template had a speedy-reason such as "copyvio from [this] source", then sure, an admin when patrolling the "Incomplete deletion requests - missing subpage" category may delete it as a speedy. If the image is just tagged with {{delete}} and no parameter/reason, then most likely no, it would just be removed.
    • Admins are allowed to speedy delete files without tagging them first, as long as they notify the uploader on their talk page. So not all files get a speedy-template on them first.
  • Anybody is of course allowed to create the DR page, but if it wasn't created by the "deletion requester", then it is possible that it either was a mistake, vandalism, or that the template has been removed from the file (meaning that people viewing the file don't know a deletion request is ongoing, and the uploader might not have gotten a notification etc.)
Niharika moved this task from New & TBD Tickets to Needs Discussion on the Community-Tech board.

@Mooeypoo @Samwilson @MusikAnimal @aezell @MaxSem Heads up. I want us to estimate this in our next meeting. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions or there is any missing information.

Niharika set the point value for this task to 3.Aug 21 2018, 11:20 PM
Niharika moved this task from Needs Discussion to Up Next (May 20-June 3) on the Community-Tech board.
Niharika moved this task from QA to Q1 2018-19 on the Community-Tech-Sprint board.