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Wikidata does not allow search for deleted items
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Description

Feature summary
I would like to have a facility whereby I can search the labels of deleted items. I understand that such a feature would have to be restricted to some user group (e.g. sysop or wider).

Use case(s) (list the steps that you performed to discover that problem, and describe the actual underlying problem which you want to solve. Do not describe only a solution):
On a regular Wikipedia, there is one (or a few) obvious name(s) for an item. When a deleted article is recreated, it is fairly easy to find prior creations. Wikidata items get Q-ids. When doing new page patrol, it is impossible to see if a page has been created before.

Benefits (why should this be implemented?):
Wikidata is targetted by paid editors and self-promotors who serially create the same items again and again, but it is hard for admins to detect this.

Event Timeline

This sounds useful indeed. Is this something that can be done as an external tool?

This sounds useful indeed. Is this something that can be done as an external tool?

Not sure whether this is a good idea. Access to deleted content is restricted to admins, but a tool would make a lot of it available to everyone. Does WMF allow this?

It could be a tool that requires authentication via o-auth I'd assume. Then we could restrict access to admins.

Just an update to say this is still an issue for Wikidata administrators. We face a deluge of semi-notable additions and many long-time repeat spammers. It would be super-helpful if admins had a way to search for similar items that have been deleted in the past.

Not sure whether this is a good idea. Access to deleted content is restricted to admins, but a tool would make a lot of it available to everyone. Does WMF allow this?

We've had this discussion on-wiki, but just for the record: The current prototype is restricted to use only by admins and rollbackers, and the latter see only the parts of deleted items that match their search.